The Milwaukee Post

February 1, 2019 • Milwaukee County Post • 9 OPINION By Owen B. Robinson Gov. Tony Evers took to the Assembly chamber last week to give his first State of the State speech. Evers had a difficult chal- lenge ahead of him. Thanks to his predeces- sor and the legislative majorities who were just re-elected, the state is in historically good shape, but Evers had to redefine suc- cess in order to justify his radical agenda. As we enter an era of divided government in Wisconsin, Evers' speech was infused with rigid liberal dogma delivered in a confronta- tional tone. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the speech, however, is how he blundered his way into a completely avoid- able controversy. One of Evers' campaign promises was that he would withdraw Wisconsin from an ongoing lawsuit regarding Obamacare. That suit is suing to invalidate Obamacare on the grounds that the individual mandate is unconstitutional (it is) and has made good progress in the lower courts. Since several states are involved in the suit, Wisconsin's withdrawal will not have a measurable effect on the outcome of the case, but with- drawing would be a symbolic gesture to Evers' radical liberal base. Knowing that Evers intended to fulfill this promise, the Legislature passed a law in December that requires the governor to gain leg- islative approval before withdrawing the state from ongoing legal actions. It was a way for the Legislature to add a check to what was a unilateral power of the executive branch. Governor Evers knew all of this when he declared in his State of the State speech, with great fanfare from the liberals in the room, that "I'm announcing tonight that I have fulfilled a promise I made to the people of Wisconsin by directing Attorney General Kaul to withdraw from a lawsuit ... ." While it made for a great applause line for liberals, Evers was declaring that he had instructed Kaul to withdraw from the Obamacare lawsuit. It is important to note that Evers used the past tense, meaning that he had already issued the instruction to the attorney general. Evers announced this in a statewide, televised speech even though he knew that it was no longer legal for him to unilaterally withdraw from the lawsuit. Quickly after the speech, Republicans pointed out the error in Evers' declaration and the attorneys from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau reiterated the meaning of the clear language of the law that Evers could not order the attorney gen- eral to withdraw from the Obamacare law- suit. Within days of Evers' speech, he had to walk back the order to comply with the law and Attorney General Kaul has dutifully requested that the Legislature approve with- drawing from the lawsuit. The odds are that such approval will not be forthcoming. Evers' reaction is quite telling. In a state- ment to the Wisconsin State Journal, Evers claimed that he understood that the action would require legislative approval and said, "So in my worldview — and I know that's not everyone's worldview — there's nothing inconsistent with what I said and what's actually going to happen." Evers is trying to create an alternate real- ity where he was in the right. The problem with that he did not say it in an off-the-cuff remark. He made a formal declaration in his State of the State address. Presumably, such a formal speech had been vetted, reworked, and fact-checked by his staff and himself multiple times before it was delivered. He is an educator by profession and had ample time to write the statement in a way that people could understand his meaning with- out having to divine Evers' worldview. There can only be two rational explana- tions for Evers' blunder, and refusal to own up to it. Either Evers is simply a liberal activist who will run roughshod over the law in pursuit of his agenda unless he is checked, or he lacks the competence neces- sary to write a coherent speech — much less run a state. Either way, for those of us who were hop- ing, despite our political differences, for honesty and competence in the Evers gover- norship, this early bungle does not bode well for the next four years. (Owen B. Robinson is a West Bend resident whose column appears occasionally in The Milwaukee County Post. He can be reached at owen@bootsandsabers.com.) Evers blunders his way into controversy over Obamacare Robinson By Waring Fincke Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers delivered his first State of the State address to a joint session of the state Legislature last month marked by calls for bipartisan efforts con- ducted with civility and mutual respect. Evers' remarks were enthusiastically received by Democratic legislators who stood often to applaud and cheer as the gov- ernor laid out his plans for our future. Unfortunately, the only measure that brought the Republicans to their feet was Evers' plan to provide a 10 percent tax cut to individuals making less than $100,000 and families earning less than $150,000 annually. They sat back down when Evers told them he planned to pay for it by limit- ing tax breaks for wealthy corporations. Stressing that "what's best for kids is best for our state," Evers will propose fully funding two-thirds of the cost public edu- cation, increasing special education fund- ing by $600 million and increasing mental health services in our schools fivefold. In addition, his upcoming budget will seek to deliver on his campaign promise of provid- ing all Wisconsin residents with quality and affordable health care, in part, by expanding Medicare eligibility to 76 mil- lion low-income people. The governor noted that several GOP-controlled states like Kentucky and Nebraska had expanded Medicaid coverage with no ill effects, as have Democratic states like our neighbor Minnesota. The only lowlight came with Evers' announcement that he was sending Attorney General Josh Kaul a letter asking him to withdraw Wisconsin from the law- suit challenging the pre-existing coverage provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act. The recent lame-duck legislative ses- sion passed a bill taking that authority away from the governor and vesting it with the legislative leadership. Since the address, Evers' office has walked back his comments and it remains unclear what, if any, ability he has to get Wisconsin out of that case. He may have an easier path directing Kaul to change Wisconsin's posi- tion in the litigation from opposing to sup- porting the ACA's pre-existing coverage provisions. In any event, Wisconsin with- drawing or changing positions in the law- suit is not likely to alter the outcome as 19 other states would remain in the case to carry the argument to its conclusion. Governor Evers also addressed the funding crisis that has led to deteriorating highways and other transporta- tion problems. He announced the forma- tion of a bipartisan task force led by his Department of Transportation secre- tary-designee to come up with a plan that addresses and prioritizes the needs as well as formulates a way to raise the funds nec- essary to meet them. All of the transporta- tion stakeholders will have a seat at the table. Announcing 2019 as the year of clean drinking water, Evers embarked on a plan to clean up or replace contaminated pri- vate wells and replace lead water service lines across the state. Doing so will increase lifelong earning capacity and pro- vide better health outcomes for millions of Wisconsin families. The governor concluded his remarks with another call for the Legislature to work with him on his People's Budget and not to try crafting their own instead. There was no mention of a veto should they do so, but his office made it clear later that such a veto was certainly possible. He reminded all in the chamber of a slogan embedded in the ceiling of the governor's office: "The will of the people is the law of the land." Our new governor struck just the best tone and delivered the correct content given the debate engendered during the campaign. A majority of voters across the state voted for the agenda Evers delivered in his remarks. It is certain that he will take his budget directly to the people for grassroots pressure on those in the Legislature who might not be on board. It remains to be seen if constituent pressure will be sufficient to overcome the re-elec- tion purse strings held by Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. (Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the elderly and dis- abled for a Sheboygan County nonprofit agency.) Evers' proposals will move state forward together Fincke

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