Michels Attacks Evers on 2020 Kenosha Unrest
On two-year anniversary Republican tours city. Evers slams GOP for ‘false’ claims.
Tim Michels, Wisconsin’s Republican Gubernatorial Candidate, toured an area of Kenosha that was impacted by protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in 2020. Evan Casey/WPR
Republican candidates running for election this fall are continuing to point to the unrest following the Kenosha police shooting of Jacob Blake in 2020 as a focus in a law-and-order campaign strategy.
On the two-year anniversary of the shooting, gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels and Republican Attorney General candidate Eric Toney were the latest to call out Gov. Tony Evers for his response to the shooting, as they claim Evers didn’t deploy enough Wisconsin National Guard troops quickly enough. Those candidates, alongside Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, toured Kenosha and held a roundtable with Kenosha police officers and local leaders Tuesday morning to mark the anniversary of the shooting.
Michels told other residents who gathered at the roundtable that Evers should’ve offered more support for law enforcement after the shooting. He also said he still believes Evers didn’t deploy enough Wisconsin National Guard troops to Kenosha after the first night of unrest.
“They should have found leadership from the governor. They should have found leadership from the attorney general. It didn’t happen,” Michels said. “Kenosha was ignored and as a result, Kenosha burned.”
In the aftermath of Blake’s shooting in 2020, protests turned into riots and some businesses were looted and burned.
Evers did deploy 125 National Guard troops less than 24 hours after the shooting. That number increased to 250 troops on the third night of unrest. Five-hundred troops were on the ground on the fourth night, after two people were killed and one was injured on the third night of protesting.
A spokesperson for Evers released a statement in response to the claims made by Michels.
“Rather than helping our state continue to heal and move forward, Wisconsin Republicans and Tim Michels are trying to mislead Wisconsinites and divide communities,” the statement said.
“Claims by Wisconsin Republicans about the governor’s response have been found false by independent fact checkers and ignore the facts about the state’s response,” the statement added.
Kenosha Professional Police Union president Pete Deates said that statement was “totally irresponsible.”
One of the three officers the Michels group met with on the anniversary of the Blake shooting was Pablo Torres. Torres himself was the focus of an investigation and a lawsuit after two separate on-duty shootings, one fatal, during a 10-day period in 2015. After those shootings, the Kenosha Police union paid for a billboard featuring Torres and thanking the community for their support, a move criticized by the families of the men who had been shot.
A spokesperson for Michels said the Kenosha Professional Police Association chose the officers who were present at the tour.
As Michels was in Kenosha, Gov. Evers was also making appearances around the state, including in Milwaukee, Wausau and in Eau Claire. Evers announced on Tuesday a proposed a tax cut plan that would cut income taxes, cap the cost of insulin and provide more support for child care.
Michels responded to the tax cuts at the roundtable Tuesday: “Tony Evers knows that today is the two-year anniversary of perhaps his largest failure, and he’s trying to cloak it over.”
Evers tweeted about the anniversary Tuesday afternoon.
It has been two years since Jacob Blake was shot in Kenosha, and the eyes of our country fell upon Wisconsin. Today, as we reflect on how far we’ve come, we are also reminded of the work we must continue doing to repair, rebuild, and heal, together.
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) August 23, 2022
A Marquette Law School survey released Aug. 17 found that Evers was in a tight race with Michels, with the governor leading the Republican challenger by two points.
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2 years after Kenosha unrest, Wisconsin Republicans continue to campaign on response to riots was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Donald Trump has endorsed Tim Michels for governor. Has Tim Michels denounced the attack on our democracy of 1/6/2021? If not, Tim Michels is not fit for office, as his oath would require him to support our Constitution. Instead, Tim Michels is in thrall to Donald Trump, who has consistently violated his oath to defend the US Constitution. Tim Michels should not serve in any public office.
Did Tim Michels rely on lying to become a “successful” business man like his mentor Trump?