Eau Claire Representatives Speak on Constitutional Amendments

Eau Claire area officials spoke on the proposed constitutional amendments on the August ballot at a press conference on Wednesday.

State representative Jodi Emerson, State Senator Jeff Smith, and former Eau Claire City Councilman Jeremy Gragert held the conference at Phoenix Park, hoping to urge Wisconsin voters to vote against the amendments that will appear on the August primary ballot.

There will be two questions for voters on the ballot. The first would prohibit the Wisconsin State Legislature from delegating its power to appropriate money. The second would require legislative approval via a joint resolution before the Governor can expend federal money appropriated to the state.

Emerson, Smith and Gragert say the ballot questions are misleading, and are an attempt by Republican politicians to trick voters into eliminating checks and balances to give themselves control over critical federal funds.

“Republicans keep proving to us that we cannot trust the Legislature to do what they need to do when Republicans are in the majority,” said State Senator Smith. “If these two constitutional amendments passed, Republicans would have even more power to obstruct critical funding for each of our first responders and small businesses and our communities in emergencies.”

State Senator Smith also referenced the refusal of the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee to release emergency funding for the Chippewa Valley health care field and to address PFAS contamination, saying “I can not yet figure out what their motivation is or what their goal is for holding that money except they put themselves now in a corner, and they don’t want to admit when they’ve made a mistake.” Governor Tony Evers recently filed a lawsuit to force the release of the funding.

The three referenced the actions taken by Governor Evers during the Covid-19 pandemic, deploying federal aid quickly to help Main Streets across the state recover and support communities.

“I want to remind everyone that after the pandemic, Eau Claire grew and maintains a strong, vibrant small business community thanks to ARPA funding and Governor Evers’ Main Street Bounce Back program,” said State Representative Jodi Emerson. “Without the Governor’s ability to act quickly and distribute emergency funding, we wouldn’t have seen our small businesses and nonprofits here in Eau Claire and across Wisconsin grow.”

Former City Councilman Gragert, who is now the Northwestern Wisconsin Co-op Organizer for Citizen Action Wisconsin, said “These amendments will restrict emergency response and delay relief for small businesses, community nonprofits, and families during disasters or emergencies.”