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Lack of Trust in Governor Evers
The second in command in the Wisconsin Assembly says there will be a state budget this year, but he has no idea what it will look like.
Majority Leader Tyler August was a guest on New Talk 1130 WISN Monday. He said Friday’s ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court fundamentally changes how lawmakers will write the next state spending plan because he says the legislature would have to work with, and trust Gov. Tony Evers . And, August said, lawmakers can no longer do that.
“It is increasingly difficult, if not impossible after this action, for us to ever be able to even slightly trust the governor in any kind of a negotiation ever again,” Tyler explained. “He didn't just go back on his word to the Speaker and the Majority Leader of the Senate, he went back and stuck it to taxpayers.”
The liberal-majority State Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Gov. Evers did not overstep his power when he issued his 400-year school funding veto. Evers erased a few numbers and a few punctuation marks to change an agreed-upon two-year education funding increase into a 400-year education funding increase.
August said Gov. Evers, with his veto, also raised taxes for the next 400 years.
“As long as the education establishment gets their money, that's all he cares about,” August added.
As for the budget-writing process itself, August said the Joint Committee on Finance will not get to work until mid-May when the state revenue projections are delivered.
Still, August said revenue numbers and balancing budget requests will not be the toughest part of crafting a new spending plan.
“When we're looking at how to move forward with the budget or with a tax cut package, this is going to loom very very large,” August said. “This may have irreparably damaged any opportunity for us to cut a deal with the governor on anything, ever again.”
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