The Marinette County Lincoln Day Dinner Saturday (May 3) evening was sandwiched between Thursday’s full day of Faith and Freedom Coalition lobbying, and a national radio blitz Wednesday (May 7) with four hours of Fox News Radio interviews, en route to meetings in Georgia and Alabama the rest of the week.

Here are the topics covered in this weekly newsletter:

1. Defending John Reid in a Bull Elephant article challenging political smear tactics
2. Lobby Day in Madison, meeting conservative legislators on key voter survey issues
3. Lincoln Day Dinner Speech in Marinette County with state and national leaders
4. Fox News Radio Day (May 7) with national interviews on policy priorities
5. Protecting Children from Bad Content on Apps, through national support for the App Store Accountability Act
6. Alabama and Georgia Trip, years after Pudner was accused of “Destroying the Democratic Party of Alabama”

Defending John Reid (1): In Virginia, the broader debate around protecting children from pornography reached the campaign trail, where Pudner penned a defense of Virginia lieutenant governor candidate John Reid, who faced politically motivated accusations regarding past alleged pornography use at a time when AI-Generated pieces have led to unfair suspensions such as a targeted New Jersey school teacher. That column, titled “Stop the Gotchas: Focus on Fighting Porn, Not Smearing Candidates,” makes the case that the real issue is not a candidate’s past but society’s failure to confront the harms of pornography. Pudner points out the policy irony: Reid is running in the only non-Trump state that passed an anti-porn law strong enough to force Pornhub to shut down.

Reid’s critics miscalculated. As Pudner wrote, “If 94% of men have viewed porn… who among us can cast the first stone?” Instead of political “gotchas,” he urges policymakers to focus on legislation that actually reduces exploitation, abuse, and addiction—highlighting Virginia’s success and calling for action in the 32 states that have done nothing. Regardless of who you support for this or any office, all should be glad that in this case at least – it appears to be the person who launched the attack that has lost his position while conservatives rally around Reid.

You can read the full Bull Elephant column here:
Stop the Gotchas: Focus on Fighting Porn, Not Smearing Candidates

Lobbying Day in Madison (2). On May 1, Spencer LaVerde and John Pudner kicked off this year’s lobbying by visiting nearly every conservative legislator in the Wisconsin State Capitol, presenting the eight core issues currently featured in the Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition’s statewide survey:
👉 Take the survey here

Among the most urgent: introducing legislation to stop ActBlue from ever again flooding the system with billions of dollars in unverified contributions—a major loophole that undermines election integrity and transparency. Only a couple were not aware that we were now only lobbying on these 8 issues and that www.takebackaction.org was shut down and none of our team advocates for any RCV-related issues.
“I hadn’t realized how many friends are now working in legislative offices at the Capitol,” Pudner noted after a packed day of reconnecting and policy discussion.

Fox News Radio (3). While this marks the fifth year of John Pudner’s role as a monthly Fox News national guest, these will be the first interviews conducted since becoming President of the Freedom and Family Alliance—a role that empowers both Pudner and Spencer LaVerde to lobby and speak on political issues such as The Bull Elephant piece summarized above.

Marinette Lincoln Day Speech (4). On Saturday, May 3, 2025, Wisconsin Faith and Freedom President John Pudner will join a lineup of notable conservative voices at the Marinette County Lincoln Day Dinner, held at Smoke and Spice (W9577 County Road W, Crivitz, WI 54114) with a social at 4 pm, dinner at 5 pm and the program speeches at 6 pm.

Featured speakers include:

• Joe Giganti, The Regular Joe Show, WTAK News Talk Radio
• John Pudner, President, Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition
• Ken Sikora, Chairman-Elect, Republican Party of the 8th Congressional District
• Tony Wied, U.S. Congressman, Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District

Additional speakers may be announced at: marinettecountygop.org

App Story Accuntabilty (5). On May 1, Wisconsin Faith and Freedom joined more than 100 child advocacy organizations in applauding U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. John James (R-MI) for introducing the App Store Accountability Act. This bipartisan bill would empower parents with greater oversight over their children’s app downloads and digital contracts—an urgent need as app stores currently allow minors to accept complex legal agreements and share personal data without parental knowledge or consent.

A national poll commissioned by the Digital Childhood Alliance found overwhelming support:

• 88% of parents support requiring parental approval before minors can download apps.
• 85% believe children under 18 should need parental consent before accepting an app’s terms of service.
• 76% want an independent body to assign age ratings to apps—like what exists for movies or video games.

More detail on the polling is available here:
National Poll: Strong Support for App Store Oversight

The full letter signed by Wisconsin Faith and Freedom and over 100 groups can be read here:
Support Letter PDF
And the full bill text:
Bill Text PDF

The 100+ organizations included Alabama Eagle Forum (traditional family values), Alabama Policy Institute (liberty, religious freedom), Allies Against Slavery (Texas-based group stopping human trafficking), American Principles Project (opposes CRT and gender ideology in schools), Children at Risk (Texas-based research group on child well-being), Concerned Women for America (Christian women’s public policy group), Family Policy Alliance (Christian policy network), Georgia Center for Opportunity (economic mobility and family formation), Heritage Action for America (grassroots arm of Heritage Foundation), Texas Public Policy Foundation (leading conservative think tank), and Frontline Policy Action (pro-family group run by former Operations Director for Pudner).

Wisconsin Faith and Freedom is proud to stand with these groups in calling on Congress to act now and protect the next generation from online exploitation.

Georgia & Alabama End-of-week (6). After the last Fox New Radio interview Pudner gets on a plane for the state where the Wisconsin Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Doors-Churches-Postcards effort truly started – Georgia. This was the site of Pudner running the national faith-based effort for Bush 2000s win against Al Gore as a model was set in place that drove turnout in Wisconsin again in 2024. As soon as the Legislative Session ends in Alabama Thursday, Pudner heads there in the wake of a huge win for his former employer, the ALFA Farmers Federation, which secured a huge win for rural health care based on market driven solutions. The bill was carried by one of the Senators backed by the FarmPAC effort Pudner ran for a decade there – Senator Arthur Orr – who won final approval this week *see story by clicking here.”

The Doors-Churches-Postcards plan worked there as the $1.5 million FarmPAC was influential in defeating a union-backed $8 million PAC to increase the split in the legislature from roughly 2-to-1 Democrat to 2-to-1 Republican. On a lighter note, when one of Pudner’s daughters was graduating from Auburn High School, a former Democratic State Senator told her, “Your Daddy Destroyed the Democratic Party of Alabama.”