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Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican House Speaker Robin Voss met in person on Thursday for the first time in two years.
What you need to know
- Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican Congressional Speaker Robin Voss met in person for the first time in two years on Thursday
- Both sides are in further talks about trying to work together in the next legislative session
- Evers and Vos met privately for about an hour at the Governor’s Mansion.
- Voss said he and Evers had a good dialogue on many topics, but declined to discuss details.
Evers and Vos met privately for about an hour at the Governor’s Mansion. Evers met with Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin Lemmahue last week.
“It’s a positive sign,” Voss said at a conference on Friday. He called it a “good first step.”
Voss said he and Evers had a good conversation on many topics, but declined to give details. Evers said Tuesday that he had a good meeting with LeMahieu, but did not give details of what they discussed.
Ahead of the meeting, LeMahieu said he hoped it would be the first in a series of regular meetings with the governor.
The Republican lawmaker was accustomed to meeting with former Republican Governor Scott Walker on a weekly basis. But Evers has repeatedly said he doesn’t need to meet with Republican leaders that often.
“The idea that we have to meet every week to solve the problems facing Wisconsin is that my job is different from theirs,” Evers said Tuesday. Yes, I have people in Wisconsin, so I will continue to travel around the state and listen to people so they can handle the caucuses.”
Mr. Evers and Republicans have been controversial during his first term, beginning with Republicans calling for a lame duck conference in 2018 before taking office to pass a number of bills that would limit his power. The relationship fell apart as Republicans fired one of the chief cabinet secretaries, refused to confirm dozens of appointees, and repeatedly sued Mr. Evers over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was getting worse year by year.
Republican lawmakers were outraged in 2020 when Evers staff secretly recorded a meeting on pandemic response efforts.
But after Evers won re-election in November, he and Republicans have talked more about trying to build a better working relationship over the next four years.
Voss said in an interview Thursday that he sees the start of a new legislative session on Jan. 3 as an opportunity to start fresh.
“I’d be a pretty lonely and sad person if I held all the grudges in this job,” Voss said. “So I don’t mind hitting the reset button.”
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