(AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, File)
Since his election to the Wisconsin governor's mansion, Scott Walker, together with the Republican-led state legislature, has set out to undo some of the state's progressive hallmarks, especially its hallowed place in labor history as a trailblazer in collective bargaining for public workers. Having pushed through a loudly contested bill in 2011 that all but ended that practice, Walker and the legislature have gone on to oppose raising the minimum wage and to reject the expansion of Medicaid available to the states, almost wholly with federal funding, under the Affordable Care Act. But this election day, as Walker's name appears on the ballot for a second term, county leaders and activists are using referendums to pressure the state to do both, in the hope of amplifying dissenting voices.
While these referendums-calling for an increase in the minimum wage and for the state to accept federal funding to expand its Medicaid program-are non-binding, organizers hope that the results will reveal a clear preference of the electorate that repudiates Walker's agenda. The referendum questions will appear on ballots in eight jurisdictions, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Historically a laboratory for progressivism, Wisconsin created a Medicaid program, known as Badgercare (after the University of Wisconsin mascot), that lived up to that history. Created by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson in the 1990s, the program at its outset covered uninsured children, and eventually expanded coverage to parents and children in families that earned up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line, which most experts agree is set extremely low.
"We used to be a national leader," said Kevin Kane, lead organizer at Citizen Action Wisconsin, which is pushing for many of the current referendums. "Before Massachusetts, Wisconsin was it."
By 2009, the state had created Badgercare Plus, which helped cover uninsured children and pregnant women whose family income went up to 300 percent of the federal poverty measurement, and the program was also expanded to childless adults. But enrollment was soon capped, which led to people being wait-listed for Badgercare, some as long as two years.
But instead of accepting the federal funding for Medicaid expansion-100 percent funded by the federal government for the first two years, and no less than 90 percent after-Walker scaled back Badgercare eligibility to those earning only 100 percent of the federal poverty line. (Childless adults who earn up to the line are included, and benefit levels for pregnant women and children are maintained.)
"We don't have a coverage gap for people below the [federal] poverty level," said Jon Peacock, executive director of the Wisconsin Budget Project. "On the other hand, we could be doing a much better job [providing coverage to those living] above the poverty level. As parents drop out, a lot of kids have dropped out."
Ironically, given his opposition to the ACA, Walker claimed that 90 percent of people taken off Badgercare would purchase subsidized insurance through Wisconsin's ACA exchange, but an HHS study found 38,000 individuals without insurance would have to wait until a special enrollment period before they could receive coverage.
A study from the state's Legislative Fiscal Bureau found that enlarging Badgercare through the ACA's Medicaid expansion would have saved state taxpayers $206 billion over the course of the first two years, and covered 87,000 more adults than the state is expected to cover. It was in this context that counties began passing initiatives to put a question about expansion of Badgercare on the ballot. Eau Claire County was among the first counties to put a referendum to vote.
County Supervisor Colleen Bates said she recently had repairs done by an independent contractor whose family was forced off Badgercare when his wife went to work. The wife worked few enough hours that she and the children were able to stay on the plan, Bates said, but the family's income was elevated just enough that the husband was no longer eligible. When he was hit hard with a medical crisis, they had move in with another family in order to have housing.
Nick Zweifel, a high school math teacher and a supporter of the referendum on the Dane County Board of Supervisors, said that not accepting Badgercare amounts to one more cut to vital services in the state.
"That's a huge issue, especially in [the provision of] mental health [services]. We just don't have money in the school districts or in the county level to help these students on the mental level," he said. But the federal funding turned away by the governor, he said, "is money taxpayers put in the kitty."
Zwiefel credits Citizen Action Wisconsin with helping counties coordinate the ballot referendums in the state, saying they are helping to contact county board chairs. In addition, Citizen Action worked to show how not expanding Badgercare affected local governments.
"We were working with county supervisors. And a number of these counties started passing resolutions and they got completely ignored," Kane said.
When the Legislative Fiscal Bureau released its report, activists learned how many more adults in each county would have had coverage if the expansion dollars had been accepted by the state. Another report showed that, in the two years following the ACA's implementation, $561 million would have entered the state's economy, and included breakdown by county of how those millions would have been distributed.
Citizen Action and other groups also worked to put referendums on the ballot that ask voters whether they would approve of a raise in the minimum wage. In 2005, after the cities of Madison and Milwaukee tried raising their minimum wages, Democratic Governor Jim Doyle cut a deal with the Republican legislature to preempt local wage increases and raised the state minimum wage to $6.50. Currently the minimum wage in Wisconsin is at $7.25 federal minimum level.
Now, activists in the state are looking to use the ballot to call for a raise in the state minimum wage in at least five counties and three cities. Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, said the organization is mounting a field operation for the November election.
"We will engage members through our field program in those areas with referendums and try to motivate them to go and vote," he said.
Some see the referendums as a boon to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Democrat Mary Burke, who has supported both policies, since they will be on the same ballot on which voters will mark their choice for governor. "I think it gives people the option to think about a new governor that will look at the issue in a more positive way and connect the dots," Neuenfeldt said, which will give the Democratic candidate a better chance.
Jennifer Epps Addison, director of Wisconsin Jobs Now, says the organization has been working to the wage for more than four years, and while the referendums would not actually change policy, they are an avenue for expression.
"[People] say I want to vote, but what good does it do," she said. "Now they have an outlet. That campaign is that outlet. We need more workers to come forward."
In addition to the referendum, Wisconsin Jobs Now used another process to try to raise wages. In Wisconsin, thanks to a 101-year old law, workers can petition the state's Department of Workforce Development if a wage is not considered a living wage. Within 20 days, the governor can either raise the wage or form a council to determine the need to raise the wage.
On September 24, Wisconsin Jobs Now and Working Families Wisconsin dropped off 100 complaints to Walker's office. One of the workers was Britany Ferguson, a 23-year old housekeeper at a Marriot in downtown Milwaukee and mother of a six-year old daughter and three-year old son. She earns $9.00 an hour. For Ferguson, encouraged by her daughter to get involved, a turning point came one week at a grocery store when she realized she had more in her grocery cart than she could pay for.
"I had to decide in front of a store full of people whether we were going to get the bread or the hot dogs," she said.
"Besides humiliating, it was emotional….Especially to my daughter because she was like, 'You work, so you should have money.'"
However, when workers filed a complaint demanding a living wage, Walker's Labor Department rejected it, citing a study by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, saying raising the minimum wage would kill jobs. As a result, Wisconsin Jobs Now is working on a lawsuit to demand a more thorough examination by the department.
If Burke should prevail in the election, it is expected that she would move to accept the federal funding for the expansion of Badgercare-but she could face opposition from Wisconsin's legislature.
"All points indicate a more conservative legislature. Looking at retirements and looking at safe districts, we don't have many competitive districts anymore," said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll.
If Walker should win, of couse, the referndums will have little impact on policy, especially given his presidential ambitions.
"My concern isn't if these ballots will pass on a local level," Bates said. "My concern is [whether] doing this will make a difference on the state level."
Kane said the larger point is to send a message to Wisconsin elected officials that this is the public will of voters in the state.
"At the end of the day, we want to make it clear the public wants this," he said. "We see it as a way to act locally and have a statewide impact. They say this needs to happen."
Addison is more optimistic and thinks that not only the referendums can pass but that they can make a significant shift in policy.
"We see all of these things that local leadership can do," she said. "We have to remember the progress this movement has seen. We are going to fight on all fronts."
