Robin Vos in mask
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, above, has not responded to questions on whether he or other Assembly Republicans would support an effort to overturn Gov. Tony Evers' mask mandate.
Let’s start by asking ourselves if Gov. Tony Evers’ belated decision to require the wearing of masks in public all across the state was the right thing to do from a public health perspective.
Duh.
Good. Now that we’ve got that out of the way let’s ask if it was a good political decision. If you’re inclined to give the same answer then you don’t think like a Republican.
The GOP is in a bind, caught between their populist base and more reasonable conservatives. The base believes that a mask mandate was specifically opposed by the Founding Fathers. The freedom to infect your fellow Americans with a deadly virus is protected in the Bill of Rights. They’re sure of it. It’s in there someplace right next to the right of a 4-year-old to carry an Uzi into her preschool classroom. It starts with the mask, and before you know it, mysterious, faceless federal agents show up at your door to take all your guns away. I guess they’ll do that as soon as they get back from Portland.
On the other hand, you’ve got traditional suburban Republicans who were never on board the Trump train to begin with. You’ve got soccer moms obsessed with the health and safety of their families. Many of them think that wearing a mask is a small price to pay for not dying of a horrible malady in a cold ICU literally out of touch with your loved ones. What a strange point of view that is.
So, now that Evers has done what he should have done weeks ago, Republican leaders are on the horns of a dilemma. If they push to overturn the governor they risk further alienating suburban women who they can’t afford to lose if Trump is going to have any chance of repeating his narrow 2016 victory here. But if they don’t act, their extremist base will be wondering where their red meat is.
You can see the split in the reaction of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. Fitzgerald came right out and started talking about convening a special session to overturn Evers’ executive order, and repeated his desire for legislative action on Monday. Never mind that he hasn’t seen fit to call a special session to deal with any of Evers’ or the Democrats’ proposals to actually do something positive in response to the pandemic. For example, Republicans have been trying to make political hay out of the mess they helped create in unemployment insurance, but they haven’t bothered to act to do anything to fix the problems there. But a mask mandate? They must rush to overturn that!
But in contrast to Fitzgerald, Vos has been silent on the matter. No doubt he is running the political calculations and the answer isn’t so clear. Remember that Fitzgerald doesn’t have to care much. He’s running for Congress in a gerrymandered seat he cannot lose no matter what he says. He’ll be out of here in January. But Vos will still be Speaker next year and, while it’s a thin reed, he still probably holds out some hope that he can win a veto-proof majority. Having to choose a side in the mask debate can’t help.
As for Evers, this looks to me like it was all strategically orchestrated. Get legislators and groups to build pressure and show political support while you wait for Jill Karofsky to take her seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. With her there and with Justice Brian Hagedorn appearing to be amenable to the governor’s arguments, if this all winds up there Evers has a good chance of winning. Hagedorn joined the two liberal justices on the losing end of a 4-3 decision last spring that struck down Evers’ earlier “Safer at Home” orders. It doesn’t look like an accident to me that Evers made his announcement on July 31and Karofsky joined the court the very next day. If Hagedorn doesn’t flip back that should make a 4-3 majority to back up Evers.
If that’s what’s going on then give the governor and his team credit for making a smart political move that puts his opponents in a corner.
And Fitzgerald’s charge that Evers just caved to liberal groups doesn’t hold up when you consider that those radical groups supporting the governor include the Wisconsin Bankers Association and American Family Insurance.
Wisconsin now joins 31 other states and the District of Columbia in doing the right thing for public health. It looks to me like Evers has done the right thing for Democrats’ political health as well.
