Author: Scott Bauer

Partisan-backed candidates running for a seat that will determine whether conservatives or liberals have majority control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court said at a January 9 forum that they would not let party politics influence how they rule. But the two liberal candidates made clear where they stand on hot-button issues, speaking out against the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that made abortion legal, as well as the state Supreme Court’s approval of Republican redistricting plans. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow and former state Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly are running as...

The former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party said Republican Senators Ron Johnson spoke to him weeks before Joe Biden assumed the presidency about having the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, rather than voters, choose Wisconsin’s presidential electors, according to newly released documents from closed-door testimony to the House January 6 committee. Johnson, in a statement on January 3, said he had no recollection of the conversation with Andrew Hitt and accused the committee investigating the 2021 Capitol insurrection of attempting to “smear” him by selectively releasing text messages. “I have no recollection of the phone call referenced in the texts,...

Governor Tony Evers met with the mayors of Wisconsin’s five largest cities behind closed doors for about an hour on January 4, one of the first official acts of his second term. The meeting took place as Governor Evers and the Legislature weigh making substantial changes to how local governments, including cities, are funded. Cities, counties, towns and villages are hoping a record-high budget surplus approaching $7 billion will give policymakers the freedom to increase funding and perhaps change the formula used to determine how much money local governments get from the state. The mayors of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine,...

Wisconsin Republicans who control the Legislature are divided over whether to push for rape and incest abortion exceptions in the face of Democratic Governor Tony Evers’ pledge to veto any bill that keeps the state’s 173-year-old ban in place. Governor Evers and Democrats are suing to overturn the 1849 law, which went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that made abortions legal. The state law is a near-total abortion ban, with no exceptions for rape or incest and unclear language about protections for the health of the mother. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin...

Governor Tony Evers outlined an ambitious agenda in his second inaugural address on January 3, calling for overturning an 1849 state law banning abortions, expanding Medicaid coverage and legalizing marijuana. While he called for working together on the priorities he outlined, many of the issues have long divided Democrats and Republicans. The GOP returns this session with even larger majorities in the state Legislature. “To take the oath as governor — an oath only 45 people have taken before me — is an extraordinary privilege. And not just because a so-called ‘boring’ former science teacher managed to end up...

Wisconsin’s natural resources board on voted unanimously on December 14to proceed with regulating so-called forever chemicals in the state’s groundwater, 10 months after a plan was scrapped under pressure from the state’s powerful business industry. The vote to move ahead with developing limits on four types of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS chemicals, came after the board in February adopted standards for surface and drinking water. Those went into effect in June. Environmental groups and residents affected by PFAS contamination spoke on December 14 in favor of moving ahead with adopting the standards. No one...