While talking to voters the other day, I was troubled to learn that voters are being sent a misleading card on the two state referendums on the Aug. 13 primary ballot.
The fiscally responsible position is to vote YES on both referendums.
As a former police officer of almost 20 years, I put a high premium on honesty and integrity, and I don’t believe this card, which tells people to vote no, passes that test. Wisconsin needs transparency in how it spends federal money, and Gov. Tony Evers has failed that test.
The money for some of the “vote no” efforts traces back, in part, to unions. The state Democrat Party is among the groups trying to fool Waukesha and Washington County voters into thinking that voting no protects our checks and balance system.
Voting YES protects our checks and balances system.
Voting yes does give the legislature a say in how the governor spends billions – yes, billions – of dollars in federal money. This includes but is not limited to COVID relief money that, as the Badger Institute documented, Evers blew on things that had nothing to do with the pandemic or emergencies at all.
As Republican state Sen. Duey Stroebel noted, Evers has been using these billions of dollars as a slush fund, and he’s still sitting on a lot of it.
I am a small business owner. I know how important it is for the state and federal governments to control spending. I am conservative. As a legislator (I am running in the 98th Assembly District as a Republican), I would make very different decisions than Evers regarding some of this spending. I suspect many of the current legislators would, too. They deserve a seat at the table.
A YES vote would amend the state Constitution to give the people’s elected legislators a say in how this money is spent, just like occurs in many other states. It stops the legislature from being able to give away its spending powers. The outdated decision to give the Wisconsin governor sole authority over much federal spending dates to the Great Depression.
It’s not good policy to put so much fiscal power in one politician’s hands without some oversight. Although Republicans are pushing the YES vote for this reason, I’d guess that independents and even some Democrats would agree that having more voices at the table is a good idea when billions of dollars are at stake. Otherwise, how would we know that a governor of any party would not simply reward areas and groups that align with the governor’s politics, whatever they may be?
What chance do conservative counties like Washington and Waukesha have under Evers? All areas of the state deserve an equal opportunity at this money if it needs to be spent at all.
The misleading card voters are receiving says voting YES would risk the ability of the state to respond quickly in an emergency. But Evers spent COVID money on many things that weren’t emergencies, like a railroad museum in Green Bay and an arts center in Milwaukee.
I’m voting YES on both state referendums because I believe it’s better fiscal policy to have more oversight and restraint over taxpayer dollars.
-Jim Piwowarczyk is a Republican candidate for the 98th Assembly District, which includes Hartford, Erin, Richfield, Merton, Sussex, and Lisbon.
