Joint Finance co-chair tells ‘UpFront’ everyone got budget wins

State Rep. Mark Born, co-chair of the state budget committee, says everyone can claim wins when reflecting on the state budget deal negotiated and now signed by Gov. Tony Evers.

“Certainly he’s going to point to the things he likes,” Born said on WISN 12’s “UpFront” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “We’re going to point to the things we like. That’s a compromise. And so are there things that would have been different if I got to build it personally on my own, or our caucus just got to build it on their own? Of course. But that’s the way the legislative process works, and that’s part of the compromise.”

Born said that includes an increase in funding for the Universities of Wisconsin, as Republicans once considered major cuts.

“Part of the compromise,” Born said. “We know that there’s real problems there. We knew we had to get some reforms, and then part of it is ending up at some new investment. But we were staring low and not just from a negotiating position, but from a position of our caucus was tired of the growth in admin positions, the bloat at these campuses, and they are on notice now that some of that’s going to have to change.”

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is urging state lawmakers take more action after the line-of-duty death of Officer Kendall Corder, who will be laid to rest later this week.

“We’ve debated this for a number of years. Everybody knows what those actions are,” Johnson told “UpFront.” “I think there’s a whole cadre of bills in Madison right now that should be working their way through the legislative process in order to make sure that we hold folks accountable. Look, I’ve always said that it’s accountability, and it’s prevention, and if somebody causes death, harm or destruction in this community or really anywhere in the state, they should be held to account. I fully believe that. But if somebody shouldn’t, if somebody is a criminal, if they’ve got a long track record, why is it that they get their hands on a gun? That’s a problem to me.”

Johnson pushed back at criticism targeting Dem cities like Milwaukee. Four officers have been shot in the city this year alone.

“Every single budget that I’ve produced has an incredible investment in the police department,” Johnson said. “Three classes, 65 recruits. That’s the maximum amount that we’re able to produce out of the Milwaukee Police Department. So, I completely refute that. It is not true. It’s a lie. It’s false, and I mean that’s just what it is. I think what they’re doing is deflecting from the fact that there’s things they can do at the state level and the federal level to affect this, but they don’t. They didn’t when Sandy Hook happened. They didn’t when Uvalde happened. They didn’t when Pulse happened. They didn’t when Parkland happened. They didn’t when Gabby Giffords got shot. They didn’t when Steve Scalise got shot. They didn’t even do it when Donald Trump was attempted to be assassinated. So there are things that they can do, but they just refuse to act, and kids and cops are the ones that suffer the consequences.

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske says it’s “remarkable” the number of unanimous decisions coming from the current court as it wraps up this term.

“I think what is most remarkable about this year are the number of unanimous opinions that came out of this court, of what could have been controversial decisions,” Geske told
UpFront.” “Whether it involved Gov. Evers’ overstepping his partial veto power, whether it involved the UW Health nurses and the obligation to negotiate with them, whether it involved whether the Legislature can oversee the DOJ decisions, the Wisconsin Elections Commission, whether the head can continue, all those things had potential political partisanship and they were all unanimous by the court one way or another.

“I continue to have faith in the court,” Geske added. “There’s going to be political arguments. They’re going to be partisan kind of things, but to have this number of unanimous opinions and even the issue, as you mentioned, of the congressional maps, and the case involving the congressional maps, they only needed four votes to take that case. There are four, quote unquote, liberals on the court. They did not take that case.”

Despite the recent unanimous decisions, Geske said she wasn’t surprised by the 4-3 decision invalidating the state’s 1849 abortion law.

“Even though people think that was people voting up or down on abortion, it was really an analysis of a statute that was enacted in 1849, and the question of whether it was still in effect today,” Geske said. “And basically, the majority found that there had been all these other statutes enacted by the Legislature through the last 50 years, including the 20-week ban, other kinds of conditions that basically overruled the statutes, and so they found that statute was no longer in effect.”See more from the show.