Gov. Tony Evers’ Political Power Play

[Madison, WI] – Gov. Tony Evers’ COVID-19 response can be summed up as a slew of failures, between his shutdown of the food assistance hotline for parents of hungry children, refusal to lead on reopening schools despite the scientific consensus, bungling of Wisconsin unemployment claims and undercounting of COVID-19 deaths in long-term care facilities. Yet Gov. Evers still insisted on executing his political power grab on Thursday by vetoing the Legislature’s 11-bill package designating how COVID-19 relief should be spent to best support Wisconsin families. This comes as Gov. Evers refuses to provide transparency in how he plans to distribute the rest of Wisconsin’s COVID-19 federal aid or work with the Legislature to ensure that Wisconsinites have a voice in the process.

By vetoing the Legislature’s For the People Relief Plan, Gov. Evers rejected meaningful assistance for Wisconsin families, including $1 billion in aid to Wisconsin households, $150 million for grants to long-term care facilities and $500 million for broadband expansion — more than twice than what Gov. Evers proposed after declaring 2021 the “Year of Broadband.”

The Republican Party of Wisconsin released the following statement from Communications Director Anna Kelly on Gov. Evers’ political power play:

“It is shameful that Gov. Evers would rather play politics with COVID-19 relief, refuse to provide transparency and continue to fail at Wisconsinites’ expense than work with Republicans. Unfortunately, because Gov. Evers still has not put forward a plan on how he will spend the remainder of our state’s federal relief funds, Wisconsinites should expect to continue to be left in the dark.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.