[Madison, WI] – In case you missed it, as Empower Wisconsin reported, Tony Evers put politics over people while failing to address the horrific conditions at the state-run Veterans Home at Union Grove. Unfortunately, this won’t come as a surprise to Wisconsinites who watched Evers refuse federal assistance from President Trump while Kenosha burned.
According to the report, “as [Congressman Bryan] Steil notes, the Trump administration in the opening months of the pandemic offered consultation and staffing assistance to the Union Grove facility. The Evers administration declined the offers.”
Just last month, Evers released an ad claiming that he works across the aisle, but as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted, “the lack of communication between the first-term governor and GOP leaders has been well established.” The truth is that Evers can’t be bothered to work with anyone but bureaucrats and special interests within his party – even at the expense of Wisconsin veterans who bravely served our country.
Read more from Empower Wisconsin below:
Like Kenosha, Evers put politics before people in Union Grove
M.D. Kittle
Empower Wisconsin
June 17, 2022
A state-run veterans nursing home in Racine County is among the more troubled veterans homes in the nation thanks in large part to a stubborn governor who put politics before people once again.
U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville) says the shameful failures at the Veterans Home at Union Grove could have been prevented, just as much of the mayhem during the Kenosha riots of 2020 could have been checked had Democrat Gov. Tony Evers and his administration acted sooner. That includes accepting federal assistance from President Donald Trump.
[…]
The veterans home over the past five years has been cited for 62 violations and received fines totalling $250,000. The brunt of those violations and fines have been issued over Evers term.
Mary Kolar, Evers’ secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, has presided over much of the deterioration at the facility her agency oversees. She blamed a lack of staff and frequent leadership changes for the myriad problems at the veterans home, according to the newspaper. She also reportedly told veterans and their families that if they didn’t like how they were treated they could go somewhere else.
As Steil notes, the Trump administration in the opening months of the pandemic offered consultation and staffing assistance to the Union Grove facility. The Evers administration declined the offers.
Evers did the same in August 2020, when Kenosha was burning amid days of leftist-led, anti-police riots.
[…]
Late last month, Steil sent a letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure asking for a federal review of the Union Grove veterans home. Steil’s office had yet to hear back from the agencies.