We are back with another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle,
senior Elections correspondent at the Federalist and your experienced sherpa on today's quest for
Knowledge. As always, you can email the show at radio at the Federalist
dot com, follow us on x make sure to subscribe wherever you download your
podcast, and of course to the premium version of our website as well.
I'm joined today and honored to be joined today by Brian Schimming, chairman of
the Republican Party of Wisconsin, also known as Lord of the Cheeseheads. Welcome
to the show. My friend, is that what they call me? I
get all these other names. I guess that's as good or bad as whatever
I've heard. You know the family members. Yes, in your line of
work, you're used to some names, some choice names, that's for sure.
How are you doing. It's amazing to think that we are this far
along in the summer, this far along in the presidential political process, and
just literally less than a month and a half away from the big, big
party in Milwaukee. Yeah, it really is. In fact, we were
just talking about that once we had gotten past our spring election, which is
in the first Tuesday in April, as you know, where we had some
great victories around the state. You know, once we got past that,
we were all kind of like you could feel the gravitational pull of the convention
already because we have you know, we have fifty thousand people coming to Milwaukee.
I mean, Milwaukee is not a big city. It's about a little
over six hundred thousand, the metros about a million eight and so we have
fifty thousand people coming, including about fifteen thousand media people from every country in
the world. Milwaukee in Wisconsin will be the spotlight. The first ever national
convention to be physically held in Milwaukee. The Democrats had planned on having their
convention there four years ago and they COVID ruled themselves out of having an actual
convention, and so really this is the first big show in Milwaukee, might
be the last one for a long time. So it's historic here in Wisconsin,
no doubt about it. And we all feel that pull of what's going
to happen politically, logistically, all manner of things. Yeah, indeed,
we're going to go into that in just a moment, But it is historical.
As you said, the Democrats had a go at it at least they
wanted to have a go at it twenty twenty when they were anointing Joe Biden
at that time, of course, he shows up along with three or four
people and the Uber driver in the back. They're all masked and you know,
shaking in their boots at that time. So it wasn't really it was
a virtual convention. This will not be a virtual convention. How do you,
I guess the question I think that is most pressing on everybody's mind right
now. How do you hold a presidential convention in a swing state Wisconsin?
Obviously that's a big reason why it is being held there. How do you
hold a presidential convention when your nominee is facing prison time from a kangaroo court
in Manhattan at this point, Yeah, hopefully the hopefully those kangaroos will stay
there because really for us here and what's interesting, Matt is, you know
we're facing a situation where his sentencing is you know, there will be an
appeal. Of course, there'll be an appeal all the way up. If
that's what it takes. I don't have a lot of confidence in New York
courts. But presuming it goes into the federal appeal system and perhaps all the
way to the US Supreme Court. Mike Wadley, the National chairman, who's
a friend, was in Wisconsin this week and he said, look, we're
going to plan for any eventuality. We're planning on the President being there for
the Republican National Convention, which again, of course is basically starts Monday,
July fifteenth and goes for that week. We're planning them be there. We
think that he will be there. We will plan for any eventuality. But
I know there's been some rattle around, Oh, Jamie, we should hold
the convention earlier, you know, try to get around the sentencing. And
I don't get any sense that there's a lot of thirst for that. First
of all, is a ractical issue. It would cost one hundred million dollars.
I mean it would be you know, you're talking about sixty five thousand
plane flights, you know, hundreds of thousands of hotel nights. I mean,
the list goes on and on. So there's just a practical issue there,
right. But the truth of the matter is, let's just play that
out, man. Let's say that we said, you know what, we're
going to try to get ahead of this sentencing. You know what, with
one key stroke, this liberal judge in New York could change the sentencing date.
We could go drop fifty million dollars trying to change everything, and it
could be changed. So I don't instead of playing that game, you know,
we'll deal with it as it is. We're going to have a good
convention here. The money is being raised, the arrangements are being set up.
I just had a call from two calls from a couple other states today
where we might partner with them on events. Here. Everything is we're charging
ahead. And if things change or the judge somehow tries to sentence Donald Trump
to so he could not be at the convention, we'll deal with that then.
And frankly, that I don't think would be a good look for the
Democrats right now, is trying to jail a political opponent essentially one hundred hours
from when he's going to be nominated. That is the Democratic Party right now.
Let's face it, therat is the Democratic Party in the United States is
full bore leftist Marxist and this is the result of that. We were talking
about this recently on the radio airwaves where Ronald Reagan got his start, who
out of des Moines. You were talking about if you thought you if you
ever thought you might be in a banana republic, you certainly woke up to
one. On recently, after that verdict in Manhattan, I had a press
conference up at the capitol here in Madison, about an hour and a half
after the verdict, and I said to the assembled press. They are all
there, all the stations, everybody was there, And I said, look,
the Banana Republicans are the Banana Republics are jealous of New York right now
because New York has turned this into a much larger banana republic, that state,
and this whole way that they have treated Donald Trump. I said to
someone the other day, actually a liberal relative. I said to someone the
other day, you better be worried as a citizen in this country when federal
agencies and the judiciary are weaponized against political opponents. I said, that truly
is. But it's worse than banana republic. That truly, truly is something
that folks. You don't have to be a civil libertarian, self styled civil
libertarian to believe that that's a problem. Well, Donald Trump is going,
you know, regardless of what some people might think about Donald Trump. That
is not a place you want to be in this country. So I'm quite
certainly it'll go up on appeal. The appeal will probably be all the way
into the federal appellate system and maybe all the way up to the US Supreme
Court. Time will tell on that. But if but you're right, I
mean, this isn't an In fact, I was telling you the same person,
this isn't your old Democratic parties, you know, Harry Druman, even
John F. Kennedy Democratic Party. This has been taken over by radicals whose
public face of the party, you know, or the aocs and Rashida Talib's
and all these crazies that run that party. Now the Democrat Party has officially
crossed the bridge and they have crazy people running it. I'm not so sure
if we had a situation today like we had before where you had Bernie Sanders
and Hillary Clinton, that Bernie Sanders would end up going to the Democratic convention
and getting nominated the Hillary people that were enough of the folks before where they
could stop it. I don't know that they could stop it now because the
Democratic Party has gone crazy. Now, Matt, you know, I'm a
Republican. I'm a Conservative for Madison, Wisconsin, which when I speak at
events across the country or in national media, nobody can ever believe there's a
Republican from Madison, Wisconsin. But I literally grew up right next to the
University of Wisconsin campus. I was a little guy at the end of the
Anti Warriors. When Sterling Hall was bombed on the University of Wisconsin campus,
it literally shook our house. We were that close. So I am used
to all these radicals, and I'm you know, I've dealt with a lot
of these people, and the sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters of those
sixties radicals are now that that you know, blew up that building and the
University of Wisconsin campus, They're now trying to blow up the country. They're
now seriously trying to blow up all the norms, all the things that we
treasure as Americans. In this election in twenty twenty four, I think is
pivotal. I mean, like we always say right that this is the most
important election ever, We're at a crossroads and all those sorts of things,
and that is certainly true here, but I think it's bigger. It's not
just one issue. You know, sometimes you'll have Obamacare or the board or
some issue that kind of is a highlight of an election, and I think
it's the whole deal, the irony of which for Democrat folks that I know
who thought they were moderates and thought they could get away with voting for Joe
Biden four years ago, because he's not as bad as some of these crazies.
Joe Biden has been the president that Bernie Sanders wished he could have been.
Joe Biden gave them what they want. Brian Shimming, who is the
chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the guy responsible for the biggest part
this state has seen in a very long time, excluding Badger's Rose Bull But
nonetheless this is going to be this is going to be a big party.
I want to stick with that point, Brian. You just mentioned it and
what you saw, what you experienced as a kid in the nineteen seventies around
Stirling Hall u W. Madison, the anti war years that went on.
Madison has always been known as a bastion for let's be generous of spirit here
of left wing thought. Others would say of the lunatic asylum. I'm not
casting a dispersions there. But I guess that's the question, is what you
saw, what Wisconsin saw, what the nation saw during the anti Vietnam warriors
of the seventies. Are we this is a whole new generation of extremists.
How worried are you that the convention in Milwaukee starting on July fifteenth, going
through that week will have to deal with some excesses, if you will,
I'm very concerned about it. In fact, it has come up recently just
today, the ACLU filed suit against I believe, the city and County of
Milwaukee about some of the restrictions that are in place for protests in Milwaukee at
that time. Downtow Milwaukee as the river going through it, but also is
kind of a grid system of streets there and highways. And I will tell
you that I've had an office on and off of Milwaukee for a very long
time, worked for three previous Republican governors. I've been in Milwaukee thousands of
times. I will tell you that. So there's been this issue about a
public park that is relatively close to the convection site. And while that's certainly
an issue because of its proximity the convention site, I think the bigger issue
in any convention city would have had to deal with this. Let's be honest,
Matt. They are going to have thousands of paid protesters on the streets,
paid professional organizers on the streets of the city of Milwaukee, trying to
close down streets, hotels that delegations are staying in, venues that we're having
events at around Milwaukee. There has been you know, there's been obviously a
very considerable law enforcement planning operation between the Secret Service, city, county,
Villa, you know, dozens of municipalities. So a national convention is always
one of the biggest security organizing events of whatever year it's being held, because
you have tens of thousands of people together, well the tens and who knows,
maybe Chicago will be crazy too when the Democrats are down to Chicago,
but ours probably will be crazier because of the type of people. I mean,
you generally don't get people out of the young Republicans and some of our
groups doing what the crazy lefties on campus or you know, some of the
radical leftist groups we have to deal with are willing to do. So.
I think there is a very high concern amongst our people. I think the
city and county folks in Milwaukee. We've had a very good partnership with them,
even though our party affiliations are not the same. But you know,
they don't want to mess down there. But I think there's reason for caution
there, and so I'm not telling one to stay away. I'm not tellingone
to be afraid of coming to Milwaukee. But the truth of the matter is
they're happy to do anything to disrupt not only the Republican Convention, but to
disrupt the possibility of Donald Trump becoming president. We saw in the lead in
New York recently. We will probably see it in the streets of market.
This is Pastor Matthew Harrison, President of the Lutheran Church Missouri Syentate. The
LCMS operates the second largest parochial school system in the United States. What can
you expect from a Lutheran Church Missouri Centate school. There's one race, the
human race, and Jesus died for the sins of every man, woman and
child from every land and every nation. Life begins a conception. All life
is precious, from womb to tomb, and every student, parent and teacher
is created in the very image of God. There's right and wrong, and
we know which is which. From the Ten Commandments, there are only two
sexes, male and female. He created them. Marriage is the lifelong union
of one man and one woman. There's such a thing as objective, absolute
truth, and it's found in the person and work of Jesus Christ and his
word. To find a church Missouri sentis school near you, visit LCMS dot
org slash schools. It's just it's an entirely different level than it was.
I remember covering the twenty sixteen convention in Philadelphia for the Democrats. Apparently my
news organization didn't like me very much at that time. I drew its amazing
I drew the short strong Now you were in Cleveland that year, I would
imagine for the RNC, which was I think a lot more peaceful, better
run. But you remember in sixteen we had the Podesta emails. We had
we had the poor congresswoman from Florida who was run out of Philadelphia on a
rail. Of course, because the Bernie Sander acolytes were just you know,
and we had a lot of tension, there, no doubt about it.
We had actually we had what was billed as a fart in and this is
Google this. Now, this is true. The Bernie Sanders people were so
mad about the rigging. The fix was in, of course, as the
Podesta email showed us for Hillary Clinton. The DNC was all in for Hillary
Clinton. And what the folks who backed Bernie Sanders literally did a Saul Olenski.
They were around their kettles of beans. They were going to do a
collective massive gassing, if you will, of that Philadelphia arena. That was
gross, but it's nothing in comparison to what could happen, of course,
when you get what we've seen on college campuses over the last semester at UW.
Madison, at Columbia, at UCLA wherever. I know that you have
been working very closely with the Secret Service. They can only say so much
obviously about security and planning. How confident are you with Secret Service running the
show security wise? Well, I don't have a day to day role with
Secret Service, I will tell you obviously. The RNC and so there's two
committees essentially, the MKAE, which is shorthand for Milwaukee in airline terms,
that deals with security. Various government law enforcement have been working hand in glove
with them, as you know, and it's been public that there's been some
dissatisfaction with the head of the Sacred Service with respect to getting some of the
properties that are a little bit closer to the convention site offline for some of
the protest groups. And this is not a matter of saying there's going to
be plenty of places to have protests. But you know, I just say
to local officials I know in Milwaukee, to other people, Look, if
you went through everything you went to bid for this convention, they have fifty
sixty thousand people in town, and don't put the property security into place,
and you have problems, you will have a big convention here. Again,
so it's not even a partisan thing. It's just you want a safe,
secure environment where protesters can have their moment and if they want to have their
fart in, you know, down at the Democrat convention, which might be
an improvement actually, which okay, is it you know or whatever? Who
says liberals don't watch blazing saddles, you know, if they want to have
those kinds of protests. Look, when I was I was on the radio,
I was covering for our acquaintance, Mark Belling, when the Democrats out
there announced they're going to be Miwaukee, And I said, look, before
I was party chairing, but about I said, look, it's great.
It's going to bring all sorts of business like this convention this year will be
a two hundred million dollars spend, tens of thousands of hotel rooms, hundreds
of that. I mean, it's great, right, It's terrific for the
region and for the city, who've never had a project of this size.
But you know, do I have a concern level sure, because they will
ship in as many people as they can. We are also perilously close to
Chicago and to very Democrat Illinois, and so I'm quite sure we'll have a
lot of tourism from Chicago and from Illinois Democrats coming up from there. So
it's going to be interesting in Milwaukee, am I. I you know,
I'd like to say that I have no worries about any of it. I
think overall it's going to be fine. But the left, to your point,
this isn't I mean, I hope we don't have a situation that the
Democrats had in nineteen sixty eight in Chicago. I hope it doesn't end up
there. I know people are working very hard to make sure it doesn't end
up there. But to your point, the left is crazy these days.
So when I was doing that radio show when they announced the Democrats convention,
I'll say, look, I'll show you what a nice guy I am.
I will personally pay for aoc Alexandro Ocasio Cortes to come to Milwaukee so we
can show the difference between her and between us. And so if she wants
to come in to bracket the event and to waive her flag during the Republican
Convention, I'm just fine a buyer dinner. Brian Shimming, chairman of the
Republican Party of Wisconsin, joining us on this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour.
To your point, and I do remember that in twenty twenty when the
announcement came down, it is it's a very lucrative, can be extremely profitable
for the host community, and it has a good many benefits. But I
thought in twenty twenty when they announced this, of course COVID going on at
the time, and who knows what was going to happen, But we also
what was going on at the time, massive Black Lives Matter protest. You
remember what that Marxist movement did to the city of Kenosha for God's sake what
it did to Chicago, you know, And so we've seen this movie before.
But to the point on the Chicago, the Democrats in Chicago, I
think it very well could be a nineteen sixty eight style situation for them.
You already have a mayor who clearly hates the police. He's got to work
with them to try to bring in security they already have. You know,
if they if the Democrats make Chicago secure during that week, the rest of
Chicago for the rest of the ear, they're going to look at them and
say, what about us? What about the rest of the year. Now,
with all of that, what I don't understand is the complaint about the
protesters having enough space, the ACLU complaining that they're not close enough. As
I understand it, Brian, in Chicago, they're three miles away from the
event site. With you, folks, it's like less than a mile if
I have that correct. There is a blocks. Yeah, it's not far
at all. And part of the issue is the immediate proximity to the Five
Serve Forum, which is where the Bucks play and where we're having the convention.
And part of it too is you'll have thousands of people who are staying
at hotels throughout the Milwaukee area. I mean, Milwaukee is a wonderful city,
but we don't have a lot of real large hotels in downtown Milwaukee.
So we have people, you know, over dozens of locations around the city
of Milwaukee. Well a lot of them will be walking or busing or driving
past that park the one part in question to get to the five Serve Forum.
So I just hope that common sense prevails here. I think it will,
But I hope common sense prevails with the Secret Service, with the city
and with the county to make absolutely sure that visitors to Milwaukee are in a
safe environment. But I mean Milwaukee, you know, made a very assertive
and frankly a very good bid for this convention. They want it for a
reason. Of course, there was a lot of interest in having it here
in Milwaukee, because Wisconsin, as you point out, important swing state,
one of seven. And so it doesn't help Milwaukee or the City of Milwaukee,
or the County of Milwaukee, or the Visitors Bureau for the City of
Milwaukee to have a disaster here in Milwaukee, because those are images that people
partisanship aside, Those are images that people will not forget. So when I
talk to folks who are involved on the secarity side of this and on the
governmental side of this, I just say, look, Milwaukee and Wisconsin cannot
afford to have that disaster. And if it means to your point like Chicago,
that people ought to be a little farther away, still plenty of opportunity
to protest, They'll get their coverage anyway. But let's face it, it's
a game. They want to be as close to the Pfiser Center, the
conventions site to try to disrupt the travel and the event itself, and law
enforcement folks planning simple shouldn't allow it. Indeed, well, let's shift here.
Let's focus on what it takes to put on a convention, because I
know you've been dealing with this, planning for this for a long time now,
but here we are within a month plus of the big bangs close.
What's it take to put on the largest quadrinial party that your party puts together
and give us a sense of what each of the days will be like.
Yeah, I'm on a committee of arrangements for the convention as the home state
chairman. And it's interesting because again, we have two committees who have done
fantastic work the convey the RNC Convention Committee itself, and then the official committee
for the city, the MKA Committee. But it's literally thousands of logistical details.
In a sense, conventions are are very similar that way. It's security,
it's hotels, it's hundreds of vendors for everything from posters to you know,
lanyards, to know whatever, elephants to you know, whatever you can
name. It's a staggering logistical enterprise. It truly, truly is if you're
going to pull off a successful convention. And let's just be honest about it
here, a convention is a five day show. It's a five day show,
and you want the show to go as well as it can go during
those five days. In those days basically matt for folks who haven't been through
it before or not, you know. On the planning side, most folks
will come into Milwaukee on Sunday and so there'll be seminaugural activities on Sunday.
But each state there's actually fifty six states and territories, so the territories also
have delegations to the convention each state and territory. Every morning, whatever hotels
or wherever they're staying will have their delegation meeting in the morning, usually between
eight and nine o'clock. Basically a couple of things happened those delegation meetings.
They brief them what the day is going to look like. Secondly, there's
oftentimes a speaker who will come in, a member of Congress, you know,
somebody out of the Senate, maybe future past candidates if they're desperate.
Me I will go into trying to jack up the delegations and you know,
remind everyone what we're all there to do. And then they hand out different
sets of credentials. Every day. You actually get a different set of credentials.
Is I recall every single day you're there, and that's a security thing
to make sure you know, credential different credentials are flying around, so in
a different set of credentials every day at that meeting. So that morning meeting
is an important thing. Most of the activity, in terms of the actual
convention activity is at night, usually starting at six or seven o'clock. There
might be a day or two that where it starts a little bit earlier,
but most of the action you'll see is either at least late in the afternoon
or six or seven o'clock when you have speakers Monday and Tuesday night. There'll
be actually the week before Matt as you know, of the Republican National Committee
of which I'm a member, will be meeting in Milwaukee. So the week
before the convention will be in committee meetings and other than prepping for the convention
and handling other R and C business. But that next week when the convention
is starting on Monday the fifteenth, will be pretty much delegation meetings in the
morning other scheduled events. Of course, a lot of states and the territories
either on their own or come together delegation events, parties or whatever. You
know, you better love caffeine because a lot of times, a lot of
the events that are being sponsored aren't until after the convention activity at night.
So let's say you're off the convention floor at nine or ten. Oftentimes your
state's activity, their party for the day, or maybe a joint event that
they're doing, is after that. So there's going to be a lot of
late night frolicking in Milwaukee. You know, I had someone telling me yesterday,
oh, you know, you'll never get to bed before two o'clock in
the morning, So I'd be like, College. And by the way,
Brian, any of the joint events that you want, you'll have to drive
a bit to the south where the Democrats are holding theirs. The weed is
still illegal in Wisconsin, folks. Just you yeah, yes, if you're
into mind altering substances that can't be consumed from a glass, you'll uh,
not off a glass, but from a glass, you'll have to go south
of the border, so to speak. But you know, so it's it's
uh. And then in the afternoon, uh, you know, there's some
folks setting up seminars, will have a convention kind of a trade show area
that's kind of going to be in an l around the convention hall in the
street in the streets kil Vernon out in front of the convention hall, where
you can buy all manner of things. So a lot of the vendors,
there are hundreds of vendors involved, Matt from the Milwaukee area, so you
know, we're hoping that they do well. So really, your daily convention
schedule, and I'm generalizing of course, will be delegation meeting at your hotel
in the morning, and then a day of you Now, the mornings usually
aren't too busy, but the afternoons pick up because other events are going on.
We have essentially the whole Summerfest Park, which is on the side out
side of the city, not far from the middle of the city probably what
is that a mile and a half or a mile from the convention hall.
It's closed, Yeah, it's pretty close. Will be having everything you'll be
able to do as a delegate or alternate or guest will be bus We have
convention buses that will essentially take you everywhere that you need to go during the
day. So all that logistical planning for doing what you do during the day
required or otherwise. But most of the hard work of freedom so so to
speak, will be on the convention floor starting at you know, late afternoon
or six or seven at night. That's kind of when the show is,
so to speak. But all the media will about fifteen thousand media in from
all across the world, and you know they'll be covering everything, you know,
everything from individual delegates, alternates, guest stories, things about the city
of Milwaukee. You know, they're looking for stories, they're looking for something
to talk about, and there'll be fifteen thousand media outlet's trying to do that.
So people are going to know Republicans and the city of Milwaukee and the
state of Wisconsin a whole lot better by the end of that week Wednesday night,
So it starts Monday night. Wednesday night will be the vice presidential nomination,
Thursday night will be the presidential nomination, and then we'll wrap up after
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course the vast majority of the news outlets there will be covering it from a
certain perspective, as we know, but there They're welcome to attend. They
always are, and they will be present, very present. Of course.
Is there any truth of the rumor that you will be warming up the crowd
with your circus la fabulous acrobatic show that you have done for years. Well
man, I don't want to break here, but so I won't. Well,
I do want, as I think I mentioned to it's it's actually from
a timing perspective. My birthday is the sixteenth, the Tuesday of that week,
and so I have to keep some self respect about being the state chairman
of the host state. Of course. INDI so I mean, but I'm
encouraging others to embarrass themselves on my behalf. I just have four words for
you. In the circus lay just breathtaking, it really is. And I
just say this, Brian shimming in tights. That's that's where the action is.
I'll tell you what. If I'm in tights by the end of the
week, I'll be in a body bag. So let's keep a good thought
just a little bit. And obviously you are spending long hours already every day,
and they're going to get incredibly that much longer come the week before.
In the week of the convention, and then, of course there's the post
mortem stuff that you do afterward. But let's take a look ahead to November.
How confident? As we mentioned before, it's very well known Wisconsin,
in the terminology of a former president, is one of the deciders, or
at least it has been over the last few election cycles in this country.
How confident are you in the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the regulator that I've had
some problems for sure in the state of Wisconsin when it comes to following election
laws and election integrity. How confident are you in the Wisconsin Elections Commission?
How confident are you that this election will not have the same kind of irregularity
certainly and ultimately as a state audit showed the kind of election law breaking that
we saw in twenty twenty. Yeah, great question. Ron Johnson and I
talk about this a lot. I was on the road this weekend in Wisconsin.
I was in Eauclaire actually addressing this specifically on Saturday, and then down
in down in Elkorn and Walworth County on Sunday, and what I say to
people is, look, you know, we've had our issues with the Wisconsin
Elections Commission, which in many states, the election the administration of elections is
centralized under the Secretary of State. That is not the case here in Wisconsin.
Is done by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is a separate commission made
up of six people, three Democrats and three Republicans with alternating partisan chairs.
We are often not happy with all of their decisions. We have an okay
relationship with them, even with the strong disagreements we've had. I will say
this though, and this is what I said when I was on the road
this weekend. Look, we recruited fifty five hundred poll workers here in Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin, by state laws, you have to recruit poll workers for
elections like we have this year the year before. So we recruited fifty five
hundred poll workers. That is to say, the people who help the local
clerks literally work for the local clerks as partisans, and the Democrats nominate them
too. We nominated fifty five hundred, a new record, and then we'll
have poll watchers as well. I always say to people there's always concerns about
local election administration, but also the supervision of it, to the extent there
is supervision on the state wide level. We can't take any chances. I'm
done with that. And as you know, I was on the Trump recount
team here in Wisconsin. I was part of day Browser's recount team, former
Supreme Court Justice Processer's recount team when he got re elected. And my attitude
coming into this is election integrity is a number one issue for this Mike Wadley,
the new national chair, was in this week. He and I talk
about this all the time, and the truth of the matter is I can't
rely on local or state election officials to make sure the vote is handled correctly.
Not because I distrust local election officials. I know a lot of them,
I have good relationships. But the same deal I've been sending to those
folks is look, state law, within reason, is pretty clear on how
to run local elections. We want to be helpful in that regard because it
doesn't benefit anyone to have elections not being run by the book. But in
cases where it's not being run by the book, we are a going to
call them on it to get it corrected as fast as possible, or B
will go to court. And we have gone to court. We went to
court in twenty twenty two in Green Bay where they tried to force our poll
workers out of the hallways where they had the election machines where they couldn't observe
what was going on. We were in court order from county Court in Brown
County, which is where Green Bay is, that forced the clerk to allow
our people back in. We had situations here in our April election in Stevens
Point where the local Democrat clerk tried to run background checks on our legally submitted
poll workers, so we called them on that. Also over in Green Bay.
Again the Green Bay they were having three third party groups. We're having
essentially what I think is a vote buying event in a park where they are
giving free stuff away to folks who were saying they were voting. We got
on the DA by nine o'clock in the morning on that. He sent them
a letter within an hour, an hour and a half shut the event down,
and they still had to pay their twenty five thousand dollars for the event.
I mean, those are kind of anecdotal things. But what I'm telling
you about is that with a Democrat governor and the ability to pass the elections
laws we wish we could have, And if you and I sat down over
a couple of beers in a barnapkin. We could write elections law the way
it ought to be, but I have to deal with it the way it
is. And that means constant, constant vigilance on Republicans part. And if
that means working with the local clerks, with poll workers, it'll be that.
If that means going into court with attorneys, it'll be that. We
will for the first time recruit hundreds of lawyers in Wisconsin this year. Part
of the problem the Wisconsin side, Matt, as you know, is we
don't have other state chairs asked me about this all the time. In Wisconsin.
We don't have partisan voter registration. In Wisconsin, you don't register as
a Democrat or as a Republican. So it means lots of money for voter
id for turnout, for all those types of things. So Wisconsin's probably to
be candid one of the toughest states in the country on election integrity. I
have three full timers on the staff here on the election integrity effort. We're
on the phone every single day around Zoom's with the Trump campaign, with the
RNC. So whatever we have to do on our end at the Republican Party
of Wisconsin in partnership with other groups or with the rn C. We're going
to do it, and I don't see that as an option or as a
way. I hope we can do it. We have to do it.
Brian Shimming, who is the chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin and very
much integrally involved in the big party in Wisconsin coming up in just a few
weeks, It is really right around the corner. A final question for you,
sir. I appreciate the generosity of your time joining us on the Federalist
Radio Hour today. You mentioned it. Wisconsin's a different animal, you know.
Having grown up in the Badger State, you know it's all second nature
to me. But you're going to be bringing in tens of thousands of people
from across the country, in the world, and some of them, unfortunately,
have not experienced Wisconsin yet. And I don't know why they haven't,
that's on them, but they will for the first I'll say that. Yes,
So what advice would you give the visitors coming to the Badger's State for
the first time. It's advice I give to anyone who's a lifetime suggestion,
eat cheese curds before you die. Unfortunately, eating cheese curds might help pause
the last That's right, Oh, that's a good point. Where are the
best cheese curds? That that's the going to do a list of those.
Actually, I've had folks from other states asked me to do kind of a
short list of things to go see and to go eat in Milwaukee and having
I mean, look at me from grant out loud, you know, having
had a lot of experience eating out in You and I have had a cheese
curd or two in our time. We have exactly one of these days,
I'm going to have this kid that I've been caring for about fourteen years.
You know, Wisconsin, as Lee Dreyfus used to say, is a it's
a twenty third sound place. It's a wonderful, wonderful state. And southwest
Wisconsin, you know, about seventy percent of the population, as you know,
matt is in what we call a Golden triangle between Milwaukee, Green Bay,
and Madison. So there are going to be a lot of things to
do. People will learn a lot about Wisconsin. I was saying to somebody
at a meeting the other day. The practical side of this is that a
lot of people will come back to Wisconsin because of this convention, whether it's
for the cheese girds or for that liquid we brew in large vats and various
breweries are on Milwaukee and around the state for whatever that might be. People
are going to learn a lot about Wisconsin. This is an opportunity, as
I say, not just a political show, but a tourism show for the
state of Wisconsin. Look, as you know, I'm a homer, so
I'm biased, right, but I'm so excited to be state chairman when this
national, really international event is going to happen. I think I mentioned you
I was down at the recommendation actually have a Democrat friend of mine to go
down to the Iowa caucuses and straw poll events, which I've done a couple
of times, and I learned. As much as I've been around this business,
I learned so much about politics just even in the couple of days I
was down in Iowa. This is a similar experience when I talk to people
that I've appointed to be delegates or alternates or on our guest list. Everyone's
going to learn as being you know, from being part of this show.
And I think at the end of all of this, We're going to find
out what the Republic is about, not the Republican Party, but the Republic
and how we save the Republic between now and November, because I think in
the end that's the bottom line. The freedoms that we enjoy and sometimes take
for granted, right are all on the line on November fifth, and everything
that we do between now and then. I said to the group and eu
Claire the other day, I said, I don't need a poll to say
this. The victory is out there, the win is out there. We
just have to go get it. And that's the job for us between now
and November fifth, is to get the victory, get the win that I
know that people want, and save American I couldn't agree with you more,
Brian, when it comes to this election, and we always talk about it,
you mentioned it before. We always say every four years, the most
important election ever. And I think the folks in eighteen sixty might have a
disagreement with that, you know, or the folks in you know, in
the Great Depression, the World World War, they might have a different opinion
of this. But this, really, this really is a bottom line election
about the existence the continuation of the republic that we hold so dear, and
I think that is extremely I think what you just said is extremely precient.
We'll see what happens, of course, in the coming weeks, and don't
forget when it comes to Wisconsin. If it's good enough for Fonsie, it's
good enough for me. The Fonzie statue is still up in downtown Milwaukee,
and I guarantee you that convention week thousands of people will be over there taking
pictures with it. Indeed, thank you Brian Shimming for joining me on this
edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. Brian Shimming, of course, is the
chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. In a matter of just a few
weeks, the city of Milwaukee will be hosting the Republican Party's biggest party in
the last four years, and tens of thousands of people will descend on it.
We will be there covering that with my Federalist colleagues as well. I
will be there in person covering it too. Thanks again for your time.
I do appreciate it, Brian. Yeah, wait for you beer. I'll
buy the first beer and cheese curds. Don't forget that we could look we're
wasting away. We could use some more cheese curds. You and I I
am looking a little peakan. So you've been listening to another edition of the
Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittles, senior correspondent at the Federalist. We'll
be back soon with more. Until then, stay lovers of freedom and anxious
for the fray. I heard the fame boy the Reason, and then it
faded away.