Wisconsin Lost One Of The Great Ones

 

Former State Rep. Amanda Stuck, Alderman Jonathan Brostoff and Bandit

I am sure all of you has already heard the news that Milwaukee Alderman Jonathan Brostoff was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday.  It will be a loss for not only the city but for the entire state and will be felt for a long, long time to come.

I first met Jonathan we were both working for Milwaukee County.  He was an aide to then County Supervisor Chris Larson and I was a social worker, union thug and still-wet-behind-the-ears blogger. You could tell that he was a mensch then. This impression only grew stronger as he became a state representative for the Milwaukee hip East Side.  Eventually, with a family, including his wife Diane and four young children, he ran for and became a city alderman so that he could be home more.

Everything about Jonathan proved that he was a true mensch. He was well-informed but never judgmental. He was passionate and compassionate.  He would never hesitate to get his hands dirty or do the right thing, even if he got his head bloodied doing it.

Throughout his time, Jonathan was always a good friend of Labor.  He was always seen marching in the Labor Day parade and enjoying Laborfest afterwards. And with Jonathan, it was never just about a photo op, shaking hands or kissing babies.  He was ready to fight the good fight, regarless of what level of government and he walked more than a few picket lines, even when he wasn't up for reelection.

Not only was Jonhathan a passionate man and a highly intelligent man, but he had a wicked sense of humor that helped him get his point across and was absolutely fearless.  This is well demonstrated from a time when he was in  the state legislature:

Jonathan had earned the wrath of then President Trump, but Jonathan never flinched and dished it out as much as he took in.

But most of all, Jonathan was a true friend to so many people.  I have benefitted from his friendship and I have seen him in action, helping lifting people from all walks of life.  He was especially involved with helping people with mental health issues as well as meeting the needs of people who were deaf.  

Like I said, he was a true mensch and will be sorely missed by many for a long time to come.

A GoFundMe account has been set up for his memorial and to help support his wife and four young children.  If you are able, please help them.  They have enough to deal with right now.

Peter Barca Must Resign!

By Jeff Simpson 

The Wisconsin Assembly today voted to give Foxconn, the Taiwanese Company that made a $148 Billion in profits last year, $3 billion dollars in Wisconsin taxpayer dollars to maybe come here and build a factory.   

Lawmakers passed the legislation authored by Gov. Scott Walker 59-30, after the chamber’s Republicans cheered it as a smart bet for taxpayers with massive upside for the state’s economy and over Democrats’ criticism that the deal is a gigantic gamble with state funds.
The legislation drew “no” votes from two Republicans and “yes” votes from Democrats who represent southeastern Wisconsin where Foxconn wants to build — including Rep. Cory Mason, who is running for mayor of Racine.(edit note:  Peter Barca and Tod Ohnstead also voted  yes). 

 Yes Tod Ohnstead voted for it because its in his backyard so while we all lose he will recoup some of the dollars maybe.   Cory Mason voted for it because he is too scared to go into the race for Mayor, allowing them to use it against him.  Cory Mason is in this fight for Cory Mason, the rest of us are collateral damage for Mason's career ambitions.    

Neither of these votes are remotely surprising.    However the one we need to address is Peter Barca's. 

Peter Barca is the minority "leader" of the Assembly.   Here at CogDis we have called for Mr. Barca to step down from this position and just continue on in his safely gerrymandered seat.

Tonight, Peter Barca showed that he had zero interest in leading the Democrats and with maybe the biggest and most important election in our lifetime in 2018, it is imperative to the future of Wisconsin that Peter Barca give up his leadership role within the party!

Lets take a look a Barca's night.   

Peter Barca‏ @PeterWBarca  Aug 15MoreDems offered several changes to Foxconn bill to make it better 4 taxpayers, workers & the environment. None passed. http://mailchi.mp/legis/statement-from-rep-barca-on-new-fiscal-analysis-of-proposed-foxconn-deal-2703229?e=7dcb97094f …

Ok Mr. Barca recognizes its a bad bill, and tries to make it acceptable to no avail.   

Barca isn't done:

Scott Bauer‏Verified account @sbauerAP  3h3 hours ago3 hours agoMore

But wait there is more: 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told reporters that Assembly Republicans did everything possible to win Democrats’ support for the measure, but Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, disputed that — saying he “never got that call” to work with Republicans on the package.
Barca proposed moving the bill to a committee tasked with approving financial measures and writing the state’s budget, but Republicans rejected the motion.
Barca, who represents the area in which Foxconn is eyeing to build, argued that “we can come back on a better, stronger deal for the taxpayers, the workers, the small businesses and will protect the environment.”

 Now that is leadership.  Representative Barca was at the forefront of pointing out exactly what was wrong with the bill, working to make it at least semi acceptable and one where the taxpayers do not lose in the end.

Unfortunately,  Barca was not successful in improving or slowing down the bill, so what does he do?                        

Even so, Barca ended up supporting the bill.

Barca, called it absurd, was lied to(and used as a prop) by Speaker Vos and knows that the environment is in danger with Foxconn and proudly voted YES!     

How do you, as leader of the Democratic party in the Assembly, vote against almost every other member of your caucus?   How do you give cover to Scott Walker and the Assembly Republicans by going along with a taxpayer funded welfare bill to a multi billionaire just to have something to run on in the next election?

We have a Governor who has a long record of economic disasters, who negotiated a deal with a company, that is best known for having suicide nets to keep their workers from killing themselves.   Now after cutting almost $3 billion dollars from our K-Grad public education system, we are handing the same amount over to a company that has a history of taking money and broken promises.    Yet the Democratic troops voted no and their "leader" voted yes.

How can anyone who is an elected Democrat, Democratic party member, donor or volunteer, how can you look at Peter Barca with respect as a leader?  When the Democrats all over the state campaign on the fact that Foxconn has not lived up to any promises yet, the Party of Walker can point out that the Leader of the Democrats voted yes also!    

The only possible way that the Democrats can head into 2018 with a chance to win is to actually head into 2018 with a leader.

Peter Barca must resign his leadership role immediately!

My Recommendations for new Assembly Minority Leader:

1.  Representative Jonathan Brostoff 
2.  Representative Chris Taylor 
3.  Representative Katrina Shankland 
4.  Representative Jimmy Anderson!

Make one of these four the new leader of the Democrats in the Assembly and we will win many seats in 2018!    

Continue on the same course and we will continue getting the same results!

Let Mr. Barca know its time to pass on the leadership of the party!

       Room 201 West                            Capitol Office: (608) 266-5504                      
         State Capitol                                   Toll Free: (888) 534-0064
         P.O. Box 8952
      Madison, WI 53708

   

                 Fax                                                        Email

        (608) 282-3664                          Rep.Barca@legis.wisconsin.gov

Twitter  - @peterwbarca

What Went Wrong In The Wisconsin Primary?

By Jeff Simpson

Capper recently gave his take on the recent primary election in Wisconsin and I wanted to also weigh in.  

Last Tuesday, Wisconsin held their primary which was the first time a partisan Presidential Primary was on the same ballot as a non partisan local and state wide election was on the same ballot.  

The turnout was surprisingly high for a spring election and the ballot was confusing.  For some reason there was a a spot at the top of the ballot where you could fill out Democrat or Republican. Why that would be a an option on a non partisan ballot is beyond me.   That being said, lets move on to the individual races.

The Top of the ticket featured the first time there was a contested Presidential primary in ages.  I Will not focus on the clown show on the right, instead lets focus on the Democratic Primary.

By now you know that Senator Bernie Sanders won the Wisconsin Primary, but lets look a little deeper.  Much has been said about the Republicans superior turnout, which led to the State of WI electing maybe the most unqualified Supreme Court Justice in the history of the United States,

There is more, there is always more!

While the Republicans did receive more votes (around 97000) the leading vote getter in the Wisconsin Presidential Primary was Senator Sanders:

Bernie Sanders  - 567,936
Ted Cruz   -  531,129
Hillary Clinton  - 432,767
Donald Trump    -  386.370
John Kasich  -  155,200

In the days leading up to the primary, Bernie Sanders was traveling the state holding rallies while Ms. Clinton was holding private events when she was not flying back to New York for a Lehman Brothers fundraiser.

With polls starting to show Ms. Clinton not having a chance to win the state, something amazing happened.   Almost every elected official in WI announced they were backing Secretary Clinton.  Then instead of giving reasons why, they circled the wagons and acted offended when being questioned.

Previous champions of labor like Cory Mason, Chris Taylor, Debra Kolste and Janis Ringhand inexplicably decided that the person who was in favor of every free trade deal in our history and championed the horrendous TPP would be the best choice for the people of WI.  

Unfortunately Bernies strong showing showed us why the Democratic party continues to be insignificant in Wisconsin, the huge disconnect between the party and the voters!

Quick piece of advice to the WisDems - Progressive populism is not against the law! Until the state Democrats begin to make this a priority:



Over this:


We will continue to be a red state.

Things are not any better on the State party level, Martha Laning, State Party Chair, said that she would use her super delegate vote for the winner of the Wisconsin primary, and after Bernie won handily, quickly switched positions to sayings he would support whoever was winning at the end.   Thus telling 568,000 Wisconsinites who braved the weather, lines and restrictive voting laws, thanks for playing but the game is over.   Sit down and be quiet until we need you in the fall.  

The way that the establishment circled their wagons for the Wall St. Senator did not go unseen by the people of Wisconsin.    With Bernie Sanders outdrawing all candidates on a regular basis to great enthusiasm, it looked like the party establishment banded together to stop the Sanders uprising.   If only they were so united for workers rights, public education and jobs.    

The Supreme Court Race:

Wisconsin, despite already electing Mike Gableman to the Supreme Court has now elected someone even less qualified.   In doing so, there is much blame and self reflection to go around and none of it belongs to Bernie Sanders.

First, Judge Kloppenburg made it clear that she did not really want the help of the Democratic party since this is a "non partisan" race and the Democratic party gladly obliged.   Her opponent, was handpicked by the GOP, coordinated her campaign with the GOP and even let it be known that there was no need to even listen to oral arguments just rule how they tell her to rule.  

The two parties are playing different games by different rules and as long as that continues to happen the GOP will continue successfully stacking the courts.

Secondly, many people loved that at the insider dinner in Milwaukee before the election when Hillary laid into Rebecca Bradley.  While it was very much justified it hurt the cause.

No sane person would think that Ms. Kloppenburg was as hyper partisan as Ms. Bradley but when the establishment Democrat, with record negatives, lays into one candidate that confirms to people throughout the state that one candidate is an R and one is a D.

Now Ms. Kloppenburg is associated with all as the Democratic candidate and is twisting in the wind with no help from the Democratic party.

Again different games, different rules, same results.

Which brings us to the Milwaukee County Executive race.

While I live in Dane county and am not effected on a daily basis of Mr. Abele's poor policies. However as an observer from afar I found something interesting that no one seemed to talk about.  

By all accounts, Mr. Abele spent approximately $5 million dollars smearing former Democratic Senate minority leader Chris Larson.  What is important to note is that Mr. Larson was the former Democratic leader of the Senate when Mike Tate was the chair of the Democratic party.  In all of Mike Tate's elections, Chris Larson was one of his biggest supporters.  

Chris Abele hired Mike Tate to help him run his campaign.   Mike Tate then promptly went to work smearing his old friend and supporter.  Everyone knows that when Mike Tate took over the party, the Dems held both houses and the Governor's mansion and during his tenure they lost all three and have become irrelevant.   We see with Tate taking a few pieces to smear a friend, the lack of values and ethics and character, and a good part of the reason why the party is no longer relevant.  

One last observation.   In the five million dollars that Tate/Abele spent to keep his $130,000/yr job, how many times did they mention the importance of electing JoAnne Kloppenburg?  The same amount of times that anyone in the establishment has spoken up about Chris Abele working against the party.

My first recommendation for the party is to have Peter Barca resign his leadership position immediately and place Rep. Jonathon Brostoff Assembly minority leader.

A Public Apology To Representative Jonathan Brostoff

A while ago, I got very upset with something that Representative Jonathan Brostoff had done.  I though he had turned corporate on us and lost my temper.  I was really rather boorish and out of line with him.

It turns out, he was the last one I needed to worry about, considering that he was on of the few Democrats that didn't go along with selling out Milwaukee to the plutocrats involved with the Bucks arena deal.  From his press release on the arena vote:

I want the Bucks to stay in Milwaukee and do not oppose building a new arena, but I could not support today’s proposal. It is a bad deal for my neighbors in this Assembly District and for Milwaukee County.

Governor Walker and his legislative allies argued that the Bucks will leave Milwaukee if public funding is not given. They claimed that we “cannot afford” the negative economic impact of the Bucks’ departure from Milwaukee and that there will be a huge positive economic impact if the team remains, but sports economists found that there is no evidence to support a connection between sports facility construction and economic development.

There have also been estimates of lost revenue as well as job creation projections, but these numbers vary greatly depending on the source. Of course no one opposes economic development, but our community would be far better served, in contrast to the current arena proposal, by not slashing the funding of UW-Milwaukee and the UW System as a whole– a system that generates $24 in economic activity for each $1 spent.

The hundreds of millions cut from UW System funding should be restored; that will produce jobs in the state. Our public education, criminal justice system, environmental protection efforts, road maintenance, public transportation, and so many other public services all cry out for greater support, yet all of them are diminished by the subsidies and tax breaks that anchor this proposal. Wiping out decades in public investment to support our community's most vulnerable and needy to pay for this arena is wrong.

Milwaukee County, which has had more than its fair share of recent struggles, is now being asked, via the arena proposal, to shoulder an additional $80 million in legacy costs. It would be taken from some of our community's most vulnerable and needy by further cutting services such as Milwaukee County's mental healthcare system. I could not support such a plan.

I understand this is an emotional and important issue. I have listened carefully to neighbors, consulted with colleagues, and worked to get a better deal, one that would build the arena with consideration to the needs, interests, and values of our community. The proposal today was a bad deal for the residents of this Assembly District and for Milwaukee County. I am saddened, because I know that we could have done better, but absolutely resolute in my decision to vote “No.” Many people want to see this arena get built, myself included, but not like this.

It was with great relief - and embarassment - that I realized that Brostoff was one of the few Democrats that isn't afraid to step on Emperor Abele's silk-stocking clad toes or the toes of any of the other plutocrats.

He obviously did not deserve my harsh words much less my doubt. For my bad behavior and my doubt, I apologize to Representative Brostoff and only ask that he continues to represent his constituents and all of Milwaukee as well as he did in this vote.

Endorsement: Marina Dimitrijevic For Assembly District 19

It was apparent from the beginning that the race for Assembly District 19, which became an open seat as Jon Richards set off to run for Attorney General, would be a most interesting race.  There are four Democrats, three of which would make wonderful representatives for that district.

During the past several weeks, I have been tracking the race and watching how the candidates fared.

Marina Dimitrijevic

By and far, Dimitrijevic was the candidate to beat throughout the race.  She entered the race early with an established campaign machine and was easily the most recognizable name due to her ten years on the Milwaukee County Board and currently the Chairwoman of that entity.  I did an interview with her at the end of last year, which you can read here.

Marina Dimitrijevic

She also started out with a very impressive list of endorsements.  On the political side, she was quickly endorsed by U.S. Representative Gwen Moore, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Former Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton and Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski, to name just a few.  Likewise, Dimitrijevic also picked up the endorsements of most of the major unions including AFSCME, SEIU, the nurses' union, the sheriff's deputies, AFT, ATU and a number of others.

Recently, Dimitrijevic has also earned the support of Clean Wisconsin Action, Wisconsin Progress and the Wisconsin Gazette.

Dimitrijevic has run a good solid campaign, doing a lot of doors and a lot of phone banking.  Most notably, she has ran a positive campaign, focusing on her own achievements and what she brings to the table when she is elected.

Jonathan Brostoff

I also did an interview with Jonathan Brostoff at the end of last year.  Brostoff is the candidate that presents the largest challenge to Dimitrijevic.  He is an experienced campaigner, although this is his first go at it as the candidate.

Brostoff has many political connections, which reflects in his list of endorsements.  The politicians that are supporting Brostoff aren't quite the heavy hitters that Dimitrijevic has behind her, but are not to be taken lightly either.  That said, I do have to wonder how many of those endorsements have to do with the fact that Brostoff's boss is State Senator Chris Larson, who is also the minority leader of the Senate.  One thing missing from Brostoff's list of endorsements is any from unions or community groups.

Brostoff has been busting his tail, and probably more than a few pairs of shoes, doing doors in all sorts of weather.  Brostoff has also been very creative in his fundraising events, which have ranged from a "salsa social" to a karaoke event to laser tag.

Sadly, Brostoff, who had been running a positive campaign, has gone negative against Dimitrijevic, accusing her of supporting the whackadoodle Sheriff David Clarke.  What he is referencing is the Milwaukee County Board's action of restoring scores of deputy sheriff positions which Chris Abele had cut in this year's budget, thereby restoring good paying jobs for some of the county's finest men and women and maintaining public safety.

Sara Geenen

Sara Geenen was the first to announce her candidacy for this race.  Geenen is a labor lawyer for the Previant Law Firm and volunteers with the Milwaukee Public School System. I also had the opportunity to interview her at the end of last year, which can be read here.

Geenen is a very intelligent woman and would be a great asset to the fight against the many repressive and oppressive measures that have been and will be introduced by the Republicans.  Unfortunately for her, Geenen does not have the money or name recognition of Dimitrijevic or Brostoff.  She has not gained any political endorsements but does have the support of some private sector unions which are very passionate about her candidacy.

While I don't think Geenen will win this race, I hope she continues to stay in politics and runs again for another seat in the future.

Dan Adams

Dan Abele Adams is not as much as Democratic candidate as he is one for the Abele Party.  I have noted before that Adams and Chris Abele are very close.  Abele has held no less than four fundraisers for Adams and has given Adams a lot of support, both directly and indirectly.

Outside of Abele, Adams has not gained any significant endorsements and for good reason.

Adams has come out in favor of voucher schools and stated that he supports parts of Act 10.  Based on the two videos that he was able to produce, thanks to Abele's largesse, we do know that he is strongly opposed to potholes.and very much in favor of buy-partisanship.  He has shown himself to be the true plutocratic sock puppet by endorsing anything and everything that benefits the one 1% as well as things that would harm our most vulnerable citizens.

Judging from the word on the street, I don't want to say that Adams is doing poorly in this race, but if it weren't for Abele's money, he would have already given his concession speech.

Endorsement

As I had noted in the interviews that I had done last year, I was not sure who I would endorse in this race or if I would even endorse anyone.  Even now, I feel that Dimitrijevic, Brostoff and Geenen would make a good representative for the people in AD 19.

That said, it is undeniable that Dimitrijevic's long history of supporting unions, marriage equality, women's rights, voter's rights, accessible health care for all, the environment and sustainable energy gives her a hand up on the other candidates.  Add to that the fact that she is very familiar with how the likes of Scott Walker operates and has a proven track record on countering his malfeasance and has run a very positive campaign also gives her the edge of being the best candidate for the people of AD 19.

It is for these reasons, and many others, that I have proud to endorse Marina Dimitrijevic.

To learn more about Dimitrijevic, please visit her website and her Facebook page.  And if you are able to donate, please do so, because even though she is the best candidate, she still has to deal with all of the money that Abele is pouring into this race and attacking her on multiple levels.

Referendum Watch: Abele Channels His Inner Walker And Gets Called Out

I know that if the gentle reader is like myself, they can't wait for Tuesday's elections to be over, because as tired as you might be reading about the austerity referendum, I'm getting tired of writing about it.

But there were a few things that happened today which were too good to pass up.

One was that Abele's front group, Forward Milwaukee County, sent out yet another email blast which sounds like it was written by Scott Walker's campaign/government staff:

Dear Milwaukee County Voter,

Those desperate to maintain full-time pay for the part-time Milwaukee County Board are pulling out all the stops to prevent approval of tomorrow's referendum.

Big labor has begun an orchestrated effort to mobilize their members through a mailing to thousands of county residents.

One current supervisor is even taking out paid advertising to retain the lucrative salary and benefits they currently receive for part-time work.

It's clear that those with a vested interest in maintaining the taxpayer-funded gravy train will be very active in these last two days – that’s why your attention and action is so very important.

IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT REFORM OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY VOTE YES TOMORROW AND ENCOURAGE FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS AND CO-WORKERS TO DO THE SAME.

Thanks,
Forward Milwaukee County
For more information, see www.ForwardMilwaukeeCounty.com

I'm still laughing at the line about "Big Labor." Not only is it something straight from a Scott Walker email and shows that Abele is anything but a progressive. It's even funnier when it's just one mailer that was sent out. They're either very scared or are so full of bullshit that they are an ecological hazard.

In contrast to this conflated, hyperbolic and empty rhetoric, Jonathan Brostoff, a former county board aide and candidate for Assembly District 19, as reported by Ed Heinzelman at Blogging Blue, presents a reasoned, rational explanation why the proper vote on the power grab referendum would be no.

But the most powerful counter to Abele's flat out lies comes from Supervisor David Bowen, who issued this statement today:

“As Election Day draws near it is important to think critically about the referendum on the ballot in Milwaukee County. It is important you understand the hypocrisy of those wealthy special interests supporting it. They do not and should not speak for the people of Milwaukee County.

“It should come as no surprise to you that wealthy special interests are pushing you to vote for a referendum to reduce the pay of your elected representatives on the County Board. Individuals who make astronomically more than we do want you to believe you would be better off with a legislative body with little oversight and few resources to monitor questionable uses of your tax dollars.

“Those who have crafted and influenced the language of the referendum all fall into the category of ‘wealthy special interests.’

“Those in the Greater Milwaukee Committee pushing this referendum do not understand how hard it is for you to pay for your bus ticket. The County Executive—whose wealth is evident—takes his six-figure salary and benefits from the County tax levy every year and doesn’t understand how expensive your childcare is every month. And the primary author of the referendum, who runs a million dollar taxicab monopoly, also admitted he only worked part-time as a supervisor but still took his full-time salary and benefits from your county tax dollars. He doesn’t understand how hard it was to pay for your heat this exceptionally cold winter.

“Maybe it’s time for the authors of this referendum to give back their taxpayer funded salaries, health care and pensions since they believe public service is not about the money.”

To sum it up, the decision isn't about whether the supervisors' pay should be cut. It's about whether we want hard working people like us representing us or do we want the elitist 1% ruling over us.

Meet Jonathan Brostoff - Candidate For Assembly District 19

For years, Assembly District 19 has been ably represented by Jon Richards. Now that Richards has decided to run for Attorney General, his seat has become an open one.  Fortunately for the people in AD 19, they have a great slate of candidates to chose from to be Richard's successor.

One of those candidates is Jonathan Brostoff.

Jonathan Brostoff

I have had the pleasure of knowing Brostoff for a number of years from when he was a staffer for then Milwaukee County Supervisor Chris Larson.  After Larson won his seat in the state senate, Brostoff followed him as his district legislative aide.  I also got to know Brostoff through his work for DemTeam, a highly effective training program to teach Milwaukee County Democrats how to run effective political campaigns.

I had the opportunity to interview Brostoff the other day to discuss his campaign.

I pointed out that there were a number of highly qualified candidates running for this seat and asked him why the voters should choose him over the others.

Brostoff said that his campaign is not about his opponents, but about him.  He said that he has the utmost respect for his opponents, but feels that he has the right skill set for what is needed right now.  He said that not only does he want to forward progressive values but to work on taking back the state senate and eventually the state assembly.  He said that he is also willing and able to commit himself fully to the job of being the district's representative and would hold no other jobs while in that seat.  He also said that he is not looking to use this seat as a stepping stone to some higher office, but to be the best representative he can for the people of AD 19.

Brostoff said that he is running for office because the current state of affairs is beyond the pale.  He said that having worked in homeless shelters, he has seen first hand the real impact and the harm being done by the current policies.  Brostoff said that he is motivated by the fact that the state is in an emergency mode and that things are so unhealthy right now.

Brostoff also said that his experience from working in the homeless shelters has also taught him to be as effective as possible with the time that he has, regardless of what the task at hand might be.

Besides taking back the state legislature, Brostoff said his priorities include:

• Restoring public education, especially in Milwaukee.  Brostoff points out the attacks on public education are unsustainable and he wants the focus to go back to providing a quality education.
• Restoration of women's rights. Brostoff was very passionate about correcting the wrongs that the current legislature has thrust upon women including the restrictions on women's ability to make their own decisions on what happens to their bodies, the invasiveness of the ultrasound probes and the attack on their rights to safety and to voting.
• Reversing Act 10, which he called a long term project.
• Raising the minimum wage and shrinking the wage disparity
• Non-partisan redistricting.

I pointed out to Brostoff that while he is well known among political circles, and already has compiled an impressive list of endorsements, he doesn't have the same name recognition among the voters that Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic has.  He agreed with this assessment but said that he has worked on many campaigns for the underdog, often with great success.  He said that even though he is the underdog this time, he still plans on using the same approach.  He plans on working long, hard hours; getting out and doing as many events as he can; and doing the all-important shoe campaigning and doing as many doors as he can.

Besides Brostoff's experience as a legislative aide at both the county and state levels and his work in homeless shelters, Brostoff has been on the state board and in the Milwaukee chapter of the ACLU.  

He has been married since September 2012 and has no children yet.  Brostoff and his wife live on Milwaukee's fashionable East Side.

You can learn more about Brostoff by checking out his website, his Facebook page and in this article by Tracey Pollock, writing for Urban Milwaukee, which appeared in November.

I have not decided who I will endorse in this race - or even if I will endorse anyone - but I will say that if Brostoff were to win the seat, the people of AD 19 would not be disappointed with the job he would do representing them.