Here & Now

Here & Now for May 11, 2018

Announcer:

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

Frederica Freyberg:

Im Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here and Now,” minority leadership replaced her on the Joint Finance Committee this week. Embattled Milwaukee State Senator Lena Taylor is here. A closer look at the state of the state’s economy through the lens of a new UW study. We’ll introduce you to a Green Bay high school senior who will be awarded this weekend for her work on LGBTQ issues. And hemp farming gets a green light in Wisconsin. It’s “Here and Now” for May 11.

Announcer:

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

Frederica Freyberg:

In our first look tonight, Milwaukee State Senator Lena Taylor describes her removal from the powerful legislative Joint Finance Committee as a “political lynching.” The democratic senate minority leader removed Taylor following a legislative human resources investigation that found Taylor violated policies on retaliating against an employee for use of family and medical leave and violated antibullying provisions with her behavior toward her office staff. Taylor is required to complete antiharassment and interpersonal communication training. Her removal from Joint Finance also coincides with an incident at a Milwaukee bank, which resulted in Taylor being ticketed for disorderly conduct. Senator Taylor joins us now from Milwaukee. And, senator, thanks very much for being here.

Lena Taylor:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why do you refer to your removal from Joint Finance as a political lynching?

Lena Taylor:

For clarity, I said several things in the way that the matter has been handled. I believe really has a lot of political shenanigans that are going on, and it really is not anything to do with my performance on the committee. There is no justification to remove me from the committee. Nothing has changed my work, my outcome and my service to my constituents. And I disagree with the findings that happened in the report. And I believe that, very candidly, that that investigation and the process is a kangaroo process that needs to have changes.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to get to that report in a moment but given the human resources findings about retaliation and bullying, Senator Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling said this, “No matter the workplace we need to protect an employee’s right to bring forward concerns and ensure everyone is able to work in a safe, productive and welcoming environment.” That seems reasonable, doesn’t it?

Lena Taylor:

It does. As a matter of fact, I believe that’s what I did. I disagree with the report. I think it was a disgruntled employee who, very candidly, could not do the work and in some situations was unwilling and refused to do what was needed, including, very candidly, you got to show up to get paid. And I think most people feel that. And I think very candidly that that’s what my issue was.

Frederica Freyberg:

And so that’s your version of the employee who took medical leave.

Lena Taylor:

Very candidly, when an employee — you know, without getting into all the HR components, because Im not really certain how far I can go with that, you know, and dealing with the issues of requesting an increase and they didn’t get it and then went out on medical leave and didn’t what to do what they needed to do. There are just a number of issues to this. I believe it’s a disgruntled employee that should have been fired.

Frederica Freyberg:

What about — go ahead.

Lena Taylor:

Im sorry. And I don’t believe that a — that what the Senate and the HR department decided to do with the no-show/no-work policy for the individual that makes more than $80,000 a year, I didn’t agree with that.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you didn’t agree with paying that individual $80,000?

Lena Taylor:

I didn’t agree with giving that — I did not agree with the process that happened. I did not agree with the concept of giving an employee an opportunity to work and to not have to do work and not have to show up for work and that on taxpayers’ dollars. And I disagreed with them in that regard. And I disagree that the employee should not have been let go. I disagree with the reports. And I respect what has been stated. And I think those inflammatory words that were used is not a reflection of my office and the environment. We’ve helped a lot of people. A lot of people have worked in my office. People have even come back, Frederica, on multiple times to work with me. And we’ve done great work and we will continue to do that great work.

Frederica Freyberg:

As for the bank incident, where you referred to a teller as a “house n-word” when is that appropriate?

Lena Taylor:

So three things. First, I did not use “n-word,” which everyone keeps saying, number one. Number two, the issue and the encounter with the bank teller, very candidly, was — my transaction was done. I then asked for the superior’s name that I spoke with. And I was denied that. And my parting comment to the teller, I do not believe rises to a disorderly conduct. And I believe that the person who was in charge of the branch was dishonest with the officer and I believe the officer had bias in his report shows that bias and conflict. And so does the body cams.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you did not say “house n-word.”

Lena Taylor:

I did not say “house n-word” and I’ve said in several occasions what was said and I respect what it sounds like, but when you get done, that’s not what was said. And if you look in the police report, there are multiple words that have been stated that were said. And so in the end, I think what Im saying to you Frederica is whether or not in the transaction as the way it was suggested. It was suggested that I came in the bank and I was flailing my arms and pointing at people and blah, blah, blah. And that’s not what happened. And it also is saying that I used words, Frederica, that I did not use. But, more importantly, I think the most important part is the entire thing was not deescalated. There was no community policing. And there was just flat out misinformation. And I asked the officer, “Are you going to talk to me in part of this investigation?” How do you make a decision of what you’re going to do without ever interviewing me personally, without asking me my name or my ID.? And more importantly, without viewing the video? And I think if you do, you see maybe there’s some discrepancy in what was said.

Frederica Freyberg:

Unfortunately, we need to leave it there. We may like to follow up with you going forward. But Senator Taylor, thanks very much for taking the time.

Lena Taylor:

Thank you for having me. I want to say, listen, I respect that the bank teller was, you know, upset. Clearly I too was offended by the disrespect that happened in the bank. But it doesn’t make it right. And I receive that. But in the end, I hope that when someone African-American goes into a place and asks for a superior, that they should be able to get that and not be made into something that it is not.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Senator Taylor, thank you.

Lena Taylor:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now to agriculture news. News that opens the door to a promising new industry for Wisconsin. After meeting with lawmakers and farm officials on Thursday, Attorney General Brad Schimel reversed his previous legal guidance that banned most cannabidiol or CBD oil in Wisconsin. Just as farmers were lining up to produce industrial hemp under a new pilot program in the state, Schimel issued a memo last month that said the oil could only be distributed in limited circumstances by doctors and pharmacies. The attorney general met with members of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau among others in reaching the new decision to allow farmers to grow and sell industrial hemp without fear of prosecution, including for processing the hemp into CBD oil. Rob Richard from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau is here. And thanks very much for being here.

Rob Richard:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what is your reaction sitting here today to the attorney general’s reversal on this?

Rob Richard:

Im ecstatic. I’m ecstatic for our farmers. They’re going to have the opportunity to grow industrial hemp for the purposes they wanted to, which is to produce CBD oil or whatever use they wanted to, but in this particular case, the CBD oil component was key.

Frederica Freyberg:

What was your reaction when you saw his original kind of legal guidance that would have made this illegal?

Rob Richard:

Just the opposite. It was pure disbelief. But I realize we had a chance of hopefully work with the attorney general, explain our position as best we could and hopefully he would reverse it.

Frederica Freyberg:

How many farmers are lining up to produce hemp?

Rob Richard:

According to DATCP, I believe we’re at around 380 farmers that have sent in applications to either grow or process. So Wisconsin is literally blowing the doors off this thing compared to any other state in the country in the first year of their programs.

Frederica Freyberg:

And so farmers could both grow the hemp and process it into the CBD oil?

Rob Richard:

Yes, but some farmers are also just being contracted by others who will be doing the processing for them.

Frederica Freyberg:

And why is Wisconsin poised this way, you know, blowing the doors off other states?

Rob Richard:

We have a long and storied history with industrial hemp going back to the early 1910s and ’20s with Matt Rens, America’s hemp king in the Waupun area through World War II when we really became the national leader in industrial hemp. You had the Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Dodge County area. That was the mecca of hemp growing or hemp production in this country. About 70% of all hemp came out of that three county region.

Frederica Freyberg:

Could there still be some changes though that might be concerning for farmers and others in the industry coming from the 2018 Farm Bill, which is still before Congress?

Rob Richard:

Sure. So what we’re real excited about is that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky has introduced the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 in conjunction with what Congressman Jamie Comer from Kentucky was already done last year with introducing his act as well. But what Mitch McConnell wants to do is remove industrial hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and instead treat it like a crop, as it should be.

Frederica Freyberg:

And so what do you think the expectation is for that to happen, given the U.S. DOJ?

Rob Richard:

Sure. So, concerning that the senate majority leader wants this done and that his opposition party leader Chuck Schumer has signed onto his bill. This is great, fantastic news if the senator can get it attached to the Farm Bill and move it through the process and hopefully get it signed in the fall. But we really need Senator Tammy Baldwin and Senator Ron Johnson to sponsor this bill as well to really push it through the senate.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you know about the likelihood of them doing that?

Rob Richard:

Weve had conversations with them. I think they’re thinking about it. We’re hopeful that they’re receptive and ultimately we would really love to have their name on that bill.

Frederica Freyberg:

What happens if that doesn’t happen?

Rob Richard:

Well, I think McConnell is committed enough to push this through any way he can. I know he’s working with a coalition of groups including the American Farm Bill Federation to get the support he needs to get this attached to the Farm Bill when it’s in the senate committee.

Frederica Freyberg:

Okay. In terms of hemp and the production of that, are there other products other than this oil that Wisconsin could take advantage of?

Rob Richard:

Absolutely. So if you go on the grain side and food and beverage, there’s plenty of opportunity for farmers who go for the grain to put in cereal bars or let’s say a major cereal company decides to include it as an ingredient in the cereal. That’s a game-changer in terms of the production that we could produce. Then you go into the high-tech industry with super capacitor batteries, replacement for Kevlar, the automotive industry using it for the interior components and panels. You have companies like BMW, Lotus and Mercedes using it as a replacement for fiberglass on the exterior of their car panels. In the building construction, we have individuals that I know that are looking to utilize hemp to make board. If we can get this going, get Fortune 500 companies behind this, I think there’s a real opportunity here.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile when do farmers need to start planting?

Rob Richard:

Yesterday. In the southern part of the state, soil temperatures are reaching the level that we need to get seed in. Up north they have a little bit more time. But the timing of this whole issue was critical. That’s why we had to push as hard as we could.

Frederica Freyberg:

Rob Richard, thanks very much.

Rob Richard:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

And now we go to health care. As Wisconsins unemployment rate stays at record lows, nursing home facilities are struggling to find people to care for elderly residents. A report released by the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association and other organizations says one in five caregiver positions are not being filled. But why? Multimedia journalist Marisa Wojcik brings us these fast facts about the status of elderly nursing care in Wisconsin.

Marisa Wojcik:

A $9 billion industry in Wisconsin is experiencing a workforce crisis. Skilled nursing facilities are losing caregivers at a rapid rate. According to a recent report, there are more than 16,000 vacant positions in Wisconsins residential and long-term care facilities. And those who are caregivers are getting burnt out, as providers resort to overtime, double shifts and other measures in order to fill the need. Two-thirds of Wisconsins long-term care residents are on Medicaid and because of this, providers can’t offer competitive wages for nursing aides. Wisconsin has the lowest Medicaid reimbursement rate in the country. And this often translates to the average care facility in the state losing roughly a million dollars a year. Over the last few years, 16 nursing facilities in Wisconsin have been shuttered. And more have announced plans to close. The Wisconsin Health Care Association says there have been some efforts by the state legislature to increase Medicaid reimbursement. But they need to go further. A coalition of organizations in the state are looking to fill this need with a $2.3 million federal grant awarded to the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services for programming to give certified nursing assistants training at no cost. For these and other fast facts, visit wpt.org.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now a look ahead to this weekend and a statewide award ceremony for students active in their high school gay-straight alliance organization. GSAFE is the state service organization that supports students, teachers and families on matters related to LGBTQ issues in schools and beyond. Each year selected students who further that mission are honored for their work at a banquet for educators and youth from around the state. The awards dinner is tomorrow night. Our next guest is a Green Bay Southwest High School senior who is one of the 2018 scholarship winners. Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez will be recognized for her work expanding her school’s gay-straight efforts for all students, including Oneida tribal teen members. Mercedes joins us now from Green Bay. Thanks very much for being here.

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

Thanks. I’m glad to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

We wanted to say congratulations. As we just mentioned, your work at Southwest High has increased the size of the school’s membership in your gay-straight alliance chapter. How did you go about that?

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

With that, we started out very small because we weren’t really used to each other, but as we continued working and socializing and getting to know each other, we eventually all became like pretty good friends. And with that, they invited their friends and the inclusivity just dropped and we all started to get to know each other and accept each other. And I think with that, we were all super encouraged to like grow together. And so yeah.

Frederica Freyberg:

Youve also worked to expand your school’s gay-straight membership to include Oneida tribal members. You yourself are Oneida. How are challenges for young Indian LGBTQ people different from nonnative youth?

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

I think for native youth, we suffer from a lot of underrepresentation, especially in the media. So with that, we are kind of confined to ourselves if we live on or off the reservation. And I think especially in a school establishment, there isn’t a lot to relate to or seek others who may be LGBT or just an ally. And so I think that with expanding on advocation, especially for other native youth, that like to seek others and truly understand what it is to be yourself and to accept yourself and not just tolerate I think, you know, we even got to do more than we thought we would.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you say to a young person who might be watching this tonight who’s afraid to come out?

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

I think that no matter what, no matter what you think of yourself or what others think of you, you are still human and there are others like you and there’s others going through exactly what you’re going through. And even though you feel misunderstood and underrepresented, you’re not alone and you are accepted, no matter what. No matter who you think people are inside, they’re going to accept you no matter what, no matter who you think they are.

Frederica Freyberg:

How important were adult mentors in this work that you’re doing?

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

Our advisers were so helpful, and they are counselors themselves. Even though they are busy, they’re doing a lot of work, you know, in the student body. And I think, you know, they’re so respectful towards us and, you know, towards — no matter like our gender or sexuality or race, they are super understanding. And I think that the more understanding and accepting they were of us in our program, the more comfortable we became. And as that continued, they were more comfortable coming out, especially in a group.

Frederica Freyberg:

What are your hopes and expectations for your high school from which you will now be graduating going forward in terms of keeping the work that you’ve done going?

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

I noticed that there are a few seniors, most of which are my friends in GSA and we look back on it and we see all of these freshmen, sophomores, all these underclassmen and they are so inspiring and they’re so inspired themselves. They’re very passionate and they’re very driven for acceptance. And I think that they’re going to do so much more than we did and Im so happy and Im so glad that I get to see that.

Frederica Freyberg:

You laid the groundwork. But what are your plans after graduation and for the scholarship money that you will receive tomorrow night?

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

Im definitely counting it towards college, and Im hoping to do work in social sciences and literature.

Frederica Freyberg:

And where do you expect to go to college?

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

St. Norbert.

Frederica Freyberg:

And why did you choose St. Norbert?

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

I chose St. Norbert because they gave me a really great opportunity, and Ive actually have like family who go there. After touring the campus, I saw so many like-minded people. I’ve been recommended organizations, social organizations to participate in. And I think it would be a great fit for me.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Mercedes, thank you very much. And, again, congratulations.

Mercedes Danforth-Hernandez:

Thank you so much.

Frederica Freyberg:

Wisconsin has snapped back from the great recession, with the worst-hit counties making the strongest comeback. But small counties lost population during the economic bad times, giving a boost to larger, more urban areas. These are the findings from a new paper from the UW-Madison Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy. The center’s director and paper’s author, UW-Madison Professor of Economics Noah Williams is here with more. Thanks for being here.

Noah Williams:

Happy to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the bottom line is that the counties hit the hardest by the recession were always the ones that experienced the largest catch-up recovery.

Noah Williams:

Thats right. Particularly I looked at several different measures of living standards, whether it’s unemployment, incomes, poverty rates, all of those. The counties which had the worst time during the recession had seen the largest growth and the largest recovery.

Frederica Freyberg:

In fact, a prime example of this was Menomonie County, where its peak employment in 2010 was 15.3% down to a 2017 rate of 4.3%. But would these findings be unexpected?

Noah Williams:

To some extent we do expect where there is more slack, we would see faster recovery. So that’s one of the things I wanted to look at, was also not just the change since the recession, but from 2007 right before the recession onwards. And even over that period which sort of nets out the decline and the recovery, we have seen a convergence. We have seen the worst-performing counties do the best over that whole span.

Frederica Freyberg:

You also found that rural counties are losing people. You found that county population shifted during the recession, with rural counties losing population to urban areas. Dane County, though, gaining like 12.6%.

Noah Williams:

Yes.

Frederica Freyberg:

Compared to the state average of 4%. How does this population shift and movement affect the labor landscape?

Noah Williams:

Yeah. So we — a very prominent policy issue which has come up recently particularly with the low statewide unemployment rate has been labor force shortages. Employers having difficulty finding people to fill jobs. And this shows that that’s really particularly acute in some of the smaller communities. We have seen — I mean, if you look across counties, 12 out of the 13 smallest experienced a net population loss. Average loss of about 4% over the past decade. Whereas all of the 16 largest had an increase, with Dane County being the largest.

Frederica Freyberg:

Would the explanation for that be that people in those smaller rural counties hit hard by the recession were moving to larger population centers for work?

Noah Williams:

Thats certainly part of it, yes. That goes along with a lot of the process, what we call convergence with narrowing of income gaps. Some of that came about by internal migration, by people moving to where there is more opportunity. So the people who are left in the smaller areas are the ones who are actually doing better.

Frederica Freyberg:

How has the decade since the great recession treated Wisconsin incomes?

Noah Williams:

Wisconsin incomes, overall it’s been slow but steady growth. Average income growth on the order of 2% to 3%. But, again, there’s been big divergence across counties, with again the initially poorer counties increasing the most. So one example I gave in the paper was Iron County up in northern Wisconsin. Over the last decade, saw 30% per capita income increase, whereas the statewide average over that whole period was about 9%.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, you compared not just Wisconsin counties to each other, but you compared Wisconsin to other states in the United States. How does Wisconsin stand out?

Noah Williams:

So one thing we see, there were similar overall trends across the United States, both looking at the state level and at the county level. Where unemployment rates were highest, they’ve come down the most. Where Wisconsin stands out on that is we’ve seen a larger reduction in unemployment than other states around the country. And you see that kind of uniformly across counties within the state. Similarly with population dynamics, we’ve seen increased concentration in urban areas. This has been an ongoing process around the country. Where Wisconsin stands out there is our overall population growth has been lower. So the smaller counties have really lost population and that’s even more of an acute problem in Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Professor Noah Williams, thanks very much.

Noah Williams:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now to other state news and a sure sign of spring on Lake Michigan. An emergency grant will help the S.S. Badger ferry make its maiden voyage of the season on schedule today. High winds and waves during an April winter storm damaged the Manitowoc harbor area. Besides severe erosion, loading equipment was also compromised. The state is providing an emergency $800,000 grant to help repair the damage. The S.S. Badger is a national historic landmark and operates between Manitowoc, Wisconsin and Ludington, Michigan. 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.