Here & Now

Gov. Tony Evers on his Second-Term Agenda for Wisconsin

Zac Schultz:

If Tuesday night was about dancing the polka, it’s been about touring the state since then. We are joined now by Governor Tony Evers. Thanks for your time.

Tony Evers:

Hi, Zac.

Zac Schultz:

Governor, you’ve crisscrossed Wisconsin the last couple of days. What do those visits connect to the work of dealing with the legislature?

Tony Evers:

Well, you know, yesterday, for example, I was in two school districts, and the work that they’re doing absolutely has a lot to do with, you know, funding of public schools and other legislative things. So we learned a lot, even — you know, things that seemingly are small but we talked with a lot of students about their youth apprenticeships and how that works. Everything I do when I’m going out and about, the state has something to do with legislation.

Zac Schultz:

We spoke with Speaker Vos last month and he said that more money is not the solution to solving some of the knowledge gaps that occurred during COVID. Do you agree or disagree?

Tony Evers:

Well, money does play a role, clearly. I mean, we have school districts going to referenda every single election, and two things happen there. One is that most of them pass, and that raises property taxes so that’s obviously a legislative issue. And second of all, there’s 20 to 30% that don’t pass every time, and so what that does is creates a system of haves and have-nots. That is a legislative issue. So yes, I think it’s important that we look at every option to have kids learn in a better way, but at the end of the day, one of those things is resources.

Zac Schultz:

Now both on election night and during your inaugural address, you connected your victory with a vote to save democracy. Is your win enough to do that, or do we need more legislation to avoid what you called, “a trajectory bent toward permanently undermining the institutions that are fundamental to who we are as a people”?

Tony Evers:

Well, our election and the way it was run and obviously everything went fine, you know. We have a Republican that’s head of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. They certified the election. So I think things went well. Now, do I think there’s some things that could be better? Frankly, I would be — I’d like to have automatic voter registration so that people are registered. That doesn’t mean they have to vote. And I think it would be good to give those local clerks the ability to process some of those early voting things beforehand so that they don’t have to do it at 4:00 in the morning. But the system is strong, and basically, yes, do I think that that election and the way it was run helped people understand how important democracy is? And frankly, how it’s always been strong. I mean, in Wisconsin, so much of the hard work, 90% or more, happens locally. And happens by Republicans, Democrats, independents, you know, the clerks, the local clerks. Those are the folks that do all the hard work. It’s not what happens in Madison. And so we need to reaffirm our support for that and continue to move forward.

Zac Schultz:

Now, you’ve had meetings with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu last month, the first time in a long time for those. Do you expect that to be a regular thing going forward?

Tony Evers:

Yeah, I do. I don’t think it’s going to be, like, every Wednesday at noon or something like that, but yeah, I’ve never had a problem with meeting with them. Obviously during the pandemic, that made it more difficult. So yes, I thought both meetings went well. And we’ll continue to do it, and there’s lots of things that we — you know, that I know and I think they know too, there’s bipartisan support for.

Zac Schultz:

Now in your first two budgets, the negotiations appeared from the outside to consist of Republicans trying to figure out how far they could go before you would veto the entire bill. Do you expect this process to look different?

Tony Evers:

It will be different in that things like shared revenue, how we’re going to fund our public schools, fixing the roads and broadband, things like that, absolutely there is common ground to be held. And then after that, we’ll see. You know, we may be in positions where we fight about different things and I anticipate we will. Whether those things will be enough for me to veto a bill — a budget or not, I don’t know at this time.

Zac Schultz:

Now, we’re finally starting to see some of Governor Walker’s appointees to some of those state boards step down after overstaying their terms, specifically on the DNR board. In the future, would you expect to run names past Senate Majority LeMahieu in order to see if he likes them off the bat or are you just going to announce them cold?

Tony Evers:

Well, first of all, we announce people that we feel will be okay with Senator LeMahieu, and I appreciate the fact that he said everyone that we have out there, they’re going to be given an up or down vote. And they’re all good people. I mean, there’s no reason why not to. And the fact that — the fact that people waited, a handful waited until the end of the calendar year to get out, I find that, you know, refreshing that they’d come to that conclusion, but that should have happened a long time ago.

Zac Schultz:

You recently announced your new selection for DNR secretary, Adam Payne. Just so happens he’s the county administrator from Senator LeMahieu’s home county of Sheboygan. Was that a coincidence or is that something you think will help speed the confirmation?

Tony Evers:

Well, it was a coincidence. I’d known Adam for a long time. I’m from Sheboygan County. I know he’s done a great job there. I know that his background is one that, you know, his father was a , I think, a professor at Stevens Point in the area of — you know, natural resources. So it was just a natural. If it helps that he’s from Sheboygan County and so is Senator LeMahieu, that’s great. But that’s not why we chose him.

Zac Schultz:

Switching to the topic of the Supreme Court election that’s coming up, it seems like any negotiations over the other major topic of abortion will be tied directly to the outcome of that election. There doesn’t seem to be any room for compromise until we know what’s going to happen with the court and that issue.

Tony Evers:

I would say so. I can’t imagine we will be able to come to some conclusion to get us to the point where we were before Roe v. Wade legislatively, so that’s why we filed a lawsuit. I think the lawsuit is going to be successful, and it’s likely to end up in the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Zac Schultz:

Would you be comfortable if voters approached that Supreme Court election from the point of view of abortion rights?

Tony Evers:

Of course. Yeah. It is a big deal in the state of Wisconsin. Most people in the state do believe that women should have that decision-making left up to them. And so, yes, if that’s the way it plays out, that’s the way it plays out. But it’s an important issue. It was an important issue in the campaign, my campaign, and I believe women should have those rights.

Zac Schultz:

Now, including in the topic of abortion, the FDA recently announced they would be expanding access to the so-called abortion pill but that’s not available in Wisconsin, both due to the 1849 law and more recent legislation. Is that something that will have to get sorted out way down the road as to whether people will be able to access that?

Tony Evers:

I can’t imagine that will be dealt with by the legislature, but we’ll see. I mean, certainly if there’s things that legislatively can happen that allow women to utilize this pharmaceutical, I think we should, but I’m guessing that’s not going to happen. So that’s going to be down the road.

Zac Schultz:

One other issue that Republicans have brought up is the use of Tik Tok on state devices. We’ve seen other states ban them. Is that something you’re leaning towards?

Tony Evers:

Yeah, I made a decision to do that. In fact, I’ll be issuing an executive order early next week to ban that.

Zac Schultz:

How common is the use of Tik Tok on state devices?

Tony Evers:

Not very. I mean, the number of people, it’s relatively small number. I’d say probably less than 30 all told, of all state employees, so it’s not a majority by any stretch. So it’s not pervasive, but we feel it’s important to make sure that even in the small number of people that use it, that they shouldn’t be using it.

Zac Schultz:

Does that fall under the larger purview of just electronic security because we’ve heard other experts say, well, Tik Tok is really no different than a lot of other social media devices you download on to a phone.

Tony Evers:

That’s a great question. We are in constant conversations with the FBI and also Wisconsin Emergency Management and others that are really into, you know, the nitty gritty of that, and we’ll follow their advice just like we did with Tik Tok.

Zac Schultz:

All right. Governor Evers, thanks for your time today.

Tony Evers:

Thanks, Zac.