Bipartisan call for Evers to fire whoever recorded meeting

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By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers heard bipartisan calls Thursday to fire whoever on his staff secretly recorded a private telephone meeting between the governor and Republican legislative leaders last month.

Evers didn’t know about the recording, which staff instigated for internal use only, the governor’s spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said Wednesday. She did not immediately respond to messages Thursday after both Republican and Democratic lawmakers said whoever recorded the call should be fired.

Both of the Republicans who were on the call, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, said the staff member who recorded it should be fired. Democratic Rep. Jonathan Brostoff also said the person should be fired. Brostoff also called for Vos to resign over comments he made during the meeting and captured on tape blaming the culture of immigrant populations for a coronavirus outbreak in Racine County.

Wisconsin law allows for recordings of telephone calls as long as one party involved knows about the recording. The meeting between Evers and Republicans was mainly about the path forward after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s stay-at-home order.

Baldauff has said the governor will not allow meetings to be recorded again.