No J-S. There aren't "both sides" to the chaos in Wisconsin

As the State of Wisconsin now deals with a "Wild West" patchwork of Safer at Home restrictions, we need to recognize how we got into this mess. And the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel responded with a rare
unsigned editorial from their staff on Friday. But it includes some of the worst “both-sidesing” that tries to deflect from WisGOP's culpability in how we got there.

We can’t count on our elected representatives to work together for the public good in Wisconsin. They have proven themselves utterly incapable of compromising even in an emergency to come up with a sensible plan to protect the health of our most vulnerable friends, neighbors and family members.

“Incapable of compromising to come up with a sensible plan”? On one side, Governor Evers and the Department of Health Services presented and carried out plans to deal with COVID-19, and Evers even called a special session to have the State Legislature consider his multi-part funding plan.

What did Republicans in the gerrymandered Legislature do? NOTHING. They gaveled in and gaveled out in less than a minute. And after the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision resulted in chaos with no state standards, the Evers Administration sent rules to a legislative committee to quickly try to restore some kind of baseline. The GOP’s response?

GOP Rep. Joan Ballweg, whose committee has veto power over any state coronavirus rules, says she doesn’t believe new rules are needed for the immediate situation.

Instead, officials should work on rules in the event there is a surge of cases, she says.https://t.co/jyWwmRGydu

— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) May 14, 2020

Yeah, not the same. We continue.

When our in-person election happened April 7, after the last failure of our government, we managed to dodge a feared surge in deadly cases. Voters and elections officials went to great lengths to ensure safe distancing in lines and at the polls, to wipe down voting stations with disinfectant, to provide masks to those who didn’t have them, to wash their hands before touching their faces.

”Failure of our government?” There was only one party in Wisconsin government that forced that election to happen – the Republicans in the Legislature, and the GOP hacks on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Governor Evers and Democrats tried to work out a plan with the WisGOPs to move the election, and when the WisGOPs did nothing, Evers put out his own order to delay the election, only to be overruled by the Supreme Courts of Wisconsin and the US.

After that opening hiccup, it then looks like the Journal-Sentinel is coming around to reality in their editorial. They castigate the Supreme Court for their one-sided, inconsistent decision, and also take the WisGOP Legislature to task.

….Since before (Evers) even took office, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald have proved absolutely unwilling to negotiate with the Democrat who voters elected governor. Again and again, they sue, running to the aid of a Supreme Court where a majority of justices won their seats with the help of the exact same special interests who support Vos and Fitzgerald.

After the decision was announced, Vos and Fitzgerald offered no guidance on how to keep Wisconsin safe from a virus that has killed more than 400 people statewide.

That’s because they have no plan.

All true. What else is there to discuss?

Well, George Stanley and the J-S editorial staff clearly feared the cries of "bias" from WisGOP. So they put in this segment to blame Evers for not having magic powers of persuasion with a full-time loudspeaker blaring his every word.

[Evers] could have tried, in a bold and public manner, to rally the state toward a united way forward. He could have put forth a vision that showed his understanding of the pain the closed economy has caused, the massive unemployment, the legitimate fears of many who are out of work and others who spent years building a business that they worry may be lost. He could have actively listened not only to his own state health experts but to medical professionals and residents of counties that have seen few coronavirus infections and worked to alleviate their concerns.

When hasn’t Evers listen to medical professionals? Also, the complaint the J-S reaches for is that Evers is somehow not worried enough about the effects of the economy and effects on rural places that the virus hasn’t hit hard yet.

The only thing I can see as a remotely legitimate criticism is that Evers should have explained that there is no economy if people are not healthy and willing to go out and spend money. And that you cannot have a patchwork of rules throughout the state which will endanger some parts of the state over others, and cause a “race to the bottom” mentality that makes everyone worse off (which we are starting to see now).

But this also ignores the 9 hours of lies spread on AM radio, and that gerrymandered GOP politicians who care more about the dead-enders who get their "facts" from that garbage, and the donors who want to use this crisis to keep workers from getting any more options or rights in the workplace. So they do nothing but whine and blame instead of trying to improve our state’s public health AND its economy.

If anything, Evers should have told the GOP to screw off earlier than he did, especially before the April 7 election (which the J-S editorial also says), because these people are not operating in good faith, and they are not worth wasting time and efforts that need to be spent on keeping Wisconsinites healthy and secure. Doing nothing is a GOP strategy that goes back to the time of Newt Gingrich. Whine, complain, and make the average person turn off and say “those people in government suck, it’s nothing but finger-pointing.” In November, that person either doesn't vote (“what’s the point”?) or votes for some cultural reason like guns or religion or racism, which usually favors the GOP.

But in order for the strategy to work, it requires a weak, complicit media that shrugs its shoulders and offers a “view from nowhere”. The J-S writers know better, and know the WisGOPs refuse to fix the problems that exist due to COVID-19 and the associated recession. But they're not telling the public that. So we get the both-sidesing in that J-S editorial, which is exactly what the GOP counts on.