Top 10 State Government Stories of 2023

Judge Janet Protasiewicz declares victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 4, 2023 at her election watch party in Milwaukee. (Drake White-Bergey / Wisconsin Watch)

And what a year it was! Here’s one list of the Top 10 state government stories of 2023.

1. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz not only won a 10-year term on the state Supreme Court, but she won by a landslide in the most expensive ($51 million by candidates and outside groups) judicial race in the nation’s history. Her win gave liberals their first majority on the seven-member court in 12 years.

2. In December, that new Supreme Court majority ruled that Assembly and Senate boundaries Republicans drew in 2021 were unconstitutional. The court gave all sides a Jan. 12 deadline to submit new district lines for November elections and named two experts to advise the justices on next steps. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said the ruling would be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

3. The American Family Field remodeling, updating package will cost state and local taxpayers, fans and the baseball team $706 million, but keep the Brewers in Milwaukee until 2050. The stadium will be upgraded for year-round concerts and other events, although those fans will have to pay a ticket surcharge.

4. A Dane County judge ruled that an 1849 law does not ban abortions, but prohibits feticides, the deliberate killing of a fetus. The challenge to the 19th-century law was filed by Attorney General Josh Kaul at the request of Gov. Tony Evers. It was the first state ruling since the U.S. Supreme Court gave states the right to set their own abortion guidelines. Sheboygan District Attorney Joel Urmanski appealed the judge’s ruling, teeing up the case for a Supreme Court decision.

5. State government finally fixed local government financing by dedicating 20% of the 5% statewide sales tax to shared-revenue payments to locals. The deal also helped fix underfunded Milwaukee city and county pension systems by allowing them to levy a local-option sales tax and placing all new hires in the state pension system.

6. Republican legislators forced the Universities of Wisconsin to begin dismantling diversity, equity (DEI) and inclusion programs by withholding 6% pay raises for all system employees and $32 million in aid Republicans say those programs cost. Although UW Regents complained the universities were being micromanaged by GOP politicos, they agreed to a deal cutting back DEI while that approving $740 million for new buildings and pay raises.

7. Evers twice vetoed $2-billion income tax cuts passed by Republican legislators, saying those cuts favored the wealthiest taxpayers and legislators refused his pleas to continue child-care subsidies in the face of looming crisis when federal COVID aid expires.

8. The UW System, as it’s long been known, ended the year in disarray that won’t be fixed by rebranding it as the “Universities of Wisconsin.” Two-year campuses closed, there were widespread layoffs on four-year campuses, System President Jay Rothman sent an email questioning liberal arts programs, and he may have offered to resign over the DEI controversy. The year came to an especially ugly end when Regents fired UW LaCrosse Chancellor Joe Gow for making pornographic videos with his wife.

9. The state Senate voted specifically to fire Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) Administrator Meagan Wolfe, although a Dane County judge allowed her to keep her job. Some Assembly Republicans and third-party groups tried to force the Assembly to begin the process of impeaching Wolfe, but Assembly Speaker Robin Vos declined to do so, just months before the presidential primary and less than a year before the November elections for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and legislative seats, all of which will be overseen by the WEC.

10. Republican Party leaders who signed documents saying President Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020 and was entitled to the state’s Electoral College votes stipulated that President Joe Biden won and they will not contest the results of the 2024 election. The 10 “fake electors” included former Party Chairman Andrew Hitt, former RNC Committeewoman Mary Buestrin and Elections Commissioner Robert Spindell. The stipulation allowed them to avoid paying monetary damages or admitting illegal activity.

Runners-up

*Former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl – a Milwaukee native and business executive whose career redefined Wisconsin politics, charitable giving and professional sports for four decades – died at age 88. Kohl led the Democratic Party’s comeback in the mid-1970s, bought the Milwaukee Bucks to keep the team in Wisconsin in 1985 for $18 million and sold the team in 2014 for $550 million, and kept a low profile but championed Wisconsin issues as a U.S. senator from 1989 until his 2013 retirement. (Madison Democrat Ed Garvey, who lost a U.S. Senate primary to Kohl, called his $100-million donation to build the UW-Madison’s Kohl Center the “world’s biggest yard sign.”)
*State Senate Republicans end the traditional practice of letting governors pick who they want on state board and commissions by refusing to appoint — essentially firing — Evers appointees. Evers instantly made new appointments, allowing boards and commissions to function.

*The Biden Administration designated Wisconsin one of 31 national Biohealth Tech Hubs, opening the door to major new investments and the state emerging as a global leader in personalized medicine.

*Microsoft paid $50 million for 315 acres of Mount Pleasant land owned by Foxconn, officially retiring the 2018 promise by then-President Trump, ex-Gov. Scott Walker and ex-U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan that Foxconn’s investment in Racine County would create a high-tech, “eighth wonder of the world.” Microsoft says two data centers will be built.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com.