Here & Now

Here & Now for Jan. 26, 2018

Announcer:

The following program is part of our “Here and Now” 2018 Wisconsin Vote election coverage.

Scott Walker:

We are getting positive things done for the people of Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

Governor Scott Walker addresses the State of the State. I’m Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here and Now,” State of the State analysis in our first look segment. After that, a closer look at the Senate’s vote to fire state elections officials. And what the governor’s health care proposals could mean to Wisconsin households. It’s “Here and Now” for January 26.

Announcer:

Funding for “Here and Now” is provided, in part, by Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

Frederica Freyberg:

Governor Walker's hour-plus speech on Wednesday covered a range of topics from tax credits to F-35 war planes. State Democrats labeled it an election year campaign ad. We will hear from the Assembly minority leader right after a few more words from the governor on his priorities and accomplishments.

Scott Walker:

Rich or poor, big city or small town, Republican or Democrat, these are the issues that people want us to work together on. Issues like pushing for more ways to help our schools improve student success. Growing the number of opportunities for our young people to pursue great careers that will keep them here in our state. Expanding our Wisconsin works for everyone welfare reforms. Helping small businesses grow across the state. Continuing to reform our government. Creating a new child tax credit to help working families. And providing stability in health care. These issues are the seven common sense principles of our ambitious agenda for 2018.

Gordon Hintz:

Republicans passed the largest funding cuts to public schools in our state’s history while at the same time handing out tax cuts for the wealthy that will cost the state more than $1.3 billion by the end of next year. For Wisconsin to achieve educational excellence for every school and every student, Wisconsin needs a sustained investment. Wisconsin Democrats believe education is the biggest priority and should be the biggest priority every year, not just election years.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, the governor’s State of the State address was longer in length and stronger on political moderation compared to years past, very clearly a re-election message. In tonight’s first look we are joined by WPR’s Shawn Johnson to break it down. Thanks for being here.

Shawn Johnson:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

As you know, the governor’s newly-announced plans, ranging from health care help to juvenile corrections changes to welfare reform, also include some money in your pocket if you’ve got kids.

Scott Walker:

Families from across the state will receive $100 for every child under 18 living at home. A couple hundred dollars more in the family budget could really make a difference. Particularly when getting ready for the next school year.

Frederica Freyberg:

So that's obviously got to be popular.

Shawn Johnson:

Walker calls it a reform dividend, which would affect what his office says would be 671,000 households at a cost to the state of $122 million per year. The governor says the projected budget balance of $385 million should go back to the people. He also wants to spend more in other areas: rural schools, attracting workers, a rural economy development fund, new juvenile institutions. Here’s what Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz had to say about it. “We are witnessing a desperate career politician who say do and do anything to be re-elected. This speech sounded a lot like a going out of business sale.”

Frederica Freyberg:

It has to be said that the tone of the governor’s speech was decidedly more moderate. The governor even singled out a Milwaukee Democrat for his work on juvenile corrections reforms. The change in tone stood out to political observers including UW-Milwaukee Professor Mordecai Lee, who told us this about Governor Walker’s speech. He said, “He is trying to change where he stands politically. I think it indicates that his election campaign will be about persuading those leaning to vote Democratic to vote for him. That’s the opposite of his recall campaign, which was to mobilize the base.” I know that the governor stated that the election results earlier this month in the 10th Senate District over near St. Croix County, where a Democrat won that usually Republican district, should represent a wake-up call for Republicans. But do you suppose that this address its new plans is a manifestation of that alarm bell?

Shawn Johnson:

I mean it could be. Think about what the governor said when he was asked about the wake-up call the day after that election. What do you mean? And he said that he thinks that people need to know more about what Wisconsin Republicans have done here. Essentially don’t confuse us with what’s happening in Washington, where Republicans are in control, and not getting everything they want done. We’re doing things here in Wisconsin. So you heard the governor hit that theme over and over again especially in the early going in the speech of things that he has done, he has accomplished. That message I think definitely ties into that wake-up call that he was talking about.

Frederica Freyberg:

So half of his speech was about that, and the other half was about his so-called ambitious agenda. But given the duration of the legislative session, do you think he can get that agenda through?

Shawn Johnson:

There’s a lot there, yeah, especially when you think about the legislature potentially being out of session by maybe the end of February, maybe March, more realistically. That’s not a lot of time to get all this stuff done. In a way, for Walker it doesn’t matter if they pass it. He’s put a marker down here and said I support this.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right.

Shawn Johnson:

You know, in the case of like the tax cut for people with kids, that’s something that they would want to pass in some form in 2018 if they actually want to have that money in the pockets of people who would vote by election day.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right. So what else stood out for you in his speech?

Shawn Johnson:

You know, I think we were all watching the speech to see what the governor would say about Foxconn. This is one of the biggest accomplishments, whether or not you like it or hate it, the biggest, most consequential thing that has happened in certainly this term of the Walker Administration. So there was some question about what the governor would — how much import he would give to Foxconn in the speech, where he would emphasize it. I think by my watch it was about 35 minutes into this hour-plus speech. So it’s not like he made it the crown jewel of the speech. It’s kind of the term that keeps coming back to mind.

Frederica Freyberg:

But he didn’t ignore it.

Shawn Johnson:

He did not ignore it. He did talk about that.

Frederica Freyberg:

So while we’re here we wanted to catch up on the latest of the state Senate’s move to remove the administrators of the state Elections and Ethics Commissions for what Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says was their work while at the now-defunct Government Accountability Board which took part in the John Doe investigation into the Scott Walker. Now this week, the Senate voted on party lines. Tell us what happened this week in this very crazy kind of action on this.

Shawn Johnson:

Yeah. Here’s what Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said ahead of the vote not to confirm the pair.

Scott Fitzgerald:

It's unacceptable, and both of these individuals that are before us here today were there. Can I nail down exactly what they were part of and what they did and how much of it did they look away from or were they complicit or were they guilty of something criminal? I have no idea. But that’s not what we’re doing here. We’re trying to judge if this body is comfortable, if each individual senator in this body, is comfortable picking up the phone and calling over there for some straight advice about something related to ethics or elections.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the Senate voted on party lines earlier this week to block the confirmations of administrators Michael Haas and Brian Bell. How did that vote come out?

Shawn Johnson:

So that was along party lines as you mentioned in the Senate. Then midweek the Elections Commission voted 4-2, with one Republican voting in favor of reinstating Michael Haas as the administrator of the Elections Commission. The Ethics Commission did not follow suit. They voted 5-1 to keep their administrator job vacant. So where does that leave things? We still have Michael Haas at the Elections Commission. They still consider him the leader of the Elections Commission, but technically he’s an attorney at the Elections Commission now and he got a pay cut. Brian Bell, who was the leader of the Ethics Commission, has gone to the Department of Safety and Professional Services and that agency does not have a leader right now.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is this really about?

Shawn Johnson:

What is this really about? I mean, I guess the feelings that Republicans had about the Government Accountability Board and the John Doe investigation of Governor Walker’s campaign and other Republicans, those have not gone away. And so, I mean, Scott Fitzgerald was pretty frank about not wanting somebody associated with the former GAB to be in these leadership positions even if a report that recently came out, an investigation of that investigation, showed that Haas and Bell weren’t exactly making the calls in that investigation.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is it expected that this will end up in the courts?

Shawn Johnson:

I think it’s a pretty good possibility when you’re talking about who’s in charge of an agency and whether a Senate can kick them out or not through a confirmation vote. It’s just maybe a question of who sends it to court first? We do know if it were to go up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, it’s run by a pretty strong conservative majority there and has sided with Republican lawmakers in a lot of the big issues of the day.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile, we will be taking a closer look at this issue of the elections administrator just ahead. But Shawn Johnson, thanks a lot.

Shawn Johnson:

You're welcome.

Frederica Freyberg:

Taking a closer look at the upheaval in the state Ethics and Elections Commissions now with UW-Madison Political Science Professor and elections expert Barry Burden. Thanks for being here.

Barry Burden:

Glad to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

When you see what’s happening with the administrator position at the state Elections Commission, what’s your reaction?

Barry Burden:

Well, it’s alarming. This is a commission that was designed to have some independence from the state legislature, to foster stability and competence and expertise. Mike Haas, who’s now I guess the outgoing administrator there, has been in that role for a couple of years and has been involved with state elections, someone I think is trusted by the clerks around the state and by election officials in other states in fact. To me it’s worrisome that the state legislature is essentially meddling in a personnel matter in that agency.

Frederica Freyberg:

Well, how might this upheaval, though, as we’ve described, affect the administration of elections as we come into this election cycle?

Barry Burden:

The timing is not great. Here we are at the beginning of a long election season. We have elections coming up next month in February, again in April, again in the fall with the primary and with the general election in November. Wisconsin is a state where elections are complicated. Every city, town and village in the state has its own clerk which runs elections. That’s over 1,850 individual election officials, plus the 72 county clerks. They really depend on the state Elections Commission to be a source of information, a place to get resources and help, with the design of ballots, with purchasing of machines, with issues and implementation of the voter ID law or other complications. The timing is just not good in terms of thinking about the elections that are on the table.

Frederica Freyberg:

The chair of the commission says administrator Michael Haas is a nationally-recognized, as you pointed to, expert in elections and cybersecurity and the commission’s only staff member with this kind of security clearance from the Department of Homeland Security. How concerning is his departure, given that, in light of what the chair also calls online security threats from foreign governments and non-state hackers?

Barry Burden:

We know that the Russian government tried to infiltrate voter registration systems in a number of states. They apparently tried to do that in Wisconsin, unsuccessfully. They may have actually targeted the wrong agency. But there were attempts there and there’s still an interest on the part of the Russian government and other actors to do that. Officials here, including Mike Haas, were briefed by federal officials about that in the lead up to the election and since then. And Haas has gotten this special clearance to be involved in those discussions at a higher level of security. If he’s gone, there’s then no one available in the state to have those conversations. I suppose someone else, maybe a replacement administrator, could get those clearances, but you’d have to find someone you trust, who’s going to be a stable force at the top of the agency. Right now stability is not the thing that is happening.

Frederica Freyberg:

You just described the ongoing threats, but how real are those?

Barry Burden:

Oh, I think they’re quite real. The intelligence community has said the Russian government is interested in meddling in American elections, maybe favoring one side, but mostly just trying to cause some turmoil. A lot of these systems are online and they’re attempting to get access. In a couple of states it looks like they actually were able to see the files and download files. That happened in Illinois. I think also in Arizona. We have a new online voter registration system that just went into effect at the beginning of this year, so that’s a new phase of voter registration in Wisconsin that has an online component that I think needs to be monitored this year. There are just a lot of things to watch. And having somebody at the helm who understands those issues and has been in the conversations with federal intelligence officials would be really helpful.

Frederica Freyberg:

Have you as an expert in this world reached out to anyone who’s in the midst of making these kinds of personnel decisions in the state of Wisconsin?

Barry Burden:

I've not. I’ve been watching the back and forth essentially in the public between commissioners, the six, three Democrats, three Republicans, state senators who have been at least on the Republican side critical of Haas and others who had served in the GAB before these commissions were created. And I think we’re all watching from the outside that showdown go down and to see what the legal status of the commissioners is in terms of picking a new administrator.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is this making a buzz nationally among experts like yourself?

Barry Burden:

It is, in part because it’s surprising. Wisconsin had been a state that had been held up as a model of good government when it comes to elections. Most states have a partisan elected secretary of state who runs elections. That’s true in probably over 40 states. Some states have also boards of elections, but those can have a partisan taint as well. Both the Government Accountability Board and these commissions that followed afterward are either nonpartisan or bipartisan, had been viewed around the country as a model for how to run elections that emphasize expertise, continuity and independence in a way that other states have not.

Frederica Freyberg:

Given, though, that now it seems to be that politics have kind of been inserted and inflamed in the midst of all of this, in your mind would there be a better way to run and regulate elections in Wisconsin?

Barry Burden:

Well, there’s no ideal way. I don’t know if we created a system from scratch today we would decide every town and village should have its own clerk for example. Or that we would design the ballots the way we do. There are a lot of things that have just crept up as part of our history and I think voters and election officials have become used to them and it would be difficult to change. But having some sort of nonpartisan competent agency at the top of this hierarchy that can serve the clerks around the state, that is not subject to the daily whims of the state legislature, whether it’s controlled by Republicans or Democrats, that has its own budget authority, so it doesn’t depend on making those legislators happy in order to fund the next budget would be really helpful.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We leave it there. Barry Burden, thanks very much.

Barry Burden:

Glad I could be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now back to Governor Walker’s State of the State address and his proposals to tweak health care coverage in Wisconsin.

Scott Walker:

The biggest concern I hear about as I travel the state is from those who are worried about pre-existing conditions. With this in mind, I propose that we enact a law in Wisconsin that will guarantee coverage of pre-existing conditions.

[applause]

Frederica Freyberg:

Guaranteeing coverage of pre-existing conditions is one prong of what Governor Walker calls the Health Care Stability Plan. Under the plan, he would also seek a waiver to make the prescription drug assistance program, SeniorCare, permanent. And he calls for giving $200 million in state and federal money to insurance companies to hold down premiums. Bobby Peterson is the executive director at ABC for Health, a public interest law firm that helps people connect with health care coverage. Thanks for being here.

Bobby Peterson:

Glad to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to take these prongs of his plan one by one and see what they do and don’t do. On guaranteeing pre-existing coverage, doesn’t the ACA, which is still in effect, do that right now?

Bobby Peterson:

Yes, it does. So it’s a bit of window dressing what the governor has proposed, but also in case the ACA would ever get repealed, it would help partially Wisconsin folks that may have pre-existing conditions avoid certain limitations to access in coverage.

Frederica Freyberg:

So how would it compare what’s in the governor’s plan now to what existed in Wisconsin before the Affordable Care Act?

Bobby Peterson:

Well, before the ACA — and I was a practicing attorney and I represented people — it was pretty bad because pre-existing condition was a limiting factor for people to secure coverage. Insurance companies did reviews of your health status. If you didn’t reflect your information, what they considered to be accurately, you could be denied. So it was pretty bad back then. This will be a step in the right direction. The ACA was a major step in the right direction. What Governor Walker did is just create a backup to the ACA, but it’s not even as good as what the ACA provides.

Frederica Freyberg:

So could it end up if in fact the ACA were repealed and the state decided to go along with this plan, would it or could it cost consumers more?

Bobby Peterson:

It could. It could just because there’s gaps and you have to maintain coverage, continuous coverage, for it to apply. So it’s not a blanket pre-existing condition limitation. There are some holes in the process.

Frederica Freyberg:

And yet I would imagine that people herald it in the event that ACA is repealed.

Bobby Peterson:

Right. It was not originally proposed by the Democrats. The Republicans tweaked it a little bit. It passed the Assembly, not the most satisfactory version of it, but this is what Governor Walker is proposing that we extend.

Frederica Freyberg:

On SeniorCare, the governor would seek to make it permanent instead of having to apply for this waiver to extend it every four years. But it should be mentioned this comes after he twice tried to reduce SeniorCare by about 40%. What do you know about the mechanics of being able to make it permanent?

Bobby Peterson:

Doesn’t appear at this point that there is a mechanism under federal law to make it permanent. So he would have to go through some extra hoops I think to make it permanent. It’s unclear at this point. But it is interesting that he fought against the program two separate times and now he’s become a fan of it, which, you know, he should because it’s a good program for Wisconsin seniors. It helps a lot of seniors receive affordable prescription drugs. It’s got strong bipartisan support. So I'm not surprised that the governor is endorsing it now. A little late, but he is endorsing it.

Frederica Freyberg:

Tremendously popular program. How would you rate it in terms of its popularity of programs?

Bobby Peterson:

I think it’s very popular. I think it’s one that a lot of people need. Prescription medication is an increasing part of people’s lives. The expense of drugs is important and SeniorCare provides a buffer to help folks with that.

Frederica Freyberg:

As to the $200 million reinsurance program to hold down premiums, the governor talked about a Wisconsin woman who saw her premiums go up by almost $2,000 a month under an Obamacare individual plan. What kind of person or what kind of plan could that be, could you imagine?

Bobby Peterson:

Hard to say. It’s very based on county, based on age, based on, you know, your status. So it’s really hard to pin that down. But I think the reinsurance mechanism that Governor Walker is proposing, again, is probably something that we can use. It addresses the cost of health insurance, but not the cost of health care. That’s an important distinction. Because health care costs can keep going up. You subsidize insurance companies against this risk it doesn’t mean you’re dealing with the cost of health care. It’s state money. And interestingly, he’s going to be accepting federal money. That is something he has opposed in the Medicaid expansion area, where he could secure a lot more federal money if he accepted the Medicaid expansion.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right. And so this money goes to insurance companies. I’ve read elsewhere that there’s no guarantee that those insurance companies would then pass that along? Or would that be something that would have to be part of that plan?

Bobby Peterson:

It will be interesting to see the legislation when it comes out how they propose to implement it. But insurance companies are under a variety of different pressures, including marketplace pressures to make their products competitive in the marketplace. So there could be market pressure that helps as well to keep some of the prices down.

Frederica Freyberg:

Speaking of market pressure and upward pressure, the governor said that Affordable Care Act premiums are averaging increases in the 36% range. Is that what we’re seeing in Wisconsin?

Bobby Peterson:

It's close to that in some situations. But I think that — again, it’s different depending on where you live and the competitive pressures within your region of the state.

Frederica Freyberg:

And with those increases, I mean, we’ve been doing some kind of research on the latest numbers in the ACA marketplace in 2018. My understanding is that subsidies still in place within the ACA help offset those increases.

Bobby Peterson:

That's right.

Frederica Freyberg:

How accurate is that?

Bobby Peterson:

That's true. That — for lower to moderate income folks those subsidies or tax credits are still available. They’re very helpful. They mitigate a lot of the increases that we see for health insurance rises in the marketplace for that population.

Frederica Freyberg:

And yet it could be people that are kind of outside the eligibility income ranges for those tax credits or subsidies that get hit the hardest?

Bobby Peterson:

Correct. Right. Those are the folks that may be affected by increases that are not eligible for the tax subsidies because of their income. So they’d bear the brunt of those increases.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, just lastly, and with about a half a minute left, how in your mind does all of this square with Governor Walker’s previous inclinations when it comes to the Affordable Care Act?

Bobby Peterson:

It's a 360 in some ways because he viewed the Affordable Care Act as radioactive so anything related to it he was opposed to. He was opposed to consumer protection to help people navigate the system, which is an important element in terms of helping people get the coverage they need. Cost is one factor, but navigating the system is really important. And not helping with that is a major deficit in his plan. It’s an about-face. I’m encouraged that at least he seems to be listening more. I think he has to listen harder now to the folks out there that are struggling to connect to the coverage and get those services.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Bobby Peterson, thanks very much.

Bobby Peterson:

You're welcome.

Frederica Freyberg:

With health care and specifically the Affordable Care Act top of mind, multimedia journalist Marisa Wojcik brings us these fast facts on 2018 enrollment in Wisconsin now that the open period to sign up has closed.

In Wisconsin, 15,291 fewer people selected plans on the healthcare.gov marketplace in 2018 versus 2017. Federal funding will no longer go toward the cost-sharing reduction program, which is causing premiums to rise. But other federal subsidies increase as premiums increase for those who are eligible. A Wisconsin consumer on the benchmark plan will pay an average of $201 more per month before subsidies in 2018 versus 2017.

Expert Donna Friedsam says despite increases in premiums because the federal government ended cost-sharing payments last year, consumers eligible for subsidies were largely protected because their subsidies increased. Now to eastern Wisconsin, where the DNR created new rules regarding manure spreading. In response to widespread groundwater contamination, the DNR is limiting the amount of manure farmers may spread on their fields. The measure depends on the amount of topsoil but requires at least two feet to be present. However, according to the DNR board, no funding has been secured yet to implement the new rule, which now heads to Governor Walker for approval. And that is our program for tonight. I’m Frederica Freyberg. Have a great weekend.

Announcer:

Funding for “Here and Now” is provided, in part, by Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

For more information on “Here and Now’s” 2018 election coverage, go to WisconsinVote.org.