A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel was ostensibly supposed to give a rundown of each gubernatorial candidate’s proposed energy policy. Far from doing so, all it did was demonstrate the media’s failure to ask hard questions about why Wisconsin has some of the highest utility rates in the Midwest or how Democrat policies got us here.
Nowhere does the article mention how Democrats fell in line with Gov. Tony Evers’ fanciful carbon-free by 2050 agenda. Nowhere does it mention how that support led to the closure of coal plants that were still viable, and that we still pay for. Nowhere does it mention how Democrats enabled the Public Service Commission (PSC) in the $2 billion in rate hikes the state has seen since 2019.
Perhaps most stunningly, nowhere does it mention that, until essentially this year, the candidates in the Democrat field were not even talking about rate hikes.
In short, this “reporting” demonstrates a failure on the media’s part to do its job in American society; ask public officials tough questions and hold them to account.
Cost-of-living is the number one concern for families here in Wisconsin and across the nation. Wisconsin’s once reasonable utility rates are a thing of the past, and all seven of the Democrat candidates for governor share the blame for supporting the policies that made this happen.
By far the most egregious failure is the media’s complete refusal to mention how catastrophic Gov. Evers’ carbon-free policy really is. The governor instituted this policy by executive order in 2019, no doubt to appease the progressive base’s Green New Deal hysteria and promising to make the state carbon-free by 2050.
The problem? A study conducted by the Center of the American Experiment in 2022 found the order would cost Wisconsin businesses and families a staggering $248 billion through 2050, a roughly $2700increase per year for electricity customers.
Has the mainstream media made a point to ask them about their support for such a costly policy now? To save you searching, the answer is no.
The people who want to run our state for the next four years need to explain themselves on energy rates and utility hikes. They need to own that they supported a green climate agenda that Wisconsinites are still paying for seven years later. And if they don’t, then they need to face tougher questions from the Wisconsin media.
So far, neither candidates nor mainstream media appears willing to step up to the plate.
