Wisconsin Dem Gov Candidate Tony Evers’ Reckless Actions Put Students At Risk

Wisconsin state superintendent of public instruction Tony Evers has become the latest Democrat running for governor to find himself at the center of a scandal that threatens to derail his campaign after new reports surfaced of his of his inconsistent responses to inappropriate conduct by teachers in Wisconsin. Since last week, Evers has faced scathing criticism for refusing to revoke the license of a teacher who was fired in 2010 for watching pornography on top of being accused by a fellow teacher of sexual harassment, an action Evers has defended, claiming he did not have the authority to do so.

A new report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reveals that Evers did revoke the license of a teacher who was fired for similarly inappropriate conduct in 2008. This raises serious questions for Evers. If he was willing to take one teacher’s license away for watching pornography at work, why was he unwilling to do the same in another case just a few short years later?

Instead of taking action and revoking the license of a teacher accused of outrageously inappropriate behavior, Evers hid behind excuses and let him off the hook. Evers’ reckless and inconsistent actions put Wisconsin students and teachers at risk. He can’t be trusted to keep Wisconsin families safe as governor.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

“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.…

Harris, a Middleton Cross Plains Area School District teacher, had not previously been disciplined and a district spokesman said last month there have been no complaints against the educator since then. Harris was also accused of making inappropriate remarks about female students and harassing the female teacher who first raised the issue of the nude images, but an arbitrator did not substantiate those allegations.

The district sought to have Harris’ teaching license revoked under a state law that prohibits conduct by teachers that is ‘contrary to commonly accepted moral or ethical standards and that endangers the health, safety, welfare or education of any pupil.’”