Evers’ promises at halfway point in term
If the space is needed, the 10-point list under the rural issues commission can be cut
The first half of Gov. Tony Evers’ term wasn’t what anyone expected.
Evers, a Democrat, not only operated in a divided government with Republicans controlling both legislative chambers, he was tasked with responding to a coronavirus pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 5,000 state residents.
But neither of those hurdles erased the multitude of other issues many Wisconsinites face on a daily basis — many of which Evers promised to address while seeking the state’s highest office.
We’re monitoring 27 of those campaign promises using the PolitiFact Wisconsin Evers-O-Meter. At the halfway point in the governor’s term, it’s time to check in on two high profile issues — rolling back Act 10 and reducing prison population — and two commissions Evers promised to create.
No movement on Act 10 reversal in a polarizing year
The promise: Repeal or soften Act 10 Act 10 was the signature accomplishment under Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a law that sharply limited collective bargaining for most public employees in Wisconsin.
Evers narrowly defeated Walker in 2018 after a campaign in which the former schools superintendent said he would repeal or soften Act 10. At the halfway point in Evers’ four-year term, it’s time to check in on that promise.
Republicans have long celebrated Act 10 for the financial benefits it brought schools and local governments, while Democrats have decried it for hamstringing labor unions and their power to protect workers. In short, it’s about as partisan a topic as there is.
And this particular chapter of Wisconsin governmental history hasn’t exactly been marked by compromise.
Evers and the Republican-run Legislature have butted heads at almost every turn. Legislative leaders avoided taking action when Evers called special sessions on gun control, elections and police reform. This came to a head (or lack of one) in the last half of 2020 as the Legislature went more than six months without even passing a bill as COVID-19 exacted a heavy toll across the state.
In this political atmosphere — and amid a historic pandemic — Evers has not attempted to address Act 10. He is still only halfway through the term, so there’s time to move the needle, but at this point we rate this promise Stalled.
Little long-term progress on prisons
The promise: Work to cut prison population in half in coming years
During his successful 2018 campaign, Evers said he supported the “goal” of cutting the Wisconsin prison population in half.
Evers noted it was a long-term effort that couldn’t be done in a single term. So halfway through his term, it’s time to check if we’ve seen progress made in that direction.
Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback noted in an email that the prison population dropped from more than 23,000 in 2019 to 20,000 at the end of 2020. But it’s not fair to view all of that as proof of long-term progress.
The state Department of Corrections said that drop is primarily due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which halted trials for a time and continues to hinder the speed of the judicial system.
“A major part of the decrease in population can be attributed to a slowermoving court system during the pandemic,” DOC spokesman John Beard said in an email.
Beard also noted the department is limited in its ability to immediately reduce the population, since only a few programs allow inmates to be set free before their scheduled release date.
In 2020, those early releases included 65 people in an Alternative to Revocation program in Milwaukee who were released in April to finish programming in the community, 21 people in a variation of the earned release program and 16 people who had their sentences modified by courts due to their health or age.
But the DOC has also made two changes that could have a more longterm effect on the prison population, albeit a limited one, Beard said.
The Earned Release Program — an early release program for inmates with substance abuse disorders — added four new sites and increased its enrollment noticeably last year, from 1,909 inmates in 2019 to 2,122 in 2020.
And the DOC changed several procedures related to revocations starting in January, aimed at reducing the number
of people returned to prison for violations. After serving a prison term, inmates generally are released on extended supervision (similar to probation), where they must follow an array of rules or risk being sent back behind bars.
The DOC has reduced the number of standard rules — in favor of guidelines related more directly to a given inmate’s criminal history — and has increasingly used short-term sanctions (short jail stays) instead of formal revocation of extended supervision that would result in a longer return to prison.
We rate promises based on results, not intent. So even if these policy changes weren’t initiated by Evers, they count as progress toward his promise since they happened under his watch.
Wisconsin is a long way from reaching the goal of cutting the prison population in half — and the immediate progress seen in 2020 largely is related to the pandemic rather than policy changes — but steps have been taken in that direction.
We rate this promise In the Works.
Promised ‘rural prosperity’ panel issues report
The promise: Create ‘blue-ribbon’ panel on agriculture, rural issues
Evers promised to convene a “blue ribbon commission” to advance agricultural and economic opportunities in rural Wisconsin, and he delivered — even though the effort looked very different amid the 2020 pandemic.
It’s a far-reaching charge given that 58 of the state’s 72 counties are designated as rural.
Evers created the commission in a January 2020 executive order and filled it five months later with 12 people from around the state, including a teacher, a banker, farmers and a high school student.
That group held three virtual public forums in August and September that were attended by more than 500 people and received 45 written submissions from groups around the state, according to a 49-page report the commission released in December. Commission members also attended 25 other meetings of stakeholders in rural Wisconsin.
The resulting report included 10 recommendations on topics such as recognizing the needs of Native Americans, eliminating local bureaucracy and expanding rural infrastructure and grant programs.
For a promise in this vein, keeping it requires creating a panel that meets and generates action or a report. That’s what happened. We rate this Promise Kept.
Evers gathers veterans’ input, but not as promised
The promise: Create ‘blue-ribbon’ panel on Veterans Trust Fund solvency
The state’s Veterans Trust Fund has faced a structural deficit for years, requiring an infusion of $29.6 million from the state in the 2019-21 budget to stay in the black.
Those financial struggles also prompted Evers to promise during his campaign that he would convene a blue-ribbon commission to address the solvency issues. Keeping this promise would mean convening a committee, holding regular meetings and ultimately taking action or making a report.
The fund finances the majority of the programs for the state’s Veterans Affairs Department, but the loan program that once funded it was shut down in 2011. Despite the name, it is now essentially a pass-through account reliant on cash infusions, rather than a trust fund with investments.
Evers has since addressed this issue, but not in the way he promised. The governor directed staff in the state Department of Veterans Affairs to solicit input from the public on the fund, and they heard from 200 stakeholders over the course of three sessions in December.
In a two-page letter to Evers on Jan. 12, Veterans Affairs Secretary Mary Kolar summarized the resulting recommendations as 1) Continuing to provide services to veterans, and 2) Continuing to use the state general fund to refill the trust fund account.
That’s well short of the standard Evers set with his creation of a promised blue-ribbon commission on rural issues. There, a committee of 12 stakeholders from around the state was created by executive order, met, gathered input and generated a 49-page report with 10 detailed recommendations. We rated that as a Promise Kept.
The only thing that effort has in common with the veterans funding effort is the gathering of input. The core of this promise was to create a commission, and that didn’t happen.
We rate this Promise Broken.