Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes said he was “not shocked, but just extremely disappointed” with last week’s Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Department of Health Services’ “Safer at Home” order.
Speaking in an interview on the Madison365 show Real Talk with Henry Sanders, Barnes said the decision was overtly political.
“It’s just been frustration after frustration. It was one of those things that (we) definitely saw coming, It doesn’t matter. It still shouldn’t have happened,” Barnes said. “People’s health and safety is going to be compromised. And it was a political decision. It wasn’t a decision that was rooted in science. It wasn’t a decision that was based on the advice of medical professionals. The Supreme Court acted as an extension of the Republican-controlled legislature and handed down that ruling. And now, unfortunately, Safer at Home is no more, and it’s left our cities, towns, villages, tribal governments, counties to figure it out on their own.”
Barnes said an additional frustration has been the “patchwork” of local regulations left in the wake of that Supreme Court decision.
“We tried to work with the Joint Committee on (the Review of Administrative) Rules to come up with at least some sort of standards, to help clarify a few things within the different localities around Wisconsin,” he said. “For example, the city of Milwaukee has a safer at home order issued. However, the surrounding areas have a version of it, but it’s a bit different. … Where my parents live, it’s just right across the street from Brown Deer. So it’s different rules a block away from where they live. And that just creates even more confusion for people.”
Barnes noted that the numbers had been trending in the right direction before the decision.
“The science is there, the data is there, it proves Safer at Home was working,” he said.
He also said it’s no coincidence that Racine, Kenosha and Walworth Counties are all seeing more increases in cases than other places, noting proximity to the Illinois border might be partly to blame.
“If you’re from Illinois, this is nothing against you,” he said. “It’s about understanding the need, the moment. And that’s for us to be at home or somewhere close to it.”
He also spoke to the difficulty of serving in an elected position during this unique time.
“I got elected at 31 and I’m 57 now. So you can say things are great,” he joked. “This is a challenge. Obviously, this is not the thing you think is going to happen, but (it’s) fortunate in the regard that it’s not a Wisconsin-specific thing. This is something that is impacting the entire country., I think about that daily and I do lean on a lot of people. My colleagues across the country, especially the bordering states in Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota — we talk pretty regularly and that definitely helps. Sometimes you just need to vent, and we’re able to do that amongst each other. We know that we’ll get through this and it won’t be easy. It’s not gonna be fun, but we gotta do it. And although it’s not something you expect to happen when you run for office or get elected at the same time, you should always be cognizant of the fact that disaster can strike at any time. And that’s what leadership is about.”
