[bctt tweet=”.@SenFitzgerald comments on the #WISOTS speech, previews divided gov’t, and issues a warning about a possible budget stalemate in this MacIver Newsmakers podcast. Be sure to subscribe! #wiright #wipolitics ” username=”MacIverWisc”]
MacIver News Service | Jan. 22, 2019
By M.D. Kittle
MADISON — Underwhelmed.
That’s how Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said he felt after listening to Gov. Tony Evers’ first state of the state address Tuesday evening.
It’s not that the Juneau Republican was expecting more, he says he’s just growing tired of the Evers-as-savior-of-good-government routine from the left, a narrative led by the Democrat governor.
“It’s pretty hard for me to keep a straight face with the governor saying it’s time to fix the economy in Wisconsin,” Fitzgerald told MacIver News Service. “Bill after bill, all the work we did, the Republican Legislature with Gov. Walker, we did correct the ship and put everything back on track and we are in good shape.”
Perhaps more concerning, Fitzgerald said, is the array of liberal policy initiatives — from Medicaid expansion to massive spending increases in education —that Evers pushed from the podium.
“He spent a lot of money last night in that speech,” the majority leader said.
Fitzgerald issued a warning: If the governor tries to slam through his liberal agenda and leans hard on his powerful veto pen, “there’s going to be a long standoff that’s going to result in the state not having a budget by the Fourth of July.”
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