/ Posts / Ron Johnson and Tom Tiffany among the few to Vote Against Stimulus Package

Ron Johnson and Tom Tiffany among the few to Vote Against Stimulus Package

Kirk Bangstad

12/23/20

I posted this Article on the Minocqua Brewing Company's FB page. Copying it here in my blog:

Hi Everyone,

This is Kirk Bangstad, owner of the Minocqua Brewing Company.

I wanted to speak with my own voice instead of with the marketing tone we usually take because today’s post is more serious.

We officially closed our doors in September after the summer season because we knew that with the coming cold weather and increased cases of Covid, we couldn’t be both safe and profitable at the same time for a number of reasons:

It was too cold for outdoor dining.
Our building is wonderfully old but didn’t have the proper ventilation for safe indoor dining during Covid.
The offseason in Minocqua is already a struggle because our winter tourism season gets shorter and/or more undependable every year due to global warming, and reduced occupancy due to Covid was just going to compound that pain.

I had been telling my employees all summer that unless there was another government stimulus package that came at the end of the summer to help me keep them employed, we would have to shut down and I would have to lay them off.

Sure enough, the HEROES Act passed by the Democratic Majority Congress in June was turned into a political football by the Republican senate, and no stimulus package arrived. I decided, in order to stay alive for the following tourism season, to use the small profits we made in the summer to pay rents and utilities over the winter, and to lay off most of my staff (subsequent to that decision I also leased the restaurant side of our operations to a great outfit out of Lake Geneva called Oakfire Pizza).

To this day, I maintain that I've never expected the government to fund any small business. I believe in capitalism. But this was different. This was the entire bar/restaurant industry in Wisconsin, the U.S., and the world that needed help. Millions of jobs were at stake.

Providing a lifeline to small restaurants and bars throughout this pandemic wasn’t just a government handout, it was a way to save an entire industry and keep many Americans employed.

Our Federal Government, with the executive, judicial, and half of the legislative branch run by the Republican Party, let my industry twist in the wind.

It was not Governor Evers. His measures to protect Wisconsinites from the virus were warranted. Restaurants and bars needed to have capacity limits to save lives, and the state of Wisconsin doesn’t have the money to prop up an entire industry of small businesses. The Federal Government does.

Fast forward to the relief bill that just was passed overwhelmingly by 92-6 votes in the U.S. Senate, and 359-53 votes in the House. Too late for so many Wisconsin restaurants, but still the right thing to do for our economy until the vaccine can inoculate our state.

I just have one problem. Among the 6 out of 100 Senators who voted against this relief package was our own Senator Ron Johnson, and among the 53 out of 412 Congressmen who voted against the relief package was our own Tom Tiffany.

Both of our Federal Representatives voted to let my brewpub and the rest of Wisconsin’s bars and restaurants twist in the wind, yet again.

I have a big problem with that, and that’s why the Minocqua Brewing Company is setting up a Super PAC to get these guys out of office in 2022.

You can donate directly to the Super PAC when it launches in January, or you can buy our Inauguration Day Beer and associated merchandise right now. 10% of all profits from those sales will be used to seed the Super PAC.

I’ve had enough of Wisconsin Republican’s screwing over their constituents in service to special interests and their own greed, and I think it’s time for the businesses in this state who have been hurt by them to step up and do their part to restore democracy in our state.

To order Inauguration Day Beer for pickup in January (pickup dates provided), go here:

https://minocqua-brewing-company.square.site/

To order Inauguration Day Beer merchandise, go here:

https://minocquabrewingcompany.com/shop/

https://www.jsonline.com/.../wisconsin.../4005260001/

Written by Kirk Bangstad on 12/23/20

Ron Johnson and Tom Tiffany among the few to Vote Against Stimulus Package

Hupy and Abraham Bully Their Way out of Facing the Truth

Introducing #kamalabeer

Time for Northwoods Businesses to Reject Tom Tiffany

Democracy Will Win, and the Traitors Will be held Accountable.

More Bullying by the Lakeland Times

The Events of January 6, 2021, will Live in Infamy

Introducing the Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC

Republicans Once Again Fail to Protect Us from PFAS Pollution

Getting the Historical Record Right for the Minocqua Summer of 2020

Happy Thanksgiving and Pura Vida

I'm sorry about using the word "Dumb."

What the 34th Assembly Debate says about Wisconsin Politics

Swearingen Played Politics with Rhinelander's Water

Closing my Brewpub for the Season: A Shared Casualty of Failed Leadership

Frustrated, Tired, and Hurt

Not enough tests to go back to in-person schooling

Remembering my Late Wife Elizabeth

Covid has finally hit Minocqua, and I'm Mad

Eagle River, the Mature Police Department

What You'd Call A Dream

We need Leadership Now more than Ever

"Refund" all the Programs that the Police Shouldn't have to Deal With

Conspiracy Theories are Tearing Us Apart.

Believe it or not, I've got some conservative views

Swearingen Can't be Bothered to Wear a Mask

Wisconsin #1 in Rate of Covid-19 Infection

Atonement, Drug Abuse, and Grace

Tears and Hope on July 4

Swearingen and Tavern League Dishonesty Hurting Wisconsinites

Time for a New Coach

My Republican friends, why do you think that although 80% of Republican legislators voted absentee last April in a pandemic, they now oppose making it easier to vote by mail in November?

It's Time for Morality to Guide our Politics

We need to move our Overton Window back to the Center

Let's Not Screw over our Schools.

Democracy is the core value of America, and it is dying in front of our eyes

You may have read the Op Ed about me in the Lakeland Times and River News last Friday

Remembrances of My Father

So I discussed racial justice with some people of color last night at my house

We gotta leave the petty world of libel suits and newspaper publisher bullies and move back to the things that really matter to us in the Northwoods

So if our own Minocqua mini-Donald is gonna sue me for libel

So Gregg Walker of the Lakeland Times just threatened to sue me for libel

We’re gonna have some doozy posts next week

I fully support nonpartisan redistricting to strengthen democracy in Wisconsin

What do 89%, 85%, 81%, 80% have in common?

It’s ok to be a Republican and reject Republicans that don’t share your values

As confidence in our federal government is at an all time low

So New Zealand just declared the pandemic officially over in their country

Murkowski, Will, Romney, Powell, Mattis...

So yesterday, the River News in Rhinelander came out with a hit piece against Linda Conlon,

The Republican Party that has evolved first under Scott Walker in Wisconsin then Trump in 2016 is no longer the party you grew up voting for

Hi Rob Swearingen, do you have buyer’s remorse?

I can’t add one single word to the many heartfelt thoughts expressed by the black community during this terribly traumatic week of death and riots

Awesome letter to the editor published by the Lakeland Times

Please watch this video and channel your anger to change at the ballot box

Congrats Rhinelander, you successfully averted a disaster by getting over 8,000 signatures in two days to cancel the Hodag Country Fest

Donate to Bangstad for Wisconsin 34th Assembly

The drumbeat of new cases in Oneida County and Wisconsin continues

I just read about the decision to NOT cancel Hodag Country Fest this July during a global pandemic

Scenes like these will lead this country into civil war

On this Memorial Day Weekend, The New York Times’ front page memorialized 1,000 people who died from Covid-19

Hi, my name is Kirk Bangstad and I’m running for assembly in the 34th district against Rob, “let-them-eat-Covid,” Swearingen

Hi all, I need your help before June 1, and so do other local Democrats running for office

Most new cases in a single day today

Hi this is Kirk Bangstad and I’m running for state assembly in the 34th district against Rob, sacrificing-grandmas-to-sell-more-vodka, Swearingen

Insert Rob Swearingen and the Republican legislature in the title of this article below and the Journal Sentinel has it right

Interview with WAOW about the dangers of opening up restaurants and bars right now

FYI, Here’s my interview with Channel 12 WJFW yesterday

I'm Kirk Bangstad, running against Rob "pro-life-only-until-a global-pandemic-hits" Swearingen for Wisconsin's 34th assembly district

Well that was quite a decision handed down to us by the Wisconsin Supreme Court last night

Just got this from the Tavern League of Wisconsin

As promised, because this is the foremost issue on everyone's mind

So here's the Introductory paragraph I wrote in the Minocqua Brewing Company May Newsletter

Hi Everyone, Many of you asked where you can donate to the campaign

Here’s the video of WJFW’s announcement of my candidacy

As a brewpub owner, I am by definition a tavern owner as well as a brewery owner

The US has failed in its response to the coronavirus