David Michael Miller
Attorney General Brad Schimel, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and Gov. Scott Walker spoke back-to-back-to-back at this spring’s Republican state convention. Their speeches shared a common theme: The Democrats are coming! With enthusiasm flagging among Republican voters, scaring the party faithful into action was, apparently, the order of the day.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was having none of it. “There will be no waves crashing in Wisconsin,” he told the audience, referring to the proverbial “blue wave” that many GOP leaders fear. Later, he tweeted, “conservatism will win in November.”
Vos’ nonchalance was brazen. If a blue wave does come crashing into the Capitol this fall, he will shoulder more of the blame than any other Wisconsin Republican. As his infamies continue to pile up, more and more voters will see that Robin Vos is unfit to be a leader in state government.
We just recently learned that Vos took a lavish, all-expense-paid tour of London last August. LoanMax, a super-high-interest auto title lender with 16 locations in Wisconsin, helped underwrite the trip. As a “sponsor,” LoanMax was able to send a couple of its lobbyists along. Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, who would later serve as best man at Vos’ wedding, was also among the tourists.
Vos has framed the trip as an opportunity for a few state legislators “to go and learn from each other.” Though he has not specified how the lobbyists fit into the educational agenda, he calls any controversy over the treats they bestowed “a big nothingburger.”
Vos has certainly bestowed a few treats on the auto title lending industry. After Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle used his veto power to abolish the industry in 2010, Vos saw to its prompt relegalization the following year, as soon as Republicans took control of state government.
Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger resigned abruptly in April, after the FBI launched an investigation into his extensive international travel. The London trip is reportedly among the investigators’ chief interests.
Rosenberger was at the center of a second Vos travel scandal, one that emerged just a couple weeks ago. In February 2017, Vos took a few of his colleagues to Ohio, to hold a joint press conference with Rosenberger about state-to-state collaboration. Several outlets have questioned Vos’ use of the Wisconsin state plane for the trip, which cost taxpayers $4,300. The Associated Press found no other instance of the plane being used for interstate travel.
On the surface, Vos’ travel practices are completely legal, despite their sleaziness. But a 2014 threat against the owners of the Milwaukee Bucks, who were pursuing state subsidies for a new stadium, appears to have crossed into criminality. In a television interview, Vos chided the owners for their financial support of Democrats. “Hundreds of millions of dollars to big-time donors who give to Democrats?” That, Vos warned, “is something like me not picking the right team.”
Wisconsin Statute 19.45(13) targets exactly this kind of political bullying: “No state public official … may … offer or promise to withhold his or her vote or influence ... upon condition that any other person make or refrain from making a political contribution.”
One would expect a legislative leader to have an intrinsic respect for state law. But Vos threw a tantrum earlier this year when an “activist” judge ordered a special election that was plainly mandated by the text of the controlling statute. “It’s clear that little thought was given to the impact of the special elections ruling,” he scolded. Of course, focusing on impacts, rather than the text of legislation, is the very definition of judicial activism.
Maybe Vos just doesn’t understand the rule of law. On a second 2017 trip to Ohio, Vos profanely berated Gov. John Kasich, in person, for siding with the plaintiffs in a Wisconsin gerrymandering lawsuit. According to Vos, Kasich betrayed the Republican Party, pure and simple. Vos did not even pretend to care about the constitutional aspects of the case.
The bill of particulars goes on and on. Last year, Vos called a group of fellow Republican legislators “terrorists” for asserting their own budget prerogatives. Such displays of independence are wormwood to Vos, who removed Rep. André Jacque (R-DePere) as chair of the Labor Committee for holding an unapproved hearing in 2016. In 2015, Vos offended citizens across the political spectrum with a surreptitious attempt to eviscerate the state’s open records law.
In this era of post-truth politics, some might dismiss Vos’ brand of atrociousness as electorally inconsequential. But for reasons I haven’t quite figured out, only President Trump gets a full ‘nothing matters anymore’ pass, and then only from a segment of the citizenry. Other politicians still have to watch themselves.
With all the media attention he has been receiving, Vos will surely be on the minds of Wisconsin voters when they choose which party to support this November. If they value their majority, Republican leaders will see to it that he is no longer Assembly speaker when that time comes.
Michael Cummins is a Madison-based business analyst.