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Evers’ letter requests meeting with legislative leaders on coronavirus response

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Governor Tony Evers has sent a letter to Republican legislative leaders, requesting  a meeting to discuss the state’s COVID-19 response.

Evers’ letter states that he wants Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to join him for negotiations on future plans. The Democrat Evers says he welcomes feedback from Vos and Fitzgerald.

“I welcome the opportunity to meet with both of you to discuss our state response. Given it has been 180 days since the Legislature last passed a bill and that you have repeatedly-through costly litigation and your public comments-expressed opposition to nearly every action my administration has taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19, I am eager to ensure our meeting is productive.”

The governor’s letter, sent Monday, said now isn’t the time to weaken Wisconsin’s response to the virus. The number of positive test results for COVID-19 in Wisconsin has more than doubled in recent weeks.

As of Tuesday morning Vos and Fitzgerald had yet to respond to the letter.

Committee requires latest public health order to go through rule-making process

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The state legislature’s Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative rules has ordered the Evers’ administration to go through the formal rule-making process, to implement the governor’s order limiting the size of indoor gatherings due to the coronavirus.

“We have no emergency rule. We’d love to have an emergency rule, that we could have a public hearing on, but we don’t have one,” Committee co-chair, Representative Joan Balweg (R-Markesan) said Monday “And actually that’s why the department has declined to call in or appear at this meeting, because there is no emergency rule to discuss.”

The committee voted 6-4 to require the Department of Health Services to present an emergency rule within 30 days. There were some heated comments made by committee members, prior to that vote.

Representative Gary Hebl (D-Sun Prairie), leveled a charge at Republicans who have not taken any action during the pandemic.

“So no action tells me that the way it’s going is the way you want it to go,” Hebl said “You’re in control of the legislature. The legislature makes the law. And if you’re not willing to do that, then you have blood on your hands, these people are going to die because of your inaction.”

“We can come together, and use the emergency rule process, to provide a more comprehensive discussion regarding our response,” Ballweg said.

The latest order, which limits gatherings in public spaces to 25% of capacity, expires November 6th. If the Evers’ administration chooses to extend it, the committee could block that.

AARP Poll finds heightened concern over coronavirus

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The latest AARP Poll of older Wisconsin voters finds those 65 and over solidly support the Democratic candidate for president.

“They are supporting Vice President Biden by an 11 point margin” said Lisa Lampkins of AARP Wisconsin. “And I think we’re seeing a lot of that happen because concerns around the coronavirus are increasing.”

“In September . . . 53 percent of 50 plus voters were worried about getting the virus. Now in October . . . a full 65 percent of all Wisconsin voters age 50 plus are worried about getting the virus.”

There hasn’t been much movement on voter preferences. Biden has a narrow 49 to 46 percent lead over President Trump among those 50 and over.

‘VoteSafe Wisconsin’ aims to reassure voters of integrity of state’s elections

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A bipartisan effort aims to let prospective voters know it can be done safely. VoteSafe Wisconsin is led by Attorney General Josh Kaul — and former Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.

“Vote Safe Wisconsin came to be because we really have a robustly and safe election system here in Wisconsin,” Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen said they want to people to know that voting in person can be done safely, and that voting absentee is also a viable option.

“With all the national talk about safety and security of voting being in question, we wanted to make sure that people of Wisconsin knew that if they wanted to go to polling places, it’s a safe place to vote. And if they wanted to vote via absentee ballot, it was certainly a secure and safe way to vote as well.”

He hopes those voters who choose the latter option will do so in a timely manner

“We don’t want them to be flooding the postal service last minute. So we’re strongly encouraging people if they’re going to vote absentee to so early.”

Find more information at wi.votesafe.us.

Judge rules against conservatives in health order lawsuit

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A St. Croix County judge has ruled against a conservative law firm who tried to challenge Governor Evers’ powers to issue emergency orders. 

Judge Michael Waterman has denied a request to halt Governor Evers’ public health emergency order.

The Wisconsin Institute for law and Liberty, backed up by legislative Republicans, said that Governor Evers did not have the power to issue more than one 60 day order in a row for the same crisis. Attorneys for the Governor’s office said new orders can be issued if the public health emergency is still ongoing.

Judge Waterman agreed with the Governor’s office, and said that the 60 day time limit was a sufficient check, because the Governor has to explain in each order why the state of emergency still exists. He says that the legislature can end the state of emergency at any time, but so far, it has declined to do so. 

Judge Waterman’s ruling has an effect of keeping both the mask mandate and the newly issued occupancy mandate in effect.

Governor Evers is calling the move a victory for the people of Wisconsin. “As the number of COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin reached 150,000 yesterday, we will continue doing everything we can to prevent the spread of this virus. We ask Wisconsinites to please stay home as much as possible, limit travel and going to public gatherings, and wear a mask whenever out and about.”

Attorney General Josh Kaul says the ruling was the right move. “Wisconsin currently faces one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the nation, and the mask requirement is a critical protection against the ongoing danger that the coronavirus poses to Wisconsinites’ health. I encourage legislative Republicans to stop supporting this attack on the mask requirement and instead to work with Governor Evers to adopt statewide policies that will allow us to more effectively to fight the virus and keep Wisconsinites safe.”

A number of legislative Republicans have stated that if the lawsuit against the Governor failed, that they would move to take action in the Legislature. So far today, no announcements on public hearings or votes in the full legislature have been scheduled. The Legislature’s joint rules committee is set to take a vote today on the order, but they cannot change the ruling themselves without action from the full legislature or a court order.

More poll workers will be needed in Wisconsin

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More poll workers are needed for Election Day in Wisconsin. Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin’s chief elections administrator, said that’s in part because of the large number of absentee ballots that will need to be processed at polling places.

“So you’re running that in person process, but you’re also processing all those absentee ballots, because processing those can’t start until the polls open at 7:00 AM on Election Day,” Wolfe said during a media conference call on Thursday.

Tens of thousands of absentee ballots have already been returned to clerks offices across Wisconsin, as concerns about the coronavirus pandemic have lead many voters to chose that option to vote.

Wolfe says a normal election requires some 30 thousand poll workers to function smoothly, and this year will undoubtedly require more.

“In each city, town and village they’re recruiting those poll workers. They’re figuring out who’s going to able to serve and where they still have needs. And so they’ve told us in the last few weeks that it was too soon for them to know for sure. But we’re now asking them to really tighten up those calculations and provide us with any reports of needs.”

Data released Friday by Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with the Voter Protection Corps, identifies 485 counties across eight states, including Wisconsin, that are at high risk for poll worker shortages.

Wolfe said that while many localities have enough workers, others, especially in rural Wisconsin, do not. The state Elections Commission hopes to have a clearer assessment of those needs, soon.

“I would encourage anybody to reach out to your local election official if it’s something you’re willing to do,” she said.

Federal appeals court reverses ruling on ballot counting extension

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The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked a decision to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots in Wisconsin.

That means absentee ballots must be delivered to clerks by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted, and results of the presidential race could be known within hours of polls closing.

Democrats and their allies are likely to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If it stands, the latest court action, which blocked an a decision to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots will actually make things easier at polling places.

“The court’s decision that got stayed would have changed things. So we’re back to status quo. Everybody’s already trained on what to do normally. So if it changes again, then we’ll look to communicating with them about what those changes are,” Reid Magney, public information officer with the Wisconsin Elections Commission said Thursday.

U.S. District Judge William Conley had ruled ballots which arrive by November 9 would be counted, as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day. Republicans appealed to a three-judge panel at the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld Conley’s ruling last week.

Republicans then asked the full 11 member court to review the case. The court stayed Conley’s decision on Thursday.

Republican leaders want rulemaking hearing on latest public health order

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Republican legislative leaders say they’ll bring in the Department of Health Services to a rulemaking hearing, over the the agency’s latest public health order.

On Wednesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and state Senator Steve Nass said that the new order restricting how many people can be inside of businesses was unenforceable without legislative approval. Vos’ office issued a statement:

“With respect to Emergency Order #3, the governor and secretary-designee may have good intentions but they’re disregarding the law as set forth in the state Supreme Court ruling, Legislature v. Palm. We are confident that if challenged, a Wisconsin judge would find this order invalid as an unpromulgated rule. We are asking Secretary-Designee Palm to submit an emergency rule immediately to the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules as required by law.” 

Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald addressed the issue, in a letter to DHS Secretary designee Andrea Palm.

Nass co-chairs the the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules, which would convene the hearing.

“On their 175th day of inaction, Republicans chose to send a letter. That says everything Wisconsinites need to know about Republicans’ priorities during this pandemic,” Governor Tony Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said.

Evers’ office has said that the new health order is consistent with guidelines laid out in the State Supreme Court decision that stuck down the Safer At Home order earlier this year.

Evers’ administration issues new order limiting size of public gatherings

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Governor Tony Evers

In an effort to dampen Wisconsin’s blazing coronavirus outbreak, Governor Tony Evers’ administration has issued a new order limiting the size of public indoor gatherings.

“Today I’ve directed Secretary-designee Palm to issue a limit on public gatherings in Wisconsin,” Evers said during a Tuesday media briefing. “With exceptions such as schools, child care centers and health care and long term care facilities to name a few, indoor public gatherings are limited to no more than 25 percent of total occupancy limits for the room or the building.”

This new order is effective at 8 a.m. Thursday (October 8) and will remain in effect until November 6. It applies to any gatherings at locations open to the public such as stores, restaurants, and other businesses, as well as spaces with ticketed events.

“The unfortunate reality is this. The disease activity level of COVID-19 in Wisconsin is so high, that going to a gathering puts you at very high risk of exposure. That is why, at the direction of the governor, I signed an order to limit indoor public gatherings,” DHS Secretary designee Andrea Palm said. “Spread of this disease is currently intense, and it is community wide. We absolutely see transmission among indoor gatherings.”

Wisconsin’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ryan Westergaard, explained the scientific basis for limiting indoor public gatherings.

“The strongest scientific justification is the observation that the virus travels between people in close proximity. It follows from that the density of people in an indoor space, particularly an indoor space that may not have great ventilation is going to be the environment in which transmission occurs most easily,” he said.

Ryan Nilsestuen, Chief Legal Counsel for Evers, believes the latest public health order limiting the size of indoor public gatherings will withstand a legal challenge.

“It’s using DHS authority that the (state) Supreme Court did not touch in the ‘Safer at Home’ decision. In fact they exempted the one part of the Safer at Home order that was not overruled by the Supreme Court relied on the exact same provision. It allows DHS to limit and regulate public gatherings in schools, churches and other places, and that’s exactly what this order does.”

The new action by the Evers’ administration comes as Wisconsin reported more than 850 coronavirus hospitalizations for the first time on Tuesday. The Department of Health Services also reported 18 additional deaths to bring the statewide death toll to 1,399 and the seven-day average of deaths to just over 14 – the highest ever.

Sen. Kapenga

There was limited immediate reaction from Republican lawmakers. but state Senator Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) released the following statement:

“The Supreme Court is clear and has already ruled that the Governor is supposed to be working with the Legislature on any decisions affecting the state going forward relating to the pandemic. Governor Evers is not supposed to act unilaterally, yet here he is again.”

Senator Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) also issued a statement, which read in part:

“There are three people responsible for the constitutional crisis that now grips state government, they are Governor Tony Evers, DHS Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. 

Evers and Palm are now openly abusing the rule of law for politically motivated purposes relating to the November election.  Assembly Speaker Vos continues to enable the illegal conduct of this administration by blocking the Legislature from meeting to put an end to the improper emergency declaration and emergency orders issued under it.” 

Nass again called on Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to immediately call the Legislature back into session to pass a joint resolution ending Evers’ emergency declaration, which Nass said is illegal and unnecessary.

Judge promises quick decision on WILL mask mandate challenge

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A judge in St. Croix County heard arguments on Monday in a challenge against Governor Evers statewide mask order.

Attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty say that their client’s personal liberties are being obstructed, and that Governor Evers’ orders have a legal time limit that can be revoked by the legislature.

Attorneys for Governor Evers’ office said that the state is in a much worse position now than several months ago, and that the order is needed to control COVID-19.

Judge Michael Waterman said he could issue an order immediately, but that he won’t, asking WILL why the legislature hasn’t taken action yet.

Some Republican legislators have said they’d like to come back to session to strike down the order, but Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald have decided against any legislative action at this time.