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Majority rule

Gov. Evers appointees now hold majority on two major state boards

In his third year in offi ce, Gov. Tony

Evers has now nominated enough members to hold the majority on two major state boards over former GOP Gov. Scott Walker appointees.

Evers nominated two new members to the Natural Resources Board, plus two new members and one reappointment to UW System’s Board of Regents.

For the NRB, Evers appointed Sandy Naas, an Ashland High School agriculture and natural resources instructor and FFA advisor, and Sharon Adams, founder of the Walnut Way Conservation Corporation in Milwaukee. Th is gives Evers a total of four appointees to the seven-member board.

Evers’ new NRB appointees replace Board Chair Fred Prehn and Julie Anderson, both Walker appointees.

Additionally, Evers named Dr. Ashok Rai to the Board of Regents and Brianna Tucker to serve as the board’s traditional student regent. Evers also reappointed John Miller, who fi rst took the role earlier this year after former Regent Jose Delgado passed away.

Rai, a UW-Milwaukee undergrad and graduate of the Medical College of Wisconsin, has served as CEO and president of Prevea Health since 2009. Tucker is a UWStevens Point student where she studies political science and Spanish.

Th e two new regents replace Eve Hall, who served on the board since 2014, and Olivia Woodmansee, Evers’ previous student regent.

With Rai’s appointment, this gives Evers nominees a 9-7 majority on the board over Walker appointees. Th e state superintendent and Wisconsin Technical College System president also sit on the Board of Regents.

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Dane County judge voids GOP redistricting legal contracts

A Dane County judge voided two contracts GOP legislative leaders signed that put taxpayers on the hook for more than $1 million in legal fees, ruling lawmakers don’t have the authority to retain private counsel for a redistricting suit that hasn’t been fi led yet.

Judge Stephen Ehlke on April 28 also enjoined Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, from authorizing further payments on the deals and ordered the plaintiff s shall recover costs and fees.

Vos said the decision will be appealed and that GOP lawmakers had expected a loss in Dane County Circuit Court.

“Surprise, surprise, a liberal judge listens to a liberal group and does what they want,” Vos said in an interview with WisPolitics.com.

Lester Pines, the lead attorney for the teachers who fi led the suit, said the legislative leaders should compel the law fi rm to repay the money for the illegal contracts. If they won’t, “we’ll look at that question,” he said.

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Election commission begins voter roll purge of non-voters

Th e Elections Commission voted unanimously to begin the process of removing up to nearly 188,000 people from the voter rolls after they failed to cast a ballot in the past four years.

During a special virtual meeting April 29, commissioners approved the new design of a mailer to notify registered voters who haven’t cast a ballot in the past four years they will be removed from the rolls if they don’t respond to the mailing.

Agency Administrator Meagan Wolfe said the new version was designed to increase response rates and clarify parts previous recipients found confusing.

Th e step is part of a statutorily required mailing the commission has to do every two years. Th e mailers are sent in the June following a November general election, and the action is separate from the mailing to voters who may have moved that was ultimately the subject of a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.

In 2019, the commission sent 113,314 notices with 15,974 returned requesting to continue their registration.

Evers signs bill requiring holocaust be taught in schools

Gov. Tony Evers has signed a bill to require Holocaust education be included in all public and private school curriculums.

Evers signed SB 69, creating Wisconsin Act 30, alongside Jewish community advocates and state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. Th e law requires all schools to provide Holocaust instruction to students grades fi ve through eight once and provide Holocaust instruction again at least once more for students grade nine through 12.

Th e act also requires the Department of Public Instruction to create Holocaust education lessons with input from groups dedicated to Holocaust education and other state agencies that have already developed similar lessons.

Th e Assembly and Senate both passed the bill with unanimous votes.

“Hate, bigotry and anti-semitism have no place in Wisconsin,” Evers said. “Th rough education, there’s hope for a better, more inclusive, more equitable, more compassionate Wisconsin for every family.”

New DPI chief names leadership team

team at the state Department of Public Instruction.

Underly named John Johnson as deputy state superintendent. He is currently director for literacy and mathematics at the Department of Public Instruction and previously worked as communications director for the agency.

Th omas McCarthy has been named executive director. He now serves as senior manager in the offi ce of Children and Families Secretary Emilie Amundson. He previously was a communications director for DPI.

Underly is reappointing Latoya Holiday as special assistant to the superintendent after she fi rst started with the agency in 2005.

Paul Manriquez will serve as assistant state superintendent. He is now the principal for the middle school and high school in the Pecatonica Area School District, where Underly has been serving as the superintendent.

Underly’s transition team will be led by Erin Forrest, the executive director of Emerge Wisconsin, which trains female candidates.

Meanwhile, Sachin Chheda, who led Underly’s campaign, will serve as a senior adviser to the transition.

Underly listed 14 others on the transition team, including state Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison, and two candidates who ran against Underly in the DPI primary: Troy Gunderson and Shandowlyon Hendricks-Williams.

VP pitches infrastructure package in Milwaukee

Vice President Kamala Harris pitched the administration’s proposed $2 trillion infrastructure package as an opportunity to invest in America and realize its potential.

Addressing a round table at UW-Milwaukee Tuesday afternoon, Harris said the federal government’s investment in innovation, research and development has declined as a percentage of GDP over the past 20 years.

“It is about what we must and can do to pursue innovation for the sake of making things better for American families, making things easier for American families and creating jobs,” Harris told the round table.

Th e $2 trillion package includes $180 billion for research and development, including $40 billion to upgrade research infrastructure and $35 billion to position the U.S. as a leader on climate research, according to the White House.

Prior to the round table, Harris visited a clean energy lab at the university, where she was given an overview of a project to signifi cantly reduce the time it takes to recharge an electric vehicle. Th e research is part of a partnership with Volta, which is building an electric vehicle charging network.