LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Crucial Leadership Failures Exposed

The pandemic has exposed crucial leadership failures in Wisconsin. The lessons are clear.

First, courts are not equipped to provide leadership in an emergency. It is not their job. The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the governor did not have the power to delay the election. It did not decide whether the election should be postponed based on health and safety. 

Its decision overturning the governor’s Safer at Home order dealt with administrative process and power, not what should be done to contain the virus. The court also ruled that it lacked authority to delay its order by six days as requested to avoid havoc, resulting in immediate cancellation of all safety requirements during a health crisis. 

The court’s decision is now being read to also prohibit local officials from issuing orders governing reopening. Prior to the decision, Republican leaders advocated a regional reopening strategy. Since the decision, the Republican legislature has apparently decided not to clarify the power of local governments to act, resulting in no coherent policy at any level.

Second, Wisconsin’s government has become so divided that it cannot act effectively in this crisis. The only path left is bipartisan cooperation and compromise through legislation or an emergency rule. There is little hope either will happen.

Third, we must demand a nonpartisan alternative. COVID-19 may return in the fall with frightening force. Planning now is crucial. Politicians instinctively view every issue through the lens of the next election, but seeking political advantage is exactly the wrong way to address a pandemic. 

If any lesson is clear, it’s that we need to immediately hand responsibility for preparing for a resurgence to a group of medical and public-health experts, respected business leaders and representatives of minority groups that are most affected by COVID-19. The group’s members should not represent political parties and should be chosen based on expertise, experience, commitment to act together in the public interest and rejection of partisanship. Some other states and large cities are doing this. It could be done here, but time is running out.

Roy Thilly

Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin