Here & Now

Evers Weighing Options While Awaiting Supreme Court Decision

Frederica Freyberg:

The state spent the week waiting to learn how the Wisconsin Supreme Court would rule in the Republican Legislature’s lawsuit against the Evers’ Administration over the extension of the “Safer at Home” order that lasts through Memorial Day. Perhaps no one is more invested in that decision than the governor himself. Late Friday afternoon and ahead of that ruling, I talked with Governor Tony Evers in our weekly one-on-one interview. And, governor, thank you so much for joining us.

Tony Evers:

Thanks, Frederica. Appreciate that.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what are you prepared for with the Supreme Court decision?

Tony Evers:

Well, I believe that — I believe we’ll win. I think if you look at the state statutes, if you look at precedent, if you look at the facts in the case, I think we win. Now, the court may decide to not use those same criteria, but I think we have a good chance of winning. The problem around the issue of if we lose, there are so many moving parts. I mean, there’s the case that the Republicans brought against me, and then there’s another case there that has been brought forth by a couple Wisconsin citizens on a freedom of religion approach or issue. So if they combine those two, there’s just so many moving parts. It is absolutely impossible to say if this happens, this is the direction we’re going to go, this is going to go. We’ll wait till the decision coming down and then we’ll figure out a way to move forward.

Frederica Freyberg:

I know one approach that has some traction on the part of the business community is kind of a regional reopening. Do you think that can work?

Tony Evers:

Well, I think it probably can, but I think there’s also things we can do on the statewide area. Doing things in small groups in different parts of the state, there’s some downsides to that. I’ve talked about this before in different venues, but the ability for smaller counties and smaller regions, rural regions of the state to, if there’s a surge in the virus coming forward, they don’t have the public health system that other counties do and other regions do. So there’s downsides to it, and I’m more than willing to look at that. But that is not a whole plan. A whole plan will look a lot different. So I’m looking forward to finally seeing a plan. The Republicans said when they filed the suit that they had a plan. And the only thing I’ve heard so far is about doing things by region and that’s something to look at, but that is not an entire plan.

Frederica Freyberg:

I know that the Republican leadership is seeking what they call a “collaborative approach,” they to want work with you on this, and you did meet with leadership this week. How do you expect that to go?

Tony Evers:

Well, I think it will be fine going forward. If they have a plan, I welcome that. When we met, we talked about regional approach and we both talked about the different ways of doing that. But that in and of itself isn’t a plan. I’m more than willing to hear any plan that they have. And going forward after the Supreme Court decision, we’ll figure out what we have to do to move forward. But it will depend on how that decision is written, and there are many, many moving parts that we don’t know how that’s going to be resolved.

Frederica Freyberg:

Would there be any kind of nonstarters for you in terms of any plan different from the extended “Safer at Home” or the Badger Bounce Back plan?

Tony Evers:

Well, I think we are looking towards dialing — moving the dial at any point in time. In fact, we did just a couple weeks ago. So there aren’t any things I’m not willing to listen to, but let’s have a comprehensive plan, which we haven’t had yet.

Frederica Freyberg:

One thing that has people asking whether or not you’re edging toward a sooner reopening than potentially after Memorial Day is this new guidance from the WEDC about how businesses can prepare to reopen. What kinds of things are in that guidance? And is it a measure that you’re moving closer to that?

Tony Evers:

Well, certainly it’s a measure that we have — you know, as we’ve focused on testing and the things in the public sector or public health side, we’ve really brought a lot to the table already and we’re meeting a lot of the metrics. They’re getting closer to the metrics that we set out. So clearly we do believe we’re going to be reopening some aspects of the business world in a safe and orderly and thoughtful way. And, yes, I think that’s an indication of that. But it’s also an indication that we believe that people need to start thinking about what their businesses will look like after they’re open.

Frederica Freyberg:

What continues to concern you around COVID-19 in Wisconsin?

Tony Evers:

Well, certainly the surges we’re having across the state, in Brown County is a good example. And, frankly, I’m also concerned about the fact that people that disproportionately have difficult health outcomes because of their living in poverty, having poor housing. All those things are playing out again in this instance. And that’s why we’re very insistent that we make sure we have these community testing opportunities for people all across the state, but especially where we have bad outcomes. We need that data to move forward.

Frederica Freyberg:

With just about a half a minute left, what is encouraging for you on this COVID-19 front?

Tony Evers:

Well, we’re up to 14,000 tests a day. I think the last couple days were about 14,000. That’s huge. The more tests we do — and we’re also hiring — lots of people are interested in doing the contact tracing. All the things that really help us take care of surges and make sure that we diminish the role of the virus in our life. Those things are in place. And so I feel very good about that. And people making sure that they’re socially distant from people and staying healthy.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Governor Tony Evers, we need to leave it there. Thank you very much.

Tony Evers:

Thanks, Frederica.