Robin Vos Retires

On Thursday's "Dan O'Donnell Show," Dan reacts to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announcing his retirement ahead of a marathon session in the Assembly on its last day of work for the year (yes, in February).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Classical conservatism and contemporary style. It is the Dan O'Donnell Show.
Assembly Speaker Robin Voss providing a political earthquake, as he
often does whenever he does pretty much anything announcing in
a speech. Just as the final floor session of the
State Assembly's year got underway today, Yes it is February nineteenth,

(00:24):
and yes the State Assembly is done for the year
after today. I know it still boggles my mind in
election years what the calendar looks like. Frankly, folks, the
libertarian in me is very happy that legislators are out
of Madison and not able to enact any legislation, the
likes of which that passed on a voice vote just

(00:46):
a couple of minutes ago. We will get into all
of that coming up in the four o'clock hour. In
about ten minutes, we are going to talk to AFP
Americans for Prosperities, Megan Novak. They are making a major
announcement live here on the radio, so we will get
into that, but right now the focus is on Assembly
Speaker Voss announcing his retirement. About an hour and a

(01:10):
half ago.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
My friend, the former Speaker of Iowa, Linda Upmeyer, said
on her own retirement. I'll miss the clowns, but not
the circus. Have I thought about that, and it's certainly fitting.
Thank you all for your service, thank you for the
honor you've given me. By God blessed Wisconsin. And let's
end with a great session day, hopefully in the reasonable

(01:31):
hours of the night. Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
And with that, not only is Wisconsin looking for a
new Assembly speaker, but also a new candidate in the
district that Voss has represented for a long time, with
a little bit of a caveat because obviously it was
redrawn not once but twice this decade, first by the
state legislature, which actually does have the constitutional authority to

(01:58):
do redistricting, and then again after a decidedly unconstitutional ruling
by the Wisconsin Supreme Court by Governor Evers People's Maps Commission.
Now those maps are in effect for the twenty twenty
six midterm elections, and it is widely believed just by
virtue of the cyclical nature of American politics and the

(02:19):
way the generic ballot polling has gone, and people obviously
take whatever signs they can to see which party is
going to have an advantage. Democrats are going to have
the wind at their backs in this election, folks, I'm
not going to sugarcoate it. I'm not going to be
pollyannish or give anybody false hope or to try to
be unnecessarily pessimistic. Nor am I going to be unnecessarily

(02:43):
optimistic or pessimistic, because I want to be realistic. I
want to have you understand where we are politically. It
is not going to be I think, as impossible as
it may seem for Republicans to retain control of the states.
They currently have a three seat majorities eighteen to fifteen

(03:07):
in the state Senate, thirty three Assembly districts and ninety
nine or thirty three Senate districts ninety nine assembly districts.
There are three Assembly districts for every state Senate district.
There are several seats that are up for grabs, but
only I would say four of them are considered to
be actually competitive in the Wisconsin State Senate. In the

(03:31):
state Assembly, there are also, likewise, only a handful of
seats that are considered to be competitive, and in those seats,
Republicans are either fielding strong incumbents or they have very
solid candidates. Democrats turnout and Democrats performance is going to
largely be dictated. Since there isn't a United States Senate

(03:54):
race on the ballot, the big ticket item in November
is going to obviously be the gubernatorial race. Right now,
there just a Tip Pole Tipp poll that just came
out two days ago showing that Mandela Barnes is overwhelmingly
leading the field over Sarah Rodriguez. He is up eight
points now. Granted, this includes every single one of the

(04:16):
clown car of Democrat candidates. Francesca Hong, Brett Holsey for
some reason, is running. Missy Hughes Joel Brennan are seen
as very long shot candidates. But with Mandela Barnes holding
a twenty eight percent to twenty percent lead over Sarah
Rodriguez and both of them more than doubling up who

(04:38):
I believe that Governor Evers and the establishment in the
Wisconsin Democratic Party wants David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive,
to be their standard bearer. This is great news for
Tom Tiffany. Tiffany is widely beloved in conservative circles. He
is widely respected within the Republican Party, former state legislator himself,

(05:01):
member of Congress, and he very early on got President
Trump's endorsement, that of course, forced Washington County Executive Josh
Showman from the gubernatorial race. He immediately endorsed Tom Tiffany
pledged to do whatever it takes to get Tiffany elected.
We have an unnaturally long primary election cycle here in Wisconsin.

(05:23):
You've undoubtedly been following the controversy surrounding the Stephen Colbert
interview of one of the Democrat candidates, James Tallerco, who's
running for Senate against the incumbent Ted Cruz, and how
Colbert is at well the forces at CBS, the powers
that be at CBS forced me to not have this
interview on broadcast television. It's because they are terrified that

(05:48):
Jasmine Crockett, the loudmouthed congresswoman, is actually going to be
the standard bearer in Texas. She would get blown out
of the water by Ted Cruz. The powers that be
down in Texas and in the National Democratic Party c
tell Rico as a rising star, so they're trying to
get him into this nomination. That means they want to

(06:13):
milk the Trump FCC cracking down on James Tallarico on
the Stephen Colbert Show as much as humanly possible. There
is a direct parallel to here. In Wisconsin. Mandela Barnes
is the male Jasmine Crockett. The only difference he doesn't
have hair extensions and gaudy nails. That's literally the only

(06:36):
difference between him and Jasmine Crockett. David Crowley is the
James Tallerico figure that everybody wants to win the primary,
but they're terrified that Crockett aka Barnes, is going to
do so. When Mandela Barnes ran in twenty twenty two,
now that was expected to be a pretty big Republican

(06:56):
year because of course Joe Biden had won the presidency
twenty twenty and the cyclical nature of politics would have
suggested that, hey, it's far more likely that Republicans are
going to do well. Now. They did retake control of
the House of Representatives, but they did not do nearly
as well as people thought. In Wisconsin, it was a

(07:17):
mixed bag. It was an incumbent election. Basically every incumbent
won statewide, including Governor Evers. He beat Tim Michaels by
about three points. At the same time, Mandela Barnes, who
the party actually cleared the field for in the August primary,
he lost by a point to the top target in

(07:40):
the US Senate, Ron Johnson. If he's at the top
of the ticket again, this is great news for Republicans
because voters have already made up their mind about Mandela
Barnes and they've determined him to be well Jasmine Crockett
without the hair extensions and gaudy nails. So, just as
in this primary, the powers that be want tel Rico,

(08:05):
and for whatever reason, the James tallerco of Wisconsin is
not Sarah Rodriguez. It is very clear Tony Evers and
all of his supporters, all of the people in his administration,
absolutely despise Sarah Rodriguez. She has been angling for his
endorsement for months, ever since she first got into the race.
He's pointedly refused to give it to her, and he

(08:27):
barely even mentions her, except when he very pointedly came
out and just poo pooed and unilaterally dismissed her anti
ice legislative proposal, anti ice for Wisconsin proposal. Evers came
out and said, yeah, I don't think we can really
do much, if anything, of that at the state level.

(08:50):
But unlike Texas, unlike Texas, which has its primary in
just a couple of weeks. And by the way, the
whole controversy over Stephen Colbert, it's not a controversy at all.
We all know about the equal time rule. All Stephen
Colbert would have had to do would be to put
the black woman on his show. But of course he
doesn't want to do that because his bosses in the
Democrat Party don't want Jasmine Crockett to win, just as

(09:14):
the bosses in the Democratic Party of Wisconsin don't want
Mandela Barnes to win. They want David Crowley to win.
But Crowley is so incompetent he couldn't even get health
insurance for his county employees and retirees, that he's probably
not going to be much of a factor. That Mandela
is very likely going to be battling with Sarah Rodriguez

(09:35):
for this nomination. But Texas has its primary very very shortly,
Wisconsin does not. Wisconsin doesn't have its primary until August.
That means that all of these Democrats are going to
need to be doing battle with each other and pushing
each other farther to the left. If Mandela Barnes is

(09:55):
your front runner, you know that every other can It
is going to need to go farther left, and the
party is going to sound more and more and more insane,
getting Ice out of the entire state, having a resistance
network to ICE agents who dare to try to conduct

(10:19):
deportation operations or any sort of legitimate law enforcement operation
in Wisconsin. There's going to be a resistance. It's going
to be led by Democrats that rubs people the wrong way,
the trans bathroom nonsense and all of that. That is
going to push Democrats farther to the left and the
longer that they are in their far left primary mode.

(10:43):
And Tom Tiffany, just like Tony Evers four years ago,
can just sit back, collect donor checks, launch ad after
ad after ad, building himself up as a common Wisconsin
man who stands up for good old fashion Wisconsin values
while simultaneously casting aspersions at the increasingly radical Democrat Party.

(11:07):
That is a trickle down effect in the state Assembly.
So with Republicans essentially able to go on offense for
the next six months until the August primary, that is
going to have a tremendous down ballot effect. Coming up next,
we will talk with Megan Novak, State Director of AFP.
They are going to make a big announcement about that

(11:29):
gubernatorial race. Stay tuned, Wit and thank you to those
eagle eared listeners who reminded me that it is in
fact John Cornyn that is the Republican in that Texas
Senate race, not Ted Cruz. My apologies. Welcome back to
the Dan o'donald show. We are pleased to be joined

(11:51):
on the phone right now by the state director of
Americans for Prosperity, the incredible conservative group, Megan Novak, to
make a big announcement here in Wisconsin politics. Megan, welcome
to the program.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Thanks for having me on Dan.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
So you have been teasing this on social media all day.
I've been teasing this on the air all hour. What
is that big announcement?

Speaker 3 (12:15):
We are proud to announce today that the Conservative grassroots
is getting behind Tom Tiffany for governor. AFP Wisconsin is
officially endorsement endorsing Tom as of today, mobilizing, mobilizing our
grassroots army from all across the state and support of
Tom so that we can win in November.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
That is fantastic, not really a surprise, I must say,
because Tom Tiffany obviously aligns with AFP's values. What is
it about Congressman Tiffany that your organization believes makes him
ideally suited to be the next governor.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
You know, not only does Tom have the strongest track
record of good conservative policy from the Legislature onto Congress,
but he's also an incredibly authentic and steady leader that
Wisconsin needs right now to turn this state back around
and get back to good conservative reforms that helps each
and every one of us live the best possible life

(13:15):
that we can.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Obviously, switching gears a little bit. The big story this
afternoon is the announcement that Assembly Speaker Robin Voss is
not going to seek reelection. He made it known during
a speech on the floor today that he had suffered
a relatively mild heart attack back in November, but it
made him think about the fact that he's not getting

(13:36):
any younger and that he wants to spend time with
family and friends and loved ones. Your reaction, Megan an
AFP's reaction to the announcement today as well as the
career and service of Assembly Speaker Boss.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Yeah, absolutely, no. First, I want to I'm thankful that
he is okay and healthy, and obviously we thanks Speaker
Voss for incredible leadership on conservative policy with the Assembly
majorities that we were able to keep over the years.
And that's exactly why thinking about this, why we need
Tom Tiffany to become governor, because we've seen what the

(14:13):
Supreme Court has done to expand the governor's powers through
what I think are misguided decisions. And if we don't
win the governorship and keep majorities, our state is just
going to turn into Virginia overnight. And we've already seen
what progressive progressives have done to destroy that state in
a matter of months.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
If you could tell our listeners, because well I mentioned
this just sort of very briefly when Democrats sort of
unveiled their proposals for Virginia. Now that they have Abigail Spanberg, who,
by the way, was just announced as the Democrats speaker
who's going to give the official response to President Trump's
State of the Union address next week, and that means

(14:53):
that she is considered the rising star of the Democrat party.
That's usually what that POSI that speaking engagement slot is
reserved for. It's like the next person up. So Democrats
clearly think the world of Abigail Spanberger but a whole
lot of people were shocked to see just what she

(15:13):
and the Democrat majority in the Virginia House and the
Virginia Senate are already proposing. What are some of the
crazy things that they're up to.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
I mean, just looking at the taxes, the list of
new taxes that they're proposing, everything from on your Amazon
deliveries to dog walkers.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
Dog walkers is my favorite, Yeah, the new dog walking tax.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
Apparently it's a big market in Virginia, but we got
to tax it because they got to pay for all
this somehow. And early release for violent criminals. I mean,
the list just goes on and on. It's a progressive
agenda that is going to destroy Virginia, and we can't
let that happen in Wisconsin.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
Do you think that Democrats are a little unnecessarily and
prematurely excited about the possibility of turning Wisconsin into Virginia
now that Voss has announced that he's retiring, because normally,
I mean, look, it is a very strong signal that
someone as politically connected as Voss heading for the exits

(16:15):
in an election year means that he is no longer
going to be Assembly Speaker, which he's been since twenty
thirteen that Republicans are going to lose the majority, and Democrats,
at least on social media that I'm seeing today, are
celebrating like they've already won the election. Do you think
that's entirely too premature?

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Oh, one hundred percent. I think if the Democrats spend
a little less time on social media and a little
more time talking to actual voters, they would realize that
Wisconsin voters are not interested in their progressive policies. They're
worried about things like their education outcomes, their rising utility bills.
They're the four hundred year property tax pike, and all
of those things Democrats are to blame for.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Big news today AFP Wisconsin Americans for Prosperity, the tremendous
grassroots group endorsing Tom Tiffany for governor. Executive director Meghan Novak,
my guest here on the Dan o'donald Show. Meghan, thank
you so much. Thank you for making that announcement on
the show. Have yourself a wonderful evening. I'm sure we
will be talking soon.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Thanks Dan.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
Coming up, after just a very brief break, we will
name the unhinged liberal of the day. Dan O'Donnell's show
coming right back after this. I've in Rome, Georgia, as
he is outlining the economic successes of his first term.
We'll have some details coming up after the top of

(17:40):
the hour in the Daily Trump date. After that, the
online sports betting bill passes on a voice vote. Another
voice vote for another controversial piece of legislation, the so
called wake vote bill that passes on a voice vote,
and Democrats and Republicans alike or fury about it. We

(18:01):
have got that, plus the nil name, image and Likeness bill.
I had talked about that and criticized it because of
its insane giveaway to the University of Wisconsin Madison, which
has been just openly defiant of the Republican controlled legislature.
And of course, the big news Robin Voss, the Assembly speaker,

(18:21):
announcing this afternoon that he is going to retire. He's
not going to seek reelection. I didn't even get a
chance to mention because of all this breaking news earlier
this afternoon. And again I am going to do an
Olympic spoiler alert. I think most people know about this
by now, huge, huge result in the women's hockey gold

(18:42):
medal game. If you don't want to hear it. If
you are waiting for NBC's primetime coverage to interrupt their
regularly scheduled curling and figure skating to actually play a
hockey game, turn down your radio right now. I'm going
to give you a three second countdown. You're ready. Three
two one. The Team USA women's hockey team is golden.

(19:03):
In overtime, they get a two to one victory over
arch rivals Canada thanks to the three on three golden goal,
the sudden death winner by defense woman. I guess did
they call them defenseman even though they're women? Defender Megan
Keller as Team usay wins the gold. Team USA men

(19:25):
have advanced to the semifinals after an incredibly thrilling victory,
also in overtime a couple of days ago over was
it Sweden or Denmark? It was Sweden. Uh. The Olympics
are wrapping up in just a couple of days and
it has been a very exciting, very fun. One time
now here on the Dan, O'Donnell showed a name, the

(19:47):
unhinged liberal.

Speaker 4 (19:48):
Of the Nazi Germany.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Truff is dangerous because he's evil. Him over ladies and gentlemen.
I think we actually have a very strong contender for
Unhinged Liberal of the Month today. It is a woman who,
like our unhinged Liberal of the Day a couple of
days ago, who was screaming about wanting members of the

(20:22):
Trump administration strung up and executed in the public square.
This woman, I assume it's a woman. She looks like
a woman, she sounds like a woman, which doesn't necessarily
mean she is a woman. Could just be a man
pumped full of hormones, but took to TikTok calling on

(20:43):
people to get out their guns and start shooting Ice
agents dead.

Speaker 5 (20:48):
This ends when we stand up and we start shooting back.
Get your guns, get your militia, get your people, and
when Ice comes to town, don't give them a chance.
Get a sniper and shoot blow their faces off. Watch
them fucking drowned in their own god damn blood. Because
America will be great again when we realize that we're
the ones who make the rules.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
People.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
If you don't like the motherfuckers that are in there,
then take them the fuck out, because if you don't,
they're gonna take us the fuck out. Stand up for
your goddamn rights. Stop being posse's, stop yelling asking them.
What's wrong with them. What's wrong with them is they've
been given power that does not belong to them because
we act like we're scared little bitches. Flip the goddamn table,

(21:31):
let them know who's looking, boss, and take the motherfuckers out.
It's as serious and as simple as that. Pick up
your guns and the tyranny and blow their sucking asses away.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Game over. You know, I miss the liberals who were
terrified of guns and wanted to ban all guns. This
new generation of liberals who are just hopped up on
gender hormones and raging out of control. They seem to
be a little bit obsessed with guns and violent revenge fantasies.

(22:03):
That TikTok alleged woman, your unhinged liberal of the day, folks,
I really prefer to do just the haha. Let's all
laugh at this clowning lib for the unhinged liberal of
the day. That's just dark. But it is worth remembering

(22:24):
there is a segment of the hardcore political left that
really does want its political opponents assassinated, and the sooner
we understand that and accept that that a decent percentage
of our political opponents are absolutely crazy and just are
completely mentally imbalanced. The better off I think everybody is

(22:47):
going to be. Daily Trump date is coming up next.
Stay tuned Dan o'donald's show coming back before you know it,
big big news day. Here on the Dan o'donald Show,
we have the retirement announcement from Assembly Speaker Robin Voss.
And I don't think Democrats quite understand that he is
still going to be in the State Assembly. He is

(23:08):
still going to be the leader, and most importantly, he
is still going to be fundraising and he is still
going to be working towards keeping the Republican Assembly majority
until November. Right Like, he doesn't actually leave his seat
until next January, so he's going to be around for
about the next year. I am going to reach out
to the Assembly Speaker see if we can get him

(23:29):
on the show tomorrow for an extended interview to talk
about his life, his legacy, his career. We will hopefully
be able to lock that down obviously today, As much
as I would like to get him on the show
right now and get the very first interview, he is
in the middle of a massive, long, long, long floor session,

(23:50):
and while a regular member might be able to during
a recess or something like that. Sneak away and do
a quick phone interview. The Assembly Speaker Abviley is going
to be needed, and he is going to be working
very hard every single minute from now until probably about
two in the morning. We will have much more coming
up on some of the more controversial pieces of legislation

(24:14):
that have already passed on this the final day of
the Assembly's calendar year. In just a second, first, though,
let's get your recap on all things Trump. It is
the daily Trump date.

Speaker 6 (24:27):
We're gonna win so much you may even get.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Tired of winning.

Speaker 7 (24:30):
Trump just keeps winning.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
It is a win for the administration.

Speaker 7 (24:33):
It's also a big win for the United States.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
We have to keep winning. We have to win more.
We're gonna win Moore. President Trump right now in Rome, Georgia,
pushing is economic policies toward a local factory and visited
a couple of small businesses before delivering remarks on economic
policy and successes of the first year of Trump andomics now.

(24:57):
Earlier today in Washington, the President the very first meeting
of his Board of Peace.

Speaker 6 (25:02):
We're providing a model for how responsible sovereign nations can
cooperate to take responsibility for confronting problems in their own regions.
The Border Piece is showing how a better future can
be built, starting right here in this room.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
And I want to let you know that the.

Speaker 6 (25:18):
United States is going to make a contribution of ten billion.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
Dollars to the Border piece. Now, in addition to that
US money, the President has also secured more than seven
billion dollars in gaza aid from Middle Eastern nation.

Speaker 8 (25:32):
Kazakhstan, Azerbijan, Uae, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and
KUWAITA welcome contributed.

Speaker 6 (25:45):
More than seven billion dollars.

Speaker 7 (25:49):
Toward the relief package.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
That's great, Thank you, fallas striking. Now, the meeting does
come as the US military is massing forces toward the
Middle East. Negotiations with Iron do continue, but during today's meeting,
President Trump said that while he hopes Iran will join
the rest of the region in solidarity with the United States,
if they don't, though the Iranians will face severe consequence.

Speaker 6 (26:13):
Now is the time for Iran to join us on
a path that will complete what we're doing.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
And if they join us, that'll be great. If they
don't join us, that'll be great too. But it'll be
a very different path.

Speaker 6 (26:27):
They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region,
and they must make a deal or if that doesn't happen,
I maybe can understand if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen, but.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Bad things will happen if it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Right now, both the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Gerald
Ford carrier groups are headed to the Persian Golf along
with dozens of fighter jets. That ladies and gentlemen the
day in Donald Trump's Washington, we call it the Daily
Trump Date here on the Dan o' donald Show. If
you'd like to join us four one four seven nine
to nine eleven thirty on our avetnos dot com talk

(27:05):
and text line, reach us toll free one eight one
hundred and eight three eight nine four seven six, email
medod at iHeartMedia dot com, at Dan O'donnaldshow on X
on Facebook, on Instagram, on YouTube, and be sure to
subscribe to the Dan o'donalds Show podcast on iHeartRadio or
wherever you listen to podcast. The spring primary in our

(27:32):
rearview mirror, and we are cruising towards the spring election,
and a reminder that we are putting together the comprehensive, complete,
ultimate Conservative voter guide for you. It is going to
be online as part of a brand new conservative web

(27:52):
initiative that we are just so so excited to be
a part of and to be ready to introduce to
you coming up within the next couple of weeks. But
we need your help in putting this voter guide together.
While I do have, with no false modesty, a pretty
extensive knowledge of Wisconsin news, Wisconsin politics, and the like,

(28:14):
it is impossible for me to know every single candidate
in every single county, well every single county. Is what
we are aiming for with this voter guide. It is
not a list of recommendations, it's not a list of endorsements.
It is simply a black and white list of all
of the Conservatives who are running in as many races

(28:35):
as we can possibly identify. We are working with county
Republican parties, the state Republican Party, various groups across the state,
and just individual candidates. And that's why we remind you
if you are a candidate, if you are somebody who
is connected to a state or local race, somebody who

(28:55):
wants to be included in this Conservative voter guide. You
need to reach out to me at iHeartMedia dot com.
Get your name included. If you know other conservatives that
you're running with, you absolutely want to be a part
of this. Look, folks, I get some of the apprehension.
I've heard from a couple of candidates, and I've heard

(29:16):
from a couple of very connected political people now who said, look, Dan,
some of these candidates they are running in very liberal
areas and they don't want to be endorsed by Dan.
O'dunt no offense. Sweet, We all love you, Dan, but
obviously the Libs do not, And judging by my Facebook comments,

(29:36):
they really really really do not like me. Ironically, ironically,
the more angry comments I get from Libs, the more
money I get. I know, what a world? What a world?
I actually get paid by Facebook. I am a brand partner,
paid contributor. I don't know what the hell you call it.

(29:57):
I got a blue check mark, that's what it means,
I get. I don't know. They pay me based on
engagement and based on the fact that I am in
some left wing algorithm where I just I guess I'm
just rage nip for the insane lefties. There was a
very sizable check that came my way. I say this

(30:18):
not to brag, Okay, I do absolutely say this to
brag and to spike it in liberals' faces that the
more you call me a pedophile in my Facebook comments,
the more money I get. I just I can't actually
stress that enough. If you ever want to laugh, seriously,
I am dead serious. We actually have a funny recurring bit.

(30:41):
We call it the most most intelligent response that Dan
has gotten all day. And I take some of the
just absolute worst comments that I get, just people calling
me all manner of names. In fact, you know what
should we do one right now? Producer Eric? Get that
theme music ready? Okay? Because the angry message the most

(31:05):
intelligent response Dan has gotten all day. Because you will
seriously laugh. I mean, just go through the Facebook comments.
My wife, she gets way more upset about this than
I do, right, she says, You know, I just I
don't want to I'm like, honey, honey, these angry comments

(31:29):
got us a vacation in Cabo. Okay, I don't know.
I don't know what to tell you. Lives keep him coming,
all right, ladies and gentlemen, are we ready? This is
just a random comment that I got from a random user.
He has since either blocked me or banned me, so
we don't actually have the name. But this is the

(31:52):
most intelligent response Dan has gotten all day. It comes
to us from a very erudite, very intelligent Facebook user
who apparently thought better of what he had posted, because
he either locked me or deleted his account or something.

(32:16):
But I can't find it, but he writes, and I quote,
shut your bitch ass up, ladies and gentlemen, this has
been the most intelligent thing Damn has heard all day.

(32:36):
All right, let's get to the Marathon State Assembly session
in Madison going on right now. Very first thing the
Assembly took up after hearing Robin Voss's retirement speech is
something that I had warned and was almost entirely convinced
was going to happen, the Online Sports Betting Bill, which

(33:00):
essentially gives a modified monopoly to the Forest County Potawatamie
on all types of online sports betting here in Wisconsin.
I knew this thing was going to pass on a
voice vote, because the last thing that Vos and the
Republicans wanted was to have any sort of accountability, least

(33:22):
of all to me. You might remember last year, when
we were working against another Republican bill that was reportedly
going to pass on a voice vote, Roefer right a
first refusal where they would have created a cartel of
electrical transmission companies in this state and cost taxpayers literally
hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns and a

(33:44):
lack of competition on electrical transmission projects. I literally sat
here in this very chair, on this very show and
simply read off the names of Republicans who I knew
were going to support this thing, and Republicans who I
knew were going to pose this thing. Well, as you
could imagine, a whole lot of Republicans got a whole

(34:05):
lot of calls from angry constituents after I did that.
So the last thing that they wanted. I'm not saying it's,
you know, because of Dan O'Donnell. They went to a
voice vote vote, but it was because of you, because
they don't want to hear from you. So there's a
level of h they're able to hide. I guess I
want to say there's a level of accountability. No, there

(34:26):
are no levels of accountability on a voice vote. Here's
what it sounded like.

Speaker 9 (34:30):
You guys have it. Assembly Bill six o one is
pass Represented from the seventy second the speaker asking Amas
descent the rules be spent in Sembly Bill six O
one be meleily.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
Message to the Senate.

Speaker 9 (34:38):
Represent from the seventy second Ash and MS consent that
the rules to be suspend an Assembly Bill six A
one be meleily.

Speaker 7 (34:42):
Message to the Senate.

Speaker 9 (34:43):
Is the re objection hearing done the bills in the
Senate now.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
My producer, Eric Paulson, is a longtime radio veteran. He
has been in the radio business for a long time.
He just asked, is that regular speed or was that
sped up? No, that is how fast they moved to
get this thing past. That's actually nothing. Just wait until
you hear coming up in the next segment how they
passed on a voice vote the very controversial wake vote

(35:11):
bill that is now going to go to the Senate.
So the online sports bill goes to the Senate. I
had heard today that there were only about four Republicans
in the Assembly who opposed this bill, and pretty much
every Democrat wants that sweet sweet Potawatamy campaign cash ahead
of the all important Assembly elections this fall, So this

(35:34):
was one that I could see yes, it was very
widely supported in the Assembly. In the Senate, it faces
a much much tougher route. I have heard that there
are as many as seven different Republican state senators who
are not supporters of this bill. That would mean that

(35:55):
the Senate's majority leader, Devin Lemahue, would actually have to
violate what's known as the rule of seventeen, which generally
says the majority party will not bring a bill to
the floor unless at least seventeen members a majority of
every single senator in the majority party supports the bill. Well, clearly,
since only eleven or twelve Republican Senators support this, they

(36:19):
would have to violate the rule of seventeen in order
to get this to the floor. It is my very
strong suspicion that they will. That they are going to
pass this over the objections of Republican senators who don't
want to create an online sports betting bill monopoly. Here's
how this thing would work. If an online sports betting

(36:41):
company like Draft Kings or like fan Duel wants to
go in Wisconsin, they currently are barred by the online
or by the state's voter compacts. The agreements that we
signed with the Native American tribes that were made permanent
by Governor Diamond Jim Doyle in a literal cover of

(37:02):
darkness deal on of old days April first, April Fool's
Day of two thousand and three. This has given the
tribes tremendous amounts of power. They have a cartel on gambling,
they have cartel control. They are independent entities, independent tribes
who nonetheless have carved this state up and have agreed. Okay,

(37:24):
Oneida Tribe, you're going to take this territory. Potawatamie Tribe,
you're going to take this territory which is nowhere near
the Forest County Potawatamees Reservation. The ho Chunk Tribe, you're
going to take this territory. The lack of Flambo Tribe,
You're going to take this territory. They carve it up.
That's how a cartel operates. In this bill, what would

(37:48):
be created for online sports betting is what's known as
a hub and spoke model. In order for sports betting
to be legal, it has to take place in a
sports book in a casino. Obviously, online sports betting takes
place wherever. If you're on the bus, if you're on
the toilet, you can be making bets on your phone.

(38:10):
What the hub and spoke model says is, so long
as the Draft Kings server is located physically inside a
sports book at a casino, then you can have all
of the spokes that then go in that feed into
that hub place bets anywhere because it technically complies with

(38:31):
the tribal compact. Now, for the privilege of allowing the
Draft Kings or Fandual servers to be located in their
sports book, the Forest County Potawatami would take something like
sixty percent of the profits. Now, what this means is
that while DraftKings and FanDuel would otherwise just take bets
and pay taxes on the revenue that they generate off

(38:55):
of those bets in Wisconsin, Wisconsin would then be subject
to the gaming compacts and they would get far less
money than they otherwise would if Fan Duel and DraftKings
were allowed to just operate as they would in every
other state, any other state that simply allows them to
take bets. Now, all of this I believe is sort

(39:19):
of moot because the prediction markets, which are already operating
I believe completely unlawfully here in Wisconsin the calshi's, the
predict its, the polymarkets. They're betting. What you're doing is
you're making a prediction. And the way they couch this
is you're not actually betting on a specific outcome. You
are buying shares in an outcome. It's a distinction without

(39:41):
a difference. You're gambling on a specific outcome, but you're
buying shares of yes, this event will happen or no,
this event will not happen. This has led to all
manner of issues, all manner of controversies with regard to
not only sports betting, which has seems significant significant scandal
when a Hall of Fame player and the head coach

(40:04):
of the Portland Trailblazers gets busted for potentially altering these
prediction markets bets by benching players who had significant amounts
of action on their unders, for say, the player is
going to go under seven rebounds in a specific game.
You know you've got issues. I believe that this bill

(40:28):
is nothing more than a giveaway to a significant political contributor,
and I believe that this is something that is not
necessary under the current gaming compacts. Essentially, the compacts are
going to need to be opened up and we're going
to need to potentially renegotiate them now. Of course, Jim

(40:51):
Doyle's actions in early two thousand and three mean that
we can never ever ever reopen these compacts. And the
Wisconsin Institute for Law on Liberty has been all over
this issue, and I tend to agree with their legal analysis.
They say, look, this is almost certainly unconstitutional. The bill
that is currently on its way to the state Senate,
it's certainly not something that is likely to go without

(41:16):
a significant legal challenge. Will's argument is in order to
add a new form of gambling, which online sports betting
is now now, supporters of the bill are saying, well, Dan,
it's They're saying, look, it's not a new form of gambling,
it's gambling on sports. I would argue it's absolutely a
different form of gambling. Is is video poker the same

(41:39):
as as poker at a table? Is online poker the
same as poker at a table? Is that the exact
same game? Or is it fundamentally very different? Online sports
betting is completely different because it doesn't take place in
a casino. The very nature of it is different. That
would require a constitutional menut for the people of Wisconsin

(42:01):
to say yes, we want online sports betting in Wisconsin,
we want more gambling. You can't just do that by
an act of the legislature that actually needs a constitutional amendment.
Another big controversial bill passes on a voice vote over
strenuous subjections this afternoon. We'll get into that coming up

(42:23):
next big afternoon in the Wisconsin legislature. Obviously, Assembly Speaker
Robin Voss announced today that he is going to retire.
I am hoping that we are going to be able
to I'd like to play Voss's farewell speech in its

(42:43):
entirety coming up in the five o'clock hour here on
the Dan o'donald Show, because it was a very very
well done, heartfelt speech. I want to give thanks to
my friends over at Wisconsin I for preventing or for
preventing for providing a US with the coverage of this,
because they have been obviously under the microscope because they

(43:10):
were shut down for the better part of two months
in there, and this is exactly why we need Wisconsin.
I am so glad there has been a deal that's
been reached to provide funding for this. They were able
to on arguably the biggest news day of the year

(43:30):
for the state legislature, even without Assembly Speaker of Boss's
retirement announcement. They provided the video. We were able to
get some soundbites from that, and I was able to
record the entire thing. So I do really really appreciate
them for providing the video coverage of this and for
this moment that the Republicans who control the Assembly tried

(43:57):
to force a voice vote on a big bill that
I guess has been combined. It was two separate bills,
one that dealt with hunting sand hill cranes and another
that I think is a little bit more controversial. It's
known as the wakeboating bill. We talked about this a
little bit here on the Dan O'Donnell show, maybe I

(44:19):
don't know a week or two ago, and I first
learned about this. There are actually two competing bills. One
of them was co authored by Nate Gustafson, which would
have allowed for far more local control. It would have
provided that wakeboats, you know what they are. They're typically
higher end boats that will stir up the wake from

(44:42):
well down below the surface of the water so that
you can do, you know, wakesurfing and all sorts of
water sports and stuff and look just so we're clear,
I don't really have a dog in this fight. What
I can tell you is I love the wake bullets
on the lake that my family and I go on
because we have jet skis, and we love when the

(45:05):
wakeboats are like, oh yeah, we're gonna jump over the
wake that they make. So you know it's I'm perfectly
fine with wakeboats. I am not perfectly fine with a bill,
the one that just passed the state Assembly and now
heads to the Senate, that provides little to know legal

(45:26):
protection for any sort of municipality that might want to
exceed state law in limitations on wakeboating on its navigable waters.
What the Gustuson bill would have done is to say, okay, wakeboats,
you cannot be within five hundred feet of shore, which

(45:47):
makes sense because you don't want to stir up all
of the bottom of the lake, the sand, the mud,
all of that stuff and just sort of stir up
all of the crap, so you want to go deeper
five hundred feet. The bill that passed today two hundred feet.
The bill that passed today is a hard and fast

(46:10):
state regulation. The gust of sen bill would have said, okay,
how about we allow for local control, and we say
there is a protection mechanism, there is a level of
immunity for municipalities so they can't. Let's face it, folks,
a lot of the municipalities that will be that would

(46:33):
have been I should say, had the gust of Sen
bill even been given a number and even put on
the legislative calendar, what that would have done is to
what it would have done would protect from lawsuits for
all of these small little communities, the small little counties,

(46:54):
the small little towns that maybe have three people on
their village board, but they want to say, okay, we
want to have regulations or potentially even say we don't
want wakeboats on our lake. Well, what would happen is
the very well funded boating industry would come in and

(47:16):
sue them and just be able to throw its weight around.
So the Gustafson Bill would have said, okay, well we're
going to provide some protection for these communities. Ultimately, I
don't think that the bill that passed the Assembly today
is a terrible bill. The way that it passed today

(47:38):
was beyond terrible. A whole lot of Democrats opposed this
bill because they are claiming environmental concerns, and they think
people are just going to be, you know, turning the
sand hill crane extinct by over hunting them like it's
a Dodo bird. Somehow, I don't think that's going to

(48:00):
be the case. But clearly there was not the unanimous
support that would have allowed for a voice vote. However,
a voice vote is exactly what Assembly leadership held.

Speaker 9 (48:13):
The question is Assembly Bill ten thirty three. I haven't
been read three times, so the bill be passed. All
those in favor, I'll signified by saying I I'll oppose.

Speaker 7 (48:20):
Note the eyes have it.

Speaker 9 (48:22):
Assembly Bill ten thirty three is passed. Represented from the
seventy second, Thank you, missus speaker, asking animous consent that
the rules be suspended.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Assembly Built ten thirty three.

Speaker 9 (48:37):
Manly messages in the Senate, represented from the seventy second,
asking ams consent that the rules be suspended. Assembly Built
ten thirty three be a mess in the Senate? Is
there objection hearing none the bills in the Senate?

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Yeah, that was pretty much every Democrat and even a
number of Republicans saying, hey, wait a second. They all
then lined up to register that they in fact had
voted against that bill, even though their votes weren't recorded yet. Again,
this is something that unless it's naming a post office,

(49:15):
or unless it's you know, declaring you know, I don't know,
the fourth of July to be a state holiday, something
that's completely non controversial, that nobody. It's a waste of
time to have a role call vote. The voice vote
shouldn't be used. If you support a piece of legislation,
your constituents should know. This is a way of escaping

(49:39):
accountability for controversial votes. As it turns out, the wake
vote bill was coming up after just a brief commercial break.
We will get into the name, Image and Likeness bill.
How did that fare in this state Assembly? We'll find
out next Conservative thought not just talk. It is the

(50:02):
Dan o'donald show, Welcome back to it. So how did
the so called nil bill fair in the Wisconsin Assembly, Well,
we don't know. The Assembly is still in recess over
the sand Hill Crane slash wake boating bill. I have
been watching the Assembly on Wisconsin I, which, by the way,

(50:29):
we are going to be posting the Robin Voss retirement
speech in its entirety courtesy of our friends over at
wis I Wisconsin IWISI dot org I talk about this
service all the time, and I was a big supporter
of Wisconsin I getting state funding because it is such
an essential service. I use it all the time. Think

(50:52):
of it as like Wisconsin CSPAN. It was actually shut
down for the better part of I don't know month
and a half two months in there, and there was
no video record of what is going on in state government.
And that is a horrible thing. That is an unacceptable thing.
And what Wisconsin I does, it's not politically motivated. There's

(51:13):
no liberal bias, there's no conservative bias. They literally just
air the press conferences and more importantly, committee hearings and
floor sessions so that people like me and reporters all
across the state can use that as a reference. They
don't actually have to be in the chambers because frankly,
I can't be I mean I can't be in my

(51:35):
studio and also monitoring things from the floor of the
State Assembly. Well, if I have something like Wisconsin I,
I can do that. In fact, I'm watching Wisconsin I
right now. It is literally on my computer screen right now.
And there was so much outrage over the wake Boat
bill that the nil bill was actually called as being

(51:58):
the next one but then almost every single Democrat wanted
to be registered as voting against the bill. We were
talking about this in the last segment here on the
Dan O'Donnell show, and can we get the SoundBite, producer Eric,
can we get how this thing passed on a voice vote?
This is how you do not run a state legislative body.

(52:22):
All right, This is clearly a controversial bill. This is
clearly something that has significant opposition, not just from the
minority party, but also from members of the Republican Party.
In fact, one Republican number of Republicans actually introduced a
competing bill that might have actually gotten passed because of
overwhelming Democrats' support. I can't believe I'm actually siding with

(52:45):
the Democrats here, but I think that's on balance, probably
a better bill. That's beside the point. The point is
that this is one that should have had a role vote,
but it didn't, and this is what happened.

Speaker 9 (53:03):
The question is Assembly Bill ten thirty three. I haven't
been read three times. She'll the bill be passed. All
those in favor, I'll signify by saying I I'll oppose.

Speaker 7 (53:11):
Note the eyes have it.

Speaker 9 (53:13):
Assembly Bill ten thirty three is passed, represented from the
seventy second.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Thank you, missus speaker, asking animous consent that the rules
be suspended, Assembly built ten thirty three.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
Manly messages in.

Speaker 9 (53:29):
The Senate represented from the seventy second asking ams consent
that the rules be suspended, Assembly built ten thirty three,
be a mess of the Senate? Is there objection?

Speaker 1 (53:39):
Hearing none?

Speaker 9 (53:40):
The bill's in the Senate hearing none, hearing none.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
I have j you heard. I think that was Christine Siniki.
I object You can always tell Sinicky because she sort
of sounds like who is the character from Monsters inc Leszowski,
Remember the lady who turned out to be like the
undercover government monster agent. That's what I always think about
when I hear Christine Siniki.

Speaker 10 (54:07):
I objected Withsowski, you got a point. You know when
the Democrats have a point, they've got a point. There
were tons of objections, so there has been a recess
for boy oh boy, a couple of hours now while
they figure this out, because that was a massive controversy

(54:29):
and now we have to wait to see the fate
of the NIL bill. The nil bill name, image and
likeness is okay on its own, it really whatever. The
issue that I have is tacked onto it is fourteen
point six million dollars in general purpose revenue i e.

(54:53):
Taxpayer money from you and me and everybody else that
just automatically goes to the University of Wisconsin Madison in
every single year for athletic facilities maintenance. They don't have
to take that out of the money they make. And
they make a ton of money off of Badger football,
Badger basketball, to a lesser extent, Badger hockey.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
Even though the men's and women's teams aren't usually the
highest performing of ball. They've got significant revenue coming in
and they would have to take a portion of that
revenue and maintain the athletic facilities. Now they're just getting
fourteen point six million dollars of taxpayer money in a
giveaway from the state legislature. The same state legislature that said, Hey,

(55:37):
you're going to do away with all your DEI programs,
or we're not going to allow you to hire anybody.
We're going to institute a hiring freeze, We're going to
freeze your budgets. And finally UW system leaders come to
an agreement and they say, okay, okay, fine, Board of
Regents just gives a big old middle finger to the

(55:58):
Republican legislature and says, absolutely not, we don't agree. Finally,
it took a couple of weeks where the chancellor had
to go back and say, hey, you know what do
we do? The Board of Region's president had to go
back and say, guys, we really need you to vote
for this one. UW. Madison, though, has been remarkably intransigent

(56:22):
in getting rid of its DEI programs. Did it do so?
It dismantled its DEI department. Well, it just transferred all
of the workers to different departments. So essentially it's still
got a DEI program, it's just being hidden in any
number of other different departments across the university. Does this

(56:43):
sound like an institution that should be rewarded with an
additional fifteen million dollars in perpetuity? They're just going to
get fifteen million dollars every single year for facilities maintenance.
They won't have to spend a single cent on facilities
that they're going to be able to do fifteen million
dollars worth of facilities maintenance at one university and instead,

(57:07):
I guess use the revenues that are coming in instead
of hitting up their boosters. They're going to use more
tax dollars and revenue that's coming from taxpayer supported sports
to pay college athletes. So if you want to get
a hot shot running back from the transfer transfer portal,
you can do so using more taxpayer dollars because a

(57:31):
different form of taxpayer dollars, a different set of taxpayer dollars,
is going towards the facility's maintenance. So that has not
yet been voted on. I would expect that one to pass.
Hopefully the Assembly has learned its lesson about voice votes,
but I do expect that to pass. Great day for
a team. USA Women's hockey team lends the gold in

(57:53):
a thriller over our trival Canada this afternoon, two to
one in over time, and I am loving the Yes,
I know the NHL does at least for regular season
three on three plus a goalie for overtime. I'll admit
it's been a while since I've actually watched a regular

(58:14):
season hockey game. Watched the Stanley Cup playoffs and typically
don't really watch it that care I was when I
was growing up, I loved hockey, absolutely loved it. I
played roller hockey in front of my house with all
of my buddies from grade school, and it was the nineties,
everybody had rollerblades, so we did roller hockey. And we

(58:37):
must have played roller hockey every day of every summer
from probably like sixth grade all the way through about
sophomore year in high school. So I loved hockey back
that I became a huge New York Rangers fan when
they won their first and only Cup since the nineteen
fifties in nineteen ninety four. I still love Mark Messier,

(58:57):
Steve Larmer, Wisconsin's own Mike Richter. Congrats to the Team
USA women for a huge, huge gold medal victory today
over Canada. It will be the Team USA men playing
in the semi finals, and that brings us to the
unsung hero of the day. It is, in fact, a

(59:26):
Team USA men's hockey player by the name of Quinn Hughes,
who scored an overtime game winning goal in the quarterfinals
for the men's team against Sweden, and after the game,
as he was walking off the ice, a reporter asked
him about what it was like representing Team USA, and
Hughes's answer, spectac.

Speaker 7 (59:48):
USA flags all over the place.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
You can hear the chance, what's that atmosphere. Yeah, it's special.

Speaker 7 (59:52):
I mean, you know, I love the USC strains cussing
in the world. So happy to rep kind of hear
with these guys.

Speaker 6 (01:00:01):
And and that's really.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Special in an Olympics where it seems like at least
one out of every five Team USA athletes is asked
about all of the social ills of the United States
and gives a qualified answer about its politics. While asked
and answering about what it's like representing the team. It
is so refreshing to see people like Quinn Hughes who

(01:00:25):
are unabashedly proud to be wearing the red, white, and blue.
Quinn Hughes in really every other Team USA athlete who
thinks the same way he does about the responsibility and
the joy of representing the country that he loves so much.
They are your unsung heroes of the day. When The
Dan O'Donnell Show returns after the top of the hour news,

(01:00:48):
an emotional Robin Voss delivers his retirement address. We are
going to play some long segments of that. I'm going
to comment, and then we are going to get into
America's staffing crisis. Very influential column out this week. Stay
tuned Dan o'donald Show cover right an emotional Robin Voss

(01:01:11):
today announcing that he is not going to seek another
term in the Wisconsin Assembly. It was a very well
done retirement speech, and right now here on the Dan
o'donald Show, we are going to present it to you
in large segments because it's not just about one man's retirement.

(01:01:32):
Let's face it, though, outside of the two governors that
Wisconsin has had in the thirteen years that Voss has
been Assembly Speaker, there has been nobody more powerful save
for those two governors, in state politics than Voss. And
you could even argue that Voss was on par with

(01:01:56):
Governor Evers and Governor Walker in terms of the influence
that he has wielded as the leader of this state Assembly.
And it is truly the end of an era. Even
Governor Eavers said, we disagreed far more often than we agreed,
but this does mark the end of an era in

(01:02:18):
Wisconsin politics. And we are going to now here on
the Dan O'Donnell's show play some extended segments of Robin
Voss's retirement speech today, primarily because you're simply not going
to hear this anywhere else in the media. You might
hear a ten to fifteen second SoundBite in the five

(01:02:39):
o'clock news, but you're not going to hear just what
Voss had to say and what politics in Wisconsin has
been like over the last decade.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
When I first walked in this chamber, I could not
have imagined how deeply this institution would shape my life,
or profoundly I would come to believe in its purpose.
I remember being struck by a few things when I
first was sworn into office in two thousand and five.
One was how beautiful this building is and how lucky
I felt to be able to work in it. Second,

(01:03:11):
how intimidating it felt to sit in a desk that
had been occupied by generations of Wisconsinight's before me. And finally,
how ordinary the work felt from the outside, especially papers
and microphones, debating and votes, until I realized how extraordinary
the responsibility truly was. So today, as I announced that

(01:03:34):
I will not be running for re election in November,
I am struck by how much this work has shaped me,
how honored I am to have played a small part
in democracy, and how proud I am to know that
the state of our legislature is strong. The decision wasn't easy.

(01:03:56):
I've been thinking about it for most of twenty twenty five.
But sometimes the sign pushes you in the right direction,
and mine was at mid November when I had a
mild heart attack. Luckily, my doctors say I am perfectly fine,
but I do need to reduce my stress. And let
me tell you, this job is stressful.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Now. This should at least somewhat put aside this idea
that Voss is retiring now because he knows that there's
no chance Republicans are going to retain control of the Assembly.
In truth, this was really one of the worst kept
secrets in the state capital that Voss was going to retire.
In fact, he had been openly talking about possibly retiring

(01:04:37):
for the past several years. Suffering a mild heart attack
a couple of months ago was just the final push
I think that he needed, as he put it, sort
of a sign from God that now was the time
to step back.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
It was a sign from God that convinced me I
needed to choose a different path. I have always believed
that our republic, in order to remain healthy, the legislature
must be the strongest branch of government, not because it
should dominate, but because it represents When legislatures grow weak,
the people's voice grow faint. When executives governed by unilateral

(01:05:11):
fiat or action or courts are forced to resolve political questions,
it's often because legislators failed to do their job. My
work here in the state Capitol has been guided by
the conviction that this body must never surrender its authority,
its responsibility, or its relevance, no matter who the governor
is or what party he or she are from. Like

(01:05:33):
most of you, I did not arrive here with a
grand plan to stay for twenty two years. I arrived
with a belief that this institution mattered, and that a
healthy respect for the fact that the people who sent
me here expected me to take the job seriously, even
when it was hard, unpopular, or lonely. Over the years,

(01:05:54):
that belief has only deepened. Serving as a member of
this Assembly, and for the past thirteen years as a Speaker,
has been the greatest professional honor of my life. Together
we have worked upholl the legislature as a coequal branch
of government, defending its constitutional role and restoring balance when

(01:06:14):
the balance was tested. We strengthen legislative oversight, even though
our court has not weakened it. We reaffirmed the power
of the purse, even though some want to take it away,
and insisted that major policy decisions be made by elected
representatives accountable to voters, not unelected state employees.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
What he is talking about is rather obviously the state
Supreme Court, as well as unelected bureaucrats in say, the
Wisconsin Elections Commission staff, as well as in Tony Evers administration.
He also had a pointed rebuke of Governor Evers in
talking about taking away the power of the purse. The

(01:06:54):
four hundred year property tax veto is exactly that. It
is the governor appropriating for the next four centuries tax
money that was never authorized by the legislature.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
The Wisconsin State legislature is not just where laws are passed,
It's where democracy slows itself down on purpose. We debate
in public, we answer to voters. We live with the
consequences of our decisions, right or wrong. I learned early
on that in the legislature it's strongest when everyone agrees,
not only because of that, but because people are prepared

(01:07:28):
to show up and argue their case. Honestly, I've had
days in this chamber when flooria debates ran long and
tempers flared. In fact, many of us can remember the
longest debate in state history, lasting over sixty three hours.

Speaker 7 (01:07:42):
Right here in this chamber.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
And now many of you complain when we go more
than three hours, right, And yet I have to tell
you that those are some of the days when I
felt most that the system worked exactly as the founders intended.
As speaker, I've also learned that the job is all
about relationships, and for the people here in this room,
thank you. You are some of the smartest people I

(01:08:06):
have ever met, the most capable. A Wisconsin should be
so proud of you. But the job is about quiet
conversations and hallways. It's about the late night meetings when
deadlines loomed because we all need a deadline, and the
moments when you came up and talked to me about
an event or something that was personal to you and
I got to listen to your stories. What made the

(01:08:29):
biggest impact was regular people coming up to you in
the coffee shop or wherever it was tell you their opinion,
even if you didn't want to hear it. There were
moments of real pressure, moments when the institution itself was
being tested.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
I am so incredibly proud that all of us were
able to stand together. We advanced reforms aimed at fiscal responsibility,
holding the line on spending, protecting taxpayers, and making difficult
decisions to secure Wisconsin's long term economic stability. We pursued
policies to grow jobs and courage investment, and keep Wisconsin
competitive in a rapidly changing environment. We expanded educational opportunities

(01:09:09):
for kids, particularly in families who fell trapped by circumstance
of their birth rather than by a choice that they made.
We tried to change a system that far too often
traps our neighbors and their circumstances rather than what we
all want, which is helping to lift them to greater circumstances.
Some of the complishments I am proudest of will never

(01:09:29):
make headlines. Improving how this institution functions, modernizing its operations,
and ensuring that future legislators inherit a legislature that is stronger,
more transparent, and more resilient than the one I entered.

Speaker 7 (01:09:42):
Two decades ago.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
No accomplishment in this building is ever the work of
one person. To the members of this Assembly, Republicans and
Democrats alike.

Speaker 7 (01:09:52):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
We have argued fiercely, we have disagreed passionately, and yet
we have all shown up day after day by a
shared respect for this institution. The debates that we have
in this chamber actually matter. They matter because they happen
in the open, because they require compromise, and because they
reflect the will of the people that we all serve.

Speaker 7 (01:10:16):
To my personal staff.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
Today, my very first staffer, and we're gonna give people
a round of applause, mister speaker, even if you don't
want to. To my very who now works for the
clerk's office, Janine.

Speaker 7 (01:10:37):
Up there, let's give her a round of applause.

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
I know, especially my Democratic friends like to stand up,
but I'm going to introduce all these people and then
we can stand up at the end. But that's okay.
To the woman who took me to the Howard Dean
interview and pushed me out of the window or out
of the door of the car without telling me what
I was doing, my very first communications director, Kit Buyer,

(01:11:15):
thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
I'm gonna run down it because it's gonna I'm gonna
start crying, so I can't do it. So Lizzie and
Abby and Zach and Mariah and Jake and Kate and
Tyler and Mac and Tyler Ellison, the other Tyler and
Luke Wolfe, who are all here today, thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you. You have made me a better person,

(01:11:43):
and you've instance you made this institution stronger.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
You have you have.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
But to the person, But to the person who I
am closest to, with the exception of someone I'm related to,
the woman who really runs everything. I mean, I always
tell people I get to be the pretty face, but
she's the one who's pretty er and the harder worker.

Speaker 7 (01:12:10):
We all know how.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
This institution works.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
It's the people behind the scenes who don't get enough credit,
who do all the work, who are here at night
when we leave to the bar. They know everything that works. Jenny,
I could not have done it without you. Thank you
very much.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
Kind of believe it is his longtime chief of staff.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Eighty two people have worked in my office since I started,
about half interns, about half professional staff in the office,
each and every one of them fantastic. To the other
professional staff of the legislature, the people who work for
our FISCO Bureau and the reference Bureau. I'm not going
to start naming them all the six service agencies. Right,

(01:13:05):
incredible people. We are so blessed, and they do not
get the stanks that they deserve. Every day, day in
and day out, the stupidest questions that we have, they
act like they're serious.

Speaker 7 (01:13:16):
Right, they are amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
They're the steady hands, the institutional knowledge, the quiet professionals
who really make us work their long nights, their careful
counsel and devotion to process often go unseen by the public,
but they are truly the foundation of everything that we do.
Any success attributed to me belongs rightly with the professional
staff who made it happen. Let's give them a round

(01:13:39):
of applus to its in the sixty thirdy District and now
because of the evers Jerryman the thirty third Assembly District.

(01:14:02):
Thank you for placing your trust in me. Thank you
for placing your trust in me time and time again
over the past two decades. I am deeply humbled by
the confidence in my ability to servicing in Walworth Counties.
To my friends and neighbors who stood with me from
the very beginning and every step since the matter with
my recall or whatever your faith has been something that

(01:14:24):
means more to me than I can say. To my
friends from around the country who I know might be
watching that I've gotten the know through wonderful organizations like
NCSL and SLLF. Thank you for being mentors to me
and an incredible sounding board. Cliff Andre kurt Al, Tim Stacy,
Eric Steve, Linda Pete, and so many others. You know

(01:14:45):
who you are and you know what you did for me.
Thank you for helping me to make my work as
a leader more meaningful.

Speaker 1 (01:14:52):
And for your friendship even deeper.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
To my leadership team and my caucus colleagues, thank you
for your trust. Thank you for your candor and your
willingness to carry responsibility when it is heavy. Leadership is
never about authority alone. It's about accountability, and I was
fortunate to share that burden with people of integrity. The
people of Wisconsin, as I said earlier, are so lucky

(01:15:16):
to have you serving in your roles, and I have
confidence in the future that you'll keep doing it. And finally,
to my family, thank you for the sacrifices you made
so that I could serve the public. Public service demands time,
it demand's patience, and it depends understanding from those that
we love the most. Your support made it all possible.

(01:15:37):
Winston Churchill famously said, everyone has his day, and some
days last longer than others. My time has lasted quite
a while, but my service in this chamber will end
when the new class of freshmen are sworn in. I've
been so honored to serve with all of you in
this chamber, and I will miss many of you.

Speaker 7 (01:15:55):
But not all of you.

Speaker 4 (01:15:57):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
But to those of you who I will miss, and
actually all of you, I appreciate your service. As I
step away from this chamber of My hope is super
simple that those who follow will remember that the legislature
is not meant to be convenient or fast or easy.
It is meant to be deliberative. It's meant to be independent,
and it's meant to be strong. If this institution remains strong,

(01:16:21):
Wisconsin will remain strong. So, as my friend, the former
Speaker of Iowa, Linda Upmeyer said on her own retirement,
I'll miss the clowns, but not the circus. Have I
thought about that, and it's certainly fitting. Thank you all
for your service, Thank you for the honor you've given me.
May God bless Wisconsin and let's end with a great

(01:16:42):
session day, hopefully in the reasonable hours of the night.
Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
That is Assembly Speaker Robin Voss in his farewell address
this afternoon. We will be back in two seconds here
on the Dan O'Donnell's show to provide some analogists of
that and much more. Stay tuned. I don't actually think
I have ever seen Assembly Speaker Scott Scott. Assembly Speaker

(01:17:12):
Robin Voss that emotional. This was a man who went
into the trenches with Scott Walker, who battled Tony Evers
to the bitter end. But he was very emotional as
he announces today that he is not going to seek reelection,
that he is retiring after more than twenty years in

(01:17:32):
the State Assembly, more than thirteen years as Assembly speaker.
He is the longest serving Assembly Speaker in the history
of the Wisconsin State Assembly, which is something. And what
he was talking about was obviously very high minded ideas
about the deliberative nature of the legislative role in state government.

(01:17:54):
And he of course thanked the people closest to him,
his staffers, his colleagues. But what I took away was
the pointed nature with which he not necessarily attacked the
other two branches of government. But as we see an
imperial executive and an imperial judiciary here in Wisconsin, both

(01:18:17):
under the control of liberals who talk a big game
about democracy but are continually trying to chip away at
the lawful authority of the closest thing that we have
to actual representation of the people. You don't get closer
than you do to your state assembly person. You don't

(01:18:39):
get closer than your state senator. Sure, you have a
congressional representative, you have a House of Representatives member. But
in state government, it is very likely that if you
are at all interested in politics, if you are at
all somebody who follows what's going on, and somebody who

(01:19:01):
you know is is visible politically, you probably know and
have a relationship with your state rep with your state senator.
There's really something to that. And what we have had
over the last seven years was an executive branch that,
under the auspices of doing what's right in awe, shucks,

(01:19:21):
we just want to get some more money for the kids.
We actually had the single biggest affront to the separation
of powers I think that we've ever had in this state.
First of all with Governor Evers continually extending the state
of emergency, the the COVID emergency. He would declare new
public health emergencies every couple of weeks, just so he

(01:19:43):
could have his legislature. He could have his statewide mask
mandate without any legislative oversight. I don't think people realize.
I remember screaming about this to the high heavens in
twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two as Evers was doing it,
But it felt like people didn't really understand the threat

(01:20:04):
that this posed. And Robin Voss was one of the
few who did, who said, look, if he can just
declare a new state of emergency over something as stupid
as a mask mandate, well, what's to stop him from
simply declaring a new state of emergency and giving himself
all sorts of new powers that were never delegated to
him by the Wisconsin Constitution. And I can remember talking

(01:20:28):
with Voss about that and why he fought so hard
against it. And it's the same thing with now that
we have an imperial judiciary in the form of the
left wing Supreme Court that first took power in August
of twenty twenty three, when Janet proto Sewitz was sworn
in as the fourth Liberal and immediately, immediately you surved

(01:20:49):
the lawful constitutional authority of the state legislature to draw
state legislative maps and said, okay, we're just going to
on the flimsiest of anti constitutional grounds, saying we're just
going to strike down your maps. We're going to draw
our own, unless basically bullying the legislature into accepting Governor

(01:21:10):
evers map, which again, the governor has no lawful constitutional
authority to draw legislative maps in Wisconsin under the Wisconsin Constitution.
That falls specifically under the auspices of legislative power. But
the Supreme Court signed off on that. The Supreme Court
actually asserted for itself that power. And then we got

(01:21:33):
the big one where the governor, through this four hundred
year veto simply delegated state money for the next four
hundred years, that the power of the purse belongs to
the state legislature, just as it does federally to the
United States Congress. It in Wisconsin belongs that power to
allocate taxpayer money. That is the sole authority of the

(01:21:58):
state legislature. With the four hundred year veto, the governor said, okay,
I am going to take that authority from the legislature
and give it essentially to school board, say okay, you
can up the revenue limit by three hundred and twenty
five dollars per student per year for the next four centuries.
That was never authorized by the state legislature. There was

(01:22:19):
a tremendous affront to the separation of powers, and Voss
in his farewell address, was right full and purposeful in
not talking about that directly because he wanted to be magnanimous.
He wanted to be political, and he didn't want to
sound petty or anything like that. But that's exactly what
he was talking about when he was talking about the

(01:22:41):
threats to the deliberative body that is the legislature. All right,
we do have threats in the form of jobs and
a skills gap here in Wisconsin. That doesn't show any
signs of A fascinating article from a very astute conservative
business man here in Wisconsin. He's going to join me
in studio. Scott Mayor is up next here on the

(01:23:03):
Dan o'donald Show. We are going to talk about Wisconsin's
economic future. Stay tuned, we'll be right back after this
welcome back. It is the danodonald Show. We are so
pleased to be joined live in studio by Scott Mayor.
You know him as a former indie car driver. He

(01:23:25):
is also the chairman of the board, founder, CEO and
all around head honcho of QPS Employment Group. He joins
us live in studio. Scott, Welcome to the Dan o'donald Show.
So great to have you here.

Speaker 7 (01:23:39):
Thank you.

Speaker 8 (01:23:40):
Dan.

Speaker 7 (01:23:40):
By the way, you're getting me in trouble right out
of the gate. I'm no longer the CEO. Will you
go to next Gen? You are everything else? The founder executive.

Speaker 1 (01:23:47):
I am executive chairman. Actually I'm reading your CV and
right on here at executive chair of the board. That's right,
not chief executive. I blame my on existence dyslexia. Are so.
You have a fantastic piece in here from RealClearPolitics dot

(01:24:10):
com entitled Solving the Next Labor Shortage. You obviously know
this very very well. Is that RealClearPolitics dot com. We
clearly have a disconnect and we've heard a long time
about the skills gap here in Wisconsin, but you are
tying this not just to tech jobs, but also to

(01:24:33):
a very hot button issue and that is immigration enforcement.

Speaker 7 (01:24:40):
Correct. You know, let me start by saying, I appreciate
that we sealed the border. We needed to do that.
We need to get rid of the bad people. But
the hard working people in this country and in our
state that are just here because they couldn't find a
path legally, we can't get rid of them when you
seal the border. If you don't bring in two and
a half million more each year because of the people

(01:25:02):
that age out or die or retire, we're in the
hole right out of the gate.

Speaker 1 (01:25:08):
Now. A lot of people say to that, Okay, yes,
And obviously Wisconsin being the dairy state, we know, Look,
there are a whole lot of illegal aliens who work
in the agriculture industry. That's just we understand that. But
there are those who say, well, can't increased automation solve

(01:25:29):
a part of that? Or is this something that is
going to hit critical mass if in fact we do
see major deportation efforts of non criminal illegals. And it
is very important to note that the Trump administration has
been focusing on criminal illegals those who are This is
why it was such a big deal to get in

(01:25:49):
the jails in Minnesota, right because it's just very easy
to pick up people who are already in custody.

Speaker 6 (01:25:56):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:25:56):
But do you think that this is something that could
be solved through increased automation or are we still going
to need millions of human beings here?

Speaker 7 (01:26:05):
Well, we can only automate so much. I'm working with
Derek van Orden, congressman up north, and he's got a
ton of farms in his district and you can't automate
everything there. And let me tell you, he's those farms
are full of migrant labor, and Americans buy and large
don't want those jobs. Your kids, my kids, doesn't matter

(01:26:26):
the pay rate, you're not going to get them to
go work in a farm. And automation can only do
so much. So we really need we still need labor,
believe it or not. And that's really a good thing
because if everybody had a job, how are you going
to make money and pay your bills. So there will
be jobs and there always will be, and we need labor.
We need migrant labor factories, farms and fields. It's a

(01:26:48):
critical issue right now.

Speaker 1 (01:26:50):
But obviously, as you note in your piece, it's important
to note what the Trump administration is doing. It's not
a bad thing. We cannot be a nation without laws
or borders. We witness years of the open borders crisis
under Joe Biden, when millions of illegals crossed into our country,
including criminals from terrorist organizations and gang members. However, immigration

(01:27:10):
is far more nuance nuanced than just sending people back
across our borders. Immigration and migrant work are as vital
to our labor force and economy as seeking the American
dream and the land of Opportunity is for those who
so desperately want to start a new life in our country. Now,
as a general rule, I do agree with that. Okay,

(01:27:30):
I do absolutely agree with that. However, we do need
to have a process by which I think the United
States has the ability to sort of say, okay, this
is somebody who is vetted, this is somebody who has
proven themselves to be a hard worker. Do you understand

(01:27:53):
the concern about maybe not, I don't know, making sure
we have an adequate vetting process. Are you talking about
increasing the number of Green cards, H one B visas,
that sort of.

Speaker 7 (01:28:06):
Thing we're looking at, Derek and I are working on.
We want like a worker visa, like a couple of
year deal. That can be renewed because listen, we haven't
had immigration reform since I believe nineteen eighty seven, if
I'm not missing eighty six. Okay, been a long long time,
and by the way, I've been speaking on this for
well over a decade. Do you know it's literally impossible.

(01:28:28):
Let's say I'm a Mexican welder, never committed a crime,
perfect record, and I wanted to come over legally. Do
you know it was like a zero percent chance. So
we need to come up with a legal path to
actually bring people in as the country has needs. Now,
let's say the needs shut down, we shut the border down.

(01:28:50):
But when there are needs, we've got to find a
way to do it legally to bring people over. Because
what keeps our country strong is by having labor to
fill the jobs that are needed. You know, to go
to a store and find milk and lettuce and pork chops,
and if we run short of people to do those jobs,
that would be a national security issue. If you go
to pick and save and you can't find produce.

Speaker 1 (01:29:12):
No, I don't think there's anybody who disagrees with that absolutely,
And one thing that is one of the great secrets
of Hispanic labor, especially those from Mexico is especially men.
They're increasingly Republican in like massive, massive numbers. But when
you talk about stuff like this, Scott, a lot of

(01:29:33):
people say, Okay, we go back to that nineteen eighty
six and that led to amnesty for millions and millions
and millions of people. And before the sort of Trump
revolution here, we did have a lot of people believe
California was a red state before we had that mass amnesty. Right,

(01:29:55):
is this something that Democrats have won at a You're
not in favor of it, any sort of mass amnesty
pathway to citizenship for just you know, blanket magic wand amnesty. Like,
I have no problem with someone earning their citizenship. I
actually love it. My own sister in law is from Ukraine.
She became a citizen what fifteen years after first coming

(01:30:16):
here as a little girl, excuse me, on a visa
at like ten years old something like that, after her
parents died. And that obviously is something that I think
everyone can get behind. But I think what people are
very wary of is again a repeat of the eighty
six amnesty, in which Democrats are quite literally and they've

(01:30:36):
been pretty open about this for the last three decades,
a pathway to voting and importing political power.

Speaker 7 (01:30:44):
Yeah, I never didn't hear one word of amnesty. That's
a non starter. In Washington, d C. We're talking about
worker visas to have the opportunity to be here to work.
I don't think any of most of the migrants aren't
trying to get I mean, they probably would appreciate US
citizenship and be a path. But at this point, what
we're focused on is a very narrow path of worker visa,

(01:31:06):
and we're starting with just in the food processing industry.
We're not going any wider than that. We want to
get something through very narrow that everybody can get their
head around. You know, we need to eat right, We
need to be able to go to this store and
get vegetables and milk and meat and so forth. So
we're starting with that, and it's strictly a worker visa,
an opportunity to be here working, and like a two

(01:31:28):
year process, and then it can be automatically renewed with
as long as people are checked out that they're still here,
clean and doing their thing.

Speaker 1 (01:31:36):
What about the argument that Americans can do this work.
I mean, you're in the industry, So you obviously would
be able to say, is this I mean, is there
truth to what people have long said that these are
jobs that American citizens just aren't doing?

Speaker 7 (01:31:53):
Correct?

Speaker 1 (01:31:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:31:54):
Absolutely, I mean so many of these jobs Americans don't want.
Let me talk about another state, the state of Washington,
largest apple grower in the country. Do you know that
twenty five percent of the apples go unpicked because they
can't get enough labor there and it's been that way
for a decade, So they pick the premium apples and
let the lesser valued apples rot because they can't get

(01:32:15):
enough people. Doesn't matter the pay rate, you're not going
to get Bill Gates kids to go pick apples. Those
are jobs that Americans buy and large don't want. And
it's perfect because migrant labor takes those jobs and they're
happy to when they work hard and they do a
good job, and then they go home at night and
restart the next day. So no, we're not taking Americans
jobs at you know, even if there was twenty percent unemployment,

(01:32:37):
I just don't think you're going to get my kids
or your kids to go pick apples. It's just not
going to happen.

Speaker 1 (01:32:43):
Well, I'll tell you what, if I've got an apple
tree in the backyard and their chore is to pick
those apples, They're picking the damn apples.

Speaker 7 (01:32:48):
Okay, now you're splitting hairs with me, but I'm talking.

Speaker 1 (01:32:51):
About no, no, every day, I'm kidding with you. I'm
kidding with it. Yeah, there is, there is, definitely that.
I guess. The one thing that there is the can
certain about also though, is sort of the exploitative nature
of that, Like our wages artificially down because we're importing labor,
whereas Americans, and trust me, I am very receptive to

(01:33:12):
the argument that especially unionized labor has in many respects
priced itself out of the global market. If we actually
do want to, as President Trump says, reshure a lot
of these jobs, you're not going to be able to
have the just you know, one hundred and fifty dollars
an hour wages that some of the unionized labor forces

(01:33:33):
are going to demand. But I guess, is there a
concern about exploiting some of these people and saying, you know,
paying below market wages? Right? I guess I suppose that
the market is sort of deciding what people are willing
to do.

Speaker 7 (01:33:49):
Right, you know, Dan, I can tell you that there
was a time where maybe the migrants weren't making as
much as you know, legal Hispanics, if you will U. Yeah,
that day has come and gone and they've wised up
and they're demanding the same pay rates as Puerto Ricans
or those here legally. So that's been an issue in

(01:34:10):
the past, but not so much today. They're getting paid
comparable and you know, we have nothing at QPS but
good high pay rates going are the day of you know,
seven dollars an hour minimum wage never comes into play.
QPS is a you know, entry level fifteen to twenty
dollars an hour starting pay rate for just about any
entry level job. So it's not an issue why you

(01:34:31):
want to come over and work kind of I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:34:33):
There, you go. They are slave drivers over here at iheartmeeting. No,
I'm kidding. Yeah, producer Eric said that better than what
they're paying us. What's going on here?

Speaker 7 (01:34:43):
Okay, I want to get you in trouble, but yeah,
we got good pay rates because the market has dictated that.
You know, you can set any federal minimum wage you want,
but the market should dictate what the pay rate is.
And it's gone up why because we have a shortage
of workers and there it brings you full circle down.

Speaker 1 (01:35:01):
He is Scott Mayor with the QPS Employment Group and
the article is at RealClearPolitics dot com. Definitely some food
for thought solving the next labor shortage. And this is something, folks,
that we do need to confront as President Trump is
very obviously doing the right thing on immigration enforcement, but

(01:35:23):
there is this other pull when it comes to the
counterweight of the push on that and Scott, I really
do appreciate. We love having you here, a great insight.
Thank you so so much. I'd love to have you
back anytime here on the Dan o'donald show.

Speaker 7 (01:35:41):
All right, I'll see you tomorrow dotal thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:35:43):
Yeah, you want to talk about Robin Voss. Let's see
what are some of the other big stories of the day. No,
we absolutely do love it. Thank you so much, sir,
you are listening to the Dan o'donald. We're back to
wrap things up for the Thursday edition coming up next.
My thanks again to Scott Mayer for joining us. It

(01:36:05):
is look, folks, it is a reality of the immigration debate.
As he said, he is working with Derek van Orden,
the Wisconsin congressman who represents a significant amount of the
dairy industry here in this state. That you know, obviously,
deportations of people who have valid deportation orders, people who

(01:36:25):
have committed heinous crimes. This is necessary. But the United
States has become dependent on illegal immigrant labor, and there
are a whole lot of people in the illegal immigrant
community who do love this country, who do want nothing
more than to be American to work here, and this

(01:36:45):
is something that does need to be addressed. There is
a whole lot of nuance. As Scott wrote in his
piece up at RealClearPolitics dot com, all right, this Assembly
is settling in for a long winter's night of debate,

(01:37:06):
and hopefully they have learned their lesson after an utter
debacle earlier this afternoon regarding the wake Boat bill passing
on a voice vote that absolutely should not have gone
on a voice vote. I have been running around trying
to get to as much of what the legislature has

(01:37:27):
been doing. They have gone into closed session for much
of this evening, and a lot of the significant legislation
is going to be passed probably late at night, something
I am also not a major fan of, but the
biggest action that we have had thus far, not just
the wake boat bill, but also passing on a voice vote,

(01:37:50):
is the online sports Betting bill, which is by far
the most significant piece of legislation that is going to
come out of this session, much more than the nil bill,
much more than wake voting. This is something that impacts
a whole lot of people. I am told that there
are a significant number of Republicans in the Senate who
just do not support this bill. So it is going

(01:38:11):
to be on the Senate leadership. It's going to be
on Devin Lemahue to decide whether he wants to abandon
the long standing rule of seventeen, in which he needs
seventeen members a majority of all Senators, not just a
majority of members of his own party, to bring a
bill out of committee and to bring it onto the

(01:38:32):
floor to vote. This is just something that's always been done.
Is he going to abandon that to essentially give monopolistic
control over online sports betting in this state something that
might not We don't even know whether this is constitutional,
whether the voters of Wisconsin need to go to a
constitutional amendment. The Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty, whose

(01:38:53):
legal opinion I treat as gospel. They are very very good,
very very thorough and talented lawyers. They say this is unconstitutional,
and I tend to agree with them. We will discuss,
of course, tomorrow in much greater depth, out of time
for tonight's show three h six Tomorrow, we're back at
it on The Dan o'donald Show