The Republican leader of the state Assembly said Friday he would likely sue Democratic Gov. Tony Evers over his authority to shut down the economy as the partisan divide widens over how to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re angry, we’re frustrated and we’re trying to push back in every way that we can,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester said on WISN-AM (1130).
He said lawmakers would likely have a legal strategy by next week. They want to be sure any lawsuit they bring is legally sound so it doesn’t result in a court decision that upholds Evers or increases his powers, Vos said.
“One potential for us would be to say where in the statutes does it allow the government and especially the people at WEDC or the people at DHS to pick and choose how businesses operate? That is not part of an order to contain a spread. You cannot say it’s legal for you to buy flowers at a Walmart but it’s not legal for you to buy flowers at a flower shop,” he said, referring to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and the state Department of Health Services.
Vos’ push for legal action comes as a handful of Republicans in the state Senate call for firing Evers’ health services secretary and the governor’s opponents plan a rally to protest his stay-at-home order. The Evers administration on Thursday extended the stay-at-home order until May 26 and canceled classes for the remainder of the school year, enraging Republicans.
In a statement, Evers said he had taken those steps to protect the public.
“My bottom line is keeping people safe,” his statement said. “Folks are scared and they need to know who they can trust. They should trust science. They should trust our public health experts. And they should be able to trust their elected officials to make the best possible decisions based on science and facts.”
Vos told WISN host Jay Weber that he understands the importance of social distancing and taking other steps to reduce the spread of the pandemic that has killed 197 in Wisconsin and nearly 148,000 worldwide. But Evers should not be making decisions about the issue alone, he said.
“Nothing in the constitution or the statutes should give one person unlimited power to shutter our economy and cause people to lose their jobs,” Vos said.
Evers should increase testing and set clearer metrics on when the state will reopen, Vos said. He suggested that if the state had seven days in a row of declining infections, it could have a phased reopening of its economy over three weeks.
He also floated the idea of allowing people to get haircuts and letting students return to school for the first week of June so they could have “a semblance of normalcy before summer.”
Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff noted Wisconsin does not yet meet guidance set by President Donald Trump on when to reopen. And even when it can begin to reopen, schools should still remain closed under Trump’s guidelines. “Curious (if) any Republicans have said whether they disagree with the president,” she said by email.
The pushback from Vos comes as GOP state Rep. Shae Sortwell of Gibson urged people to attend a protest April 24 at the state Capitol. More than 2,500 people have indicated on Facebook they plan to attend.
“From an outsider looking in, it feels like the 2010 Tea Party movement on steroids,” said Mark Block, an early Tea Party organizer who went on to manage Herman Cain’s presidential run in 2012. Madison Elmer, who lives in Walworth County, said she organized the rally after seeing the toll being taken on her friends’ and neighbors’ mental health.
“People losing their jobs and losing their businesses they had dreamed of and finally made happen and probably wouldn’t be able to open back up,” said Elmer, 33. “I was sick of not doing anything about it, so I got the idea to start my own little rally.”
That small gathering exploded into a full protest after Evers extended the order to stay home until the end of May. Vos said it was up to individuals on whether to attend.
“There is nothing that is going to convince me that somebody should have to say that their constitutional rights should be abrogated by a politician,” Vos said. “What they should do is make their voice heard.” Vos said the state Senate should not confirm Andrea Palm as Evers’ health services secretary. She has been serving in that role for nearly a year and a half without confirmation.
Some senators on Thursday called for firing her, but Vos cautioned that would not result in changes to how the administration operates. “That’s kind of a secondary issue because whoever Tony Evers picks, the next lackey is going to do the exact same thing,” Vos said.
He said rather than filing a lawsuit, legislators may try to pass a bill to change the state’s response to COVID-19. But he noted Evers could veto any legislation and said it was unlikely Republicans could reach an agreement with him.
“It’s like drawing an inside straight,” he said. “It’s pretty close to impossible.”
Evers this week said he is working with the governors of other Midwestern states on a regional approach to decide when to reopen the state. Vos said he should be working with Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature instead. “It seems he’s giving more ability of the governor of Illinois and the governor of Michigan to influence his decisions than he is the constitutionally equal branches of government,” Vos said.
“Basically what he does is he sits down with his minions inside his office, reaching out to very few people. They then make a decision and they come and tell us like it’s an edict, like we’re subjects of the king.”
You know who that actually describes, right?
Here’s Vos dressed in full protective gear telling everyone how safe it was to vote a couple of weeks ago
What the hell is wrong with these people?