'UPFRONT' recap: Not enough votes yet to pass Brewers bill ahead of Tuesday vote

Dem Minority Leader Melissa Agard, Sen. Dan Feyen join 'UPFRONT' as negotiations continue this weekend

Dem Minority Leader Melissa Agard, Sen. Dan Feyen join 'UPFRONT' as negotiations continue this weekend

>> ANYTIME, ANYWHERE -- WISN 12 -- START HERE. THE BREWERS FUNDING BILL BEFORE THE STATE SENATE, WHAT ARE THE VOTES THERE TO PASS? NEW, 11TH HOUR CHANGES WITH BIPARTISAN VOTES ON BOARD. OUR GUESTS. >> ONE YEAR OUT, NEW POLLING IN BATTLEGROUND WISCONSIN. >> LEAVE MY DAUGHTER OUT OF YOUR VOICE. >> REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FACE OFF. >> THE STRONGEST PRIMARY CANDIDATE IS THE WEAKEST AGAINST BIDEN. >> THE NEW NUMBERS AND NEW ANALYSIS. >> A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT GRASSROOTS LOBBYING FOR SPINAL CORD RESEARCH. >> THIS IS "UPFRONT" WITH MATT SMITH. >> TAKE YOU FOR JOINING US, THE STATE SENATE IS EXPECTED TO VOTE ON TUESDAY. >> AT LEAST NINE SENATORS ARE PUBLICLY ON RECORD, A BIPARTISAN VOTE IS NEEDED TO PASS. IT WOULD REDUCE THE STATES PAYMENT FROM ABOUT $411 MILLION AND INCREASE THE BREWERS CONTRIBUTION BY $10 MILLION. IT INCLUDES A TWO DOLLAR TICKET SURCHARGE. >> WE BEGIN WITH THE SENATOR. LET’S BEGIN, BIG EXTRA. >> THERE ARE NOT THE VOTES RIGHT THIS MOMENT. CERTAINLY, THERE WAS HEAVY LIFTING IN THE ASSEMBLY, GREAT BIPARTISAN SUPPORT TO GET THIS DONE AND MYSELF AND COLLEAGUES ARE ON THE RECORD BUT WE BELIEVE WE CAN IMPROVE UPON THE BILL AND WE WILL CONTINUE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO MAKE SURE THE STATE IS GETTING THE BEST DEAL POSSIBLE AND WE KEEP THE BREWERS HERE IN MILWAUKEE. >> RUA YES? >> I AM HOPING TO NEGOTIATE A BETTER DEAL. >> YOU HAVE ANY IDEA ON HOW MANY DEMOCRATS YOU NEED? >> THERE ARE A LOT OF PRESSURE POINTS. WE TRYING TO BE THOUGHTFUL. I ANTICIPATE WE WILL SEE SOME AMENDMENTS. >> WHAT ARE SOME STICKING POINTS FOR DEMOCRATS? >> WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THE AUDIT PROVISIONS. WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE AS STRONG AS POSSIBLE, GRATEFUL FOR THE FACT THAT THE CITY AND COUNTY ARE GOOD WITH THE LEGISLATION, BUT ENSURING THE STATE CONTRIBUTION IS AS LOW AS POSSIBLE IS SOMETHING WE ARE WORKING VERY HARD ON AS WELL AS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE MAKEUP OF THE STADIUM, BECAUSE WE KNOW IF YOU ARE NOT AT THE TABLE, YOU ARE ON THE TABLE. EVERYTHING WE CAN DO TO MAKE SURE THE VOICES ARE BEING HEARD AND HONORING LOCAL GOVERNANCE. >> CAN YOU TAKE US INSIDE THE CONVERSATIONS THAT ARE HAPPENING? HOW ARE YOU TRYING TO GET TO AN AGREEMENT? >> I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE AND HONOR OF WORKING CLOSELY WITH GOVERNOR EVERS. IT’S CLEAR THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY IS PASSIONATE AND THEY ARE CHATTING WITH CONCERN PARTNERS, ORGANIZED LABOR IS AT THE TABLE TALKING TO US, REACHING OUT TO MY COLLEAGUES. AS I SAID, THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE AT THE TABLE AND I THINK THERE IS ROOM FOR US TO GET THIS DONE. >> ARE YOU PLANNING TO BRING AMENDMENTS TO THE FLOOR? >> SOME MEMBERS HAVE SAID THEY ARE PLANNING TO BRING AMENDMENTS TO THE FLOOR, BUT THROUGH THE CONVERSATIONS, THE SAUSAGE MAKING THAT GOES INTO THE LEGISLATION, I AM HOPEFUL TO HAVE BIPARTISAN AMENDMENTS. WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE STATE CONTRIBUTION CALMED DOWN. >> IF THIS DOES NOT PASS, WHO IS TO BLAME? >> WE’RE GOING TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN, BUT ULTIMATELY, WE KNOW THAT THE MAJORITY PARTY IN THE SENATE HAS TWO THIRDS OF THE VOTE AND IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT WE ARE AT THE TABLE AND PART OF THESE CONVERSATIONS, BUT I WISH WE HAD BEEN THERE EARLIER. I AM NOT GOING TO THINK ABOUT IF IT DOESN’T GET DONE. >> WHAT WILL GET YOU TO A YES? >> KNOWING THAT I WORKED AS HARD AS POSSIBLE, HAD CONVERSATIONS WITH EVERYONE. >> THE MINORITY LEADER, WE APPRECIATE YOUR TIME. >> AS WE MENTIONED, SOME LAWMAKERS ARE SKEPTICAL. >> I AM A HARD SELL AT THE MOMENT. TO BRING THE STATE NUMBER DOWN. >> WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW? LET’S BRING IN A STATE SENATOR. GOOD TO SEE YOU. >> THE MINORITY LEADER JUST TOLD US THE VOTES ARE NOT THERE. IS THAT A FAIR ANALYSIS? >> WE ARE VERY CLOSE. IT IS SOMETHING WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON FOR A LONG TIME. THE ONE THING WE CAN AGREE ON IS IT WOULD NOT BE GREAT IF THE BREWERS LEFT THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. THE REVENUE ALONE IS IN PLAYERS SALARIES, SALES TAX OF $1 BILLION. THAT WOULD ALL DISAPPEAR. WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING KEEPING IS A MAJOR-LEAGUE CITY AND MAJOR-LEAGUE STATE IS GREAT FOR WISCONSIN. I WAS WORKING THE PHONES AND TRYING TO GET TO A HARD NUMBER. WE’RE GOING TO GET THERE. >> WHAT ARE YOUR CONVERSATIONS RIGHT NOW? >> WHEN WE PUT OUT THE AMENDMENT, THE BIG THING WAS LET’S GET THE STATE NUMBER DOWN. THE AMENDMENT BROUGHT THE STATE PORTION DOWN BY ABOUT $28 MILLION. THE BREWERS COMMITMENT IS UP OVER $150 MILLION AND WE HAVE A TICKET TAX OF TWO DOLLARS ON REGULAR SEATS AND THEN BOXES. >> IT SEEMS LIKE THERE IS A GROUP OF REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS DISCUSSING THE SAME CONCERN. HAS YOUR AMENDMENT DONE WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO? >> IT HAS HELPED GET US THERE, IT BROUGHT HOURS DOWN, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER IT’S A SMALL TV MARKET AND THEY ARE PUTTING IN WELL OVER $150 MILLION, PLUS THEY MAINTAIN THE STADIUM. THAT’S MILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR. THE MONEY THAT THE STATE IS PUTTING IN IS DERIVED FROM THE TAX COLLECTED ON PLAYERS SALARIES, SO THAT WAS ROUGHLY GENERATED JUST OFF OF THE PLAYERS SALARY. WHEN THE CUBS COME HERE, WE TAX THOSE AS WELL. ALL OF THE PLAYERS ON THE FIELD AND THERE ARE A COUPLE HUNDRED PEOPLE IN THE FRONT OFFICE. >> THE MAIN POINT IS ON THE DISTRICT BOARD. >> THE GOVERNOR HAS BEEN SAYING THIS IS A GOOD WAY TO GO ABOUT IT,, THE GOVERNOR IS TALKING WITH DEMOCRATIC POLITICS TO GET THEM ON BOARD. THE GOVERNOR HAS NOT SAID ONE WAY OR ANOTHER BUT HE LIKES THE WAY IT IS IS WHAT WE ARE BEING TOLD. >> IS THERE A SCENARIO THAT YOU WILL INTRODUCE? >> IT’S POSSIBLE. IT MIGHT BE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE MAKEUP OF THE BOARD, BRINGING THE CONTRIBUTION DOWN A LITTLE MORE, WE ARE HAVING A LOT OF CONVERSATIONS RIGHT NOW. THE ONE I WANT TO KEEP REMINDING MY COLLEAGUES IS THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE STATE WOULD BE GONE AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF OPTIONS. >> THEY ARE WILLING TO GO HIGHER? >> THAT’S A CONVERSATION WE ARE HAVING WITH THE BREWERS. IT’S GREAT THAT THEY ARE WILLING TO STAY HERE. THE OWNER WANTS TO STAY IN MILWAUKEE AND I GIVE YOU FOR THAT, SO WE ARE WILLING TO WORK WITH THEM. >> REALISTICALLY, WHAT HAPPENS IF THIS IS NOT PASS? >> IF THIS DOES NOT PASS, WE’RE STILL IN SESSION UNTIL FEBRUARY AND MARCH, SO THIS IS NOT OVER. WE ARE HOPEFUL TO GET TO AN AGREEMENT BEFORE WE ADJOURN FOR THE YEAR. >> ARE YOU CONFIDENT THE ASSEMBLY WILL SIGN ON TO ADDITIONAL CHANGES? >> WHERE MAKING SURE. >> A LOT OF MOVING PIECES. THINKING SO MUCH. >> STILL, NEW POLAND TASK HOLDING IN WISCONSIN. THE NEW HEAD TO HEAD MATCHUP.

'UPFRONT' recap: Not enough votes yet to pass Brewers bill ahead of Tuesday vote

Dem Minority Leader Melissa Agard, Sen. Dan Feyen join 'UPFRONT' as negotiations continue this weekend

State Sen. Melissa Agard says there aren't enough votes yet to pass the Brewers funding bill as negotiations intensified this weekend ahead of the vote Tuesday in the state Senate. "There are not the votes right this moment to pass the bill," Agard said Friday in a taping for WISN's 'UPFRONT' which is produced in partnership with WisP0litics.com. "Certainly there was heavy lifting in the Assembly, great bipartisan support. Clearly Gov. Evers is working really hard to get this done and myself and many of my colleagues are on the record as wanting to get to yes, but we believe we can improve upon the bill." The amended bill, which reduces the state's contribution and increases the Brewers payment, will need a bipartisan vote to pass. "It's so fluid right now," Agard said. "There are a lot of pressure points, so if you move this a little bit you might gain or lose votes, so we're really trying to be thoughtful to put the best deal forward."Agard said she's remaining in contact with not only her Democratic caucus but Gov. Tony Evers, Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and the many stakeholders including business and union groups.One major sticking point, she said, remains the fact Milwaukee and Milwaukee County's appointees to the new stadium district board are not restored in the latest amendment. The city and county together will contribute $135 million over the course of the deal. "That is vitally important because we know if you're not at the table you're on the table," Agard said. "So everything that we can do to decrease the state's contribution, make sure all the voices are being heard through the process and really honoring those local governments is really important." Meantime, State Sen. Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac), the amendment's author, says more GOP changes could be introduced on the floor Tuesday, which could include a larger contribution from the Brewers. "That's a conversation we're having with the Brewers," Feyen said. "It's great that the Brewers are willing to stay here. They could have just said - 2030 we're going to be done."Feyen said a GOP amendment could also address the makeup of the stadium district board."Right now we're working with the governor and he's been saying that I think this is a good way to go about it so we're waiting to hear back on that," Feyen said. "The amendment doesn't address that specifically but the governor is talking with the Democratic colleagues and trying to get them on board with this as well." Feyen wouldn't yet give an exact vote count."I think we are very close," he said. "I was working the phones on the way down here today. We're still working on it. We're still trying to get to a hard number. We're going to get there, though." Marquette Law School poll director Charles Franklin says his latest poll shows Wisconsin voters open to the possibility of a third-party candidate, specifically polling about Robert Kennedy Jr.'s bid to now run as an independent."They're certainly open to the possibility," Franklin said. "About 5% say they would vote for Kennedy if he were on the ballot as opposed to the two major party candidates, but another 23% say they would probably vote for him." "Kennedy is better liked among Republicans than Democrats and he draws more of that potential vote from Republican voters, Trump voters, than he does from Biden voters." In hypothetical matchups in last week's Marquette Law School, Biden led by two points in Biden-Trump rematch, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led by two points in a DeSantis match up and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley led by 9 points in a Haley-Biden matchup. "What Haley does in that high percentage for her, it shows voters are really well set in their views of Donald Trump, whether positive or negative and likewise with Joe Biden," Franklin said. "Of course if she were to become the nominee people would learn a lot about her and we’d go to our partisan corners and we’d almost surely comeback to a close rate.” A key indicator to watch, Franklin said ahead of the 2024 election, is Biden's job approval in Wisconsin which is currently at 42%."Biden’s number has fluctuated in the low to mid 40s in our poll for the last couple of years," he said. "That is a disadvantage to any president running for reelection. The thing to watch over the coming year is whether those numbers creep up over the campaign year. When we’ve seen successful reelection bids in the past, usually in the last 9 months to 12 months of the campaign we see a little bit of improvement of approval numbers for the incumbent president." A group of advocates with spinal cord injuries met with lawmakers at the Capitol this past week in their efforts to move forward bipartisan legislation that would fund new spinal cord research in Wisconsin. "By our calculations and from our our meetings we know once it gets to the floor it will pass," Matthew Rodreick said, executive director of the group United 2 Fight Paralysis.The bill authored by Rep. Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc) would award new grants to fund research in Wisconsin and also create a new advisory council. It passed an Assembly committee in October and is now before the Joint Committee on Finance."In all of our meetings we have a long spreadsheet of everybody who has been a firm yes," Rodreick said. "We have almost one-third of the entire Legislature as cosponsors, so we're pretty confident in the yes vote." "Have we had good meetings? Yes. But at the same time we know how this building works, and we know the longer you sit and wait, the more the asks start rising."

MILWAUKEE —

State Sen. Melissa Agard says there aren't enough votes yet to pass the Brewers funding bill as negotiations intensified this weekend ahead of the vote Tuesday in the state Senate.

"There are not the votes right this moment to pass the bill," Agard said Friday in a taping for WISN's 'UPFRONT' which is produced in partnership with WisP0litics.com. "Certainly there was heavy lifting in the Assembly, great bipartisan support. Clearly Gov. Evers is working really hard to get this done and myself and many of my colleagues are on the record as wanting to get to yes, but we believe we can improve upon the bill."

The amended bill, which reduces the state's contribution and increases the Brewers payment, will need a bipartisan vote to pass.

"It's so fluid right now," Agard said. "There are a lot of pressure points, so if you move this a little bit you might gain or lose votes, so we're really trying to be thoughtful to put the best deal forward."

Agard said she's remaining in contact with not only her Democratic caucus but Gov. Tony Evers, Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and the many stakeholders including business and union groups.

One major sticking point, she said, remains the fact Milwaukee and Milwaukee County's appointees to the new stadium district board are not restored in the latest amendment. The city and county together will contribute $135 million over the course of the deal.

"That is vitally important because we know if you're not at the table you're on the table," Agard said. "So everything that we can do to decrease the state's contribution, make sure all the voices are being heard through the process and really honoring those local governments is really important."

Meantime, State Sen. Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac), the amendment's author, says more GOP changes could be introduced on the floor Tuesday, which could include a larger contribution from the Brewers.

"That's a conversation we're having with the Brewers," Feyen said. "It's great that the Brewers are willing to stay here. They could have just said - 2030 we're going to be done."

Feyen said a GOP amendment could also address the makeup of the stadium district board.

"Right now we're working with the governor and he's been saying that I think this is a good way to go about it so we're waiting to hear back on that," Feyen said. "The amendment doesn't address that specifically but the governor is talking with the Democratic colleagues and trying to get them on board with this as well."

Feyen wouldn't yet give an exact vote count.

"I think we are very close," he said. "I was working the phones on the way down here today. We're still working on it. We're still trying to get to a hard number. We're going to get there, though."

Marquette Law School poll director Charles Franklin says his latest poll shows Wisconsin voters open to the possibility of a third-party candidate, specifically polling about Robert Kennedy Jr.'s bid to now run as an independent.

"They're certainly open to the possibility," Franklin said. "About 5% say they would vote for Kennedy if he were on the ballot as opposed to the two major party candidates, but another 23% say they would probably vote for him."

"Kennedy is better liked among Republicans than Democrats and he draws more of that potential vote from Republican voters, Trump voters, than he does from Biden voters."

In hypothetical matchups in last week's Marquette Law School, Biden led by two points in Biden-Trump rematch, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led by two points in a DeSantis match up and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley led by 9 points in a Haley-Biden matchup.

"What Haley does in that high percentage for her, it shows voters are really well set in their views of Donald Trump, whether positive or negative and likewise with Joe Biden," Franklin said. "Of course if she were to become the nominee people would learn a lot about her and we’d go to our partisan corners and we’d almost surely comeback to a close rate.”

A key indicator to watch, Franklin said ahead of the 2024 election, is Biden's job approval in Wisconsin which is currently at 42%.

"Biden’s number has fluctuated in the low to mid 40s in our poll for the last couple of years," he said. "That is a disadvantage to any president running for reelection. The thing to watch over the coming year is whether those numbers creep up over the campaign year. When we’ve seen successful reelection bids in the past, usually in the last 9 months to 12 months of the campaign we see a little bit of improvement of approval numbers for the incumbent president."

A group of advocates with spinal cord injuries met with lawmakers at the Capitol this past week in their efforts to move forward bipartisan legislation that would fund new spinal cord research in Wisconsin.

"By our calculations and from our our meetings we know once it gets to the floor it will pass," Matthew Rodreick said, executive director of the group United 2 Fight Paralysis.

The bill authored by Rep. Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc) would award new grants to fund research in Wisconsin and also create a new advisory council. It passed an Assembly committee in October and is now before the Joint Committee on Finance.

"In all of our meetings we have a long spreadsheet of everybody who has been a firm yes," Rodreick said. "We have almost one-third of the entire Legislature as cosponsors, so we're pretty confident in the yes vote."

"Have we had good meetings? Yes. But at the same time we know how this building works, and we know the longer you sit and wait, the more the asks start rising."

'UPFRONT' recap: Not enough votes yet to pass Brewers bill ahead of Tuesday vote

Dem Minority Leader Melissa Agard, Sen. Dan Feyen join 'UPFRONT' as negotiations continue this weekend

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