This November, the people of Wisconsin
elected a split government, endorsing a system of checks and
balances. Mr. Evers was elected governor with 49.6 percent of
the vote, Mr. Kaul was elected attorney general with 49.4
percent of the vote, and, in contested State Assembly elections,
Republicans won 58 percent of the vote, maintaining majorities
in both the Assembly and Senate. I was honored to be elected
with 60 percent of the vote in the 56th State
Assembly District.
I’ve known and respected Governor-Elect
Tony Evers for many years, and I look forward to working
with him in his new role.
I’ve been fortunate to hear from many of
you, both in favor of and against the proposed bills. The discussion
was lively in the legislature, across media outlets, and with
folks like you.
I was dismayed by some “cut and paste”
responses defaming the Republican Party or making false
assumptions about my motives; however, I carefully reviewed each
message, along with materials from our non-partisan advisors,
before I came to my own conclusions on the legislation.
Why
Introduce These Proposals Now?
We had a rare opportunity to make
government more accountable to the people, and it would have
been irresponsible to pass it up. In 2016, the people elected me
to serve a full
two-year term, not just until the results of the 2018 election
in November were announced. I’m committed to doing everything I
can to best serve all the people of my district and not just a
single political party.
What about the Powers of the Governor and Attorney General?
The real powers of the governor and
attorney general exist in the state constitution and are not up
for discussion. Unlike what you may have heard elsewhere, the
changes I support are not about limiting the powers of anyone,
rather they are common sense reforms to make government more
transparent and responsive to the public. I’ve advocated for and
voted for many of these proposals before this week, and some
have even previously been vetoed by Governor Walker. In fact,
many of these reforms have been supported by the same Democrats
who voted against them this week, simply because a member of
their party will now be serving as governor.
There are two reasons you won’t see
outraged political activists talking about the specifics in the
legislation: the first is because the bill continues to keep
Wisconsin government clean and open to the public and the second
is because the changes are superficial and not really worthy of
the false outrage being spun up.
Even Governor-Elect Evers has said, as
reported in the Dec. 6 Appleton Post-Crescent, that the changes
to his powers are only “superficial.”
It’s hard to fight against good legislation
on a fair playing field, so instead they’ve resorted to lies
about how we’re “performing a coup” by “subverting the powers of
the governor and attorney general.” Nothing could be further
from the truth.
Seven Real Reforms I Voted for
I pushed hard to implement state
protections for individuals with preexisting conditions. This
critical protection, which many Democrats campaigned on this
year, failed in the State Senate when not a single Democratic
senator voted for it.
The bill restricts bureaucratic state
agencies’ ability to make their own pseudo-laws without
legislative oversight.
Nominees rejected by the State Senate will
no longer be able to continue to serve in the role they’ve
previously been rejected for in the current two year legislative
session.
Pardons of convicted criminals will be made
publicly and not under the cover of state agency bureaucracy.
Our bill pulls this process into the light of day by requiring
these decisions to be posted online.
Everyone deserves an attorney in a court of
law. Right now, if the attorney general declines to defend state
law, the state lacks any legal representation.
If the attorney general isn’t willing to
defend the laws of our state from federal overreach, the
Wisconsin legislature should be empowered to give those laws
their day in court. It makes no sense that one person, attorney
general or not, should be the final arbiter over whether a
Wisconsin law should be upheld. That is the place of the courts,
but if it can’t reach the courts, justice cannot be served.
Setting a standard two week window for
early voting is about allowing appropriate time for public
deliberation on candidates before voting begins. It also ensures
that no matter where you live, whether it’s a rural or urban
community, voters will all have equal access to the ballot box.
Every Wisconsin citizen should have the same access to the
ballot box. Access to voting should not vary based on the town
you live in.
I support placing certain voter ID changes
into state statue because it ensures the process that has
already been working as a policy will continue to protect our
elections from fraud as a law.
If you believe the federal government is
always right, then this wouldn’t be necessary, but I’ve heard
far too many times about how the feds have let us down.
One current waiver Wisconsin has earned
from federal code allows us to continue getting able bodied
individuals into the workforce, in order to earn a portion of
their state benefits.
Under our bill, Wisconsin will continue to
serve as a laboratory of democracy, using hard won independence
from federal policy mandates to implement programs that really
work for the people of our state and avoid the cookie cutter
federal programs that have failed our citizens over and over
again. The state legislature, the branch of government most
directly connected with the people, will now be involved in
changes to federal programs implemented by state agencies.
As you know, I’ve been a vocal critic of
the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) since its
creation. It took years to get the kinks of the system and
operating on all cylinders. It would be devastating for us to
tear this economic engine apart again. The minor changes made to
the WEDC board will ensure and any reforms made must be
negotiated and not rammed through by a single branch of
government.
The US Supreme Court recently ruled that
states are able to collect sales taxes from out-of-state
retailers. State law already specifies that any future revenue
from this source of sales tax must be used to reduce income
taxes. Our bill ensures that these tax cuts will be carried out
and not postponed.
Conclusion
Each of these common sense reforms deserved
to be adopted without delay. I’ve been proud to support them in
the past and I’m proud to support them today. I didn’t vote to
take power away from anyone, I voted to keep power in the hands
of the people.
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