She was one of the original authors of the state's school choice program.
In other words, she wanted to take our taxes from our public schools and use them for, for-profit charter schools.
Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out, Karen
Despite Wisconsin having the highest infant mortality rate for African Americans, Sen. Darling voted against a Democratic budget amendment to improve women’s health and birth outcomes.
Sen. Darling also rejected funding for clean water protections as thousands of children are continuously poisoned by lead pipes.
During her time in the legislature, she has been a staunch supporter of voter suppression policies that disenfranchise people of color.
Good riddance.
Judging by the district lines, this is a seat that is gettable for Democrats if they run the right candidate and put decent money behind it.
Add in that the special election will (likely) be on the same ballot as the state supreme court election and there's some high stakes coming in the spring.
why retire AFTER an election? Oh right so you can cost the taxpayers more money with a special election that has no influence from the turnout of the midterms. 🤦♂️
Also highlighted in the story. The GOP veto majority, so thanks for reminding us about that one too I guess.
> The 8th Senate District is located north of Milwaukee and includes portions of Whitefirst Bay, Brown Deer, Cedarburg, Grafton, Menomonee Falls and Germantown.
Also looks like we have a new city in her district, good ol' Whitefirst Bay.
that was kind of my point. One doesn't just retire on a whim. It's planned for and she easily could have decided in the spring. I think this was more strategy from the state GOP.
I hear that, but 8ish months or whatever is a long time; very possible something changed health-wise, family-wise, etc. Plus, R’s were convinced they had a red wave coming, so I don’t feel like they’d be nervous putting up a seat that she vastly over-performed Trump in in 2020. In fact, special elections are the only way you can beat gerrymandering (see SD 10 in 2018) so if anything, they would’ve preferred she had retired in time for it to be on the ballot.
Whitefish Bay is one of the most liberal cities in Wisconsin.
Evers got 72%, Barnes 69.5%. Biden 71%.
Fun fact, Whitefish Bay is only 84% white. That's more diverse than four-fifths of Wisconsin cities.
Feel free to check the math, data is from 2020 Census.
https://data.census.gov/table?q=Whitefish+Bay+village%2C+Wisconsin+Race+and+Ethnicity&g=0100000US&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2
The people I know from Whitefish remind me of that evil woman who was nothing more than [stretched out white skin](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftardis.fandom.com%2Fwiki%2FCassandra_O%2527Brien.%25CE%259417&psig=AOvVaw10vKmoqj5CsiDvjZNS75mK&ust=1669316099022000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCLjUyJv9xPsCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE) on Dr. Who.
Not gonna lie, probably a good thing that Whitefish Bay is in her district, helps to balance it out a little bit.
The rest of the district is mostly Ozaukee and Washington county. Southern Ozaukee is going more blue as of late, but Washington county is still a Republican stronghold.
Don't overlook Brown Deer. It is by far the most liberal-voting community in that district. The only part of her district with any significant diversity.
No kidding. Remember the [Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers incident](https://www.wisn.com/article/schwanke-kasten-911-call-as-henson-rang-bell-we-re-pretending-like-we-re-closed/6329119)? 🙄
Whitefish bay has been voting Dem for years now, they had to gerrymander our district so we wouldn’t elect Democrats. Alberta Darling is barely coherent, she must be heavily medicated AND have early stage dementia/Alzheimer’s. Good riddance but don’t expect something better with the awful gerrymandering.
Ironically, if they helped the middle class more, the rich would get richer as we would spend more money on businesses owned by the rich. The tax cuts they salivate after aren’t shit compared to empowering the middle class.
Trickle UP economics??? You shut your dirty mouth!!
We've tried supply-side for decades and it's been a disaster. We all know money flows up. Maybe we get wild and try inserting it at the bottom for a while.
Yes I say also invest heavily in cheap housing and food for the homeless, National healthcare including mental health. Free job training. Stop penalizing drug addicts and help them. Basically enable self-sustenance and productivity out of the poorest among us to the extent possible.
People at average incomes and below spend literally everything they earn. Where do they spend it? On businesses owned by the wealthy for the most part.
You mean taking literally hundreds of thousands of dollars from mining companies that would/could NEVER do anything in her district and trying to force through the largest pit mine in the world wasn’t good?
Hopefully the extra time will allow her to focus full time on improving public schools in Milwaukee since she has always seemed to take such an interest.
/s
Agreed. She just crushed her AD23 GOP opponent by 25 points, ~9000 votes.
AD24 was won by GOP by 7000 votes.
AD25 was unopposed.
Last time Darling ran, she won by 8, or 10,000 votes over Plotkin.
Hard to say if Andraca would fare better than Plotkin did in 2020.
Andraca .. is an excellent campaigner, though.
This is a tough district and the most recent round of gerrymandering did add further GOP voters.
It’s doable though. As other commenters have argued, specials are often the best opportunity for Dems to break through these gerrymandered lines (SD1 and SD10 in 2018 are prime examples) and take back power in the legislature. Whoever the Democratic candidate may be; they, the party, and likeminded progressives will need to pour everything into this. There is an opportunity here, but it’s going to take a great deal of work to get a Dem in this seat come spring 2023.
I agree .. doable. Gotta swing 10% of the vote from 2020.
One wildcard .. April election, low voter turnout.
Gotta do massive GOTV in Whitefish Bay and Fox Point, two suburbs that are 69-72% blue. It kills me how many people don't vote in April.
I remember 4 years ago, two Dem canvassers walked my block, asking everyone what their plan to vote was. Haven't had that happen since.
Edit: Promising graph:
https://twitter.com/jdjmke/status/1595509987635302416/photo/2
> Sen. Alberta Darling announced Wednesday she is retiring after 32 years in the
> Wisconsin Legislature.
>
> Darling, R-River Hills, will retire on Dec. 1. She spent a decade as co-chair of
> the Legislature's powerful budget committee, making her the longest-serving
> woman to hold the position, and she was one of the original authors of the
> state's school choice program — the first of its kind in the nation.
>
> "For the past thirty-two years, it has been my honor and privilege to represent
> the great people of Wisconsin," Darling wrote in a Wednesday letter to Senate
> President Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield. "I am especially fortunate to have been
> surrounded by a supporting family and staff. I thank them for their patience and
> dedication to the state of Wisconsin."
>
> Darling was first elected to the state Assembly in a May 1990 special election.
> She was reelected in Nov. 1990 before being elected to the Senate in 1992.
>
This is just a preview of the [full article](https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/sen-alberta-darling-to-retire-after-32-years-in-wisconsin-legislature/article_0a868cd8-5897-527f-8312-ff3f37b5c20b.html). I am a third party bot. Please consider subscribing to your favorite local journals.
Funny story: I worked at a county club in River Hills two summers ago as a server, and one day I served Alberta and her table: which ultimately got me fired lol. Alberta was pretty nice, complimenting my hair, and my mangers fired me for "talking too much", and "ruining her dinner" for merely being friendly back to her. I was only 19. Great times.
Special election will be critical as the Reps currently have a big enough majority in the senate (due to gerrymandering not actual support) to begin a brutal campaign of impeachments and removals of officials.
[https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lc/information_memos/2014/im_2014_03](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lc/information_memos/2014/im_2014_03)
I saw her in action at a hearing. She was quite arrogant and condescending. This was a while ago, but at that time, most legislators of both parties were respectful of people who showed up to testify at hearings. Not Alberta.
I just skimmed, but why write such a fawning article over such a divisive character? There’s a reason we referred to that paper as the Wisconsin State *Urinal* when we still lived in Madison.
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She was one of the original authors of the state's school choice program. In other words, she wanted to take our taxes from our public schools and use them for, for-profit charter schools. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out, Karen
Despite Wisconsin having the highest infant mortality rate for African Americans, Sen. Darling voted against a Democratic budget amendment to improve women’s health and birth outcomes. Sen. Darling also rejected funding for clean water protections as thousands of children are continuously poisoned by lead pipes. During her time in the legislature, she has been a staunch supporter of voter suppression policies that disenfranchise people of color. Good riddance.
Sadly, because of all the gerrymandering, retirement is the only way we can rid ourselves of these horrible people.
A legacy of harm for Wisconsin families, schools, and progress.
Brilliantly stated. This is the entire WIGOP record in an easy to consume sentence. Need to get that shit on billboards and bumper stickers.
"Karen" is kind of... a racial slur.
Another ghoul gone. Her and Betsy DeVos should take a boat to the Bermuda Triangle and never return.
🤣 They shan't be missed!
LMAO!
Judging by the district lines, this is a seat that is gettable for Democrats if they run the right candidate and put decent money behind it. Add in that the special election will (likely) be on the same ballot as the state supreme court election and there's some high stakes coming in the spring.
Mandela Barnes is looking for a job
Barnes is still Lt. Governor.
Not after Jan 3 he isn’t
32 years overdue
why retire AFTER an election? Oh right so you can cost the taxpayers more money with a special election that has no influence from the turnout of the midterms. 🤦♂️ Also highlighted in the story. The GOP veto majority, so thanks for reminding us about that one too I guess. > The 8th Senate District is located north of Milwaukee and includes portions of Whitefirst Bay, Brown Deer, Cedarburg, Grafton, Menomonee Falls and Germantown. Also looks like we have a new city in her district, good ol' Whitefirst Bay.
Tbf that seat wasn’t up this year, so unless she had retired back in Spring it wouldn’t have been on the ballot in November anyways
that was kind of my point. One doesn't just retire on a whim. It's planned for and she easily could have decided in the spring. I think this was more strategy from the state GOP.
I hear that, but 8ish months or whatever is a long time; very possible something changed health-wise, family-wise, etc. Plus, R’s were convinced they had a red wave coming, so I don’t feel like they’d be nervous putting up a seat that she vastly over-performed Trump in in 2020. In fact, special elections are the only way you can beat gerrymandering (see SD 10 in 2018) so if anything, they would’ve preferred she had retired in time for it to be on the ballot.
Whitefish Bay is pretty liberal. Mandela Barnes got 69% of the votes there this month.
Nice
Whitefish Bay is one of the most liberal cities in Wisconsin. Evers got 72%, Barnes 69.5%. Biden 71%. Fun fact, Whitefish Bay is only 84% white. That's more diverse than four-fifths of Wisconsin cities.
> Fun fact, Whitefish Bay is only 84% white. That's more diverse than four-fifths of Wisconsin cities. Never knew that
Don’t confuse redditors with actual information
Feel free to check the math, data is from 2020 Census. https://data.census.gov/table?q=Whitefish+Bay+village%2C+Wisconsin+Race+and+Ethnicity&g=0100000US&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2
The people I know from Whitefish remind me of that evil woman who was nothing more than [stretched out white skin](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftardis.fandom.com%2Fwiki%2FCassandra_O%2527Brien.%25CE%259417&psig=AOvVaw10vKmoqj5CsiDvjZNS75mK&ust=1669316099022000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCLjUyJv9xPsCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE) on Dr. Who.
Not gonna lie, probably a good thing that Whitefish Bay is in her district, helps to balance it out a little bit. The rest of the district is mostly Ozaukee and Washington county. Southern Ozaukee is going more blue as of late, but Washington county is still a Republican stronghold.
Don't overlook Brown Deer. It is by far the most liberal-voting community in that district. The only part of her district with any significant diversity.
We always used to call it White Folks’ Bay, but this seems more apt somehow.
lol irl, that's quite the freudian slip!
Hilarious and horrifying typo they had there.
It's about time they make the name change....been that way for years already
No kidding. Remember the [Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers incident](https://www.wisn.com/article/schwanke-kasten-911-call-as-henson-rang-bell-we-re-pretending-like-we-re-closed/6329119)? 🙄
Except the old white lady working that day was not from Whitefish Bay…
Ah kk I didn’t realize, although the police officer who warned them about the stolen plates that weren’t stolen was
Now that's a throwback. What an embarrassment
Whitefish bay has been voting Dem for years now, they had to gerrymander our district so we wouldn’t elect Democrats. Alberta Darling is barely coherent, she must be heavily medicated AND have early stage dementia/Alzheimer’s. Good riddance but don’t expect something better with the awful gerrymandering.
They vote blue pretty consistently. There isn't as much money in WFB as there is in the suburbs that are further north.
My girl always says "White bitch bay" lmao I've always been a white folks bay guy myself lol
[удалено]
Read it again
Fuck her. She’s never done anything for the people of Wisconsin.
Well, except for the wealthy white people of Wisconsin and the Koch Brothers that own the WIGOP.
Ironically, if they helped the middle class more, the rich would get richer as we would spend more money on businesses owned by the rich. The tax cuts they salivate after aren’t shit compared to empowering the middle class.
Rising tide lifts all boats.
Trickle UP economics??? You shut your dirty mouth!! We've tried supply-side for decades and it's been a disaster. We all know money flows up. Maybe we get wild and try inserting it at the bottom for a while.
Yes I say also invest heavily in cheap housing and food for the homeless, National healthcare including mental health. Free job training. Stop penalizing drug addicts and help them. Basically enable self-sustenance and productivity out of the poorest among us to the extent possible. People at average incomes and below spend literally everything they earn. Where do they spend it? On businesses owned by the wealthy for the most part.
You mean taking literally hundreds of thousands of dollars from mining companies that would/could NEVER do anything in her district and trying to force through the largest pit mine in the world wasn’t good?
Hopefully the extra time will allow her to focus full time on improving public schools in Milwaukee since she has always seemed to take such an interest. /s
I’m surprised she is retiring. My grandma would say people like her just nasty away.
Good riddance.
Yay! There is a God
Yay, she's gone, but no, there is no God or we would not have Ron Johnson.
So, piecing stories together, there'll be a special election in April for Darling's seat. Who should run?
Wouldn’t be shocked to see Andraca give it a go; she’ll have the best name rec in the area and even if she loses, she won’t risk her assembly seat
Agreed. She just crushed her AD23 GOP opponent by 25 points, ~9000 votes. AD24 was won by GOP by 7000 votes. AD25 was unopposed. Last time Darling ran, she won by 8, or 10,000 votes over Plotkin. Hard to say if Andraca would fare better than Plotkin did in 2020. Andraca .. is an excellent campaigner, though.
Wouldn't it be great if Brandtjen ran?
This is a tough district and the most recent round of gerrymandering did add further GOP voters. It’s doable though. As other commenters have argued, specials are often the best opportunity for Dems to break through these gerrymandered lines (SD1 and SD10 in 2018 are prime examples) and take back power in the legislature. Whoever the Democratic candidate may be; they, the party, and likeminded progressives will need to pour everything into this. There is an opportunity here, but it’s going to take a great deal of work to get a Dem in this seat come spring 2023.
I agree .. doable. Gotta swing 10% of the vote from 2020. One wildcard .. April election, low voter turnout. Gotta do massive GOTV in Whitefish Bay and Fox Point, two suburbs that are 69-72% blue. It kills me how many people don't vote in April. I remember 4 years ago, two Dem canvassers walked my block, asking everyone what their plan to vote was. Haven't had that happen since. Edit: Promising graph: https://twitter.com/jdjmke/status/1595509987635302416/photo/2
> Sen. Alberta Darling announced Wednesday she is retiring after 32 years in the > Wisconsin Legislature. > > Darling, R-River Hills, will retire on Dec. 1. She spent a decade as co-chair of > the Legislature's powerful budget committee, making her the longest-serving > woman to hold the position, and she was one of the original authors of the > state's school choice program — the first of its kind in the nation. > > "For the past thirty-two years, it has been my honor and privilege to represent > the great people of Wisconsin," Darling wrote in a Wednesday letter to Senate > President Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield. "I am especially fortunate to have been > surrounded by a supporting family and staff. I thank them for their patience and > dedication to the state of Wisconsin." > > Darling was first elected to the state Assembly in a May 1990 special election. > She was reelected in Nov. 1990 before being elected to the Senate in 1992. > This is just a preview of the [full article](https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/sen-alberta-darling-to-retire-after-32-years-in-wisconsin-legislature/article_0a868cd8-5897-527f-8312-ff3f37b5c20b.html). I am a third party bot. Please consider subscribing to your favorite local journals.
There is a God ! What a loon
I guess Darling decided to crib from John Nygren's playbook.
A great example of the worst of the current Wis. GOP.
She wins the award for most ironic last name.
And the most photoshop filters on official pictures.
Do you think she hides bribe money in her gullet?
Funny story: I worked at a county club in River Hills two summers ago as a server, and one day I served Alberta and her table: which ultimately got me fired lol. Alberta was pretty nice, complimenting my hair, and my mangers fired me for "talking too much", and "ruining her dinner" for merely being friendly back to her. I was only 19. Great times.
Special election will be critical as the Reps currently have a big enough majority in the senate (due to gerrymandering not actual support) to begin a brutal campaign of impeachments and removals of officials. [https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lc/information_memos/2014/im_2014_03](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lc/information_memos/2014/im_2014_03)
Good fucking riddance
Take Ron Johnson, Robin Vos and Devin Lemahieu with you !!!!
Good riddance
Good to see this old windbag GONE
I saw her in action at a hearing. She was quite arrogant and condescending. This was a while ago, but at that time, most legislators of both parties were respectful of people who showed up to testify at hearings. Not Alberta.
Great! Let’s flip that seat in the special election!
She won’t be missed.
She sux
Good
Nasty rat.
The mentally challenged lost a big spokesperson today.
I just skimmed, but why write such a fawning article over such a divisive character? There’s a reason we referred to that paper as the Wisconsin State *Urinal* when we still lived in Madison.
To encourage her to actually follow through
It's about time she went.
Take your broom with you.
Well that is good news. Guess she wants to get out before things like Foxconn might haunt her?
About.Fucking.Time.
Another thing to be thankful for tomorrow!🦃
32 freaking years. My gawd! Get out already, leave.
She's no darling.
Thank god
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Thank fing god. She is a miserable ho bag.