Coronavirus planning call recorded by Evers’ staff
Republican leaders say act is ‘Nixonesque’
MADISON - Republican legislative leaders lashed out Wednesday at Democratic Gov. Tony Evers after his staff secretly recorded a May 14 phone conversation over how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic the day after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s stay-at-home order.
The recording and the reaction to it all but ensures a permanently broken relationship between Evers and Republicans who control the Legislature. The two sides have rarely gotten along since Evers was elected in 2018 and Wednesday’s episode was characterized by GOP leaders as unprecedented.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau called the recording “Nixonesque.” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos called it “shameful.”
Evers’ spokeswoman, Melissa Baldauff, said the governor was not aware of the recording and instructed his staff not to do it again.
“This conversation was supposed to be about a potential path forward on a statewide approach to the COVID-19 crisis in our state following the Republican lawsuit to overturn the Safer At Home order,” Baldauff said in a statement. “The recording was intended for internal use only to inform detailed note taking and planning next steps. This was not intended for release to the media or anyone else, however, we were obligated to comply with the open records law to release these records once they were requested.”
Evers’ team recorded the May 14 conversation also to make sure they had an accurate account of what happened because Republicans and Democrats have publicly disagreed over how past meetings had gone, according to those close to Evers.
A copy of the recording was provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel late Tuesday under the state’s open records law. Similar requests were made to the offices of Vos and Fitzgerald following the meeting, and their aides said they had no records
responsive to the request.
An aide to Evers informed Vos and Fitzgerald the recording had been released to the Journal Sentinel on Wednesday before a story about the recording was published.
The hourlong tape reveals the two sides often talked past one another as they discussed how to respond to the Supreme Court’s decision.
The Evers’ administration had put a stay-at-home order in place to fight the coronavirus, and Vos and Fitzgerald sued over it when the administration extended it past Memorial Day.
The court ruled 4-3 in Republicans’ favor and the state’s top leaders met soon afterward. During the call, Evers sought a new rule to fight the coronavirus, but Vos and Fitzgerald said they wanted more details about what it contained and questioned whether one was necessary.
Fitzgerald, who is running for Congress this fall, said in a statement that the recording “will completely erode our ability to work together for the foreseeable future.”
“In 26 years in the Legislature, this is one of the most brazen examples of unethical, unprofessional conduct I have ever seen,” his statement said. “The governor has gone so far off the deep end, he’s making secret Nixonesque recordings from the East Wing of the Capitol. This conduct is totally unbecoming of our state’s top executive and opens up questions about what other recordings his administration may have.”
Vos called the recording “clearly outside the norm.”
“Governor Evers has dragged partisan politics to a new low in Wisconsin and damaged his reputation and the state’s, as well,” his statement said.
Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said recording a conversation without alerting the other parties isn’t illegal in this state, but is in bad form — and that the nature of the meeting should have pushed the three to talk publicly instead of privately.
“I wouldn’t do that as a journalist, to record someone without them knowing,” Lueders said. “On the other hand, I don’t know what would have been said in that meeting that needed to be kept private.”
Lueders said a better outcome would have resulted if the meeting would have been done in plain view.
Lueders said it was right for Evers to release the recording because it is considered a record once it’s made.
“On that level, he did the right thing. Whether it was a good idea to record a meeting without telling the other participants is not really an open meetings question but more of a civility question,” he said.
Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, said someone in the Evers administration should lose their job over the recording.
“If no one in the administration loses their job over this, it’ll be a clear indication that this secretive taping was an order from the very top,” he tweeted.
The recording left Republicans fuming, but their relationship with Evers has been in tatters from the beginning.
Between the time Evers was elected and sworn in, Republicans passed a set of lame-duck laws that limited his powers. They saw his proposed state budget as an unrealistic liberal wish list and rewrote it from top to bottom.
Republicans last year got in an argument with the administration over mental health assistance for farmers that led to the state Senate firing the agriculture secretary — marking the first time the Senate had fired a cabinet secretary in decades, if not ever.
And the two sides have repeatedly fought in courts, most recently over the stay-at-home order.
While Evers, Vos and Fitzgerald didn’t see eye to eye in their phone call last month, they talked to each other respectfully. But often they disagreed on what was happening in the state and what officials should do next.
Evers at one stage said he was frustrated the state wasn’t able to open up in a uniform, phased way. When the Supreme Court issued its decision, bars were “bursting at the seams,” he said.
Fitzgerald was incredulous, saying people were already out in large numbers.
“Governor, when was the last time you were at a Home Depot on a Saturday? When was the last time you were in Walmart on a Saturday?” he said. “Are you kidding me? You’re not being serious right now, are you? Those places are bursting at the seams every weekend. Come on.”
Fitzgerald repeatedly told Evers the reopening of the state’s businesses was now behind them and urged him to develop plans for dealing with large crowds at Brewers games and the eventual resumption of schools.
Evers asked Vos and Fitzgerald what they wanted to do if there was a catastrophic increase in cases.
“Do we just say the hell with it?” Evers asked.