MADISON, Wis. — Republicans who control the Wisconsin Senate voted Tuesday to fire eight state board appointees from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration, including a majority of the panel that sets the state’s environmental and wildlife policies.
In a series of votes that fell mostly along party lines, the Senate rejected confirmation for four members of the Natural Resources Board, as well as a Democratic elections commissioner who tried earlier this year to prevent the Senate from voting to fire the state’s top elections official, a nonpartisan role. Republicans also rejected nomination of a medical board chair who has supported abortion rights, Evers’ former spokesperson who was reappointed to the Council on Domestic Abuse, and a member of an agricultural board whose appointment was opposed by dairy and business groups.
For years, Evers and Senate Republicans have clashed over gubernatorial appointments. GOP lawmakers refused to act on many of the governor’s nominations during his first term, and policy board members appointed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker have blocked Evers’ picks by refusing to step down when their terms expired.
“It’s insanity,” Evers told reporters ahead of the vote. “These are all good people. They’re all strong supporters of the Wisconsin Idea. They’re completely appropriate people to serve in those positions. This is a democracy issue.”
Evers promised to replace the rejected appointees.
“It’s just really, really unfortunate that the Republicans are taking this position,” he said.
Gubernatorial appointees are allowed to serve before being confirmed, but a Senate vote to reject confirmation carries the effect of firing them.
“When does this end? Is this precedent-setting that every legislative body has this kind of relationship with the executive branch?” Democratic Sen. Brad Pfaff said on the Senate floor. Pfaff’s confirmation as Evers’ agriculture secretary, a Cabinet-level appointment, was rejected by Senate Republicans in 2019 - a move that hadn’t happened in the state for decades.
The Senate’s rejection Tuesday of Sharon Adams, Dylan Jennings, Sandra Dee Naas and Jim VandenBrook leaves the seven-person Natural Resources Board without enough members to vote on anything and could delay consideration the Department of Natural Resource’s contentious wolf management plan.
Rejection of Joseph Czarnezki’s appointment to the Wisconsin Elections Commission comes in retaliation for his decision in June to join the two other Democratic elections commissioners in abstaining from a vote on reappointing the agency’s administrator, Meagan Wolfe. That move forced a deadlock on the commission and blocked Wolfe’s nomination from continuing to the Senate, angering Republican leaders who have vowed to oust her.
Republican Sen. Rob Cowles was the only lawmaker to cross party lines, voting with Democrats in support of Czarnezki and the four DNR policy board appointees.
Dr. Sheldon Wasserman, a former Democratic state lawmaker now serving as chair of the state Medical Examining Board, was rejected after GOP lawmakers questioned him in a public hearing about why the board had not taken steps to discipline doctors who perform abortions. Wasserman, who has previously been confirmed by the Senate three times, has spoken in favor of abortion rights and is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban.
The Senate also voted to fire Melissa Baldauff, a Democratic strategist and former Evers aide who co-chairs the Council on Domestic Abuse, and Jerry Halverson, who was appointed by Evers’ agriculture secretary to a board that hears challenges to decisions on where to build livestock facilities.
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Harm Venhuizen is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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