Alan J. Borsuk – Page 36 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Political Flux in Southwestern Wisconsin Offers Surprises, Journalist Finds

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:November 15, 2017
Post category:Lubar Center Political Processes & Rhetoric Public Speakers at Marquette

Don’t make assumptions. Every journalist knows that assumptions can lead you astray.

So if you’re talking with five guys in Richland County in southwestern Wisconsin about their guns and chain saws, you might guess they voted for Donald Trump for president a year ago. Wrong for all five of them, Craig Gilbert, the Washington bureau chief of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, found during a recent reporting trip.

Gilbert found that a lot of assumptions some might make about the political views and voting patterns of people in the largely rural, largely white, and not wealthy part of Wisconsin were wrong. Many communities in southwestern Wisconsin voted for Barack Obama for president in 2008 and 2012 and then voted for Trump in 2016. The views of people Gilbert interviewed in recent weeks remain in flux about Trump, amid a lot of continuing dissatisfaction with the way the political system operates (or doesn’t operate) in Washington.

Future of Milwaukee and Local Hispanics Is Linked, UCC Leader Says

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:November 9, 2017
Post category:Lubar Center Milwaukee Public Speakers at Marquette

Ricardo Diaz says he is paid to give solutions, not to get discouraged by the problems. And solutions and generally optimistic views about the future of the Hispanic population in the Milwaukee area are what he offered in an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program Thursday in the Lubar Center of Eckstein Hall.

Diaz is executive director of the United Community Center, a booming, multi-faceted operation on the South Side that offers services for everyone from pre-schoolers to the elderly, including an art center, a fitness center, a restaurant, a treatment center for people with Alzheimer’s, and a highly-praised youth music program. It is perhaps best known for its Bruce-Guadalupe Community School, a kindergarten through grade charter school with 1,300 students and a record as one of the brightest lights on the Milwaukee education scene.

Gousha, the Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, asked Diaz what the overall goal of the UCC is. “Simply, getting Hispanics into the middle class,” Diaz replied. And he said there is progress in doing that.

Rita Aleman Named Lubar Center Program Manager

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:November 8, 2017
Post category:Lubar Center Marquette Law School Public

Rita Aleman has been named the program manager of Marquette Law School’s new Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education.

Since early 2016, Aleman has been executive producer for “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien,” a Hearst Television weekly political news magazine based in Washington, D.C. Aleman was executive producer for special projects at WISN 12 television in Milwaukee from 2002 to 2016.

In her new role, Aleman will work with colleagues at the Law School to create, organize, and carry out events of the Lubar Center and extend the center’s reach, including an increased presence on the internet. Aleman is scheduled to begin work in January.