Here & Now

Tony Evers’ Reelection Candidacy, Next Steps on State Budget

Zac Schultz:

Last night the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee wrapped up their work on the state budget by inserting income and property tax cuts that add up to $3.4 billion. The budget heads to the Assembly and Senate next week and then it will head to the desk of Governor Tony Evers who announced earlier this month he is running for a second term in office. He joins us now from Madison. Governor, thanks for your time today.

Tony Evers:

Thanks, Zac, how are you today?

Zac Schultz:

Good. In the past, incumbent governors have waited until after the budget was signed to announce re-election plans. Why did you decide the time was right in early June?

Tony Evers:

It was pretty much around the issue of the budget. Clearly there are some things going on with the budget that I felt and frankly people that support me felt that weren’t particularly good for our schools or our healthcare or frankly even our infrastructure. So I just wanted to make sure people knew that I am in for the long haul and I’m all in and my goal is to make this budget as good a budget as possible. So it was around the direction of the budget primarily.

Zac Schultz:

Speaking of the budget, Joint Finance wrapped up last night and while the Legislature could make some changes on the floor next week, in general their work appears to be done. We invited Republican leadership to join us today and they declined. Joint Finance co-chair Howard Marklein said this about the proposed tax cuts in a release. “This year has been incredibly difficult for individuals, families and businesses and this money will result in significant income, property and personal property tax cuts to provide much-needed relief.” Now governor, considering what Republicans have done with taxes and education spending are you still considering a veto of the entire document?

Tony Evers:

It’s always a possibility. I mean even though Joint Finance Committee is done with their work, first of all, we have to get through it and take a look at it. It’s very important to understand the details of it. But on the floor there’s always changes. There’s always important changes that are made and so I’m reluctant to say whether I’m going to sign it or veto it or veto parts of it. But — and that decision making frankly takes a lot of time. We have to have the exact language in order to figure that out. Clearly I’m not excited about what they’ve done for several areas. I’d say our education system in particular is pretty weak. Their response to folks that work in K-12 or higher education institution, I don’t think are very happy about what they’ve done. They have shouldered a great deal of the burden during this pandemic also.

Zac Schultz:

If you were to veto the whole budget, Republicans have indicated they’re not likely to come back and try again. Would the state be better off under the current budget for the next two years and would that impact our schools’ abilities to capture some of the federal COVID relief funds?

Tony Evers:

All that is on the table. Clearly I will never do anything to jeopardize the education system period. It is so important for our state. And so if need be, we will sign and do the best we can with partial vetoes but again, it is a work in progress and I am waiting to see a final document. There will be changes on the floor. There always is. People looking to get their pet project across the finish line. So I’m really reluctant to even capsulize what the budget will look like at the end of the day.

Zac Schultz:

The way the Republicans made the budget met federal requirements on education spending was to send more money to schools but require them to lower their levy reducing property taxes but it doesn’t create new funding for education. I know in the past you’ve said that is something you wanted to get away from. Can your line item veto authority impact some of those levy limits in the way education funding is allocated?

Tony Evers:

You hit the nail on the head. That’s one of the major complaints I have as an educator when I was in the field and the present educators have. The money — where they put the money doesn’t come directly to the school districts. It is done through lower property taxes. In order for schools actually to capture some money they have to raise taxes and that doesn’t always work well. That money is going to schools. I understand technically that money is not going directly to schools. I understand technically it’s viewed as school aid but it is a property tax relief plain and simple. That does not help our schools that have more money for special education, behavioral and mental health issues, either.

Zac Schultz:

When you first ran for governor you laid out a number of priorities like expanding Medicaid that Republicans have refused to consider. Do you think voters will understand why you haven’t achieved those goals?

Tony Evers:

They — yes, they will. They know darn well Speaker Vos says right from the beginning he believes it makes people more reliant and dependent on government and he doesn’t understand apparently that people really do need to have affordable and accessible healthcare. I will — if there is anybody that has any questions why we don’t have Medicaid expansion, I’ll be glad to tell them and I’ll be telling them that over the next several years. We will eventually get Medicaid expansion in this state, but we need fair maps for sure. But it’s not something I’m going to give up on and the people of Wisconsin talk about it with 70% of the people supporting it. Regardless of his individual beliefs, I know there are Republicans out there that will support Medicaid expansion.

Zac Schultz:

We’ve already seen a preview of what Republicans view as your weaknesses in this next election. One of those issues is the delay in handling unemployment claims during the pandemic. Your administration talked about the antiquated computer system. Does the budget properly address updating that system?

Tony Evers:

Well, we had some money in the budget to update that system and clearly we’ll be — they shut down most of that so we’ll be looking to federal funds and other mechanisms to make sure we update that. Yes, attacking that — attacking me on that issue when they are the ones that were in office. I wasn’t in office when the Audit Bureau said you have to fix this thing. This is big trouble. But regardless, we need to move forward. We will get this thing fixed in the very near future. We are putting RFPs out as we speak for different parts of the improvement.

Zac Schultz:

The last time Wisconsin voters elected a governor of the same party as the president was 1990. That trend includes your election in 2018. Does the mid-term environment concern you heading into 2022?

Tony Evers:

Not at all. I know things are going well in Washington, D.C. President Biden is doing a great job. I believe more than ever that that doesn’t hold true anymore. There are so many issues that face Wisconsin directly and I believe that we will be immune to some of that. But I believe my chances of winning re-election are very, very strong. We have a good record. We had a good response to the pandemic with the Legislature out of town for 300 days. We actually had changes made and made sure we got shots in arms and got lots of federal money. It was really important to get out to people in our tourism industry and farmers and small businesses. I think my record is a good one and I know I will get re-elected.

Zac Schultz:

Governor, we’ll have to leave it there. Thanks for your time.

Tony Evers:

Thanks, take care.