Today Governor Tony Evers celebrated his 68th birthday sitting in the Senate chamber and watching his nominee for DATCP Secretary go down in flames. The Senate spent much of the day debating rules and jockeying for power over what testimony would be allowed in the discussion about Secretary-Elect Pfaff.
A particularly tense moment occurred after Senator Jeff Smit (D- Eau Claire) asked to read in committee meeting comments from Senator Jerry Petrowski (R - Marathon) in support of Pfaff's nomination. Senate President Roger Roth (R - Appleton) rejected the request, resulting in a floor fight between Roth and Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) as they each called on the other to control themselves.
In the end, the vote went completely along party lines, 19-14, resulting in the rejection of Pfaff's nomination. Under new laws passed in the last Senate's lame-duck session, Pfaff must immediately stop working and his nomination may not be re-considered or put in again by the Governor. The nomination was originally passed out of committee unanimously, including the votes of five Republican Senators (Kathy Bernier - Lake Hallie, Andre Jacque - De Pere, Howard Marklein - Green Bay, Jerry Petrowski - Marathon, and Pat Testin - Stevens Point) but all five of them changed their vote since the committee voted for the nominee.
This marks the first time in at least thirty years that a governor's nominee has been turned down by the Senate. The LRB only has tabulated records dating back in 1987 - it is possible this is the first time it has ever happened. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald warns that there may be more denials of nominees coming up. Ten months into Evers' term less than half of his cabinet members have been confirmed.
Governor Evers said he had attended the session to see why GOP members were objecting to the nomination. After the vote Evers responded in uncharacteristic ways, stating that the GOP was trying to tell nominees "to keep their damn mouths shut" which he called "bullshit". When asked what Evers planned to do about the vacancy now he said he was "too Po'd" to answer.
This nomination looked like it would sail through at one point, but there was a clash between Pfaff and GOP members after Pfaff complained that funds for mental health and suicide prevention services were held up by the legislature. Last week Pfaff announced that the new Livestock Siting rules that DATCP was promoting would not go to a vote, but would be held for the time being. Despite the holding of the rules, many Republican legislators objected to the fact that the rules were drawn up in the first place, claiming they were too injurious to the agriculture business in the state. Interestingly, Pfaff's nomination was being strongly supported by most of the agricultural business groups in the state, which led to the viewpoint that the objection on the part of the Republicans was strictly a political attempt to obstruct Evers' agenda.
Later in the session the senators also approved stronger penalties for drunk driving in Wisconsin, and approved a constitutional amendment removing the governor's ability to increase funding for a measure in the state budget by executing a partial veto. This amendment was the result of Evers raising the per-pupil allotment in the state budget, which had the effect of indirectly increasing the state education budget over the number in the original budget drawn up by the Republicans. This measure will need to be approved by both the Senate and Assembly in two back-to-back sessions.
The Senate also just rejected additional funding for CWD testing kiosks in the state. According to local Senator Jeff Smith - Eau Claire -
Tonight, Senate Republicans rejected efforts to provide more funding for CWD testing kiosks. I’m disappointed Republicans continue to drag their feet on this critical issue. Hunters need to ask Republicans why they won’t get serious about stopping CWD.
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China, Cuba, what's the dif? Walker spinner still spins
When last heard from, Republican operative Bruce Pfaff was busy getting Scott Walker elected governor, having already gotten John Gillespie and Cate Zeuske elected to the U.S. Senate, plus helping Scott McCallum beat Jim Doyle.
Pfaff is now in DC, working for the Congress critter known as Mean Jean Schmidt, from Pfaff's native Ohio.
Jean's best known for calling Rep. John Murtha, a decorated war hero, a "coward" for opposing the Iraq war. But that's just one of many of her claims to fame.
She's currently in the news for claiming, like some other misinformed Repubs, that China is drilling for oil off the coast of Florida.
Others who fell for that piece of propaganda, including George Will and Dick Cheney, have already admitted their mistakes.
But not Mean Jean. Her spokesman -- guess who? -- says she stands by her statement, even if it's not true.
Here's his first try:
Schmidt campaign spokesman Bruce Pfaff said he hasn't talked to Schmidt or her office staff yet about the statement.
"This just came up," he said. "We will have a discussion. To us, the real discussion needs to be about which country Cuba is selling the rights to oil to and that communist governments understand the laws of supply and demand better than congressional Democrats."
Pfaff said the information came from "media sources."
When asked which sources, Pfaff cited a New York Times story and said other members of Congress also have referenced the claim.
Later, Think Progress reported this update:
ThinkProgress spoke with a spokesman for Schmidt who said that the congresswoman is standing behind her statement and still believes that the "Communists understand" what the U.S. Congress doesn't -- "We need more oil exploration." He added that "it doesn't matter" which country is doing the drilling as long as Cuba continues to lease plots of land to foreign countries.
So if you say China and it's really Cuba that's it's true. Next Pfaff will announce that the Olympics are going to be held in Havana. By his guidelines, that would also be true.
Maybe Pfaff's in training for the 2010 Walker for governor race, which will require enormous amounts of doublespeak about his record as county exec.
Steve is a member of LION Publishers , the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce, the Online News Association, and the Local Media Consortium, and is active in Health Dunn Right.
He has been a computer guy most of his life but has published a political blog, a discussion website, and now Eye On Dunn County.
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