Wisconsin GOP leader compares Evers to Nixon over recording

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Tony Evers recorded a telephone meeting he had with Republican legislative leaders last month, prompting the Senate majority leader on Wednesday to compare the Democratic governor to Richard Nixon in the latest fallout between the governor and lawmakers.

Wisconsin state law permits telephone conversations to be recorded as long as one person is aware that the recording is happening. While it was legal for Evers to record the May 14 meeting, Republicans who were unaware it was being done blasted it as unethical and a breach of trust.

The meeting came after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Evers’ stay-at-home order in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans fought the order and in the meeting Evers and GOP leaders discuss the path forward.

Evers’ spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff provided The Associated Press with the recording under the state’s open records law. She did not immediately react to criticism from Republicans or respond to questions about whose idea it was to record the meeting and why it was done.

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said he can’t recall any recordings of meetings governors have with lawmakers previously being released under a public records request or any governor making such a recording. Lueders has covered Wisconsin politics for a variety of publications since 1986.

“I do think that it maybe would be considered a violation of trust among other participants if they were recorded without their knowledge,” Lueders said. “There’s nothing illegal about it, but if you do it you’re creating a public record that anybody ought to be able to get for the asking.”

The Republicans, who had a tenuous relationship with Evers to begin with, said the recording was an unprecedented violation of trust.

“In 26 years in the Legislature, this is one of the most brazen examples of unethical, unprofessional conduct I have ever seen,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said in a statement. “The governor has gone so far off the deep end, he’s making secret Nixonesque recordings from the East Wing of the Capitol. This conduct is totally unbecoming of our state’s top executive and opens up questions about what other recordings his administration may have.”

Vos called the decision to record the meeting “unprecedented and outside the norm.”

“Legislating in divided government is dependent on trust,” Fitzgerald said. “Secretly recording members of the opposite party sets a dangerous precedent, and will completely erode our ability to work together for the foreseeable future.”

Vos accused Evers of violation “trust, civility and integrity” with the recording.

“Governor Evers has dragged partisan politics to a new low in Wisconsin and damaged his reputation and the state’s, as well,” Vos said.

Scott Bauer, The Associated Press