August 5, 2011

Tea Party: Liberals Want to “Break the Back of Conservatives” in Wisconsin

A tea Party Express bus at a rally for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fibonacciblue/4503390869/sizes/m/in/photostream/">Fibonacci Blue</a>/Flickr

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The tea party arrives in Wisconsin today, kicking off a four-day tour to rouse conservative voters and help protect the six imperiled Republican state senators facing recall elections on August 9. Spearheaded by the Tea Party Express, the “Restoring Common Sense” tour brings together four different conservative groups—TPX, Tea Party Nation, FreedomWorks, and the Patriot Action Network—and plans to hit nine cities in what the groups see as a crucial battle to keep the GOP senators in office, and thus prevent Democrats from jamming up Republican Governor Scott Walker’s agenda.

On Friday morning Tea Party Nation blasted out a life-or-death missive to its members on the importance of the recalls. TPN’s leader, Judson Phillips, accused liberals and Democrats of wanting to “break the back of conservatives here in Wisconsin” via the recalls and drive the state into bankruptcy. Referencing the winter labor upheaval in Madison, the state capital, Phillips wrote: “Liberal mobs attacked the capitol building and at one point trapped at least one Republican lawmaker.”

He goes on:

The left lost. So they are fighting back. They have filed recall papers against 6 Republican Senators. If three of them lose, it will flip control of the State Senate back to the Democrats and the fiscally conservative Governor Scott Walker will be hard pressed to do anything to cut spending.

This recall election is setting the stage for next January when the left is going to try and recall Scott Walker. By law, January is the earliest they can do this. Millions of dollars from radical left wing groups has flowed into Wisconsin along with millions of dollars from Unions.

[…]

As we tour Wisconsin the next few days, we need your help. If you can make it to Wisconsin, join us for the tour. If you cannot, spread the word about the tour to anyone you know. Details about the tour are on the front page of Tea Party Nation.

Phillips’ plea, not to mention the uniting of four different tea party groups for the bus tour, can only be seen as a sign of serious concern about how the six GOP senators will fare in next week’s elections. And if recent polls are any indication, they’ve got good reason to worry.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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