Evers budget seeks to remove state Senate power to block his political appointees

Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed state budget seeks to strip the state Senate of some of its power to block his political appointees from serving on state boards and in state agencies. 

A Republican senator says the change would remove the chamber’s ability to vet Evers’ picks, as more than 180 appointees await confirmation.

The change in Evers’ voluminous state budget proposal would repeal a lame-duck law passed by Republicans after Evers defeated former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2018. One of those changes was a new power blocking governors from renominating political appointees who are rejected by the Senate. The law also explicitly prevented those appointees from serving in provisional roles after they’re rejected.

In a post to the social media site X Monday, state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said Evers’ repeal “essentially gets rid of the Advice & Consent of the Senate.”

“If the Senate rejects a nominee, no worries,” Wanggaard said. “They can still serve!”

Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback responded with a post accusing Republicans of “lying about what the governor’s budget does and doesn’t do.”

“This is a repeal of the 2018 lame-duck provisions Republicans passed because you were mad about losing to a Democrat,” Cudaback said.

Since Evers took office in January 2019, Republican senators have fired a number of his appointees from various roles overseeing state boards. In February 2024, they fired former Democratic Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton from the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority and Board without citing a cause.

Around the same time, the Senate fired an Evers appointee to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission who had been working in the role for nearly four years awaiting confirmation.

Data compiled by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau shows more than 180 of Evers’ appointees are still awaiting confirmation by the Senate.

Republicans say provision coming out of the budget

In an interview with WPR, Wanggaard said the 2018 change was about adding “teeth” to the Senate’s process for vetting political appointees. He said it’s expected that Evers will pick people who support his political positions, but it’s the Senate’s responsibility to interview them to make sure they are serving “for the right reasons.”

“So, we still have the leverage over that person, just to make sure they’re going to not make it political,” Wanggaard said. 

When asked about why the Senate is waiting to confirm so many appointees, Wanggaard said it’s up to leadership to decide when to hold the confirmation hearings. He said there are some appointees he’d like to confirm, like Jared Hoy, who has been serving as state Department of Corrections secretary since May 2024 without a confirmation vote.

Wanggaard said waiting on confirmation has benefits, like giving senators a chance to “get a record of what they do” while serving in their roles.

Republican leaders in the Wisconsin Legislature have already said that Evers’ budget proposal is “dead on arrival.” Wanggaard said the change to the appointment process “will be stripped out, for sure.”

The back-and-forth over appointments is part of an ongoing power struggle between Republican lawmakers and Evers over how state government is run.