Tony Evers. Image courtesy: WAOW TV
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Second-term inauguration speeches usually fall flat. The speech itself has more significance if there’s a changing of the guard. Second-terms in general also fall flat. Politicians do most of their heavy lifting when they first come into their new office. So you can be forgiven if Governor Tony Evers speech last week has mostly been purged from your mind.
He is “totally jazzed” to begin his second term. That’s great. And then he ticked off a liberal wish list that was rejected by the Republican-controlled legislature in his first term, and has no chance of moving forward in his second.
The governor would like to restore abortion-on-demand in Wisconsin. There is no chance that the legislature will undo the 1849 law that makes abortion illegal. The best the governor could hope for is exceptions for rape and incest, which speaker Robin Vos said he is willing to consider. (The same measure may not have majority support in the state senate.) Evers shows no willingness to compromise. He’d rather roll the dice, and hope that a liberal justice gets elected to the state Supreme Court this spring, and then, perhaps, that judge will vote to strike down the law.
The governor says he will again propose legalizing recreational marijuana. A less-controversial medical marijuana proposal may not make it to his desk.
The governor proposes an even larger boost to K-12 school aid, on top of the record increase two years ago. GOP legislators remember how those increases were described as “cuts” when they tried to reign in the increases to reasonable levels.
The governor is opposed to expanding school choice. He wants to roll it back.
The governor wants tax cuts for the “poor and working class” – some of whom pay no state tax. Property tax relief, since the poor are less likely to own their own homes, is much lower on Tony Evers’ priority list.
And the Governor met a week before his inaugural with the mayors of Milwaukee, Green Bay, Madison, Kenosha and Racine, Democrats all, on how much of his remaining federal COVID cash he can give directly to them without any legislative input.
So where exactly is the Governor willing to compromise? How will his second term, fueled by Biden-bucks handouts and legislative vetoes, be any different than his first?
Chris Conley
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