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State News: Evers’ Cabinet, Democratic Priorities

Evers Announces More Cabinet Picks

Gov.-elect Tony Evers announced eight appointments to his cabinet last week, saying he’s assembling his leadership team with an eye on collaboration.

“We have, obviously, a lot of problems in the state that are going to take more than one individual and one agency to fix,” he said.

Evers tapped Craig Thompson to lead the DOT as the state continues to grapple with how to address road funding. Thompson works as executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin. Prior to that, he served as the legislative director for the Wisconsin Counties Association.

Evers also named Brad Pfaff as the new head of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Pfaff currently serves as the deputy chief of staff to Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Ron Kind. Previously, he worked as executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency during the Obama administration.

Evers also named Mark Afable as commissioner of insurance and Rebecca Cameron Valcq as head of the Public Service Commission.

Afable is the chief legal officer at American Family Insurance. Valcq is currently a partner at the law firm Quarles & Brady, where she specializes in energy, environment and natural resources law.

Earlier in the week Evers named Discovery World Chief Joel Brennan to head the state Department of Administration. Brennan ran Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign and 2004 campaign for mayor.  

Milwaukee Neighborhood Services Commissioner Preston Cole will lead the state Department of Natural Resources. Cole has served on the DNR board for 12 years. He will be the first African-American to lead the agency.

U.S. Marshal Kevin Carr will serve as secretary of the state Department of Corrections. Before becoming a marshal in 2010, Carr spent 30 years in the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

Sara Meaney, chief marketing and development officer at Milwaukee Film, was named Evers’ tourism secretary.

Evers made the announcement Wednesday, Dec. 19 at MacDowell Montessori School in Milwaukee.

UW-Extension Sees Highest Rate of Faculty Turnover

The University of Wisconsin-Extension, UW Colleges and UW-Stevens Point saw the greatest rates of faculty turnover in the 2018 fiscal year. About a quarter of faculty left UW-Extension, followed by UW Colleges at around 11.5 percent and UW-Stevens Point at roughly 10.5 percent.
UW-Extension had 45 out of 188 faculty either retire or resign in the last fiscal year, according to UW System’s fiscal 2018 faculty turnover report. Karl Martin, dean and director of Cooperative Extension, said the higher rate of turnover was due to faculty who took advantage of buyouts.
UW-Extension has been dealing with a $3.6 million cut as part of the $250 million reduction in state funding to the UW System under the 2015-2017 state budget. Approximately 90 percent of UW-Extension’s budget funds salaries for employees.

La Crosse Nun Considered for Sainthood

A nun from La Crosse is being considered for sainthood in the Catholic Church. U.S. Catholic bishops unanimously agreed to open a cause for canonization of Sister Thea Bowman.

Bowman was the first African-American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in La Crosse. Originally from Mississippi, she converted to Catholicism at age 12 and moved to Wisconsin to join the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration three years later.

Bowman dedicated her life to civil rights and promoting acceptance of African-Americans within the church. She died in 1990 after a six-year battle with breast cancer.

Sister Eileen McKenzie, president of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, said the Diocese of Jackson, Miss., has led the effort to canonize Bowman.

“It’s really the black Catholic church that has acclaimed Thea from the beginning and is taking the lead in bringing her cause forward,” McKenzie said. “We’re walking arm and arm with them. It’s a beautiful thing to see how she spoke to just the dignity of family, the dignity of values, to the strength that this church has with the black community.”

McKenzie said two commissions have been formed to review Bowman’s life and teachings. Their findings will eventually go to the Vatican for consideration.

Hintz Outlines Democratic Priorities

Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz said his priorities for the next legislative session include familiar Democratic issues, such as pushing for Wisconsin to accept a federal Medicaid expansion.

Hintz, D-Oshkosh, said he and his Democratic colleagues in the Assembly will continue to advocate for Wisconsin to join a number of other states in accepting more federal money for Medicaid.

Gov. Scott Walker first rejected the funds in 2013, arguing they could come with unexpected expenses down the road. Hintz said with Walker out of office in the coming term it may be time for the state to accept outside funds.

Gov.-elect Tony Evers campaigned on accepting the expansion. But the move would require the approval of the GOP-controlled state Legislature, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has said he remains opposed.

Hintz said he hopes Vos will come around on the issue, pointing out legislatures with GOP majorities across the country that have voted to accept the money.

“Few things were more disappointing than Rep. Vos coming out of the election with guns blazing about all these things he wasn’t going to work on with the governor,” Hintz said.

Hintz also said he expects Democratic lawmakers to propose redistricting reform in the upcoming session.

Hintz also said he hopes to work across the aisle with the GOP majority on transportation funding and the state’s opioid epidemic.

As for navigating the 2019-21 state budget drafting process with a Democratic governor and Republican-majority, he believes it’ll be a “very different kind of budget” than previous years. Finding common ground will be essential, he said, if lawmakers are to hit their June 30 deadline.

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