MADISON - April 29, 2021 is a good day!

This morning, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Ehlke voided the expensive contracts that Speaker Vos and Majority Leader LeMahieu had entered into with the two law firms to prepare for upcoming redistricting battles. This is a sweet victory! And thanks to Law Forward for filing an excellent amicus brief on our behalf in this case. I write about the judge’s decision here:

Judge Voids GOP Contracts on Redistricting

And speaking about redistricting, here’s something you can do.

Our terrific ally, the League of Women Voters, is sponsoring a national day of action today to ban gerrymandering: #PeoplePoweredAction2021.

>> Please contact your state legislators and demand they co-sponsor and actively champion an end to gerrymandering. Contacting your legislators is simple with this online form: https://p2a.co/uRzaV08. <<

Here are a few other items that might interest you.

When I saw that LeMahieu had reappointed Robert Spindell to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, I had to write something. Spindell was one of 10 “fraudulent electors” who pretended to represent Wisconsin at the Electoral College. I write about Spindell here:

LeMahieu Reappoints “Fraudulent Elector” to Wisconsin Elections Commission

Yesterday, I testified at the Joint Finance Committee virtual hearing on the Governor’s budget. Here’s what I said:

Evers’s Budget Moves Wisconsin Forward

And on Tuesday, I submitted testimony to the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections about a couple of the ugliest anti-voter bills:

Two of the Worst Anti-Voter Bills in Wisconsin

Please contact your legislators about them, too!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
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MADISON — On Thursday, Gov. Tony Evers delivered the Democratic Radio Address on the renegotiated Foxconn contract that the governor announced last week. The deal negotiated under Gov. Evers helps ensure the state will save taxpayers a total of $2.77 billion compared to the previous contract, maintain accountability measures, require job creation to receive incentives, and protect hundreds of millions of dollars in local and state infrastructure investments already made in support of the project.

Audio file of Radio Address.

Hi Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers here.

Four years ago, Wisconsin announced an agreement with Foxconn, which was one of the largest subsidies for a foreign corporation in American history.

But in many ways, that deal has fallen short. That deal didn’t work for Wisconsin, and that doesn’t work for me. I’ve said all along that my goal was to negotiate a better deal that works for taxpayers across our state.

And, last week, I was proud to be able to deliver on that promise and announce we negotiated a better deal that treats Foxconn like any other Wisconsin business.

Our new agreement will save Wisconsin taxpayers $2.77 billion compared to the previous contract.

We’re also bolstering accountability measures, requiring job creation to receive incentives, and protecting hundreds of millions of dollars in local and state infrastructure investments that have already been made in support of this project.

And we’re going to do all of this while still bringing good, family-supporting jobs to our state.

So while we work to make sure Wisconsin bounces back from COVID-19, our new agreement and these new jobs will help boost our economy and ensure that we are able to bounce back and better than we were before this pandemic hit.

Now I want to be clear, this new deal with Foxconn isn’t a silver bullet to economic development in this state. It wasn't then, and it isn't now.

Economic development can't and shouldn't rest solely on any one single deal, it must be a 72-county strategy. So, this is not the end of our work, but it’s a strong step forward for our state and our economy.

Thank you.