In the Marketplace of Ideas, it takes at least two to tangle. In American politics where we live under a two-party system, there are only two factions representing diverse populations in the U.S.A. So long as both parties act in good faith and maintain the norms that have guided our governance since the country’s founding, the system works. But here in Wisconsin, good faith is lacking and democracy no longer functions in the daily operation of our state government.
The Norm in a government transfer of power is to allow a new Governor to appoint his own team of appointees to head up the agencies, commissions and boards that oversee the administration and daily operation of government. As his first four year term ends, the Wisconsin Senate has refused to vote on over 150 of Governor Evers’ agency nominations. And that is only one part of the power grab done by Republicans in both Houses of the Legislature. A power grab that leaves environmentalists, voting rights proponents, and even local governments without voice on many of the issues in Wisconsin.
Consider that for state wide offices from Governor to the U.S. Senate, voters split nearly 50/50 between the two partys’ candidates. But Wisconsin voting districts have been devised so that Republicans have complete control, winning 67% of the seats in the State Senate and 64% of the seats in the Assembly in 2022. The politicians are so secure in their jobs that they have no need to listen to most of their voters.
As a result of holding power fully insulated from voter accountability, the ruling party has hamstrung the Governor by blocking his agency appointments and curtailing as many of his discretionary powers as they are able. Consider:
- The Natural Resources Board (NRB) that governs DNR policy is still headed by a Gov. Walker appointee who refuses to resign despite his term having ended years ago. Gov. Evers nominee has never received a vote by the Senate.
- The Livestock Facility Siting Review Board has also never had an Evers appointee considered by the Senate.
- The UW Board of Regents retains Walker appointees in place as seven Evers appointments have never received Senate consideration.
- The Technical College System Board retains Walker appointees as well, as none of Evers’ five appointees have had a hearing.
“You’ve got what is essentially a coup to maintain the last governor’s control of the board, they’re basically stealing power,” Jeff Mandell, co-founder of legal non-profit Law Forward, told the Wisconsin Examiner in June. Joseph Heim, a UW-La Crosse political science professor emeritus told Wisconsin Public Radio in September, 2022; “It seems to me it's a groundbreaking tactic that just adds to the overall turmoil in the government in Wisconsin.”
Governor Evers directed his Attorney General to sue the Natural Resources Board to remove Walker’s appointee whose term had expired and allow a new Evers’ appointee to join the Board. The Supreme Court upheld the Senate Republicans, however, ruling; “The expiration of a defined term for an appointed office does not create a vacancy”. Thus the DNR Board still pursues the failing policies of the previous administration.
And even when Governor Evers was able to have one of his appointees take over at the Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), the Senate refused to confirm the appointment and left Brad Pfaff as a “secretary-designee” who could be fired at the legislature’s whim. Which Pfafff was after just one year. Pfaff is now a State Senator himself representing Onalaskam, WI.
A year later as the Covid pandemic led to a public health crisis, Evers’ chosen nominee to head the Department of Health Services had still not been given a confirmation vote. Secretary-designee Andrea Palm left the position for another job without ever having been confirmed.
The politicization of State agencies is costing Wisconsin talent. The replacement of retiring university Chancellors has become especially challenging. Professionals accustomed to working in an environment insulated from politics are justifiably wary of coming to our State. And the bottom line is that unless you belong to a well known Republican support group, your issues are not going to be heard in Madison. Fewer than ten Democratic sponsored bills received a vote of any kind in the State Senate in recent years.
Fifty-six of Wisconsin’s seventy-two counties have passed resolutions calling for an end to gerrymandering of our voting districts. They cannot get a hearing in the legislature. Three Counties in northern Wisconsin that voted 57% in favor of the Democrats for statewide office have NO representation in the legislature. But it is like that for almost half Wisconsin voters across the state. The GOP have mapped themselves into power for ever and have no intention to share power. In fact their candidate for governor said that if he were elected, “Republicans would never lose and election (in Wisconsin) again!”
Governor Evers comments following the State Supreme Court in the NRB case included this: “I remind the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Republican Party of this state that we do still live in a democracy, a very basic function of which is the peaceful and respectful transfer of power, even — and most especially —when you lose…”