The States: The voucher experiment, analyzed; a GOP Nazi in Illinois; and tracking the Koch Brothers

There’s plenty of noise out there. The States is an effort to stop bitching about it and figure out what’s bubbling to the surface. Forward to your friends and Subscribe to get this thing in your inbox!

The awesome recent front page of the Detroit Free-Press:

“These women bravely came forward with their heartbreaking statements, making sure no one would forget what the monstrous doctor who worked at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics did to them.”

Narrative from The States:

Yes, attentive reader, this is the second week in a row where Wisconsin caught my eye. In this case a deep dive and analysis from the Wall Street Journal on whether school vouchers actually work from Milwaukee, a city that has had plenty of experiences with so-called school choice.

Basically, the WSJ found that the always politically fraught case for private school vouchers is muddled. Private schools with plenty of wealthy students and, thus, the needed resources to offer those attending on vouchers — unsurprisingly, those students do well. This, in itself, is clarifying, even for those who would prefer to make the case for public schools — more resources and the best teachers make a long-term difference, the analysis shows. The other rub against vouchers that stuck out to me is the bad actors who perhaps just exist to take advantage of the voucher system.

Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin, a voucher-advocacy group, says schools that don’t raise outside money and are made up largely of voucher students, which bring in less revenue, find “it’s difficult to have high-powered leadership and high-powered staff — that’s just the reality.”
Today, about a quarter of Milwaukee children educated with public funds take advantage, making the program a testing ground for a big experiment in education. …

Five Best From The States

5. We noted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s recent move to the center on, of all things, Obamacare. Which makes me wonder: is it the beginning of a centrist move on that issue and perhaps others to prevent a Democratic wave in 2018? Follow me here: Walker’s ties to conservative political kingpins the Koch Brothers are well-established (he was even punk’d once over the issue). It would be difficult to imagine Walker would make such moves without his core backers’ support.

So as NBC reports on the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity plan — well, the money, not the specifics — to try to prevent Democrats’ takeover, perhaps they’re willing to look the other way on some key issues if they think there’s a winning recipe for Republicans, especially at the state level. The ol’ political argument — better to sacrifice some of your core values and win than the indignity of defeat.

Charles Koch said something along these lines to the Washington Post. (And, sigh, another old white conservative misappropriating the legacy of Frederick Douglass for his own political purposes).

At a dusk cocktail reception on Saturday, Charles Koch, 82, described his “collaboration philosophy” as being willing to work with anyone, even if they agree on only one issue.

“We have now increasingly followed the philosophy that made Frederick Douglass such an effective social-change entrepreneur,” Koch said, referring to the ­famous abolitionist, as donors sipped cocktails on a lush green lawn with views of the pink-hued mountains. “And that is, as he put it, ‘Unite with anybody to do right, and no one to do wrong.’ ”

4. Charles Pierce in Esquire runs down the bizarre attempt by North Carolina’s legislature to merge the state’s elections commission and the state’s ethics commission over voting rights’ issues. The courts narrowly sided with the Democratic governor on this one. “Nowhere has the assault on voting been as thoroughgoing, or as creative, as it has been in the newly insane state of North Carolina.”

3. Is Michigan a ‘shithole’ state? If this was clickbait from Jack Lessenberry of the Detroit Times, it worked on me. But this was worth the click and this is a gem of a line on Trump:

Think of how much more boring our lives would be if we were saddled with a sane and sober leader who was doing boring things like trying to make trade deals better or make college affordable.

Yawnapalooza!

Jack’s point is more serious concerning Michigan’s budget: “…we are headed for a massive budget shortfall within two years that may mean devastating new cuts to aid to our schools, public safety and public health — every year.”

2. Sometimes it feels like the national narrative is forced on us. But Trump — and the polarizing Obama effect before him to go along with our dysfunctional Congress — have made virtually all politics national, in one way or another. (Well, sometimes. The Virginia house race where the first transgender member of the House of Delegates ran and won against a proud homophobe by focusing on traffic and road issues is one reason to avoid the sin of sweeping generality sweeping generalities, which I realize i just did above.) Still, the hyper-partisan nature of our society can’t be avoided. It’s worth keeping in mind as Dems try to make in-roads in states where Republicans have long been in control. “It’s been my experience over the last several cycles that these are national elections,” a Florida Democrat pointed out in the the New York Times.

1. There’s a neo-Nazi running — unopposed — for the GOP nomination in a rural Illinois congressional district. The GOP is saying if not doing the right thing: Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider said in a statement, per the Tribune: “The Illinois Republican Party and our country have no place for Nazis like Arthur Jones. We strongly oppose his racist views and his candidacy for any public office, including the 3rd Congressional District.”

Well, then why didn’t the GOP ensure someone ran against him? Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner told the Sun-Times that his team hoped to challenge his signatures — but they were legitimate. Also, Jones “snuck in and put in signatures on the last day, at the last minute.”

Even if that’s true, where were the good people of the 3rd Congressional District? He is required to get signatures from registered primary voters, and Jones is well known in political circles — why did no one in the GOP there raise a red flag or, even, run against him? I’d love to see more reporting on this, Chicago-area scribes…

Per Jones: “I think I have a good chance.”

New to The States? Subscribe! I’m Jeremy Borden, an independent journalist based in Chicago. The States will tell us where we’re headed. Each week, I keep track (or try — tips help, please!) of what’s happening in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia (which will be a swing state soon enough). I’m adding my home state of Illinois, the home of the Midwest’s urban epicenter, Chicago, which sits in the middle of America’s urban-rural divide.

Let me know how I’m doing and tips/ideas at borden.jeremy@gmail.com.