Evers Wants 270-Day Shutdown! Nope

A copy-and-paste social media post, shared by a number of conservative groups, alleges that Governor Tony Evers is making an end run around the Wisconsin Supreme Court and seeking to close Wisconsin for 270 days.

“Evers is proposing a new plan, a 150 day shutdown of the state (5 MONTHS!) followed by a 120 day extension. 270 days total. He is following Wisconsin state law here and this plan will get sent to the JCRAR (Joint Committee for Review on Administrative Rules). The 10 people on this committee (6 Republican and 4 Democrat) will literally hold the direction of our lives in their hands,” says the post.

The post, or portions of it, was shared by the Republican Party of Dane County, conservative radio host Vicki McKenna and the Milwaukee Tavern League. It also appeared on a number of websites including OpenTheStates.com, which bills itself as “a community of patriots.”

The post includes a plea to contact the committee members to oppose the plan. “No forced masks, no forced testing, no forced vaccination, no forced quarantine, no restrictions,” says the post. “Our forefathers literally fought and agonized over decisions that affected their family, their livelihood, their health, and many of them sacrificed everything for FREEDOM. We can manage to make 10 phone calls and send 10 emails!”

But you can put down the phone, it’s not true.

“That’d be a lie,” said Evers during a media briefing on Monday afternoon.

Evers and the Department of Health Services (DHS) had initiated the process to do what the Wisconsin Supreme Court required them to do, engage in the rulemaking process with the Legislature. Evers also met with Republican legislative leaders to discuss the matter.

But those meetings didn’t yield any agreement. The administration withdrew the rule request Monday.

Under the law, an emergency rule could be in effect for a period of up to 150 days, and could be extended, but DHS didn’t request a specific date and any request would require approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

“The Republicans made it very clear that they don’t believe a statewide approach is the right way to go at this point in time and they made it clear that they don’t believe any statewide restrictions are advisable at this point in time,” said Evers. “They didn’t want to do anything on a statewide basis, period. They didn’t want to do any more restrictions, period.” He said the administration withdrew when it learned the effort wouldn’t be successful, but he remains open to meeting with them.

DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm encouraged people to continue to follow the spirit of the “Safer at Home” order. “Should we still stay at home? Our best public health advice is yes,” said Palm during a press briefing. She said people should minimize their trips away from home when possible and seek to conduct social activities virtually. “The data has always informed our decisions and guidance and that cannot and will not change.”