Taped phone call shows Vos and Fitz want the power, but don't want to do the thinking or the working

Here's my quick reaction to today's controversy over someone in the Governor's office taping a phone call.

Was it sketchy for someone in the Evers Administration to tape Assembly Speaker Robbin' Vos and Senate GOP Leader Scott Fitzgerald on a phone call with Governor Evers? Possibly, but I sure understand wanting to have something on the record, especially with those duplicitous lowlifes. And especially since the call took place right after Vos and Fitz won a lawsuit to end the Evers Administration's Safer at Home restrictions.

But despite filing the suit, Vos and Fitz sure didn't seem willing to deal with the problems that might result from opening up the state to more large indoor gatherings in the middle of a pandemic. If you look at the transcript of the phone call that the Evers Administration released on an open records request, you can see Fitzgerald blubbering around without any hint of a plan on how to handle things going forward.

Fitz just complains to Evers that some businesses were already crowded even before Safer at Home was ended, and wants Evers to do all of the work in coming up with new guidelines....without allowing the state to have any authority to do so.

Fitzgerald: Costco in [Sun Prairie] is out of control. is bursting at the seams every weekend. I don’t buy what you're saying. Lets tackle the big stuff in the future.

Evers: What authority should the state have if there is a catastrophic increase in numbers?

Fitz: No, someone should call Barry Alvarez and ask if there will be football in August.

Evers: No, I am asking what we do if there is a large outbreak because we have bad situations or too many people in one place. Do we do nothing?

Fitz: Kwik Trip is limiting customers. Some people are doing this.

Basically, Fitz has no answer as to whether the state or even localities should do anything about that situation. Instead, we should "call Barry Alvarez and ask if there will be football in August" (whatever the hell that means).

What is it....you do here?

As for Vos, obviously his racism is the big story coming out of this. And it surprised me, because I figured he knew better, but was just being a dog-whistler who said dumb things to stir up the rubes. Turns out Vos isn't just disgustingly cynical and shameless, but he may well be dim-witted and ignorant on top of it.

Vos's racist comment came out of a larger discussion with Evers and Chief of Staff Maggie Gau where Vos says the state's Department of Health Services should take command of a response dealing with a regional breakout. However, Vos said DHS didn't need to set up any rules to do so.....despite the fact that the Wisconsin Supreme Court had just said that DHS had no authority as to whether or not businesses should be closed in a community.

Vos: [I am] Open to the ability of the DHS to help coordinate a more regional response. All of us should be on the same page to help if there is a large outbreak. WE have to deal with it no matter how we do it. We all have different perspectives. A lot of people are getting out but they are doing good things and have best practices. We should say there are good practices Rs and Ds agree on.

Maggie Gau: With all due respect we have that plan already and are working with your county to address an outbreak.

Vos: So you don’t need a rule?

Gau: Don’t understand what you are asking for. We are coordinating already. Are you asking us to promulgate a rule on how to handle an outbreak?

Vos: Trying to understand the need for a rule. If you need the ability to force people to work together that is one thing. The reason in my region is because of a large immigrant population, Difference in culture of people living much closer and working closer together. Trying to understand the need for a rule from DHS to accomplish something other than what you are already doing.

Hey Robbin', there's a need for a rule because you just sued to take away DHS's ability to centralize the response. And your Lame Duck Power Grab means that you in the Legislature have to sign off on any new proposed rules that now have to be set up. And then the GOPs immediately rejected those rules once the Evers Administration proposed them, leading to the inconsistencies across communities that we have today.

And by the way, if Vos or Fitz were concerned about people having to work and/or live in close quarters, they could propose new bills that try to limit those situations from happening. Have they done that? OF COURSE NOT! Neither of their houses have met any time in the 30 days since Safer at Home have been, and given this committee calendar, they aren't likely to do anything soon.

There’s a once-in-a-century pandemic, double-digit unemployment, and a historic protest movement for justice and equality all happening simultaneously right now.

So what’s on the schedule for the Republican-led Wisconsin State Legislature this month? pic.twitter.com/4aUUKNak4a

— Dan Shafer (@DanRShafer) June 10, 2020

Today's theatre of the absurd showed yet again that while Robbin' Vos and Scott Fitzgerald sure like to be in power and to (ab)use their position to grab more power and resources for themselves and their puppetmasters, they really don't like to take any of the responsibilities of that power. Instead, they just like to stand on the sidelines and whine, offering plenty of obstruction, but not many solutions beyond "tax cuts" and other giveaways to business.

And that is why I had a grin on my face as I was reading the story today. If there's one thing the GOP can't handle, it's public exposure of what they're really thinking, and just how dumb, vapid, and/or hateful it is. They got nothing, and despite the seaminess of taping someone without their approval, I'm kinda happy someone in the Evers Administration did it. They have given this Governor no respect, and they should not be given any.