Bob Hague, Author at Wisconsin Radio Network

Senate Republicans reject Kaepernick’s name in Black History Month resolution

February 13, 2019 By Bob Hague

The Wisconsin Legislature’s Black History Month resolution moved to the state Senate floor on Wednesday. An amended version offered by Democrats included the name of former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick.

On Tuesday, Republicans in the Assembly removed Kaepernick’s name from the resolution drafted by the Legislature’s Black Caucus.

Milwaukee Democrat, Senator Lena Taylor, said the nation sees an historic moment in Wisconsin. “See you take us back, to a time where African-Americans had to have permission to speak, to read, to think, to what they should think.”

Senate Republicans toed the line,voting to table the amended resolution after Democrats spoke on it for more than three hours.

The former San Francisco 49’er brought attention to police brutality against African-Americans by kneeling during the National Anthem prior to games. Taylor pointed out that he’s also donated more than a millions dollars of his own money to organizations around the nation, including in his native Milwaukee.

Assembly Black History Month resolution deletes Kaepernick

February 12, 2019 By Bob Hague

A Black History Month resolution almost failed to pass the Wisconsin Assembly on Tuesday. A proposed resolution from the Legislature’s Black Caucus honored a number of individuals. But at least one of those names apparently triggered some white Republicans.

“I think the biggest one was Colin Kaepernick,” for obvious reasons,” Majority Leader Jim Steinke said in comments prior to the start of Tuesday’s floor debate.

Milwaukee Representative LaKeshia Myers, on the Assembly floor later, said she and other Black Democrats thought the Wisconsin-born Kaepernick deserved to included in the resolution.

My official statement regarding AJR8 can be found below. For more information please contact Kenya Parker at (608) 266-5813. pic.twitter.com/TZHR6EvAKz

— Rep. Lakeshia Myers (@RepMyers) February 13, 2019

“He decided to take on ownership of a problem that he saw, which was police brutality,” Myers said.

AUDIO: Rep. LaKeshia Myers (:30)

The chamber ended up unanimously passing a resolution with Kaepernick’s name deleted. Myers later asked the Assembly Chief Clerk to change her vote on the resolution.

“To support the watered down version of this resolution would mean supporting the suppression of the African-Americans fundamental right to support injustice,” Myers said in a statement. Madison Representative Chris Taylor tweeted that she was also changing her vote.

Assembly passes GOP tax break bill

February 12, 2019 By Bob Hague

Republicans in the state Assembly have passed a middle-class tax cut that’s at odds with Governor Tony Evers, who has his own tax cut plan.

Our fully-funded tax cut plan will provide $340 million in tax relief for the middle class! That works out to $310 for the median Wisconsin family. #ItsYourMoney pic.twitter.com/ANzSNwrQTn

— Wisconsin Assembly GOP (@WIAssemblyGOP) February 12, 2019

The GOP bill uses a state surplus to fund a ten percent middle class tax cut. Evers plan, which he’ll introduce as part of his state budget proposal, uses some of that surplus, but also caps a manufacturing tax credit. Republicans call that a jobs killer.

“I can’t understand how we could possibly use up all of the surplus for this, and then ignore the rest of the budget,” Evers said Tuesday.

Republicans want to protect million-dollar handouts to millionaires, which means taxpayers in Wisconsin will be forced to foot the bill.

That’s just not right. pic.twitter.com/tGZYn2xJZF

— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) February 12, 2019

The Assembly passed the measure 61-33, with all Republicans for it and all Democrats against it.

Evers to join governors climate coalition

February 12, 2019 By Bob Hague

Wisconsin’s Tony Evers is joining a group of governors focused on climate change. The U.S. Climate Alliance formed two years ago to implement the Paris climate accord at the state level.

Wisconsin @GovEvers says he’ll join @USClimate. Group of governors focused on #ClimateChange includes @GovernorVA. Evers said last week that Northam should resign over racist photo in medical school yearbook. pic.twitter.com/wS3w4Le8mY

— Bob Hague (@RDHague) February 12, 2011

It’s goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The 19 member coalition includes three Republican governors.

Icy conditions led to I-94 pile-up

February 12, 2019 By Bob Hague

Investigators are getting a picture of what led to a massive pile up on I-94 nears Osseo. Conditions were deteriorating at the time of the pile up shortly after noon Sunday. Lieutenant Les Melsna with the Wisconsin State Patrol in Eau Claire says it was icy.

“You can go 60, 70 miles an hour on ice, until you have to steer or hit your brakes, and then the party’s over,” Melsna said.

Travel across much of the state is hazardous again today. “Don’t go out there if you don’t have to, and if you have to, you really have to give yourself that following distance, you have to reduce your speed,” Melsna said.

I-94 near Osseo update: All 40 vehicles involved in the crash and all run-offs have been removed from MM 85. County Highway Dept. has plowed and salted in the area of the crash scene. All lanes are open in both directions. @511WI pic.twitter.com/IMD8qgw05O

— WisDOT NW Region (@WisDOTnorthwest) February 10, 2019

Seven semi-trucks and more than two dozen other vehicles were involved Sunday. One person was critically injured and seven others required medical treatment.

Finance committee approves GOP middle-class tax cut

February 7, 2019 By Bob Hague

A Republican-authored middle-class tax cut has passed the legislature’s finance committee. “We have a reasonable, simple plan, said Representative Mark Born, part of the Republican majority who advanced the plan over the objections of Democrats. “We’ve collected too much money, we’re going to give some it back.

The Republican bill pays for a tax cut out of a state surplus. Democratic Governor Tony Evers has a tax cut plan as well. He pay for it by capping a tax credit for manufacturers, something opposed by Republicans.

Thursday’s Joint Finance Committee vote was 10-3, with three members absent. Republicans amended AB-10 with an “emergency clause.”

“I think it would have been better suited for us to table this, take a look at his (Evers’) budget, and then decide if this was necessary,” said Senator LaTonya Johnson, a Milwaukee Democrat.

Joint Finance Committee co-chair, Republican Representative John Nygren, said numbers from the Legislative Fiscal Bureal reveal that Evers’ plan is tilted more towards higher income households than that from Republicans. “Somebody’s go to be spinning in their chair somewhere,” Nygren said.

AUDIO: Rep. John Nygren :34

The Republican plan, which calls for tapping a budget surplus to pay for a $340 million annual tax cut that would net an average reduction of $170, now heads to the Assembly for a vote next week.

A spokesman for Evers called the GOP plan “fiscally irresponsible.” Evers will present his state budget proposal later this month.

U.S. attorneys issue letters to opioid prescribers in Wisconsin

February 6, 2019 By Bob Hague

A warning to medical professionals who prescribe opoioids to their patients. The U.S. Attorneys in Wisconsin have sent letters to over 180 physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners advising that a review of their prescribing practices showed that they were prescribing opioids at relatively high levels compared to other prescribers.

U.S. Attorneys Issue Warnings to Opioid Prescribers https://t.co/F7xrnMmEjw

— US Attorney EDWI (@EDWInews) February 5, 2019

Although the letters acknowledge that the prescriptions may be medically appropriate, they remind the practitioners that prescribing opioids without a legitimate medical purpose could subject them to enforcement action, including criminal prosecution. Names of the letter recipients are not not being made public.

Evers and GOP at odds over middle class tax cut

February 5, 2019 By Bob Hague

Governor Tony Evers is rejecting a Republican proposal, to provide middle class tax relief out of the state surplus. “The plan that we will be proposing in the budget is a far superior one,” Evers said on Tuesday. “I don’t I could possibly sign a tax cut of that type, where the money going forward is not there.”

Republicans want to return some of the state’s surplus in the form of a tax cut. Evers has already rejected that. He wants to pay for it by scaling back a tax credit for manufacturers. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos calls that a non-starter. “I am glad that Governor Evers is trying to find ways to cut taxes,” Vos. “I think he has one flawed belief, is that the only way to reduce taxes on some is to raise taxes on others. That is something that we’re never going to accept.”

Evers is expected to formally introduce his state budget plan on February 28.

Evers says he’ll close ‘dark store’ loophole

February 5, 2019 By Bob Hague

Governor Tony Evers told the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Counties Association something they’ve been waiting to hear. “Our budget is not just about transportation. My budget is also going to make good on the promise I made to you last December, to close the dark store loophole in the state of Wisconsin,” Evers said Tuesday in Madison.

The dark store loophole allows big box retailers to base their tax assessments on the value of vacant stores, reducing their property tax assessments and shifting the tax burden to residential homeowners and local small businesses.

Unions file ‘lame duck’ lawsuit

February 4, 2019 By Bob Hague

Another lawsuit has been filed, against legislation passed late last year by a lame duck session of the Republican-controlled Wisconsin legislature. The suit was filed Monday in Dane County by AFT-Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization, the Service Employees International Union Local 1, and the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, challenging the constitutionality of laws enacted by the legislature in extraordinary session following the November 2018 election in an attempt to limit Governor Tony Evers’ power before he assumed office.

Governor Tony Evers

The suit alleges that these laws violate the state constitution’s separation of powers laws and grant unprecedented authority to the Legislature that traditionally belongs to the governor. The unions filing the suit maintain that the lame-duck proposals are an illegitimate, illegal and partisan attempt by politicians to prevent the governor from acting as the chief executive of the state, simply because they don’t agree with his politics. Similar efforts to thwart the democratic process have been attempted-and ultimately overturned-in other states, most recently in North Carolina in 2014.

“We will not let power-hungry politicians in Wisconsin run roughshod over the will of the people,” said American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in a press release. “This case is about restoring justice for the people of Wisconsin and for the office of the governor, and it’s about preserving the integrity of our democracy. Elections matter. If you don’t like the outcome, you don’t get to ignore it and legislate a different power structure that the majority of people didn’t actually vote for.”

“We’ve said repeatedly that the lame-duck session was a hasty and cynical attempt by Republicans to override the will of the people, and that the governor expected legal challenges. He will be consulting with legal counsel to determine an appropriate course of action,” said Evers’ spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff.

The lawsuit is the third filed in response to the lame duck actions which limited access to early voting in Wisconsin and prohibited Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul using authority that was available previous governors and AGs. State Senator Janet Bewley (D-Mason) is also a plaintiff.