One Wisconsin Now, Institute to Celebrate Ten Years of Scot Ross as Executive Director

MADISON, Wis. — Monday night in Madison, One Wisconsin Now and One Wisconsin Institute will be marking the tenth anniversary of Scot Ross as Executive Director. The event will be hosted by special guest U.S. Representative Mark Pocan and will feature a roast of Ross by friends and state and national allies in the progressive movement.

One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne commented, “There’s no better way to celebrate Scot Ross than to invite his friends and co-workers to share out loud what we’ve been muttering under our breaths for a decade.”

One Wisconsin Now and its partner organization One Wisconsin Institute have established a reputable statewide and national profile, providing a leading voice for progressives in the media on a range of issues. In addition to regular appearances on MSNBC, the staff and their work has been cited in national media stories by major publications including the New York Times, the Nation, the Progressive Magazine, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Huffington Post, and USAToday.

The organization conducts extensive opposition and educational research, engages in media communications and online campaigns and serves as a progressive information hub for allied organizations and tens of thousands of activists across Wisconsin. They have over 96,000 online activist supporters and a vibrant social media presence encompassing nearly 23,000 Facebook Fans and over 10,300 Twitter followers.

Some of the notable achievements over Ross’ tenure include:

• Conducting first of its kind research on the economic impacts of student loan debt on home and auto purchasing in Wisconsin and serving as a founding member of the national Higher Ed, Not Debt Coalition advocating for student loan debt reform;
• Winning a victory as the lead plaintiff in the federal voting rights case One Wisconsin Institute et. al. v. Thomsen et. al. that led to the expansion of early voting in Wisconsin and the rollback of other anti-voter measures enacted by state Republicans;
• Running a tenacious progressive research outfit educating on issues and exposing politicians, including helping the nation quickly get up to speed on the Scott Walker story during his blink or you’d missed it 71 day presidential campaign.

In fact, Ross and One Wisconsin Now have been so successful in their advocacy work that leaked documents revealed the $900 million right wing behemoth Bradley Foundation included the organization on an “enemies list.”

Browne concluded, “Could we do it without Scot? Probably. But we enjoy having him around anyway.”