ROUND UP: Governor Evers Urges Wisconsinites to Vote NO on Constitutional Amendments
MADISON, Wis. — On Monday, Gov. Evers held press conferences alongside local leaders in Madison, Eau Claire, and La Crosse to urge voters to vote no on the two misleading GOP-backed Constitutional Amendments on the August 13 ballot. Gov. Evers shared with voters how these two amendments would prevent any Governor from acting swiftly to help Wisconsinites in moments of emergency.
Read the coverage here:
Spectrum News 1: “During press conferences held across the state Monday, Gov. Tony Evers and fellow Democrats said the measures go against the separation of powers. ‘The consequences of this power grab are even worse than that,’ Gov. Evers said. ‘If these amendments pass, me and any other future governor will be left without the tools they need, especially during times of crisis.’ … ‘Leaders like Robin Vos and Devin LeMahieu can no longer hide behind gerrymandered lines, but they are trying a desperate move, a power grab, to avoid the regular law-making process to cling to power,’ Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler added.”
WAOW: “Governor Evers hosted three media conferences across Wisconsin on Monday. He started in Madison then made his way to La Crosse and Eau Claire. In Madison, he joined Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Ben Wikler, member of the Board of Wisconsin Conservation Voters Helen Sarakinos and Vice President of the Wisconsin Conservation Voters Cynthia Hirsch. There, the four democrats urged voters to vote ‘no’ on two referendum questions at the end of August 13th’s ballot. … ‘We know that emergencies happen all the time. There are floods, there are fires, there are tornadoes, there are storms, there are blizzards. With these kinds of emergencies, we need to make sure that funds immediately get to the front lines, to the people and communities and first responders that need those funds,’ [Wikler] said.”
WIZM: “Gov. Tony Evers spoke Monday in La Crosse, arguing that passing the two amendments would give legislators more power to determine how federal funding is used in Wisconsin. ‘Question 1 and 2, it’s on the backside of the ballot, vote no,’ Evers told reporters, while visiting Larson’s General store in downtown La Crosse. … Opponents of the amendments argue the questions are confusing to voters, plus their passage would tie up distributing federal emergency relief funding, by causing the legislature — which is currently out of session for the last eight months of the year, again — to meet and decide where that money should go. Larson’s owner Mary Larson wants businesses to be able to obtain that funding as soon as possible, when needed. ‘As a small business owner, especially going through COVID, we saw the effects that it had on our business, on our economy, on our families, on our jobs,’ Larson says, ‘and the ability to have swift access to funding really kept us afloat during that time.’”
WXOW: “Democrats like Governor Evers are opposed to both questions — urging voters to vote no — warning that it’s an attempt by the legislature to take more power — and limit any current and future governors’ ability to respond to disasters or emergencies. ‘It’s essentially weakening the executive branch of government,’ says Governor Evers on Monday during a stop in La Crosse.”
Leader-Telegram: “Governor Tony Evers (D) visited Eau Claire Monday in order to encourage voters to vote ‘no’ on two questions that will be present on the Aug. 13 ballot. … Describing these questions as highly confusing, Karen Boss, an Eau Claire County resident and board member of the Wisconsin Conservation Voters, said, ‘Right now the governor and the legislature are both taking part in the distribution and the decision making process of distributing federal funding. These amendments could slow or block federal funding for emergencies like floods or a bridge collapse or a pandemic. During a crisis like that, communities cannot afford the delays that could be caused by political gridlock over how to spend emergency funding.’”
