“It’s absolute bullshit”

Gov. Evers slams GOP senators for rare rejection of cabinet pick

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Gov. Tony Evers had a crappy birthday. He spent some of it sitting stone faced in the Wisconsin Senate chambers as lawmakers debated whether to confirm Brad Pfaff, his pick to run the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). Along party lines, GOP senators fired the birthday boy’s ag secretary. 

“I’m so PO’d about what happened today,” Evers told reporters outside the Senate chambers after the 19-14 vote on Nov. 5. “This distresses me personally.” 

No other governor in modern history has ventured from the East Wing to witness the Senate in action, according to state Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison) who has served in the Legislature since 1957. It was also the first time since at least 1987 that the Senate has rejected a gubernatorial cabinet secretary. 

“There’s nobody that generates more enthusiasm and passion from the state of Wisconsin agriculture industry than Brad Pfaff,” Evers told reporters. “And we just threw that away.” 

Pfaff had been acting head of DATCP since January as Evers’ secretary-designee and has deep industry ties. He grew up on a farm in La Crosse County. He worked 12 years assisting with agriculture issues in U.S. Rep. Ron Kind’s office. President Barack Obama appointed him state executive director for the Farm Service Agency at the United States Department of Agriculture in 2009 and he was promoted to deputy administrator for Farm Programs in 2015. 

“You’re voting against somebody who the farmers support. That’s just stupid,” Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-West Point) chided his Republican colleagues on the Senate floor. “[Pfaff] bleeds manure.” 

Pfaff’s confirmation for secretary of DATCP was supported by farm groups that lean conservative and liberal. The Wisconsin Corn Growers, the Wisconsin Cheesemakers, the Wisconsin Cranberry Growers, the Wisconsin Soybean Association, Organic Valley, the Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association, the Wisconsin Pork Association and the Cooperative Network all supported his appointment. 

But Pfaff has run afoul of some Republicans in his 10 months as ag secretary. In July, Pfaff scolded GOP legislators for rejecting a proposal from Democrats to release $100,000 in funding for mental health services for farmers. After the decision by the Joint Finance Committee, Pfaff said Republicans had “abandoned farmers.” 

“As of today, [DATCP] has funding to provide just five more counseling vouchers to farmers in need of mental health care," Pfaff told reporters in July. “If the Joint Finance Committee doesn’t want to move this funding forward immediately, then they have a choice to make: Which five farmers will it be?"

Earlier this year, the Wisconsin State Journal reported that the state had a record 915 suicides in 2017, which experts say may be driven by farmers who have experienced economic challenges over the past decade. At the time, Fitzgerald called Pfaff’s comments “offensive and unproductive.” The funds in question were released two months later. But during Pfaff’s confirmation vote, Fitzgerald cited the episode as an example of why GOP lawmakers were rejecting his appointment. 

“I think there’s a number of members of the majority that just aren’t that comfortable with Pfaff,” Fitzgerald said on the floor. “And that’s all it takes for people to say I don’t support this nominee.”

This fall, Sen. Stephen Nass (R-La Grange) railed against new rules regarding manure storage that Pfaff was planning to implement. The proposed rules would require new farms with herds of at least 500 animals to place manure storage facilities between 600 and 2,500 feet from property lines, depending on the size of the herd. After Fitzgerald announced on Nov. 1 that Pfaff didn’t have the votes to get confirmed, Pfaff backed away from the proposal. Nass said on Tuesday that the abandoned rules would have been “devastating to the dairy industry.” 

“Only because we are here today were those rules pulled back last week. Otherwise we’d still be dealing with them,” Nass said during a short floor speech. “And they aren’t killed, they are only delayed. So we probably will still fight that fight.”

The Dairy Business Association — the largest lobbying group for dairy farmers in Wisconsin — came out strongly against the new manure storage rules. The group still put out a press statement on Nov. 4 supporting the confirmation of Pfaff as DATCP secretary. 

But mental health care for farmers and manure setbacks didn’t dominate the discussion during the debate on Tuesday. Politics and arguments about procedure did. 

Democrats were determined to point out that five GOP senators had approved Pfaff in a unanimous vote taken by the Senate ag committee in February. 

Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) attempted to read a positive statement about Pfaff made by Sen. Jerry Petrowski (R-Marathon) during the ag committee hearing earlier this year. But Smith was shut down by Senate President Roger Roth (R-Appleton) for “questioning the motives of another member.” This prompted a 40-minute detour over Senate rules and a shouting match between Roth and Sen. Tim Carpenter, a Democrat from Milwaukee.

“Senator from the third. Senator from the third. Senator from the third. Senator from the third,“ said Roth as he banged his gavel and Carpenter kept arguing. “The senator from the third is out of order. The senator from the third is out of order.” 

Fitzgerald supported Roth’s decision to bar Smith from reading what Petrowski said about Pfaff in February (although, eventually, the brief statement was read).

“[It] falls into the area of questioning the motives of the senator that’s sitting right next to you,” said Fitzgerald. “Let the senator stand up and describe what they did in committee. I believe that’s what we’re trying to do.” 

But even with their leaders’ public permission, none of the five senators would yield to a question from Democrats on why they changed their mind about Pfaff. Only Nass and Fitzgerald testified to why Pfaff should be sacked. 

Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), one of the Republicans who approved Pfaff’s confirmation in committee, did explain his change of heart in a statement after the vote. 

“At the time, I was hopeful that Mr. Pfaff would be a positive, strong leader for an agency that has traditionally been nonpolitical and focused on the industries it supports,” wrote Marklein. “Unfortunately, I was disappointed by Mr. Pfaff’s actions over the last eight months.” 

Evers said that Pfaff is being punished for “not staying in his place.” The governor is worried that the firing is intended to send a message to the 10 other cabinet secretaries still awaiting Senate approval. 

“To think that they have to keep their mouths shut for the next, who knows, four years in order to be approved by this Senate,” said Evers. “It’s absolute bullshit.”