MADISON (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a Republican-authored $250 million income tax bill on Wednesday at an elementary school in Wauwatosa, arguing that the Legislature should instead work with him on a compromise that includes more money for education.
And, apparently, he doesn’t know how government works.
‘‘There’s no time for compromise right now,’’ Fitzgerald said, noting that the Assembly adjourned last week for the year. The Senate plans to meet just one more time in about a month.
Remember when you get your paychecks that you could have been paying less in taxes if it weren’t for Governor Evers.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is staying neutral in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Evers said Wednesday he was open to making an endorsement but not until after the state’s April 7 presidential primary. He said withholding an endorsement boosts the chances of Wisconsin’s primary being relevant.
Thanks to a robust economy, Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau has projected that Wisconsin will collect more taxes than the state budgeted by the end of the biennial budget next summer. The news prompted Gov. Tony Evers to call the Legislature into a special session to waste money we do not have on stuff we do not need.
The state passed the biennial budget last year that is in effect from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2021. Those dates are important. The budget estimates tax collections based on the tax policies and sets sending based on the estimated taxes. Periodically, the state’s LFB will evaluate actual tax collections as compared to the budget estimates and forecast whether the state will collect more or less than the budget estimated.
Still awake? Hang in there. In January, the LFB estimated that the state will collect $620.2 million more in taxes than the budget estimated. If the LFB is right, that would mean that the state would generate a $620.2 million surplus at the end of the budget – in July of 2021. In other words, the state does not have $620.2 million in extra cash stashed in Governor Evers’ desk. The state might have $620.2 million in additional money sometime next summer – if the LFB’s forecastis correct.
The LFB does a really good job, but it is not a Delphic Oracle with divine sight. It makes estimates based on the economic data available. This changes, however, in unpredictable ways. For example, if the United States elects a communist to be president this year, it is likely that our economy will enter a deep recession, thus undermining tax collections in Wisconsin and any chance of a surplus.
From this basis, we must evaluate Governor Evers’ plan on both a financial and moral basis. Governor Evers wants the Legislature to pass bills to spend $250 million of the projected surplus on government schools. From a financial perspective, it is outright mismanagement to spend money that state government does not have. Evers wants to spend money based on a single financial projection made three weeks ago about where the state’s finances might end up in 17 months. What if the economy shifts and the surplus does not happen? What if the LFB just got it wrong? Ifthe Legislature votes to spend the money and the surplus does not materialize, the money is still spent. They will have to find another way to pay for it.
On a moral basis, we already had a debate about the budget through our elected representatives. Out of that process came the spending and taxes that we, the people, collectively thought was necessary to fund state government. Evers already proposed that we spend more. The Legislature passed a budget and Evers signed it. If there is a surplus, there are only three things that should be done with it: pay down debt, save it in the rainy day fund, or return it to the people.
Paying down debt is never a bad thing, but if the state is just going to replace it with more debt and spending, then it is counterproductive. Thanks to years of good fiscal management when Republicans controlled all of state government, the state’s rainy day fund is already adequately funded. That leaves the last option: Give it back to the people. The state overcharged for its services and should give the people their change.
Finally, it is not just that Governor Evers wants to spend money we do not yet have. It is that he wants to pour it into the bottomless pit of government schoolsfor no benefit. The governor lists 14 spending items directed at government schools from general state aid to grants. Nowhere does he even pretend that the additional spending will improve educational outcomes for the kids. Even Evers appears to know that more spending will not result in better education.
In fact, Wisconsin spends more on government education than at any time in its history, and yet, test scores and student performance continue their steady decline. It is a travesty that liberals like Governor Evers continue to spread the lie that more money leads to a better education because it distracts from advancing policies that will actually improve education for our children. Governor Evers’ spending plan is a boon for government workers, special interest groups, and school construction companies, but it once again leaves our kids behind.
The Legislature should ignore Evers’ folly and close the special session as soon as it opens. If the surplus does actually materialize as the LFB projects, then the Legislature should return it to the people.
Finally, it is not just that Governor Evers wants to spend money we do not yet have. It is that he wants to pour it into the bottomless pit of government schools for no benefit. The governor lists 14 spending items directed at government schools from general state aid to grants. Nowhere does he even pretend that the additional spending will improve educational outcomes for the kids. Even Evers appears to know that more spending will not result in better education.
In fact, Wisconsin spends more on government education than at any time in its history, and yet, test scores and student performance continue their steady decline. It is a travesty that liberals like Governor Evers continue to spread the lie that more money leads to a better education because it distracts from advancing policies that will actually improve education for our children. Governor Evers’ spending plan is a boon for government workers, special interest groups, and school construction companies, but it once again leaves our kids behind.
Sigh… it’s never enough. He doesn’t even pretend to offer a plan for how dumping this in the government school system would actually improve education for a single kid.
MADISON (WKOW) — Surrounded by educators and school administrators Thursday morning, Gov. Tony Evers announced he would call a special session to focus on education.
The session is scheduled for Feb. 11 at 1 p.m.
The governor wants the state Senate and Assembly to use $250 million of projected revenue surplus to give more money to schools and take the pressure off of local referendums.
MADISON – Gov. Tony Evers is standing by his child services officials who warned a reporter he could face jail time if he reported information from a confidential child abuse investigation.
Evers said Tuesday the Department of Children and Families acted appropriately by sending an NBC News reporter a cease and desist letter threatening legal action, a move that media law experts say is likely unconstitutional.
“I believe it’s appropriate that DCF protects the kid in this case. Somebody’s got to stick up for that young kid who was deemed to be abused,” Evers told reporters Tuesday. “Somebody’s got to stand up for the kid, and we did and I support that.”
DCF officials sought to block NBC News reporter Mike Hixenbaugh from publishing information from a confidential child abuse investigation file, saying reporting such information would violate state law and could result in six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
As we put more and more privacy laws from HIPAA to FERPA to others, this is becoming more of an issue. Business and government officials hide their abuses and wrongdoing behind these laws and use them to thwart the people’s ability to get to the truth.
PEWAUKEE — Gov. Tony Evers today, joined by Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld, signed Executive Order #67 creating the Governor’s Task Force on Student Debt. This task force will be chaired by Secretary Blumenfeld and will be tasked with assessing student debt in Wisconsin and providing long-term strategies to reduce education-related debt, prevent abusive practices by loan companies, and improve financial literacy education.
How ’bout we focus on lowering the cost of college so that kids don’t feel the need to take on so much debt?
It has become a nasty feature of modern politics that Democrats just cannot lose gracefully. Here in Wisconsin, the Democrats went into a full frenzy when Gov. Scott Walker was elected. They insisted that he “cheated” and engaged in “collusion” to win. Sound familiar? We saw the same thing when President Donald Trump won. Democrats advanced a narrative that Trump “cheated” and “colluded” to win the election. The truth in both cases was that the Republican won and the Democrats could not accept it. In their worldview, the only way a Republican can win is if they cheat.
This brings us to the abominably boring topic of redistricting. It is a topic that only political junkies find interesting, but it is a necessary part of self-governance. The process is fairly simple. Every 10 years, the United States does a census to count everyone in the country and figure out where they live. After that, the states redraw the boundaries between congressional and legislative districts to ensure that they each have an equal number of people.
States go about the process of redistricting in different ways. In Wisconsin, the state Constitution gives this responsibility solely to the Legislature. The Constitution simply reads, “At its first session after each enumeration made by the authority of the United States, the legislature shall apportion and district anew the members of the senate and assembly, according to the number of inhabitants.” The only guidance the Constitution gives on this is that, “such districts to be bounded bycounty, precinct, town or ward lines, to consist of contiguous territory and be in as compact form as practicable.”
Although redistricting is the exclusive purview of the Legislature, the state Supreme Court ruled that the maps had to be passed as a normal bill and signed by the governor. This gave the governor a role in the process. The third branch of government, the courts, have an oversight role to ensure that legislative districts adhere to the Constitution and that they do not violate any federal laws or constitutional protections.
The process of redistricting is inherently political. It could not be anything but political. This is why it is appropriate for the Legislature to do it. That is the forum to which the people elect their representatives to debate political issues and make decisions on the people’s behalf. And the more controversial and heated the topic is, the more important it is to be debated by our representatives in the light of day. Decisions made after heated debates by elected representatives on the floor of the Legislature are far preferable to those made by unelected commissions or judges.
This is why Gov. Tony Evers creation of a socalled “People’s Maps Commission” is so offensive. It is a deliberate attempt by the governor to usurp the will of the people as expressed in their electedlegislators. Instead, Evers proposes to appoint a group of commissars who will draw new maps according to the will of one man: Tony Evers. In a representative government, we do not decide big issues with unelected commissions with allegiance to the governor. We decide big issues by debating them in the People’s House – the Legislature.
Evers’ reason for this attempted usurpation is the reason cited at the beginning of this column. Democrats just cannot accept losing elections. The Democrats have claimed for years that the Republican majorities in the state Legislature are due to rank partisan gerrymandering. For evidence, they point to the fact that Democrats won statewide elections at the same time that they failed to win majorities in the Legislature.
The problem with their argument is threefold. First, politics are truly local. During the time that Republicans have held majorities in the state Legislature, Scott Walker, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Tony Evers all won statewide majorities. In the state Assembly, for example, Republicans have held the majority for all except two of the previous 26 years. The fluctuations in regional turnout have more impact on these discrepancies than the boundaries of the districts.
Second, Democrats conveniently forget that Republicans first swept into their most recent legislative majorities in November of 2010 in legislative districts drawn by the courts after the divided legislature deadlocked in 2001. Their majorities are not a result of maps thatRepublicans drew. Republican majorities are due to good local politicking, good candidates, and good policies.
Third, partisan gerrymandering, while perhaps unfair and annoying, is not illegal or unconstitutional. The United States Supreme Court affirmed that fact as recently as last year. Governor Evers’ unelected commission of usurpers is pretending to fix or prevent something that is perfectly legal and constitutional. The truth is that their purpose is not fairer maps. Their purpose is maps that favor Democrats.
Governor Evers has repeatedly demonstrated that he lacks the skills, personality, or will to work with the Legislature on important issues. Instead, he seeks to circumvent the Legislature and concentrate power in himself. In doing so, Evers is attempting to circumvent the people’s right to self-governance.
MADISON, Wis. — Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers won’t be in his office when Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to give a speech just a few feet away in the rotunda of the state Capitol.
The event Tuesday in battleground Wisconsin is believed to mark the first time a sitting vice president or president has appeared inside the 103-year-old building.
Evers is a petty, bitter, partisan man who can’t even rise up enough on behalf of the people of Wisconsin to welcome the sitting Vice President to our state.
Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order Monday creating a nonpartisan redistricting commission that excludes lawmakers, lobbyists and party officials from participating.
The commission, which Evers unveiled in last week’s State of the State address, will consist of members from across the state and present maps to the Legislature for consideration after completion of the 2020 Census.
Evers, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul and most of the governor’s cabinet assembled in the Capitol Monday for the executive order requiring the creation of the People’s Maps Commission, which will visit each congressional district in Wisconsin to help create the maps.
Funny how ONLY Democrats were invited to announce what they are pretending will be a “nonpartisan” commission, eh?
The process of redistricting is inherently political. It could not be anything but political. This is why it is appropriate for the Legislature to do it. That is the forum to which the people elect their representatives to debate political issues and make decisions on the people’s behalf. And the more controversial and heated the topic is, the more important it is to be debated by our representatives in the light of day. Decisions made after heated debates by elected representatives on the floor of the Legislature are far preferable to those made by unelected commissions or judges.
This is why Gov. Tony Evers creation of a socalled “People’s Maps Commission” is so offensive. It is a deliberate attempt by the governor to usurp the will of the people as expressed in their elected legislators. Instead, Evers proposes to appoint a group of commissars who will draw new maps according to the will of one man: Tony Evers. In a representative government, we do not decide big issues with unelected commissions with allegiance to the governor. We decide big issues by debating them in the People’s House – the Legislature.
Hmmmm… curious. This appears to be yet another case of Evers and his staff being on different pages – with the staff’s view being reality. Who’s really running the show over there?
MADISON, Wis. (Jan. 10, 2020) – The MacIver News Service sued Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers in August 2019 for barring its reporters from a press briefing and purposefully withholding press notifications from the journalists. Since then, Evers’ attorneys have defended their restrictions on the MacIver reporters in court.
But in an interview that aired on FOX 11 this past Sunday, January 5, Gov. Evers made statements about the lawsuit that run contrary to the arguments being made by his own attorneys in the case. In the interview, Evers suggests that the MacIver journalists have as much access as other statehouse journalists and that the governor desires no restrictions on them or any other journalists.
In response to the interview, Liberty Justice Center attorney Daniel Suhr sent a letter to Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul highlighting the inconsistencies between the governor’s public statements and his legal defense, and encouraged the governor’s team to adopt into practice the openness to press that Evers conveyed in the FOX 11 interview.
WAUSAU – Gov. Tony Evers today sent a letter to Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature assigning legislative homework and asking the Legislature to pass several key pieces of legislation before adjourning this year.
The legislature is a coequal branch of government. The Governor is treating them like children. He truly has proven to be a terrible governor with no ability to build consensus or advance his agenda. There are plenty of issues on which the governor and some Republicans could find common ground, but Evers is intent on crapping on them every chance he gets.
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers and fellow Democratic lawmakers have introduced a series of proposals designed to reduce overcrowded prisons, but without support from Republican leaders they are unlikely to gain traction in the GOP-controlled Legislature.
Evers told the Wisconsin State Journal in an interview published Thursday that he hoped the bills would spur a bipartisan discussion on the need to address the state’s rising prison population, which is expected to reach 25,000 inmates by 2021. Evers campaigned on the pledge to cut the state’s prison population in half.
[…]
The bills would set incarceration limits for non-criminal supervision violations, extend earned release eligibility to include vocational or educational programs and expand on a compliance credit to allow for shortened community supervision options. The measures, introduced by Rep. Evan Goyke and Sen. Lena Taylor, both of Milwaukee, applies only to nonviolent offenders.
Setting a target prison population is not a rational or moral goal. The population of our prisons is a function of how much crime is being committed and how we choose to punish people. If we can reduce the number of crimes being committed so that the prison population declines, then great! If the prison population increases because more people are committing crimes, then so be it. But to just let criminals out on the street to commit more crimes in order to reach an arbitrary number of people in prison so that Evers can feel good is dangerous and immoral.
In my experience, the vast majority of people are decent, law-abiding folks. They might speed or double park every now and then, but they are good people. A tiny slice of the population are wretched human beings who commit the vast majority of the serious crimes. Those people are just bad, and they will continue to commit crimes for as long as they are able to because they are criminals. That’s just what criminals do. Bakers bake. Farmers farm. Drivers drive. Criminals commit crime. The only way to reduce crime is to remove the criminals from society as often as possible and for as long as possible.
To be fair, I doubt he actually knew what half of these orders were for.
Gov. Tony Evers issued more executive orders in his first year than any other guv in Wisconsin history.
He signed 61 executive orders through mid-December. Not only is that a record for a first-year guv, but it’s more than any single calendar year going back to 1965, according to a WisPolitics.com review.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the number of executive orders was a sign that Evers has been “ineffective” in working with GOP lawmakers to pass bipartisan legislation. As an example, Fitzgerald cited an executive order the guv issued that replaced all references to “mental retardation” in state language with “intellectual disability” and “intellectually disabled.” Evers issued the order shortly before lawmakers released legislation to largely accomplish the same thing.
“He has completely failed to develop a relationship with the Legislature, even when he had numerous opportunities to do so,” Fitzgerald said, “He used one of those executive orders to purposely copy a piece of legislation that should have been an easy bipartisan win. I’m hopeful that we’ll start off better next year, but I’m not holding my breath.”
A spokesman for Evers didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
[…]
More than a third of Evers’ executive orders were directives that flags at state buildings fly at half-staff. Beyond those 21 orders, 13 created committees, councils or advisory boards, and eight were for emergency declarations.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers isn’t ruling out a potential property tax cut Republicans are considering for next year — but he stressed the state needs to ensure “we have the resources necessary” to pursue the idea.
Still, Evers in Monday end-of-year interview with the Cap Times said it is “way too early” to commit spending potential surplus funding when Wisconsin has “issues around clean drinking water” and “our schools not having enough resources.”
Will anyone ever define what “enough” looks like for our public schools? We are spending more on schools than ever and far more on public schools than on private schools. Meanwhile, educational outcomes are steadily declining. What is “enough?” $20k per kid? $30k? How much would we have to spend before liberals admit that more money is not the solution?
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers’ top aide warned Foxconn Technology Group last month that a scaled-down factory in Wisconsin won’t qualify for tax credits unless the Taiwanese electronics giant renegotiates with the state, letters Evers’ administration released Friday show.
The letters underscore a deepening schism between Evers and the world’s largest electronics provider. Foxconn counts Apple, Google and Amazon among its customers.
Foxconn originally proposed building a massive flat-screen plant in Mount Pleasant that would eventually employ 13,000 people. Enamored with the thought of a monumental economic boost going into the 2018 elections, then-Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators approved an unprecedented $3 billion state incentives package in 2017 for the factory. Democrats complained at the time that Walker and the GOP were giving away too much for a project that might never materialize.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers praised scientists as he lit the state Capitol’s “holiday tree.” Meanwhile, a high school choir sang Christmas carols.
The Friday ceremony was an odd juxtaposition of the two sides of the state’s debate over the tree’s symbolism.
Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker declared the tree a Christmas tree in 2011 but Evers, a Democrat, started calling it a “holiday tree” this year and sought submissions of science-themed ornaments.
The governor lit the evergreen following a speech in which he called it “a celebration of science.” A choir sang Christmas carols, including “”O Christmas Tree” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.”
Nothing matches the mandate claimed by Evers in his veto message.
The lead sponsors of the bill blasted Evers in a news release after the veto came down.
“His lack of understanding of the legislation is quite apparent, and it makes us question whether or not he’s even reading the bills that his staff puts in front of him,” Born said.
What makes Evers’ veto message especially unusual is that it starts out by describing the parental opt-out accurately: “Under current law, directory data may be disclosed to any person if the public school notifies parents or guardians of the information designated as directory data, provides information on how to opt out of disclosures, and provides sufficient time to use the opt-out procedure.”
But the next two sentences then refer to the bill as mandating this information be released.
“The Governor must have forgotten about that between his opening paragraph explaining the ability to do so and his conclusion where he used it as an excuse to veto it,” state Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon and the lead Senate sponsor, said in the news release.
Eleven days after the veto and callouts from Republican legislators, Evers’ office on Dec. 2, 2019, shared an “errata” with PolitiFact Wisconsin that retracted the two references to a mandate. It was dated Nov. 29, 2019, but as of Dec. 3, 2019, had not yet been published among the press releases on Evers’ website that announced the original veto or with the official legislative bill history.
Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said Evers’ legal team looked into the matter and issued the errata as a result of the inquiry by PolitiFact Wisconsin.
“We used an errata here for the same reason that the courts do: to correct an error so that there isn’t any confusion regarding the meaning or intent of the document,” Baldauff said in an email. “It is a process frequently used to correct legal documents after publication. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals, in particular, frequently issues erratas.”
Baldauff declined to detail how the mistake occurred but said Evers and his staff read the law, and “the intent of his veto is not changed by the errata.”
Since Evers can’t repeal a veto, I’d pass the bill again and see if he’ll sign it. Perhaps the legislature can send along an explanation in crayon.
The booming economy and low unemployment rate are causing worker shortages in several areas of the workforce. One of those areas is a severe shortage of certified nursing assistants. The Republicans in the Legislature tried to help ease the shortage with a common-sense bill, but the Democrats opposed it every step of the way, culminating with Gov. Tony Evers vetoing the entire bill. The impact of that veto will be most painfully felt by the most vulnerable among us.
Anyone who has ever had to spend any time in a hospital or a long-term care facility knows what CNAs do. CNAs provide the intimate, critically important personal care that is necessary before all other health care can be performed. They bathe patients, check vital signs, change bedpans, clean up vomit, help patients use the toilet, dress people, dress wounds, feed patients, and so many other important tasks.
For people in long-term care facilities, CNAs are their lifeline. Elderly and disabled patients rely on CNAs throughout every day to help them do the things that they can no longer do for themselves. These are the people who are most impacted by the shortage of CNAs as longterm care facilities close across Wisconsin and the remaining ones are chronically short of staff.
The reasons for the shortage of CNAs are relatively straightforward. CNA work is hard. Much of it is also kind of gross. The average wage for a CNA is $13.58 per hour according to Glassdoor. In order to become a CNA in Wisconsin, you must pay for 120 hours of training, including 32 hours of clinical experience, and pass the exam. When unemployment in Wisconsin is 3.2% and fast food restaurants and retail stores are paying $15 per hour for employees with no experience, CNA work is not very attractive by comparison.
Because of this, many CNAs are either nurses or doctors in training. Working as a CNA providesthese students ground floor experience in health care and the ability to make connections that could aid their career. They are willing to pay for the training and work for the lower wages because it is a stepping stone in their careers.
When there is a labor shortage, the normal market response is to increase wages to attract more workers. A major distortion to the labor market for CNAs is that many of the jobs are supported by Medicare and Medicaid. Both of those government programs chronically underfund the actual expenses, forcing health care providers to supplement expenses from other patients. Private health care facilities can manage, but many long-term care facilities rely on Medicaid and Medicare as their primary funding source. In short, there just is not enough money to raise wages substantially.
In light of the CNA shortage and the relative inelasticity of wages, the Republicans in the Legislature passed a bill to try to increase the number of available CNAs from other states. The bill was simple. Federal rules require that a CNA receive 75 hours of training with 16 hours of clinical experience. Wisconsin requires 120 hours of training with 32 hours of clinical experience. The bill that the Republicans inthe Legislature passed would have allowed CNAs who meet the federal standard to work in Wisconsin.
Twenty other states use the federal standard including the neighboring states of Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan. There is no evidence that the additional 45 hours of training that Wisconsin requires has any appreciable impact on the quality of care. Not having enough CNAs in a facility to do the work definitely has a negative impact on the quality of care. By allowing CNAs who meet the federal standard to work in Wisconsin, it would have immediately increased the number of CNAs available — especially in areas near the western and northern borders.
Last week, Governor Evers vetoed the bill in its entirety. In his veto message, Evers said, “I object to providing less training for those who care for our state’s most vulnerable citizens,” despite any evidence that adopting the federal standard will harm care. One thing is certain: The quality of care is zero if nobody is available to provide the care.
While pronouncing concern for our state’s most vulnerable citizens, Governor Evers’ veto will harm them the most.
