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Wisconsin delegation votes on party lines as House passes minimum wage bill

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Wisconsin’s delegation voted along party lines as a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour passed the House of Representatives on Thursday. Democrats Ron Kind, Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan voted “yes,” Republicans Sean Duffy, Mike Gallagher, Glenn Grothman, Jim Sensenbrenner and Bryan Steil “no,” as the Raise the Wage Act passed 231-199 on a near party-line vote.

Congress last raised the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour about a decade ago.This 15 dollars an hour bill is unlikely to come to a vote in the U-S Senate.

Republicans may attempt to override Evers veto

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Governor Tony Evers WRN image

Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature may attempt an override of a partial veto by Governor Tony Evers. The Republican-controlled legislature passed a budget which included $90 million in local roads grants.

The Democratic governor vetoed that down to $75 million, in order to free up money for education. Transportation Secretary-designee Craig Thompson said some of that grant money could go to Milwaukee’s streetcar.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald tweeted that Evers is taking money from local roads “to fund Milwaukee’s trolley to nowhere” and called for a veto override. That would require a two thirds vote in the Senate and the Assembly. Any attempt would likely take place in the fall. Thompson said that the money will go out across the entire state.
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Thousands without power in Madison following MG&E fire

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Thousands of people are without power in Madison, following a power station fire. Initial reports had over 13,000 Madison Gas and Electric customers are without service due to a transformer explosion and fire at MG&E’s downtown Madison facility. A second fire occurred at a substation just south of downtown. Both fires were out by 9:00 and no one was injured.

Governor Tony Evers has closed state buildings due to the outage.

With high temperatures in the mid 90s today, the Kohl Center on the UW campus has been opened as a cooling center.

MG&E crews are working to restore power. A press conference is scheduled for 11:00.

Pocan says racism is ‘a central policy in the White House’

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The U.S. House of Representatives is preparing to vote Tuesday to condemn President Donald Trump’s racist tweets targeting minority women in Congress, and Wisconsin’s 2nd District Democrat, Representative Mark Pocan believes that may send a message.

“I think it will pass tonight. I think it’s a start of a message. But I don’t know how we’re going to stop, I mean, the problem with the president is not just his remarks on Twitter,” Pocan said during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

Pocan, who recently visited a facility in Florida where migrant kids are being held, says Trump’s policies on the border are explicitly racist. As for Trump’s Twitter tirades, “I really wish that whoever invented Twitter, we could have a conversation, and a time machine with,” Pocan said. “You know, the fact that we write reams of paper about the president’s 280 characters is a problem, but unfortunately the problem is the president, that’s how he communicates and unfortunately is this case the racist tropes that he put out there have absolutely no reason to exist in the professional environment that we have.”

“I mean his entire policy at the border is a racist policy. It’s based on stopping people with brown and black skin from coming into the United States. And until we can change all of that, we unfortunately have what appears to be a person who is a racist who is president of the United States. You have to put it that bluntly.”

Pocan said he had not seen all the responses from Republican members of the state’s House delegation. “But clearly, when you say people should go back to where they came from . . . that’s just ridiculous. It’s everything that’s wrong with having racism as a central policy in the White House,” Pocan said. “People are just so tired of that type of acrimony happening, that we need to I think as a country do country above party.”

Following up on his racist tweets about four minority lawmakers, the president went after the women Democrats again Tuesday and questioned why Congress is not rebuking them. He also said he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.

Walker’s new job precludes run for office in 2022

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Governor Scott Walker (WRN photo)

It’s a new gig for Scott Walker. Walker tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he has accepted a full time job running the conservative group Young America’s Foundation.

Walker lost his bid for a third term as governor to Democrat Tony Evers, and says his new job will preclude another run for that office, or for U.S. Senate.  A post on the Young America’s Foundation website praises Walker. “Governor Walker courageously advanced freedom in a state that once was a “progressive” bastion. He championed right-to-work laws, right-to-life causes, and defended Wisconsin’s wage earners from over-reaching bureaucrats and tax collectors.”

Walker told the Journal Sentinel that he will not assume the presidency of the organization until 2021, when the current president steps down, and has committed to serve at least four years.

“I hope Scott Walker’s new employers in the D.C. area have a good contract with him,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Ben Wikler, who noted that Walker launched his campaign for president in 2014, after earlier saying his plan was to serve as governor for four more years. “I’m not even thinking about taking Walker off the list of potential Republican contenders for the 2022 Senate seat.”

Young America’s Foundation was founded in 1969. The group’s stated mission is “to educate and inspire young people on Traditional values, Limited Government, Judeo-Christian values, and Conservatism”

 

Trump and Democrats to visit Wisconsin this week

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Donald Trump will be in Milwaukee this week for a fundraiser for Republicans. GOP officials have confirmed that the President will be at a private event alongside top Republican National Committee officials. There’s been no announcements of any public rally alongside the trip. Several Democrat candidates for President are also scheduled to be in Wisconsin this week for a town hall meeting.

WisPolitics reports that sources say the event will include donations ranging from $2,800 per person up to $100,000 per couple, with the top donors able to participate in a round table discussion with the president,. The event is also expected to include RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and party Co-chair Tommy Hicks Jr., along with Todd Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs and finance chair of the Trump Victory Committee.

Five Democratic presidential candidates bring their campaigns to Milwaukee later this week. Julian Castro, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren will take part in a town hall meeting Thursday night at the Wisconsin Center. The League of United Latin American Citizens is holding its national convention. Marianne Williamson will speak to the same group Friday. Warren is also going to appear at a separate town hall meeting Thursday night at South Division High School.

Key Evers veto increases per-pupil schools funding

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Wisconsin school districts could see more money, thanks to a veto by Governor Tony Evers. One of Evers’ 78 separate vetoes increases per-pupil aid by $87 million more dollars than the Republican-controlled Legislature approved. Evers on Wednesday called that “easily the most important veto that we had.”

It’s one that state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said was “a legitimate veto.”

“If there’s enough people upset by that, than obviously you could consider a veto override,” Fitzgerald said. “Hard for me to make that call today, whether or not a lot of legislators would fall into that category.”

Fitzgerald was unhappy, that the Wisconsin Association of School Boards publicly lobbied Evers on using his veto to increase that funding.
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Republican leaders react as Evers signs budget

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Sen. Fitzgerald WRN image

State Senate Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald is generally pleased that Democratic Governor Tony Evers made relatively few line item vetoes on the state budget he signed on Wednesday. “I want to thank Governor Evers for signing the budget into law today, including fully embracing the middle-class tax cut. This budget targets state investments more responsibly and spends $2 billion less than the governor’s original plan,” Fitzgerald.

Evers used his line-item veto authority 78 times. Those partial vetoes increased per pupil aids to school districts, eliminated a work requirement for FoodShare recipients, and eliminated a so-called “Tesla provision” which was crucial in getting the budget through the Senate.

Fitzgerald said he has yet to speak with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, about the possibility for veto overrides in the fall. “I’m please that he signed it, and for the most part I would say because our veto was kept intact, it’s a good thing for the state of Wisconsin.”

Speaker Vos WRN image

Vos struck a more critical tone in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“This conservative budget crafted by the Republican legislature deserved to be signed into law, but without the political, partial vetoes. These vetoes remove dollars from important programs, give more spending authority to government bureaucrats, and allow people to cheat the system by not following the welfare reforms we passed.

“Governor Evers seems intent on trapping people on welfare. Because of his partial vetoes, he’s starving programs that incentivize work, undermining their implementation and skirting the law. We know people support drug testing and work requirements for welfare recipients and this budget ignores that fact.

“At a time with historically low unemployment and many unfilled jobs, this is merely a shortsighted, political move and an insult to the hardworking men and women of our state.

“At the very least, the final budget is no longer a liberal wish list; it’s a more fiscally responsible spending plan. I want to thank the members of the Assembly Republican caucus for their hard work in getting the budget done in a conservative way. I also want to thank our Senate Republican colleagues for working together on the WISCONSIN Budget and getting it across the finish line. Together we eliminated the $1 billion tax hike and massive spending increase. We right-sized the budget, invested in the state’s priorities and reduced taxes on the middle class.”

“Wisconsin has a good budget thanks to the Republican legislature.”

Madison mayor calls for gun control action in wake of Shake The Lake shooting

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Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway defends her statement in the immediate aftermath of Saturday night’s shooting at the city’s Shake The Lake fireworks show. “Because exactly then is when we need to be talking about the problem of guns,” the mayor said during a Monday press conference with Chief of Police Mike Koval.

One person was wounded Saturday in what police say was a shooting in which the suspect and the victim knew on another. That shooter remains at large. There were some 25,000 people at the show, one of the Midwest’s largest. “I understand that this was a very frightening event for a number of people, and I’m very sympathetic to that. That’s exactly why we have to talk now about what our country has to do to get a handle on gun violence. Because it is terrifying for people.”

Rhodes-Conway says her preference would be for federal legislation to decrease access to guns, but she also accused state legislators of not doing enough to let Wisconsin cities crack down. Our job is made more difficult by a state legislature that advances reckless gun laws and at the same time curtails the rights of cities to take further action,” the Mayor said in a Tweet.

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Steinke, in tweet of his own over the weekend, called the comment from Rhodes-Conway a “reckless and stupid accusation.”

Chief Mike Koval said the sort of shooting that occurred Saturday’s is becoming too common. “We have so many conflicts that are being resolved at the barrel of a gun these days, that in the past when I was a young copper in ’83 would’ve been a fistfight. Not any more.”

The mayor and chief commended the response to the shooting by Madison police and other personnel at the scene on Saturday, as well as the preparations that went into the event. Koval said lessons learned will help the city plan for similar large scale events in the future.

Republican leaders optimistic as budget heads to Governor Evers

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Governor Tony Evers WRN image

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has signed the completed state budget, and sent it on to Governor Tony Evers. It’s a budget the Republican Speaker sees as a compromise with the Democratic governor. “I think we did try to not just stick to what we believe in, but actually stick to what Governor Evers wanted, and tried to say where does it not conflict with our principles, and we could find that middle ground,” Vos said Friday at the Capitol.

The Speaker’s comments echo those made by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. “Governor, please don’t veto the whole document,” Fitzgerald said Thursday. “It’s going to be very difficult . . . to pull this process back together to kind of build something that he would find acceptable.”

Evers formally requested on Thursday that the budget be sent to his office. “I’m optimistic that especially if you look at the things that are in here, that there is no good reason for the governor not to sign,” Vos said.

Eves now has six days to either sign the budget or announce his vetoes. Vos says he hopes those vetoes will be relatively minor.The Legislature finished work on the nearly $82 billion two year spending plan this week. It passed both chambers without a single Democratic vote.