Nick: Welcome everyone to Changes the Podcast. you know, this is a special changes after dark. you know, I am here as an Eagles fan, sullying in the losses. I am drinking some some whiskey because I am processing how do we lose the Chicago Bears in Chicago. and you know, I just I'm here with other caucus members and I'll pass it. to them to introduce themselves as I wallow in my misery. So I'm a
Kyran: Walgo first Gabby or
Nick: Okay.
Kyran: Okay. hello guys. I'm Kyron. I'm the new caucus coordinator. I'm obviously new here like he said. first time of the podcast on the After Dark edition. So definitely the first time, but we'll see how it goes. So yeah, nice to meet you guys.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Y'all know who I am. This is Gabby, the communications director, and I am happy because I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. So I have nothing to be sad about right now drinking my wine. But, you know.
Nick: You should be you should be sad that the that the Bears won because of the Packers don't do well and it's gonna be behind the standings, you know, but here we are. But
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Until then, sucks to suck.
Nick: okay, okay. That being said, we're you know, this is this Kyron brought this idea up, so we're doing like changes after dark edition. So, you know, we ha we are all in different places. I got my wine I got my whiskey, you know, Gabby has the wine. you know, Kyron has his water, you know. But you know, we are all Gatorade. But here we are. so we got some stuff we're gonna talk about today. you know, and but really want to make sure we take some time to really just highlight some stuff that we're hearing on the campaign trail, you know, some healthcare policy stuff, some you know, really just analyzing some of the attacks that Tom Tiffany has been giving towards David Crowley. and then also him just trying to hide from his record. But Kyron, I'm gonna pass it to you. what you wanted to share some updates of what has David Crowley been doing because he's been traveling around the state and did a bunch of stuff last weekend, so I'm gonna pass it to you for the governor watch update.
Kyran: all right. So throughout the last week, David Crowley's just been going through Well, not just the past week, but this like kind of encapsulates the whole campaign. But he's been going like from farmsteads to college campuses and that's encapsulated within last week. And we can see that for like with going from rural rural farmsteads in like lacrosse to going to UW Milwaukee meeting with the college dumps chapter there. Like Crowley is meeting with all kinds of students, farmers, people from all different age ranges, walks of life. He's trying to build a wide spanning coalition that that kind of brings everyone under the same tent, under the same tent of trying to get progression. And I think that's kind of the main stark difference between campaigns. that's kind of what Crowley's been doing for the last week. terms of specifics, speaking to some of those con site concerns, It's just talking about like voting history, gas prices, and we'll talk about that also later. But yeah, in terms of what David's been doing in terms of Milwaukee and what he's gonna do for the entire state. he's reduced tax rates, built more affordable housing, delivered reform for previously incarcerated individuals, and he's been working for his constituents and he's going to work for more constituents if we elect him to governorship.
Nick: Well y'all here heard it here. Y'all heard it here first, but but you know, I think what's really crazy is just like, you know, obviously, you know, when you're running a campaign and you're getting outspent, you're getting outspent like ten to one because, you know, Tom Tiffany's being bankrolled by three Republican mega donor billionaires who got a bunch of tax breaks under you know, recently from Trump the Trump administration, Tom Tiffany's votes. You know, David's still showing up and trying to make sure that he's meeting people where he's at You know, UW Milwaukee, meaning when Kyle Jemsey was out in lacrosse for, you know, Oktoberfest, talking to tens of thousands of Wisconsinites from across the state. So you really had you really highlighted it, like to it. You know. But I know you go to UW Whitewater and you're really excited when when Crowley gets to the Whitewater campus, you know.
Kyran: Mm-hmm.
Nick: big fan of Whitewater, had a lot of friends who go to Whitewater and stuff. But, you know. What it so what is what it like when it comes to the student stuff, like what do you think like is the biggest thing that's really important for, you know, people to really be talking about when engaging like young people? I know young people is like beyond people who are in college, but you know, college is a place where there's a ya lot of young people at typically.
Kyran: Yeah, something that applies to all college workers. I mean, for one gas prices and two, raising minimum wage. I mean, literally all campus jobs start at like ten dollars, eleven dollars, twelve dollars, and in twenty twenty six with the prices that we're at right now, like that doesn't realistically pay for an anything. So A higher minimum wage, first of all, is something that can resonate with every college student because any college worker is getting paid below what Crowley is proposing to raise it to. So I feel like that's something that just everybody can resonate with. I mean, who could be against that if you're a college student?
Nick: Yeah. Well that's real. That's real. But I think we'll get to so what let's go to the next part of our topic. And you know, I was gonna screen share, but we've been having internet issues, y'all, and it's late. So so last week there was this big like news story here locally because Tom Tiffany was having a veterans event in Milwaukee, and they suddenly did not want to invite the they did not want to let the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in. And if Y'all been following like just the campaign on social media, you'll see that like Tom Tiffany has some type of beef with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. And this is one thing that I'm gonna read it to y'all that they basically put in their they put it in their their story. But but essentially These people when they responded to the Mary Spacoos of the Journal Sentinel reporter getting getting removed. Was right now we would like to see the Journal Sentinel cover the race fairly. And when that happens, we'll be happy to accommodate. And that was from his communications director. Very bizarre. You know, Gabby, you know, I'm thinking next time you wanna come to a caucus event and you wanna take pictures and record and stuff, I'm just gonna bar you from like coming in. I'm just kidding. Like
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: I mean, what about free press and free speech, you know?
Nick: Mm.
Kyran: H what what does he mean by fair?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: And then also,
Nick: Well I think that
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: do you know what the issue is with Mary in particular? Did you see any reasoning behind that?
Nick: Yeah. So they were saying like it wasn't fair, but when I recently there was recently a story that dropped that Mary Spacuza wrote that was just outlining how Tom Tiffany was being funded by three billionaires because unfortunately, because of Tom Tiffany on r ironically and Scott Walker, we have a campaign finance law that allows anyone to contribute unlimited amounts of money as individuals to political parties and then political parties can make sure that they make unlimited contributions directly to candidates and what's been going on is these billionaires like the Ulines and Dihan Hendricks and Uline is literally the Uline shipping company that y'all see when you're driving to Chicago. You see it when you go through Pleasant Prairie.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Mm-hmm.
Nick: they are basically sending money to the college Republicans and the state a Republican Party, and then it's like ninety percent of his funds. And they took really big offense to that, that it was being reported on the way that it was. and the that that's the best like correlation of it. I think the other part is that Tom Tiffany really has a record that isn't for Wisconsin, especially when you look at the last two years in Congress. You know, the big the big Trump's big ugly bill with the huge tax cuts with the cuts to Medicaid. he voted for like an AI data center ban. in that same provision, the big beautiful big ugly bill, he gave a bunch of tax breaks to businesses, which also helped data centers itemize their con expenses as well. so he really just hasn't been enjoying when our local press have been pointing out the facts of his record. That is my interpretation of it, but I don't know what y'all feel your yours yours are. with that.
Kyran: Would you like to f go first yet? No, I I no, I was inviting you
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: So it sound like go ahead, Kyron. I'll give my take after.
Kyran: to go first. Promise.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: gonna say that it sounds like Spacooza is the one who broke that story then. because that was a thing. Like everybody was like pissed at the U lines for there was like the Buck situation, like people found out that they were like I guess because when the story broke, then folks started looking at like who are the U lines and what are they doing? And then, you know, folks found out about they are the sponsors for the Bucks and that was like a whole thing too. but say that, you know, like campaign finance is a thing that's always talked about. It's important. You do follow the money. Everybody knows that. Even outside of politics you follow the money. That is something that is normally reported on on either side, even when it's not like a political race. You know, we know that he's been raising all this money. They are talking about and making fun of, you know, David for not having as much money as Tom Tiffany. So if we're talking about the money, you putting it on the table, naturally people are gonna find out where is this money coming from? You know? And that loophole for being able to give like s unlimited amounts of dollars when like a individual person like myself, I can't give over what? Like how much to a local candidate but billionaires can't can't pour into our, you know, governor elections, that is, you know, I mean, I need to know that. I wanna know that. You know, that's not biased to me. Especially when you report on how much money he's made in a great way. We wanna know where it came from. It's the same conversation basically. It's the same conversation to me.
Nick: Yeah.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Direct.
Kyran: Yeah. Yeah, going off what you said, like, I don't believe the story was reported with any bias. Like I I feel like people drew their own conclusions based on what was laid out. Like it's not like the story lied or anything. Like it's all about it goes back to transparency and it's kind of what people like Tom Tiffany hate and people that report on transparency, you know, obviously we're seeing Rippling Facts are just able to say, No, I just don't want you reporting here, so they just don't let you in. So we're gonna see if he extends that to other journalists that he deems unfair, but yeah.
Nick: And and like all that just to say that this is a this is like just like what Donald Trump's doing, right? Like he literally just was banning CNN, MS now and political because
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah.
Nick: yeah, because they weren't like they weren't quote unquote reporting him fairly. And then he wanted to compare it, well, y'all didn't let Breitbart in it's just like so you only want to talk to like right wing press that only specific cater towards your beliefs and you have the same philosophy. I think the The the most frustrating thing is the the journal Sentinel does not have a bias. They report on the news. There are stories that, you know, they report on Democrats that I don't don't like. But you know what? They're they're they're putting it with the information that they have. It's it's not about a narrative. It's and it's it's your job as a campaign to really talk about you know, really set the facts straight. But like when you're running away from what your record actually is, and you're now blocking reporters from doing it. I saw I recently let you know, another reporter into an event like he did a snarky comment. I'm will I will make sure that the press is transparent. That includes you, Laura, from the journal Sentinel. So it just it just shows that he has this like beef and he's like just just being right like Trump, and I just don't we just don't need that, y'all. But you know, we're gonna get into the next we're gonna go to the next portion of our next portion where we're gonna talk about You know, these these attacks on ta David Crowley taxing, quote unquote. so I'm gonna let me let me share my screen and play this ad for y'all to see if this even works. One second, y'all.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Hopefully it works.
Nick: here it goes again. Damn.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: It was working just fine.
Nick: You know, I just think that maybe you know, y'all you're not gonna get the ad, but we're in the short of it, we're gonna talk to you what it's about. So it whether you are in Milwaukee or you are in you know, Sheboygan, you're in the seventh CD or the first or the first CD, you are seeing all these ads right now that, you know, accusing David Crowley of his record of raising quote unquote raising taxes. And I I feel like it's something that we really need to like address and really like talk about. but just what are your just for y'all before we get into it, like how are how are y'all what are y'all hearing of like do you feel like these ads are like confusing people? You know, what do you what do y'all think on the front end before we we just go down like the line of what the real what what what's really going on here?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Would it be too bootleg for me to play it on my phone? I have it pulled up.
Nick: You have it pulled up? Alright, all right, all right, all right, yeah, fuck it. Yeah, put it to the put it to the thing.
Kyran: I think that'd be good visual aid.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Let's see. Let's see how it goes. Is it too bright? It's too bright. Wait one second.
Nick: I don't see a brain.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: It is. Well, you can hear it though. Say
Nick: Is it even planned?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: hello to David Crowley and say goodbye to your hard-earned money. Crowley nearly doubled sales taxes. He raised property taxes five times. When working families like yours needed a tax cut, Crowley voted no. Twice. Now he wants to take his tax hiking record statewide. The money you earn, the home you own, the things you need. Crowley wants to tax it all. Higher taxes, higher costs. Wisconsin can't afford David Crowley.
Nick: Y'all heard it first and that you know, I think we're gonna do that that way. You know, you're not y'all aren't gonna get the bougie the bougie screen title or or anything like that. You're just gonna get that shit. How do y'all feel about that? Is that what we do?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah, 'cause I you know,
Kyran: Yeah.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: we don't even really want to give it airtime but we wanna give reference to what we're talking about. But go ahead,
Nick: Right.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Kyron.
Kyran: well just like start just starting off with it, like in terms of like the doubling of the tax rate, it's like if if I'm not mistaken, it's like doubling for like like a like a point zero zero. It's it's like literally like like a like a slight shift in numbers. Like for instance, if the analogy were as if you were to buy like a ten dollar Big Mac and you pay ten cents for tax on it, you now pay fourteen cents on it. And that's what they say the doubling of tax was while also he's balanced the budget of Milwaukee while also slashing property tax rates. Like what what what are we talking about here? That's kinda what that's kind of what I'm thinking about. Like
Nick: And yeah, you then Kyron, you're like right on a point here because like also, you know, there was he gave the largest property tax cut from the county, like after like those increases occurred. So it's just David David has always been prioritizing trying to lower costs. But I think the biggest thing here that I think it's important to chop up is Tom Tiffany has been an elected official since like twenty ten. So since the Tea Party came in, he was one of those Tea Party people. He was in the state legislature before he went to Congress in I want to say 2020. So let that's 10 years he was in the state legislature. And during that time he was on the state's joint finance committee. The biggest thing like of this is that he dictated the finances of the state. And there's this thing called shared revenue, which is how much local municipalities and counties get back from the state to operate their cause. If a c if a local government doesn't get enough money back from the state, it's either cut services or try to find ways to fund those services. So the big thing that's really misleading about it when he's talking about the sales tax is Ti Tiffany made sure Tiffany made sure that state shared revenue was h reduced hundreds of millions of dollars while costs for local governments rose. Like To a shit like shit ton more, like almost two times of like what they can afford. And what that means is when we talk about inflation, y'all, when our costs are going up, or even if or even sh even the last couple of years, when we talk about tariffs, like that impacts it for local governments as well. It's not just businesses that have to charge more, like government also has to pay for those services services too, whether that is making sure you're having affordable like living wages for people, whether that's making sure you can afford the tech or the contracts you need to. So like I think one statistic that I had was in twenty twenty three, public safety mandated services alone accounted for fifty-three million dollars in increased costs while shared revenue was reduced to Milwaukee County, by in Milwau to Milwaukee County by 40 million in the previous state budget. So that means costs for public safety, which Republicans say that they care about. action to act increased and then they decreased money to those service decreased money to in the their in the state budget to give to local municipalities and that is that is that is a problem and I think that Wisconsin has like became the the seventh highest state like in reliance on property taxes to fund local government because like he has refused to like make sure that local governments were funded. So like these attack ads are wild 'cause they're blaming David Crowley for a problem that Tom Tiffany created.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Essentially. and then I asked you about this, you and somebody else before. but the pension situation also is a factor with this, right? Like, isn't that like this uncontrollable, unavoidable situation that we like there's a certain amount of Milwaukee's money that goes into this pension fund at the county?
Nick: my
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: You get what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying?
Nick: I know what you're talking about. And like that's what's so crazy about it is, you know, I don't think Scott Walker's ever gonna be listening to this, but Scott Walker, since our former governor, since he likes to talk shit, you know, Republicans actually failed to do pension reforms in where basically way before our time, you know, when I wa was a kid, like there was this pension stuff that was like signed that Milwaukee's still dealing with and Under Walker, there was an attempt at pension reform, but it was like short-sighted and like unsustainable. But like David also took on the challenge of the pension reform pieces, and 80% of their like 80 while 80% of their budget was consumed by state mandated services, and by 2027, their entire local budget was had was consumed by mandated costs. So by 2023, pension pension payments would have consumed about like one f one third of their entire tax levy and continue to grow. So like if if if David didn't act as county executive, like us as taxpayers would be paying for pensions rather than services that we're getting from like getting from the county. So that means that they would have had to cut public safety services. They would have to eliminate senior services, like close bus lines, close parks. And, you know, he did reform the pension system by closing by by closing by doing some things like closing a local system and leveraging like their state's retirement system. And then also using the sales tax revenue that they're talking about to basically balance the the the financial situation for the county. So like You're absolutely right. Like things do like affect things in like the pension has a lot to deal with that. But that's why Milwaukee needed that sales tax and Act twelve. So this this these attacks that are happening from Tom Tiffany, but also when these other right wing groups, they're very misleading, y'all. And like I think you y'all need to make sure that you just don't get fooled by that.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: For sure. That's the piece of it that I know folks are missing. And this is like a part of the solution that David has created. And then to everything that you just mentioned, like this is a thing that's there, that was there before he got there, that was there when you were a kid, that was there when I was a young adult. And he's been working with it, finding a solution because you can't there's nothing you can do about. the like the pensions are there. And so the reform and how you go about making sure that's taken care of and also other things, you know, this is this is where we are. So just to say like, Dave is raising taxes just because he wants us, you know, to take all our money, that's not true. There are other factors here at play. Thank you for breaking that down because I knew that, you know, a piece of it, but I knew that had something to do with the sales tax as well.
Nick: Right. And like this shit's complicated, y'all. Like it's not all cut and dry. And I think that's what's frustrating. Like people, you know, they they rely on us to only pay attention to these thirty second minute ads and then they don't want us to look over 'cause they they trust like, they're gonna believe what they see on T V or their their phones, you know. You know, so we it's our job to like make sure we talk to folks about it.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah, and that was your question, right? Like it like what is what do we think about the ads? Like to the average person who doesn't know things like about the pension and about other things that you mentioned, it sounds good. It sounds good. They paying good money for people to make good enough ads that sound legit, that sound believable. To the person that doesn't know any better, that's just working, taking care of their family, you know, going to Walmart, going to do whatever and coming home, you know, you depend on these types of things to give you the facts, but these aren't facts. when they're coming from the other side who's trying to win and doing anything to do that, even telling lies or what do you call it? Like manipulating the truth. So yeah, I'm glad we covered this. I'm glad you put I'm glad you lifted this one up so that we could kind of, you know, like dispel that.
Nick: All right. Well, you know, let's so we're gonna get into like the next so we talked about taxes, we talked about, you know, Tom Tiffany just hiding from his record and reporters. You heard about, you know, what it what David Crowley was doing last week, actually doing work, meeting voters where they're at, you know, talking around the state. But you know, one th one thing the biggest things that I think we've been forgetting about on this trail is this campaign has been consumed with like like data centers and, you know, all the the drama like drama is healthcare. And before we get started, I wanna like play this clip. I just saw it on like David's TikTok of about healthcare, but I wanted to talk make sure we talked about it. But just a little word, y'all, and I think this will play better.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Because
Nick: From David, y'all. From David himself. We heard we heard from the man. But but y'all, so like I think just like just to like highlight that again is like last year, you know, there was this big fight about like Trump's like you know, big ugly bill and like there was the whole government shutdown that was around ACA subsidies like not being extended to the premium levels and now You know, we have increased health care premium costs, whether you're in the marketplace or your private insurance. And on top of that, your employer is increasing it too. And it's about to get worse next year. But I don't know if this is very personal. Like I I don't I don't know, y'all. Like I'm glad like I have the job that I do and like the healthcare isn't as bad. But like I recently opened up my I even opened up and even though my insurance was covering it, like some of that shit was still expensive. Like I got my colonoscopy surgery, y'all. Sorry, TMI. But I was like, damn, how do I own a thousand dollars for all these bills? You know, so pay yo pay it, y'all. It adds up.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah. And not go ahead, Kyron.
Kyran: Yeah. I mean Just like healthcare in general is rehearsal to me like for instance physical therapy, like I messed up my knee and if if you like if I were to go to eight weeks of physical therapy it would end up costing me even with healthcare like covering it's still a copay of twenty dollars each time you go. And it's usually three times a week and it's until your body is okay, like so depending on the type of injury you get, you're there for like sometimes twelve, thirteen, fourteen weeks. That's sixty dollars. per per week. So even like things like that. in terms of like rural expanding access to to rural care, for the past two years with with first of all the cuts to to health care that we saw initially in 2024 and like 2025, and now the more cuts that we're seeing expanding care to rural communities I feel like is very important and for me personally I have asthma and allergies so I mean I can I can imagine like if I were like a four year old, five year old and I had like an allergy reaction like a very bad one that like for instance I that caused me my left lung to close like when I was younger. If I had an allergic reaction like that and I'm in a rural community community, then how am I going to get to the care that I need, like a big hospital that's going to like save my life? So I could just imagine rural care being important. in those situations. And expanding that as always is probably a big thing to me because urgent care is supposed to be urgent and it can't be urgent if it's an hour away.
Nick: That's that's fucking real, dude. Like
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Job.
Nick: Mic drop indeed. And like I remember when I was when I was six years old, I ended up having an asthma attack. I didn't even realize it. And like I was able to get to the hospital. And I remember my mom was basically like nervous and like told she always like talked about after like how much like the hospital bill was. And this was before the Affordable Care Act. And like now I think there's an issue where you're paying for, you know, the healthcare and like there's still and it's still like the out of pocket costs you have to do. And like I think like it's important to know just even on Kyron's point is I think sometimes we're like conditioned to think that like, just because it's like a copay is like that small, it's not a lot. Like we're like, twenty dollar copay, that's not bad, but that shit adds up. Like I tore my I tore my ACL before. Like ligaments are no fucking joke, y'all. Like you that is different. I would rather have a broken bone than a than a torn ligament, in my personal opinion.
Kyran: Yeah.
Nick: Cause at least the bone can freaking heal. And at least you at the with a broken bone, you can go to the emergency room to get it you can get the get it fixed, like fixed, and they'll do the surgery and stuff, like there. But when it's a ligament, you have to get referred to an orthopedic surgeon. you have to go or like a doctor, you have to go get an MRI. Then you have to go get the surgery. Then you have to recover from it. Then you have to get the little ice machine and do all the therapies. And like that shit adds up. So like I think also like to Kyron's point, it's just like I don't think that we should be really taking for granted, even when there's just like, well just a twenty dollar copay. Gas is literally frickin' I'm paying I'm paying double the amount of what I was paying for gas like a year ago. Like right now. It used to take me 35 to to to fill up my raw for now it's taking like sixty five dollars. So it's just like that's extra that's but what w w like we if it's just what twenty dollars here, twenty dollars there and now costs are going up, it doesn't help the situation.
Kyran: Everything is twenty dollars, literally.
Nick: Literally. Yep. Goes up twenty dollars. and I think like the one thing that we also need to talk about that I think that David didn't really talk about like in that video just on the health care plan is also on healthcare policy, but it it's also his plan to make Badger Care, which is our state Medicaid pro state Medicaid program that I know a lot of people listen to do know about Badger Care, love Badger Care. He wants to make that a public option. Which means anyone can make sure that they they pay to enroll to get the badger care rates. And I one thing that's really good with this type of model is it basically creates a publicly owned health care plan that is accountable to us as taxpayers that isn't about generating the most profit for their shareholders. And I think having a responsible like system like within the healthcare infrastructure, also forces private businesses to not cut corners and find additional ways that they can make extra money when in reality they should be making sure they need to stay competitive and make it affordable. and I think just like some things I'm reading from is Badger and his Badger Basic website is David Crowley is going to open Badger Care enrollment to any household that wants it and use federal Medicaid matching funds to cover portions of the plan. He wants to make sure there's a sliding scale premium based on income. so targeted subsidies can be made for small businesses, students, single parents, even like gig workers doing DoorDash and stuff. And also making sure badger care covers dental envision because you have to get your dental and vision insur insurance separate from your healthcare insurance, what makes no fucking sense to me whatsoever. So like I I think like I'm just gonna I just had to say that. I just had to say it, y'all. Just put it in. I don't know.
Kyran: No else.
Nick: Gabby, what's your healthcare story? What healthcare stories do you want to share about why people need to
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Ha ha.
Nick: not listen to this Tom Tiffany man and f support your boy, David?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Well, as a X year old black woman, you know many but I will say
Nick: Twenty five year old black woman.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: yeah t twenty eight the latest, twenty eight the oldest. you know, I'll just speak to like the the gig worker, right? you know, because there are folks who fall in the gaps like I did for so many years. If you have adult children and your job does not cover health care. And like you said, healthcare, vision and dental are not together. When you're on state insurance, they are. It's all the same shit, right? But when you work it is different. And if you are not working or if you're working or your contract, it it is different. It's all separate. So I'll definitely say like the ACA the Affordable Care Act That picked up the people like me back in the day that were in the gaps. Like I don't have dependent children. I don't have this job with these benefits. I don't I'm not pregnant. I'm not like all these other things where I can get state insurance or like can afford or have, you know, this this health care at this job. And so There's many a stories that I could tell, but I'll just say, you know, the Badger Care as a public option, it really covers like it covers everybody. It makes it affordable for everybody. It healthcare is personal to everybody. Everybody has a story. Everybody has a I couldn't afford it or I had to break the bank to, you know, pay for this. It's not just 20, Kyron. Like when I like my co-face. Not just 20, but 20 breaks away. Huh?
Nick: What was your copay? What was your copay?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: My copays were 60 and 75 bucks without like these are, you know, like and I actually this is with a job. This is with a job at a urgent care. This is 60 and 75 bucks. And I feel like it's depending on where you go too, you know, like you just don't know. But so imagine without a job. And you go into urgent care, you don't qualify for state insurance. Like it has been a horror story until we got the Affordable Care Act. And then you also got for women, you got like lifetime women's, you know, health care, where you could go to Planned Parenthood and you can get like women's health care free of charge. Free of charge, you know, like you don't have to sign up for that the same way you do, like you have to qualify for health care and you have to know how much you if you need this, you got this. Because that was and that also came with the Affordable Care Act. I'll stop there.
Nick: Mic drop. Mic drop like
Kyran: Mm-hmm.
Nick: for real. Like Jesus. And I think like, you know, I wanna like cloth like I think there's really nothing else to like more to discuss, right? Like, you know, David Growl, we're gonna be talking about throughout the week on our caucus social media pages if you haven't found us, follow us as w at Wisp Black Dems on all platforms. we're gonna be talking about this because you know, David is coming with solutions to healthcare plan, whereas Tom Tiffany is not and like I think like everything that Gabby was literally talking about just now about her experiences, these were experiences that she faced before the Health the Affordable Care Act was passed and how
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Mm-hmm.
Nick: and now that it's being dismantled, it's going back to the old and I think that's very terrifying. And I think all of us have our own stories with our parents on like, you know, what that was like. you know, but b before we close out, Gabby, I wanted to pass it to you because you had a call to action that you wanted to share before we before we wrap up. So you she has another mic drop moment coming. And she has something to get off her chest. She let us know ahead of time.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Do and I also want to start with our I'm gonna do it in a bootleg way and then I'm gonna go after. Wisconsin, remember there is an election on November third. My name is Nick, I'm the Black Caucus Chairman
Nick: get the so
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: for Wisconsin Democrats, and I just got done canvassing and handing out yard signs in our communities across the north side of Milwaukee. The one thing that was very alarming is people saying, I already voted in this election. And when I asked, so you turned in your absentee ballot, they said no, I voted in August. That was for the primary election. So in Wisconsin, there are two elections for the general. One that decides The party nominations and the general election in November. David Crowley earned the nomination for the Democratic Party in the August election. So you still need to vote again. So, y'all, you can find your polling place and register to vote at myvote.wi.gov. You can request your absentee ballot or you can vote by mail, or you can wait to vote in person early, depending on the municipality you are in. Or you can vote. Vote on election day, November third. This election is too important, and we need every vote to make sure we get out the vote for David Crowley and make sure he is elected governor because that is how we're gonna make sure we get more affordable living, affordable child care, affordable housing, affordable health care. All these things that we should not be having to pay so much out of pocket right now when the cost of everything is going up, especially with the Trump's tariffs and the Iran war, that him Okay, I'm gonna stop it because of Nick.
Nick: Yeah, that dude makes two long
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah, yeah.
Nick: videos, so I don't know whoever that is. They ain't that's too long. That's that dude makes long
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Just I just caught the
Nick: videos and I don't know who that is, but they need to make their videos shorter.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: He made valid points. The man with no face. You could not see the face. But
Nick: Yeah, just white white light.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah, I don't know why it was like that this time. but on a serious note, like it was alarming to and understandable, rightfully so. And I said this, you know, a couple of days ago that I was a reverse voting person. I never voted in the primary. I didn't know what that was. I knew the general, I didn't even know it was called a general. I just knew that we were supposed to vote November third for the president. And then whoever the hell else was on the ballot at the time, like you just knew to vote Democrat, right? So understand You know, like my lack of understanding back then, and knowing what I had going on. And it's the same thing today. It's a different time, same shit, right? folks got a lot of stuff going on. There was a lot of hoopla and hype around the primaries, and so people went out to vote. They found out, David won. He's you know, he won the Democrat. Like, he didn't win. We're not done. We have to vote November 3rd. Like you said in the like he said in the video, August is the Primary November is the general. It's the same as it always is. It's November. It's the it's the big election in November. We got David to pass the primary. Now he's up against terrible Tom Tiffany. And so they're going head to head November third. If you do not know where you're supposed to vote, you can go to www.dot my vote dot gov. Is that it?
Kyran: Mm-hmm.
Nick: Ivo dot WI dot go.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: My vote dot
Kyran: Wow.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: w I almost had it.
Nick: WI dot gov. This is why we do voter education. Nothing changes after dark podcast, y'all.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: I I am tipsy, I know better. But we will have it in the it will be in the caption and it's also on the page. but yeah, we have to make sure we show up for David Crowley. We have to make sure we show up November 3rd. I strongly suggest if you can and are mobile and able to go to the to the voting locations in person, please do so. you know, to vote in person. but make sure you have all your ducks in a row, the absentee ballot or whatever you need to do. but we do need you to show up on November third. There was also conversations around, you know, like hang you know certain hang ups or certain questions that folks had have those questions after he wins still you you gonna get those questions answered after David wins but we wanna make sure we have the proper information and that you have the proper voting location and that you know that we still have to vote on November third in order for David to be our governor. We are not done. We are not done. It is 38 days until the election, I believe. and so we will be posting more about this. We'll be posting the voting sites. We'll be posting for rise to the polls. we'll be taking any questions you may have around voting and, you know, even around David, honestly, I'll take those. But yeah, we have an we have an election November third. We need you all to spread the word, bars. we need you all to make sure that you are tapping into your local leaders, your you know, community leaders, elected officials, for any questions that you may have around this, everybody can educate everyone around them and make sure that they are properly educated on what they need to know so that we have the victory in November. I'll stop there.
Nick: You know, mic Gabby enough said. You know, Gabby
Kyran: That's now sad, I think.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Is it? Is it?
Nick: with the mic drop, y'all. So, you know, y'all join us next week for our next briefing. See follow us on online and remember make a plan to go vote and get involved. But we'll see you all until then. I'm Nick. And then
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: I'm Gabby.
Kyran: Karen?
Nick: and then Gabby. And Gabby's so excited to be here. And she'll be back next time. Goodbye, y'all.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: I didn't even say it this time. I'm pretending I'm having a good time.
Nick: Yeah. All right.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Let me
Nick: Cheers, y'all. And RIP birds.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Cheers. Peace. Peace.
Kyran: Yeah.
Kyran: Walgo first Gabby or
Nick: Okay.
Kyran: Okay. hello guys. I'm Kyron. I'm the new caucus coordinator. I'm obviously new here like he said. first time of the podcast on the After Dark edition. So definitely the first time, but we'll see how it goes. So yeah, nice to meet you guys.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Y'all know who I am. This is Gabby, the communications director, and I am happy because I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. So I have nothing to be sad about right now drinking my wine. But, you know.
Nick: You should be you should be sad that the that the Bears won because of the Packers don't do well and it's gonna be behind the standings, you know, but here we are. But
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Until then, sucks to suck.
Nick: okay, okay. That being said, we're you know, this is this Kyron brought this idea up, so we're doing like changes after dark edition. So, you know, we ha we are all in different places. I got my wine I got my whiskey, you know, Gabby has the wine. you know, Kyron has his water, you know. But you know, we are all Gatorade. But here we are. so we got some stuff we're gonna talk about today. you know, and but really want to make sure we take some time to really just highlight some stuff that we're hearing on the campaign trail, you know, some healthcare policy stuff, some you know, really just analyzing some of the attacks that Tom Tiffany has been giving towards David Crowley. and then also him just trying to hide from his record. But Kyron, I'm gonna pass it to you. what you wanted to share some updates of what has David Crowley been doing because he's been traveling around the state and did a bunch of stuff last weekend, so I'm gonna pass it to you for the governor watch update.
Kyran: all right. So throughout the last week, David Crowley's just been going through Well, not just the past week, but this like kind of encapsulates the whole campaign. But he's been going like from farmsteads to college campuses and that's encapsulated within last week. And we can see that for like with going from rural rural farmsteads in like lacrosse to going to UW Milwaukee meeting with the college dumps chapter there. Like Crowley is meeting with all kinds of students, farmers, people from all different age ranges, walks of life. He's trying to build a wide spanning coalition that that kind of brings everyone under the same tent, under the same tent of trying to get progression. And I think that's kind of the main stark difference between campaigns. that's kind of what Crowley's been doing for the last week. terms of specifics, speaking to some of those con site concerns, It's just talking about like voting history, gas prices, and we'll talk about that also later. But yeah, in terms of what David's been doing in terms of Milwaukee and what he's gonna do for the entire state. he's reduced tax rates, built more affordable housing, delivered reform for previously incarcerated individuals, and he's been working for his constituents and he's going to work for more constituents if we elect him to governorship.
Nick: Well y'all here heard it here. Y'all heard it here first, but but you know, I think what's really crazy is just like, you know, obviously, you know, when you're running a campaign and you're getting outspent, you're getting outspent like ten to one because, you know, Tom Tiffany's being bankrolled by three Republican mega donor billionaires who got a bunch of tax breaks under you know, recently from Trump the Trump administration, Tom Tiffany's votes. You know, David's still showing up and trying to make sure that he's meeting people where he's at You know, UW Milwaukee, meaning when Kyle Jemsey was out in lacrosse for, you know, Oktoberfest, talking to tens of thousands of Wisconsinites from across the state. So you really had you really highlighted it, like to it. You know. But I know you go to UW Whitewater and you're really excited when when Crowley gets to the Whitewater campus, you know.
Kyran: Mm-hmm.
Nick: big fan of Whitewater, had a lot of friends who go to Whitewater and stuff. But, you know. What it so what is what it like when it comes to the student stuff, like what do you think like is the biggest thing that's really important for, you know, people to really be talking about when engaging like young people? I know young people is like beyond people who are in college, but you know, college is a place where there's a ya lot of young people at typically.
Kyran: Yeah, something that applies to all college workers. I mean, for one gas prices and two, raising minimum wage. I mean, literally all campus jobs start at like ten dollars, eleven dollars, twelve dollars, and in twenty twenty six with the prices that we're at right now, like that doesn't realistically pay for an anything. So A higher minimum wage, first of all, is something that can resonate with every college student because any college worker is getting paid below what Crowley is proposing to raise it to. So I feel like that's something that just everybody can resonate with. I mean, who could be against that if you're a college student?
Nick: Yeah. Well that's real. That's real. But I think we'll get to so what let's go to the next part of our topic. And you know, I was gonna screen share, but we've been having internet issues, y'all, and it's late. So so last week there was this big like news story here locally because Tom Tiffany was having a veterans event in Milwaukee, and they suddenly did not want to invite the they did not want to let the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in. And if Y'all been following like just the campaign on social media, you'll see that like Tom Tiffany has some type of beef with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. And this is one thing that I'm gonna read it to y'all that they basically put in their they put it in their their story. But but essentially These people when they responded to the Mary Spacoos of the Journal Sentinel reporter getting getting removed. Was right now we would like to see the Journal Sentinel cover the race fairly. And when that happens, we'll be happy to accommodate. And that was from his communications director. Very bizarre. You know, Gabby, you know, I'm thinking next time you wanna come to a caucus event and you wanna take pictures and record and stuff, I'm just gonna bar you from like coming in. I'm just kidding. Like
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: I mean, what about free press and free speech, you know?
Nick: Mm.
Kyran: H what what does he mean by fair?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: And then also,
Nick: Well I think that
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: do you know what the issue is with Mary in particular? Did you see any reasoning behind that?
Nick: Yeah. So they were saying like it wasn't fair, but when I recently there was recently a story that dropped that Mary Spacuza wrote that was just outlining how Tom Tiffany was being funded by three billionaires because unfortunately, because of Tom Tiffany on r ironically and Scott Walker, we have a campaign finance law that allows anyone to contribute unlimited amounts of money as individuals to political parties and then political parties can make sure that they make unlimited contributions directly to candidates and what's been going on is these billionaires like the Ulines and Dihan Hendricks and Uline is literally the Uline shipping company that y'all see when you're driving to Chicago. You see it when you go through Pleasant Prairie.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Mm-hmm.
Nick: they are basically sending money to the college Republicans and the state a Republican Party, and then it's like ninety percent of his funds. And they took really big offense to that, that it was being reported on the way that it was. and the that that's the best like correlation of it. I think the other part is that Tom Tiffany really has a record that isn't for Wisconsin, especially when you look at the last two years in Congress. You know, the big the big Trump's big ugly bill with the huge tax cuts with the cuts to Medicaid. he voted for like an AI data center ban. in that same provision, the big beautiful big ugly bill, he gave a bunch of tax breaks to businesses, which also helped data centers itemize their con expenses as well. so he really just hasn't been enjoying when our local press have been pointing out the facts of his record. That is my interpretation of it, but I don't know what y'all feel your yours yours are. with that.
Kyran: Would you like to f go first yet? No, I I no, I was inviting you
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: So it sound like go ahead, Kyron. I'll give my take after.
Kyran: to go first. Promise.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: gonna say that it sounds like Spacooza is the one who broke that story then. because that was a thing. Like everybody was like pissed at the U lines for there was like the Buck situation, like people found out that they were like I guess because when the story broke, then folks started looking at like who are the U lines and what are they doing? And then, you know, folks found out about they are the sponsors for the Bucks and that was like a whole thing too. but say that, you know, like campaign finance is a thing that's always talked about. It's important. You do follow the money. Everybody knows that. Even outside of politics you follow the money. That is something that is normally reported on on either side, even when it's not like a political race. You know, we know that he's been raising all this money. They are talking about and making fun of, you know, David for not having as much money as Tom Tiffany. So if we're talking about the money, you putting it on the table, naturally people are gonna find out where is this money coming from? You know? And that loophole for being able to give like s unlimited amounts of dollars when like a individual person like myself, I can't give over what? Like how much to a local candidate but billionaires can't can't pour into our, you know, governor elections, that is, you know, I mean, I need to know that. I wanna know that. You know, that's not biased to me. Especially when you report on how much money he's made in a great way. We wanna know where it came from. It's the same conversation basically. It's the same conversation to me.
Nick: Yeah.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Direct.
Kyran: Yeah. Yeah, going off what you said, like, I don't believe the story was reported with any bias. Like I I feel like people drew their own conclusions based on what was laid out. Like it's not like the story lied or anything. Like it's all about it goes back to transparency and it's kind of what people like Tom Tiffany hate and people that report on transparency, you know, obviously we're seeing Rippling Facts are just able to say, No, I just don't want you reporting here, so they just don't let you in. So we're gonna see if he extends that to other journalists that he deems unfair, but yeah.
Nick: And and like all that just to say that this is a this is like just like what Donald Trump's doing, right? Like he literally just was banning CNN, MS now and political because
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah.
Nick: yeah, because they weren't like they weren't quote unquote reporting him fairly. And then he wanted to compare it, well, y'all didn't let Breitbart in it's just like so you only want to talk to like right wing press that only specific cater towards your beliefs and you have the same philosophy. I think the The the most frustrating thing is the the journal Sentinel does not have a bias. They report on the news. There are stories that, you know, they report on Democrats that I don't don't like. But you know what? They're they're they're putting it with the information that they have. It's it's not about a narrative. It's and it's it's your job as a campaign to really talk about you know, really set the facts straight. But like when you're running away from what your record actually is, and you're now blocking reporters from doing it. I saw I recently let you know, another reporter into an event like he did a snarky comment. I'm will I will make sure that the press is transparent. That includes you, Laura, from the journal Sentinel. So it just it just shows that he has this like beef and he's like just just being right like Trump, and I just don't we just don't need that, y'all. But you know, we're gonna get into the next we're gonna go to the next portion of our next portion where we're gonna talk about You know, these these attacks on ta David Crowley taxing, quote unquote. so I'm gonna let me let me share my screen and play this ad for y'all to see if this even works. One second, y'all.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Hopefully it works.
Nick: here it goes again. Damn.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: It was working just fine.
Nick: You know, I just think that maybe you know, y'all you're not gonna get the ad, but we're in the short of it, we're gonna talk to you what it's about. So it whether you are in Milwaukee or you are in you know, Sheboygan, you're in the seventh CD or the first or the first CD, you are seeing all these ads right now that, you know, accusing David Crowley of his record of raising quote unquote raising taxes. And I I feel like it's something that we really need to like address and really like talk about. but just what are your just for y'all before we get into it, like how are how are y'all what are y'all hearing of like do you feel like these ads are like confusing people? You know, what do you what do y'all think on the front end before we we just go down like the line of what the real what what what's really going on here?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Would it be too bootleg for me to play it on my phone? I have it pulled up.
Nick: You have it pulled up? Alright, all right, all right, all right, yeah, fuck it. Yeah, put it to the put it to the thing.
Kyran: I think that'd be good visual aid.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Let's see. Let's see how it goes. Is it too bright? It's too bright. Wait one second.
Nick: I don't see a brain.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: It is. Well, you can hear it though. Say
Nick: Is it even planned?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: hello to David Crowley and say goodbye to your hard-earned money. Crowley nearly doubled sales taxes. He raised property taxes five times. When working families like yours needed a tax cut, Crowley voted no. Twice. Now he wants to take his tax hiking record statewide. The money you earn, the home you own, the things you need. Crowley wants to tax it all. Higher taxes, higher costs. Wisconsin can't afford David Crowley.
Nick: Y'all heard it first and that you know, I think we're gonna do that that way. You know, you're not y'all aren't gonna get the bougie the bougie screen title or or anything like that. You're just gonna get that shit. How do y'all feel about that? Is that what we do?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah, 'cause I you know,
Kyran: Yeah.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: we don't even really want to give it airtime but we wanna give reference to what we're talking about. But go ahead,
Nick: Right.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Kyron.
Kyran: well just like start just starting off with it, like in terms of like the doubling of the tax rate, it's like if if I'm not mistaken, it's like doubling for like like a like a point zero zero. It's it's like literally like like a like a slight shift in numbers. Like for instance, if the analogy were as if you were to buy like a ten dollar Big Mac and you pay ten cents for tax on it, you now pay fourteen cents on it. And that's what they say the doubling of tax was while also he's balanced the budget of Milwaukee while also slashing property tax rates. Like what what what are we talking about here? That's kinda what that's kind of what I'm thinking about. Like
Nick: And yeah, you then Kyron, you're like right on a point here because like also, you know, there was he gave the largest property tax cut from the county, like after like those increases occurred. So it's just David David has always been prioritizing trying to lower costs. But I think the biggest thing here that I think it's important to chop up is Tom Tiffany has been an elected official since like twenty ten. So since the Tea Party came in, he was one of those Tea Party people. He was in the state legislature before he went to Congress in I want to say 2020. So let that's 10 years he was in the state legislature. And during that time he was on the state's joint finance committee. The biggest thing like of this is that he dictated the finances of the state. And there's this thing called shared revenue, which is how much local municipalities and counties get back from the state to operate their cause. If a c if a local government doesn't get enough money back from the state, it's either cut services or try to find ways to fund those services. So the big thing that's really misleading about it when he's talking about the sales tax is Ti Tiffany made sure Tiffany made sure that state shared revenue was h reduced hundreds of millions of dollars while costs for local governments rose. Like To a shit like shit ton more, like almost two times of like what they can afford. And what that means is when we talk about inflation, y'all, when our costs are going up, or even if or even sh even the last couple of years, when we talk about tariffs, like that impacts it for local governments as well. It's not just businesses that have to charge more, like government also has to pay for those services services too, whether that is making sure you're having affordable like living wages for people, whether that's making sure you can afford the tech or the contracts you need to. So like I think one statistic that I had was in twenty twenty three, public safety mandated services alone accounted for fifty-three million dollars in increased costs while shared revenue was reduced to Milwaukee County, by in Milwau to Milwaukee County by 40 million in the previous state budget. So that means costs for public safety, which Republicans say that they care about. action to act increased and then they decreased money to those service decreased money to in the their in the state budget to give to local municipalities and that is that is that is a problem and I think that Wisconsin has like became the the seventh highest state like in reliance on property taxes to fund local government because like he has refused to like make sure that local governments were funded. So like these attack ads are wild 'cause they're blaming David Crowley for a problem that Tom Tiffany created.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Essentially. and then I asked you about this, you and somebody else before. but the pension situation also is a factor with this, right? Like, isn't that like this uncontrollable, unavoidable situation that we like there's a certain amount of Milwaukee's money that goes into this pension fund at the county?
Nick: my
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: You get what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying?
Nick: I know what you're talking about. And like that's what's so crazy about it is, you know, I don't think Scott Walker's ever gonna be listening to this, but Scott Walker, since our former governor, since he likes to talk shit, you know, Republicans actually failed to do pension reforms in where basically way before our time, you know, when I wa was a kid, like there was this pension stuff that was like signed that Milwaukee's still dealing with and Under Walker, there was an attempt at pension reform, but it was like short-sighted and like unsustainable. But like David also took on the challenge of the pension reform pieces, and 80% of their like 80 while 80% of their budget was consumed by state mandated services, and by 2027, their entire local budget was had was consumed by mandated costs. So by 2023, pension pension payments would have consumed about like one f one third of their entire tax levy and continue to grow. So like if if if David didn't act as county executive, like us as taxpayers would be paying for pensions rather than services that we're getting from like getting from the county. So that means that they would have had to cut public safety services. They would have to eliminate senior services, like close bus lines, close parks. And, you know, he did reform the pension system by closing by by closing by doing some things like closing a local system and leveraging like their state's retirement system. And then also using the sales tax revenue that they're talking about to basically balance the the the financial situation for the county. So like You're absolutely right. Like things do like affect things in like the pension has a lot to deal with that. But that's why Milwaukee needed that sales tax and Act twelve. So this this these attacks that are happening from Tom Tiffany, but also when these other right wing groups, they're very misleading, y'all. And like I think you y'all need to make sure that you just don't get fooled by that.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: For sure. That's the piece of it that I know folks are missing. And this is like a part of the solution that David has created. And then to everything that you just mentioned, like this is a thing that's there, that was there before he got there, that was there when you were a kid, that was there when I was a young adult. And he's been working with it, finding a solution because you can't there's nothing you can do about. the like the pensions are there. And so the reform and how you go about making sure that's taken care of and also other things, you know, this is this is where we are. So just to say like, Dave is raising taxes just because he wants us, you know, to take all our money, that's not true. There are other factors here at play. Thank you for breaking that down because I knew that, you know, a piece of it, but I knew that had something to do with the sales tax as well.
Nick: Right. And like this shit's complicated, y'all. Like it's not all cut and dry. And I think that's what's frustrating. Like people, you know, they they rely on us to only pay attention to these thirty second minute ads and then they don't want us to look over 'cause they they trust like, they're gonna believe what they see on T V or their their phones, you know. You know, so we it's our job to like make sure we talk to folks about it.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah, and that was your question, right? Like it like what is what do we think about the ads? Like to the average person who doesn't know things like about the pension and about other things that you mentioned, it sounds good. It sounds good. They paying good money for people to make good enough ads that sound legit, that sound believable. To the person that doesn't know any better, that's just working, taking care of their family, you know, going to Walmart, going to do whatever and coming home, you know, you depend on these types of things to give you the facts, but these aren't facts. when they're coming from the other side who's trying to win and doing anything to do that, even telling lies or what do you call it? Like manipulating the truth. So yeah, I'm glad we covered this. I'm glad you put I'm glad you lifted this one up so that we could kind of, you know, like dispel that.
Nick: All right. Well, you know, let's so we're gonna get into like the next so we talked about taxes, we talked about, you know, Tom Tiffany just hiding from his record and reporters. You heard about, you know, what it what David Crowley was doing last week, actually doing work, meeting voters where they're at, you know, talking around the state. But you know, one th one thing the biggest things that I think we've been forgetting about on this trail is this campaign has been consumed with like like data centers and, you know, all the the drama like drama is healthcare. And before we get started, I wanna like play this clip. I just saw it on like David's TikTok of about healthcare, but I wanted to talk make sure we talked about it. But just a little word, y'all, and I think this will play better.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Because
Nick: From David, y'all. From David himself. We heard we heard from the man. But but y'all, so like I think just like just to like highlight that again is like last year, you know, there was this big fight about like Trump's like you know, big ugly bill and like there was the whole government shutdown that was around ACA subsidies like not being extended to the premium levels and now You know, we have increased health care premium costs, whether you're in the marketplace or your private insurance. And on top of that, your employer is increasing it too. And it's about to get worse next year. But I don't know if this is very personal. Like I I don't I don't know, y'all. Like I'm glad like I have the job that I do and like the healthcare isn't as bad. But like I recently opened up my I even opened up and even though my insurance was covering it, like some of that shit was still expensive. Like I got my colonoscopy surgery, y'all. Sorry, TMI. But I was like, damn, how do I own a thousand dollars for all these bills? You know, so pay yo pay it, y'all. It adds up.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah. And not go ahead, Kyron.
Kyran: Yeah. I mean Just like healthcare in general is rehearsal to me like for instance physical therapy, like I messed up my knee and if if you like if I were to go to eight weeks of physical therapy it would end up costing me even with healthcare like covering it's still a copay of twenty dollars each time you go. And it's usually three times a week and it's until your body is okay, like so depending on the type of injury you get, you're there for like sometimes twelve, thirteen, fourteen weeks. That's sixty dollars. per per week. So even like things like that. in terms of like rural expanding access to to rural care, for the past two years with with first of all the cuts to to health care that we saw initially in 2024 and like 2025, and now the more cuts that we're seeing expanding care to rural communities I feel like is very important and for me personally I have asthma and allergies so I mean I can I can imagine like if I were like a four year old, five year old and I had like an allergy reaction like a very bad one that like for instance I that caused me my left lung to close like when I was younger. If I had an allergic reaction like that and I'm in a rural community community, then how am I going to get to the care that I need, like a big hospital that's going to like save my life? So I could just imagine rural care being important. in those situations. And expanding that as always is probably a big thing to me because urgent care is supposed to be urgent and it can't be urgent if it's an hour away.
Nick: That's that's fucking real, dude. Like
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Job.
Nick: Mic drop indeed. And like I remember when I was when I was six years old, I ended up having an asthma attack. I didn't even realize it. And like I was able to get to the hospital. And I remember my mom was basically like nervous and like told she always like talked about after like how much like the hospital bill was. And this was before the Affordable Care Act. And like now I think there's an issue where you're paying for, you know, the healthcare and like there's still and it's still like the out of pocket costs you have to do. And like I think like it's important to know just even on Kyron's point is I think sometimes we're like conditioned to think that like, just because it's like a copay is like that small, it's not a lot. Like we're like, twenty dollar copay, that's not bad, but that shit adds up. Like I tore my I tore my ACL before. Like ligaments are no fucking joke, y'all. Like you that is different. I would rather have a broken bone than a than a torn ligament, in my personal opinion.
Kyran: Yeah.
Nick: Cause at least the bone can freaking heal. And at least you at the with a broken bone, you can go to the emergency room to get it you can get the get it fixed, like fixed, and they'll do the surgery and stuff, like there. But when it's a ligament, you have to get referred to an orthopedic surgeon. you have to go or like a doctor, you have to go get an MRI. Then you have to go get the surgery. Then you have to recover from it. Then you have to get the little ice machine and do all the therapies. And like that shit adds up. So like I think also like to Kyron's point, it's just like I don't think that we should be really taking for granted, even when there's just like, well just a twenty dollar copay. Gas is literally frickin' I'm paying I'm paying double the amount of what I was paying for gas like a year ago. Like right now. It used to take me 35 to to to fill up my raw for now it's taking like sixty five dollars. So it's just like that's extra that's but what w w like we if it's just what twenty dollars here, twenty dollars there and now costs are going up, it doesn't help the situation.
Kyran: Everything is twenty dollars, literally.
Nick: Literally. Yep. Goes up twenty dollars. and I think like the one thing that we also need to talk about that I think that David didn't really talk about like in that video just on the health care plan is also on healthcare policy, but it it's also his plan to make Badger Care, which is our state Medicaid pro state Medicaid program that I know a lot of people listen to do know about Badger Care, love Badger Care. He wants to make that a public option. Which means anyone can make sure that they they pay to enroll to get the badger care rates. And I one thing that's really good with this type of model is it basically creates a publicly owned health care plan that is accountable to us as taxpayers that isn't about generating the most profit for their shareholders. And I think having a responsible like system like within the healthcare infrastructure, also forces private businesses to not cut corners and find additional ways that they can make extra money when in reality they should be making sure they need to stay competitive and make it affordable. and I think just like some things I'm reading from is Badger and his Badger Basic website is David Crowley is going to open Badger Care enrollment to any household that wants it and use federal Medicaid matching funds to cover portions of the plan. He wants to make sure there's a sliding scale premium based on income. so targeted subsidies can be made for small businesses, students, single parents, even like gig workers doing DoorDash and stuff. And also making sure badger care covers dental envision because you have to get your dental and vision insur insurance separate from your healthcare insurance, what makes no fucking sense to me whatsoever. So like I I think like I'm just gonna I just had to say that. I just had to say it, y'all. Just put it in. I don't know.
Kyran: No else.
Nick: Gabby, what's your healthcare story? What healthcare stories do you want to share about why people need to
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Ha ha.
Nick: not listen to this Tom Tiffany man and f support your boy, David?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Well, as a X year old black woman, you know many but I will say
Nick: Twenty five year old black woman.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: yeah t twenty eight the latest, twenty eight the oldest. you know, I'll just speak to like the the gig worker, right? you know, because there are folks who fall in the gaps like I did for so many years. If you have adult children and your job does not cover health care. And like you said, healthcare, vision and dental are not together. When you're on state insurance, they are. It's all the same shit, right? But when you work it is different. And if you are not working or if you're working or your contract, it it is different. It's all separate. So I'll definitely say like the ACA the Affordable Care Act That picked up the people like me back in the day that were in the gaps. Like I don't have dependent children. I don't have this job with these benefits. I don't I'm not pregnant. I'm not like all these other things where I can get state insurance or like can afford or have, you know, this this health care at this job. And so There's many a stories that I could tell, but I'll just say, you know, the Badger Care as a public option, it really covers like it covers everybody. It makes it affordable for everybody. It healthcare is personal to everybody. Everybody has a story. Everybody has a I couldn't afford it or I had to break the bank to, you know, pay for this. It's not just 20, Kyron. Like when I like my co-face. Not just 20, but 20 breaks away. Huh?
Nick: What was your copay? What was your copay?
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: My copays were 60 and 75 bucks without like these are, you know, like and I actually this is with a job. This is with a job at a urgent care. This is 60 and 75 bucks. And I feel like it's depending on where you go too, you know, like you just don't know. But so imagine without a job. And you go into urgent care, you don't qualify for state insurance. Like it has been a horror story until we got the Affordable Care Act. And then you also got for women, you got like lifetime women's, you know, health care, where you could go to Planned Parenthood and you can get like women's health care free of charge. Free of charge, you know, like you don't have to sign up for that the same way you do, like you have to qualify for health care and you have to know how much you if you need this, you got this. Because that was and that also came with the Affordable Care Act. I'll stop there.
Nick: Mic drop. Mic drop like
Kyran: Mm-hmm.
Nick: for real. Like Jesus. And I think like, you know, I wanna like cloth like I think there's really nothing else to like more to discuss, right? Like, you know, David Growl, we're gonna be talking about throughout the week on our caucus social media pages if you haven't found us, follow us as w at Wisp Black Dems on all platforms. we're gonna be talking about this because you know, David is coming with solutions to healthcare plan, whereas Tom Tiffany is not and like I think like everything that Gabby was literally talking about just now about her experiences, these were experiences that she faced before the Health the Affordable Care Act was passed and how
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Mm-hmm.
Nick: and now that it's being dismantled, it's going back to the old and I think that's very terrifying. And I think all of us have our own stories with our parents on like, you know, what that was like. you know, but b before we close out, Gabby, I wanted to pass it to you because you had a call to action that you wanted to share before we before we wrap up. So you she has another mic drop moment coming. And she has something to get off her chest. She let us know ahead of time.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Do and I also want to start with our I'm gonna do it in a bootleg way and then I'm gonna go after. Wisconsin, remember there is an election on November third. My name is Nick, I'm the Black Caucus Chairman
Nick: get the so
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: for Wisconsin Democrats, and I just got done canvassing and handing out yard signs in our communities across the north side of Milwaukee. The one thing that was very alarming is people saying, I already voted in this election. And when I asked, so you turned in your absentee ballot, they said no, I voted in August. That was for the primary election. So in Wisconsin, there are two elections for the general. One that decides The party nominations and the general election in November. David Crowley earned the nomination for the Democratic Party in the August election. So you still need to vote again. So, y'all, you can find your polling place and register to vote at myvote.wi.gov. You can request your absentee ballot or you can vote by mail, or you can wait to vote in person early, depending on the municipality you are in. Or you can vote. Vote on election day, November third. This election is too important, and we need every vote to make sure we get out the vote for David Crowley and make sure he is elected governor because that is how we're gonna make sure we get more affordable living, affordable child care, affordable housing, affordable health care. All these things that we should not be having to pay so much out of pocket right now when the cost of everything is going up, especially with the Trump's tariffs and the Iran war, that him Okay, I'm gonna stop it because of Nick.
Nick: Yeah, that dude makes two long
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah, yeah.
Nick: videos, so I don't know whoever that is. They ain't that's too long. That's that dude makes long
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Just I just caught the
Nick: videos and I don't know who that is, but they need to make their videos shorter.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: He made valid points. The man with no face. You could not see the face. But
Nick: Yeah, just white white light.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Yeah, I don't know why it was like that this time. but on a serious note, like it was alarming to and understandable, rightfully so. And I said this, you know, a couple of days ago that I was a reverse voting person. I never voted in the primary. I didn't know what that was. I knew the general, I didn't even know it was called a general. I just knew that we were supposed to vote November third for the president. And then whoever the hell else was on the ballot at the time, like you just knew to vote Democrat, right? So understand You know, like my lack of understanding back then, and knowing what I had going on. And it's the same thing today. It's a different time, same shit, right? folks got a lot of stuff going on. There was a lot of hoopla and hype around the primaries, and so people went out to vote. They found out, David won. He's you know, he won the Democrat. Like, he didn't win. We're not done. We have to vote November 3rd. Like you said in the like he said in the video, August is the Primary November is the general. It's the same as it always is. It's November. It's the it's the big election in November. We got David to pass the primary. Now he's up against terrible Tom Tiffany. And so they're going head to head November third. If you do not know where you're supposed to vote, you can go to www.dot my vote dot gov. Is that it?
Kyran: Mm-hmm.
Nick: Ivo dot WI dot go.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: My vote dot
Kyran: Wow.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: w I almost had it.
Nick: WI dot gov. This is why we do voter education. Nothing changes after dark podcast, y'all.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: I I am tipsy, I know better. But we will have it in the it will be in the caption and it's also on the page. but yeah, we have to make sure we show up for David Crowley. We have to make sure we show up November 3rd. I strongly suggest if you can and are mobile and able to go to the to the voting locations in person, please do so. you know, to vote in person. but make sure you have all your ducks in a row, the absentee ballot or whatever you need to do. but we do need you to show up on November third. There was also conversations around, you know, like hang you know certain hang ups or certain questions that folks had have those questions after he wins still you you gonna get those questions answered after David wins but we wanna make sure we have the proper information and that you have the proper voting location and that you know that we still have to vote on November third in order for David to be our governor. We are not done. We are not done. It is 38 days until the election, I believe. and so we will be posting more about this. We'll be posting the voting sites. We'll be posting for rise to the polls. we'll be taking any questions you may have around voting and, you know, even around David, honestly, I'll take those. But yeah, we have an we have an election November third. We need you all to spread the word, bars. we need you all to make sure that you are tapping into your local leaders, your you know, community leaders, elected officials, for any questions that you may have around this, everybody can educate everyone around them and make sure that they are properly educated on what they need to know so that we have the victory in November. I'll stop there.
Nick: You know, mic Gabby enough said. You know, Gabby
Kyran: That's now sad, I think.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Is it? Is it?
Nick: with the mic drop, y'all. So, you know, y'all join us next week for our next briefing. See follow us on online and remember make a plan to go vote and get involved. But we'll see you all until then. I'm Nick. And then
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: I'm Gabby.
Kyran: Karen?
Nick: and then Gabby. And Gabby's so excited to be here. And she'll be back next time. Goodbye, y'all.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: I didn't even say it this time. I'm pretending I'm having a good time.
Nick: Yeah. All right.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Let me
Nick: Cheers, y'all. And RIP birds.
Gabi H. 🥷🏽: Cheers. Peace. Peace.
Kyran: Yeah.
