Kleefisch, Macco file paperwork to run for governor

MADISON - Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and state Rep. John Macco filed paperwork this month to run for governor as Republicans but both stopped short of formally announcing their entrances to the 2022 race challenging Gov. Tony Evers.

Kleefisch of Sullivan and Macco of De Pere both described the move to register committees with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission as a "next step" in launching gubernatorial campaigns. 

"We have to set that up and so we went ahead and processed that paperwork this week and will continue to assess the situation in the next few weeks and make a final decision," Macco said. 

Also considering challenging Evers are Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson, longtime political lobbyist Bill McCoshen and Jonathan Wichmann of Franklin. 

Kleefisch, who served as Lt. Governor between 2011 and 2019, has been laying the groundwork for a run for governor for months. She now leads a group known as the 1848 Project, which released its policy agenda Tuesday – a plan that resembles a campaign platform. 

It calls for the hiring of 1,000 police officers, requiring the Legislature to set election rules instead of the state elections agency, blocking vaccine mandates, banning anti-racism curriculum in schools, and increasing the number of charter schools, among other proposals. 

"Right now, Rebecca is focused on rolling out the forward agenda and the 1848 Project's vision for our state," Alec Zimmerman, spokesman for Kleefisch, said.  "But it's clear as she's traveled around the Wisconsin that Tony Evers is failing to provide real leadership."

Sam Roecker, spokesman for Evers, said Kleefisch "already left a devastating mark on Wisconsin after eight years of attacking public schools, slashing transportation funding, and supporting massive handouts to corporations."

"Her record isn’t a mystery to anyone and she has only become more radical since leaving office," Roecker said. "Governor Evers has taken bold action to clean up the mess she left behind and he’ll continue to make sure we move forward and bounce back stronger than ever before."

For the last year and a half, much of Evers' focus has been on the coronavirus pandemic which has at times included implementing mitigation policies that imposed restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 by limiting social interaction. Those efforts have been opposed by Republican lawmakers, who have successfully sued the governor to eliminate the rules.  

Kleefisch takes aim at those policies in the agenda released Tuesday, by proposing to ban employers from mandating workers be vaccinated against COVID-19, blocking nursing homes from restricting family visits, and barring health officials from closing churches to limit the spread of the virus. 

If elected, Kleefisch would take office in 2023 but it's unclear now whether the serious threats of the pandemic will be eliminated by then. Coronavirus infections are surging again in Wisconsin as vaccination rates stagnate at around 51% at a time when a new, more transmissible variant of COVID-19 is spreading quickly in the state. 

The plan released Tuesday does not include proposals to contain deaths and serious illness, assist hospitals during COVID-19 surges, or help businesses stay open through coronavirus pandemic, or recover from it. It also does not call for programs to encourage more Wisconsin residents to get vaccinated against the virus. 

Other proposals included in the plan are:

• Allowing school districts to hire substitute teachers directly, eliminating the licensing process. 
• Providing body cameras for all police officers.
• Increasing penalties related to "mobs and riots."
• Increasing crisis intervention training for officers.
• Eliminating taxes on feminine products.
• Barring "surprise medical billing."
• Expanding access to telemedicine.
• Increasing work requirements for welfare programs.
• Banning outside groups from assisting in election duties.

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Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.