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Walker announces deal to keep Kimberly Clark jobs

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Gov. Walker WRN photo

Wisconsin taxpayers will be providing $28 million in incentives over five years to Kimberly Clark Corporation, in a deal announced Thursday by outgoing Republican Governor Scott Walker. Walker has made saving the jobs at the Neenah Cold Spring plant a priority.

The deal with Kimberly-Clark is through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Under recently passed lame-duck legislation, the Legislature, not incoming Governor Tony Evers, would have to approve any such deals in the future.

Gov-elect Evers (WRN photo)

“The Republicans’ lame-duck session overriding the will of the people would affect the governor’s ability to lead on economic development through proposals like the one announced for Kimberly-Clark,” Evers said Thursday.

Kimberly-Clark will have to retain 388 jobs with an annual payroll of over $30 million. The governor also says Kimberly-Clark will invest up to $200 million at the plant over the next five years.

Congress passes 2018 Farm Bill, sends it to President Trump for signature

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Congress has passed the 2018 Farm Bill.

Senator Tammy Baldwin voted yes on the bill, saying it will ease the pressure on dairy farms.

“I met with farmers across Wisconsin, and I brought their concerns and ideas to Washington to make sure that the farm bill works for our Wisconsin Farmers.”

She adds that current conditions are rough for farmers and their families. “Right now our farmers are facing a perfect storm of challenges, and these challenges have threatened their businesses and our communities.”

Congressman Ron Kind was one of three House Democrats to vote against the bill. He says the bill gives too much funding to corporate interests.

“It fails to reign in Wasteful subsidies and crop insurance programs that lead to overproduction by big agribusiness. It cuts $800 million from vital conservation programs, and does nothing to address the damage caused by the President’s trade war.”

Senator Ron Johnson also voted against the bill. He says it includes too much funding for food assistance programs. The bill now heads to President Trump for a signature.

Stevens Point YMCA bans cable news in fitness center

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The Stevens Point YMCA is joining a growing group of fitness centers at are banning cable news from their facilities.

The Stevens Point Journal reports that the Y has banned channels like CNN, Fox News and MSNBC from its large screen televisions because people were getting disruptive over media coverage of political news.

Staffers say those channels are still available on more personal screens like those on exercise equipment, and that local news is still allowed on the large TVs.

Feingold signs Washington Post op-ed urging protection of democracy

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A former Wisconsin senator says Democracy needs to be protected in these divisive times.

44 former U.S. Senators, including Wisconsin democrat Russ Feingold, signed on to a post in the Washington Post, saying the U.S is entering a dangerous period.

The bipartisan group’s comments are in response to Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump and the 2016 election.  The ex-Senators say America is headed toward a crisis if current Senators are not “steadfast zealous guardians of our democracy”.

They urge lawmakers to place the country, democracy and national interest above all else.

Governor Walker says he’s ready to sign lame duck bills

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Governor Walker is now deciding how, and not if, he’ll be signing lame duck legislation passed last week that curtails the powers of incoming Governor elect Tony Evers.

Walker indicated at a Pewaukee press conference that his staff is deciding how best to sign those bills, and if changes need to be made.

“Right now it’s most likely that we’ll probably do a series, at least one if not multiple, line item vetoes, is what we’re looking at most closely.”

He says that Democrats and the media have been inflating the impact the bills will have. 

“I could veto everything, I could sign it all, or I could do a line item veto. No matter which of those three options I do, Tony Evers come January 7th, will have some of the strongest powers of any governor in America.”

Walker has not yet officially received the bills from the Legislature. 

Evers holds out hope for veto on lame ducks bills

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Wisconsin’s incoming governor continues to push for a veto on a package of lame duck legislation that seeks to curtail his duties.

Speaking on NBC’s Meet The Press, Governor Elect Tony Evers says this is an end around on his lawful election in November.

“People of Wisconsin voted for me because they knew I was for good schools and a good transportation system and good healthcare. They didn’t elect me to fight over administrative powers in the state of Wisconsin vis a vis the Republican Majority.”

He’s called on Governor Walker to veto the bills, and is hopeful that it will happen. He’s calling on Walker to think about his legacy as he leaves office.

“He’s been a longtime public servant, and he has a legacy here so we’re hopeful that he will veto the whole thing.”

That package of bills was pushed through over last weekend with no debate between Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature. Evers says we wouldn’t even be seeing these measures if he hadn’t won the election.

Evers and Vos at odds over WEDC bill (AUDIO)

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One of the “lame duck” bills passed by the Wisconsin legislature this week deals with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Governor-elect Tony Evers said during his campaign that he’ll seek to abolish WEDC, and return jobs creation to the old Commerce Department.

Speaker Robin Vos said on Wednesday morning that Republicans had to act, because Evers wasn’t talking to them. “It was a lot through the media. I never got a call. We never talked about it. It was an awful lot of negotiation through the Journal Sentinel, kind of the arm of the Democratic Party,” Vos said. “We really couldn’t get a fair hearing, that’s the problem.”

“I’m not sure what in the world that means,” Evers said later that day, when asked about Vos’ comment that he was negotiating through the media. “He never asked . . . to talk to me a about this legislation to begin with. It would have been great to find out exactly what his plans were to begin with.”

Vos and Evers :35

The bill allows WEDC rather than the governor, to appoint the agency’s CEO until next September. The Legislature would also get more say over the agency’s enterprise zone program that hands out tax breaks to businesses.

Governor Scott Walker is expected to sign the entire package of legislation passed by the extraordinary session of the Republican controlled legislature.

Johnson wants push back on Russia in the Baltic Sea

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Wisconsin’s Republican Senator is pushing back on Russia following an incident involving the Ukrainian navy last month. Senator Ron Johnson will be in Eastern Europe this weekend, and said on WISN’s Jay Weber Show that he intends to see what needs to be done to push back on Russian aggression.

“We need to do a whole lot more than just have one senator go over there and express support,” Johnson said Thursday. “We do need, from my standpoint, a multinational freedom of navigation exercise into the Baltic Sea.”

Ukrainian naval personnel were seized off their ships on November 25th, further increasing tensions in the region after the annexation of the Crimea.

“The Baltic states are nervous, Poland is nervous. They want more forward deployment of NATO troops and air patrols in the Baltic. We need to do all of the above,” Johnson said. The situation was serious enough for the Trump administration to cancel a planned face to face meeting last week in Argentina, between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Evers inaugural set for January 7

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Barnes, Evers WRN image

The official inauguration ceremony for incoming Governor Tony Evers and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes has been announced.

The inaugurations will start at 11:00 a.m. on Monday January 7th. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee has been named the inauguration partner.

Spokespersons for Evers and Barnes say a celebratory gala will be held the evening of the 7th. More details will be released from the inaugural committee in the near future.

Evers asks Walker for ‘lame duck’ vetoes

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Tony Evers is asking Scott Walker to veto the “lame duck” legislation. The governor-elect is requesting that Governor Walker veto measures that will restrict some of the authority of Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul. “My belief is that the people of Wisconsin have spoken, and that . . . the three bills that have passed are a repudiation of that,” Evers said Wednesday in Madison.

GOP leaders say they acted in extraordinary session this week in order to restore the “balance of power” between the legislative and executive branches.

Kaul doesn’t buy it. “They are focused on their own power, and taking it away not just from executive branch officers, but from the people of Wisconsin who went out and voted in record numbers.”

Democrats are not alone in asking Walker to consider the veto — Governor Walker is being sharply criticized by a long-time supporter. The Journal Sentinel reported this week that influential Republican businessman and philanthropist Sheldon Lubar of Milwaukee sent Walker an email on Tuesday. In it, he asked Walker to consider what the governor’s recently deceased father and Jesus Christ would say about legislative efforts to limit the powers of Governor-elect Tony Evers and Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul. Lubar pleaded with Walker not to destroy his reputation by siding with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.

Walker has ten days to make a decision. All indications are he’ll sign the bills. “Our efforts now is making sure the people of Wisconsin communicate directly to the governor, and communicate to him and his staff in a way that would convince him that he needs to change his thinking,” Evers said.