Governor Evers Spotlights Important Issues
Legislative inaction is not an option

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers delivered his second State of the State address to both houses of our Legislature this week. In his remarks he proposed two sweeping and badly needed agendas to address Wisconsin’s dairy farm crisis and gerrymandered state and legislative districts. The first met with mild approval from the GOP controlled legislature while the second was dismissed out of hand. 

Wisconsin has been losing two family dairy farm operations a day for far too long. Small dairy operations have not been able to cope with the punishing Trump tariffs and trade wars that have curtailed their markets and made it virtually impossible to turn a profit. Evers condemned the Trump administration’s distain for small family farmers noting, “we have not forgotten those who have shared the harvest and bounty, feeding our families, our communities, our state, and our country for more than a century. And tonight, we say we are ready to be a partner in the promise of prosperity.”

Evers announced his call for a special legislative session, as early as next week, to consider a package of bills he will be sending to both houses. They would create a new program to increase Wisconsin dairy exports to 20 percent of the nation’s milk supply by 2024. The effort will be supported by expanded state services for farmers including better access to mental health services and a new program to help farmers connect with state universities, technical colleges, hospitals and local businesses. Finally, Evers will create a Blue-Ribbon Commission on Rural Prosperity and a state jobs agency Office of Rural Prosperity to help farmers to better manage state programs and aid.

Legislative leadership, which has been loath to work with the Governor or to adopt his proposals, was surprisingly lukewarm in response. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald was open to finding ways to help Wisconsin farmers as was Sen. Albert Darling. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was oppositional as usual, warning that help Wisconsin agriculture would just lead to more government handouts. He followed by issuing a press release stating that the Assembly would not convene for a special session to address the dairy farm crisis to debate Evers proposals and act to stem the rising tide of farm closings. Instead, he will refer Evers’ proposed legislation to various Assembly committees for hearings. Vos knows this will drag out the chance for passage of any farm aid relief packages, if it does not kill them all together. 

Governor Evers second major proposal came in the announcement that he would create, by Executive Order, a non-partisan commission that would be charged with drawing new state and congressional district boundaries after the upcoming census. Evers commission would not include elected officials, lobbyists or consultants and, hopefully, will conduct its deliberations in public. The resulting maps would be turned over to the legislature for consideration when it draws the new maps. Evers hopes the proposed maps will be adopted by the Legislature.

Republican legislators were quick to dismiss Evers’ plan to create fair maps. Majority leader Fitzgerald called the plan “completely unconstitutional” based upon the constitutional duty placed on the legislature to draw the maps after every census. Rep. Vos also rejected Evers proposal indicating those in control of the legislature will select the process for drawing new maps. Our current legislative and congressional district boundaries were selected by lawyers hired by the GOP majority who worked with GOP leadership in secret allowing those in power to draw districts that included more Republican than Democratic voters and cramming more Democratic voters into districts that usually vote democratic anyway. 

Governor Evers continues to put issues of statewide importance before the legislature for action. By using calls for special legislative sessions, he puts the spotlight on the GOP majorities in both houses. So far, his calls have not met with any positive responses. The legislature refused to even debate the very reasonable gun violence proposals Evers put forward in the last special session by adjourning as soon as the opening gavel fell.

Unless the republicans now in legislative control change their methods and engage in constructive debate resulting in passage of bills that command widespread public support, they will face the voters’ wrath in the next election cycle. They need to understand that there are issues that transcend the partisan divide and command the support of a majority of the electorate. If they continue to turn a blind eye to the will of the people, they will soon be out of work.

Progressive Blues From Red Country: Official Languages Exclude

Progressive Blues From Red Country: Official Languages Exclude: Wisconsin Does Not Need an Official Language We are multi-lingual and diverse Three Wisconsin Republican lawmakers are trying to resurrec...

Official Languages Exclude

Wisconsin Does Not Need an Official Language
We are multi-lingual and diverse

Three Wisconsin Republican lawmakers are trying to resurrect a bill that would make English the official language of state government. What that means is that governmental efforts to assist state residents for whom English is a second or third language by offering printed material in languages other than English would be abolished or curtailed. The bill is similar to one introduced in 2013 by the same authors that failed to even get a hearing in the Assembly. 

The rationale offered for making English Wisconsin’s official language is that it would assist those whose mother tongue is not English to integrate more quickly into the dominant culture and help make them more attractive to prospective employers. What it really would do is make life more difficult for those not like white folks to fully understand how state government works and might be able to help those “outsiders” navigate state government systems.

English as official language laws have been enacted in other states and have uniformly been criticized as erecting barriers helping to exclude immigrants from becoming part of the mainstream society. If the bill’s authors were really serious about helping integrate non-English speakers into society, they would have coupled their bill with increased funding for English language instruction programs.

Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa, a Latina Democrat from Milwaukee, issued a statement Monday accusing Republicans of pushing an anti-Latino agenda to divide the state.

‘‘This bill reared its ugly head in previous sessions, but it didn’t even receive a public hearing because it is clear Wisconsinites do not support such extreme policies,’’ she said. ‘‘The shameful attacks on Latinos are divide and conquer politics at their worst.’’

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, founder and Executive Director of the immigration advocacy group Voices de la Frontera and Matt Rothschild of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, recently wrote an opinion piece in the Wisconsin Examiner highly critical of the proposal. 

Noting that Gov. Evers would likely veto such a bill “in a heartbeat,” they opined that the law would only serve to fan the flames of bigotry and lead to increased hate crimes against those who speak a different language. They rightly cast this effort as part of the white nationalism policies championed by the Trump administration and the GOP nationally. Finally, they note that all state units of government would be required to issue documents only printed in English, with but a few limited exceptions, limiting what local governments could publish to assist non-English speaking residents of their communities.

It is time to stop trying to divide Wisconsin residents on the basis of race, national origin or primary spoken language. Such efforts to make Wisconsin great again do not unite or uplift. They just make it easier for white people to throw acid in the faces of perceived immigrant foreigners. 

How difficult is it to remember that many of our Caucasian immigrant forbearers first came to this country speaking a language other than English? My ancestors came speaking German and I have friends and relations whose ancestors spoke French, Russian and a host of other European languages before learning, over generations, how to speak and write in English. 

What will happen to my youngest grand-daughter who entered public school into a Spanish immersion program where most of her instruction has been in that language? She still speaks English to us, but now is all but fluent in a second language as well. 

The bill’s authors, Senators David Craig, Andre Jacque, and Steve Nass, would be better served by working on legislation that commands support of people from around the state, like the bi-partisan package of bills aimed at reducing water pollution recently introduced in both houses of the legislature or the criminal justice reform bills proposed by Governor Evers and Democrats in both houses of the legislature. Our legislators need to stop arbitrarily dividing us and start finding ways we can all flourish in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual society.