Medical Marijuana Committee Members 2019-20 Smoke the Vote Grades
The 2019-20 Smoke the Vote Candidate Scorecard and Voter guide is coming along nicely. We have all of the 2019-20 Wisconsin elected officials grades complete and an Executive Summary of the grades is also available. The “Candidate Module” of the guide is still in progress and you can help!
But for this article, we are examining the grades of the members of the committees that held medical marijuana legislation. Senate Bill 507 / Assembly Bill 570 (Medical Marijuana with home grows/smoking) and Assembly Bill 750 / Senate Bill 683 (Creation of a Medical Marijuana Program) had been assigned to the following committees:
2019 Senate Committee on Government Operations, Technology and Consumer Protection
(Chair) Senator Duey Stroebel (R – Saukville) (608) 266-7513 Email: Sen.Stroebel@legis.wisconsin.gov, recevied a F Grade, link to scorecard: http://norml.us-east-1.elasticbeanstalk.com/politicians/129787
(Vice Chair) Senator Chris Kapenga (R – Delafield) (608) 266-9174 Email: Sen.Kapenga@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a F Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/127114
Senator David Craig (R – Big Bend) (608) 266-5400 Email: Sen.Craig@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a D- Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/129788
Senator Robert W. Wirch (D – Somers) (608) 267-8979 Email: Sen.Wirch@legis.wisconsin.gov, received and C+ Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/3557
Senator Jeff Smith (D – Eau Claire) Telephone: (608) 266-8546 Email: Sen.Smith@legis.wisconsin.gov, received an A Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/51946
2019 Assembly Committee on State Affairs
(Chair) Representative Rob Swearingen Assembly District 34 (R – Rhinelander) (608) 266-7141 Email:Rep.Swearingen@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a F Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/140550
(Vice Chair) Representative Gary Tauchen Assembly District 6 (R – Bonduel) (608) 266-3097 Email: Rep.Tauchen@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a D+ Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/68532
Representative John Jagler Assembly District 37 (R – Watertown) (608) 266-9650 Email: Rep.Jagler@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a B-, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/140561
Representative Michael Schraa Assembly District 53 (R – Oshkosh) (608) 267-7990 Email: Rep.Schraa@legis.wisconsin.gov; received an A-, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/140633
Representative Daniel Knodl, Majority Caucus Chair Assembly District 24 (R – Germantown) (608) 266-3796 Email:Rep.Knodl@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a F Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/108918
Representative Mike Kuglitsch Assembly District 84 (R – New Berlin) (608) 267-5158 Email: Rep.Kuglitsch@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a F Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/127186
Representative Rob Summerfield Assembly District 67 (R – Bloomer) (608) 266-1194 Email: Rep.Summerfield@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a B- grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/171822
(Retiring in 2020) Representative Bob Kulp Assembly District 69 (R – Stratford) (608) 267-0280 Email: Rep.Kulp@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a B Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/145416
Representative Tyler Vorpagel Assembly District 27 (R – Plymouth) (608) 266-8530 Email: Rep.Vorpagel@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a D- Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/153565
Representative Christine Sinicki, Minority Caucus Sergeant At Arms Assembly District 20 (D – Milwaukee) (608) 266-8588 Email: Rep.Sinicki@legis.wisconsin.gov, received an A+ grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/26251
Representative Tip McGuire Assembly District 64 (D – Kenosha) (608) 266-5504 Email: Rep.McGuire@legis.wisconsin.gov, received a D+ Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/186266
Representative Tod Ohnstad Assembly District 65 (D – Kenosha) (608) 266-0455 Email: Rep.Ohnstad@legis.wisconsin.gov, received an A+ grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/79475
Representative David Crowley Assembly District 17 (D – Milwaukee) (608) 266-5580 Email: Rep.Crowley@legis.wisconsin.gov, received and A+ grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/171980
Representative Shelia Stubbs Assembly District 77 (D – Madison) (608) 266-3784 Emailto:Rep.Stubbs@legis.wisconsin.gov, received an A+ grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/99861
Representative Marisabel Cabrera Assembly District 9 (D-Milwaukee) Telephone: (608) 266-1707 Emailto:Rep.Cabrera@legis.wisconsin.gov, received an F Grade, link to scorecard: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/171961
Examining the members, we see the total members in both houses as 50% passing with a C- or better, and 50% failing with a D or F.
Neither the Senate or Assembly even took up medical marijuana as a topic of interest this session and denied the issue from even a public hearing.
The 2019-20 Legislation Session saw Republicans hold majority in both the Senate and Assembly. The Committee assignments, both members compiling a committee and which committee receives the legislation are important, as we learned again this session. In the past, medical marijuana legislation typically landed in the “Senate Health Committee” and “Assembly Committee on Health” and we could believe that this years legislation was sent to the above committees to die, but examining the “health” committee members we find plenty of haters there also.
