CONTACT: Alec Zimmerman
(608) 257-4765
[Madison, WI] — Democrat candidate for governor and State Schools Superintendent Tony Evers has repeatedly said he didn’t have the authority to revoke the license of a teacher caught viewing pornography at school, but a newly unearthed case shows he exercised authority in 2008 – signing his own name to revoke the license of a teacher facing similar allegations. This is further proof Evers caved to Union pressure in 2014 when he failed to act. The Republican Party of Wisconsin released the following statement calling on Evers to explain himself:
“This shocking revelation is proof positive that Tony Evers is knowingly lying to the people of Wisconsin. Evers had the authority to protect children and teachers by removing bad actors from the classroom – and he proved it with his own signature in 2008,” said Alec Zimmerman, spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “His flip-flopping under Union pressure is rooted in falsehoods, and it’s long overdue that Evers fully explain why sexual harassment, predatory comments about children, and spreading pornography at school were not enough to remove an embattled teacher from the classroom.”
Read the full story online here or find excerpts below.
Tony Evers yanked license of teacher for watching porn, but GOP says he wasn’t consistent
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jason Stein
December 11, 2017
Republicans said state schools superintendent Tony Evers yanked one teacher’s license for looking at pornography at work but not another’s, renewing debate about whether Evers had consistently applied the law.
Evers’ handling of these cases has become the go-to criticism for Republicans as Evers campaigns in the Democratic primary to take on GOP Gov. Scott Walker.
In a previously undisclosed case from 2008, the Department of Public Instruction and Evers as its then-No. 2 official revoked the license of Kent A. Tollakson, a teacher in Amery, for looking at pornography on his work computer, including when students were in the classroom.
Republicans said this latest case shows Evers in 2014 could have and should have revoked the license of science teacher Andrew Harris for using his work computer without students present to look at emails with images of naked women.
“It’s long overdue that Evers fully explain why sexual harassment, predatory comments about children, and spreading pornography at school were not enough to remove an embattled teacher from the classroom,” state Republican Party spokesman Alec Zimmerman said.
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Republicans also raised another 2008 case dealing with a Cedarburg teacher who had viewed “adult images” on his computer for just over a minute. An arbitrator held the school district could not fire the teacher for that sole instance but a trial court and state appeals court disagreed, reversing the arbitrator’s determination.
