Here & Now

Anderson: “They Elected Me Wheelchair and All”

Frederica Freyberg:
A disabled legislator does battle with Speaker Robin Vos over accommodations at the Capitol. In tonight’s first look, we talk with Democratic State Representative Jimmy Anderson, who already missed a vote on the lame-duck law because he couldn’t stay at the Capitol overnight. He now seeks to be able to telephone in to public hearings. Vos says phoning in is disrespectful and Assembly rules don’t allow it. Anderson is paralyzed from a crash caused by a drunk driver. We reached out to Speaker Vos for clarity on this and didn’t hear back. He did, however, send a letter to Representative Anderson calling what he’s doing “political grandstanding.” We started by asking the representative’s reaction to that.

Jimmy Anderson:
I just think it’s really unfortunate the way that he’s painting out the situation. I’m simply asking for accommodations that are owed to me under the ADA, and Speaker Vos has been aware of my accommodation requests all the way back in January, and has ignored them for months. So I think that the only way I’ve been able to get him to pay attention to these issues is being able to talk about them in the media and have the people of Wisconsin put pressure on him to do the right thing.

Frederica Freyberg:
And yet he said that you did not go directly to him or HR with your request to be able to phone in to public hearings, but he heard it through the media, saying that calls into question your seriousness. What about that?

Jimmy Anderson:
I take my disability very seriously, so I think it’s — he’s completely misconstruing the proper way in which we’re going to address this problem. You know, whenever I have disability request that are related to something that’s like physically with the building, whether it’s voice recognition software for my laptop or changes being made to my desk, for instance, I’ve gone to the sergeant’s office and those accommodations have been provided. This was a change to the Assembly rules that requires a vote by resolution, and the way that we change these rules has always been negotiations between Democratic and Republican leadership. So what I did was I went to Democratic leadership and said, “These are the accommodations I need. This is the proper process.” And we went through the proper process and Speaker Vos said “No, I’m not going to provide those accommodations.” I don’t know how much more clear he could have been on the issue.

Frederica Freyberg:
He does say, and as you acknowledge that some accommodations were made, including a special microphone, special voting equipment and cab fare for when a staffer would take you home. Describe specifically for us why you need this additional accommodation to call into hearings?

Jimmy Anderson:
So again, I think part of the problem is that Speaker Vos, when he says that people are driving in for hours, why can’t you just drive in, Jimmy? It’s a difference between being able to have the autonomy to decide when you’re getting up in the morning and what someone like me as a quadriplegic faces. I have to rely on other people in order to help get me in and out of bed or to get me dressed, for instance. And you know, for instance, my morning healthcare provider, she has a kid that needs to go to daycare and as anyone with children knows, sometimes kids don’t cooperate. So if she’s 15, 20 minutes late, that means I’m 15 or 20 minutes late. And so being able to call in to the mornings, I have access to a phone 24/7. So if she’s running late, I can still call in to my committee hearings and participate. And you know, that’s what my constituents want. They elected me, wheelchair and all. They understood this was going to come with certain accommodations but if I’m not allowed to participate in the process, they’re being disenfranchised essentially.

Frederica Freyberg:
At this point, the speaker says he will have a videographer at public hearings if you give him adequate notice for that and he will propose allowing paper ballots for voting in executive session. He says he hopes you find this satisfactory. Do you?

Jimmy Anderson:
Not at all. I mean a videographer is essentially saying I can watch the proceedings but I can’t participate. I can’t ask questions. I can’t provide insight. I mean, the very point of these committee hearings is so we can all lend our expertise and our own experiences to make our legislation better for people in our districts in the state of Wisconsin. So the idea that I’m still not allowed to participate completely misses the point. As for the paper balloting, I think it’s a fine idea. It’s not something I specifically asked for, but if it makes the legislation or it makes the legislature better and other members want it, I’m fully supportive.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now as you well know, in 2017, legislators could appear by web camera, but rule changes that year eliminated that provision, and you voted for that change. Why?

Jimmy Anderson:
So that was my very first vote essentially of the legislature and I’d never served in office before. I didn’t know what it was like, what the experience was going to be like, what I was going to need as a disabled legislator, so as I went through that first year, after that terrible lame-duck session, I understood what the accommodations I was going to need, so that’s why I made those requests. Knowing what I learned after that first year, I never would have supported a similar rule in the future.

Frederica Freyberg:
Speaker Vos, and we should say again that he did not respond to our requests for an interview on this or comment on it, but he describes it as disrespectful to have one person appear by speakerphone while citizens take time out to testify before committee in person. What about that idea of it being disrespectful?

Jimmy Anderson:
I think it’s disrespectful what he’s doing to my constituents. The fact that he’s not allowing me to be able to be as full a legislator as humanly possible. And the thing is our Senate already operates this way. They’re already able to use speakerphones and for the most part, I’ve always been able to attend in person as long as things have been reasonably scheduled. I’m happy to be here. I enjoy being here. I love doing this job, but there are those small instances where my disability requires these accommodations. So to deny me those accommodations is what I think is disrespectful.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now you’ve taken exception to the way the lame-duck session happened, a vote at 4:30 in the morning, which you missed. Why couldn’t you be there?

Jimmy Anderson:
So being in this wheelchair, I can’t be in this wheelchair for extended periods of time. It’s dangerous to my health, not only that, but again, I’m relying on other individuals to help me during the day. So in that instance, at around, you know, 9:00, 10:00, I started messaging Republican leadership saying I need to know when we’re going to be on the floor because I have a home health aides I have to schedule. They essentially gave me a shrug and said we don’t know. So I had to go home because if I didn’t go home at that hour, I wouldn’t be able to go to bed. I couldn’t get out of my chair. It could have been really dangerous for me personally. So that’s why I ended up missing the vote that day.

Frederica Freyberg:
As to that, you asked the attorney general, Josh Kaul, to review that vote to see if it violated the open meetings law. What’s the status of that review to your knowledge?

Jimmy Anderson:
So we’re still waiting. Open meeting laws say specifically that if any duly elected member is excluded from a meeting of the legislator, the laws that were passed, that they are invalid. My argument is that Speaker Vos and the Republican leadership were aware of my disability, knew that I had to go home because of my disability and yet continued to hold this vote anyway. So we’re still waiting to hear back from, you know, Attorney General Kaul.

Frederica Freyberg:
Lastly, Speaker Vos says he has always made sure the Assembly abides by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Have you sought outside opinion on whether Assembly rules do, in fact, conform to the ADA?

Jimmy Anderson:
Under what Speaker Vos is currently doing, absolutely not. The DOJ has already put out a primer explaining what state and local governments have to do in order to meet the ADA and they specifically talk about providing a teleconference system for people with wheelchairs or people who need that because of a disability. They’ve already spoken on this issue. He’s not following — he’s in fact breaking the law right now.

Frederica Freyberg:
We need to leave it there. Representative Anderson, thanks very much.

Jimmy Anderson:
Thank you so much.