New county exec agrees with Evers

Milwaukee County Executive-elect David Crowley says he agrees with Gov.

Tony Evers’ extension of the COVID-19 “safer at home” order.

SUBURBS BOOSTED ABSENTEE BALLOTSDURING THE PANDEMIC, AND WHY THECITY OF MILWAUKEE MIGHT DO THESAME.Adrienne: WELCOME BACK TO"UPFRONT."MILWAUKEE’S NEW COUNTY EXECUTIVEWILL TAKE OFFICE MAY 4, IN THEMIDDLE OF A DEADLY PANDEMIC.STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVIDCROWLEY OF MILWAUKEE PULLED OUTA NARROW WIN OVER STATE SENATORCHRIS LARSON IN THE APRIL 7ELECTION.CROWLEY WILL NEED TO HIT THEGROUND RUNNING, LEADING THECOUNTY’S COVID-19 RESPONSE.HE JOINS US NOW ON "UPFRONT."Congratulations on your WIN.I know you will be so busy.I WANT to know what you thinkabout the governor extending andwhat you think about thedecision?C.E.D.

CROWLEY: thank you forhaving me.I absolutely agree with theextension and we should moforward with the safer at homeorder.Before we start thinking aboutmaking sure that people can goback to living their normallives, we will make sure it ishealthy for them, so I applaudthe governor for extending.Adrienne: what do you say to thepeople struggling right now outof work?I know you are aware that morethan 300,000 Wisconsinites filedfor unemployment.What do you say to them aboutthe safer at home order who areupset?C.E.D.

CROWLEY: absolutely.When you think of the safer athome order, these areunprecedented times.No way we thought we would begoing through a pandemic rightnow, and nobody has a blueprint.Even though a lot of people outthere want to get out and backto work and provide for theirfamilies, this is something wehave to do to make sure all ofus, all of our neighbors,family, and friends, continue tobe safe.Quite frankly, across the nationand world.I am asking folks to bear thebrunt.We are doing everything we canlocally, the state and federallevels, to make sure they arebringing resources so people cancontinue to pay their rent,their health care, and providefood for themselves and theirfamilies.This is trying times, so I amasking folks to bear with us.Just know that we are with you.If you need help, contact yourelected official for anyresources we can direct towardsyour way.Adrienne: what do you plan to doas County Executive to helppeople specifically in Countyget back to work when they can?C.E.D.

CROWLEY: well, we knowthat the transition startedmaybe a couple of days ago.This will be a slow transition.We have a lot of smart peoplethat have been doing a lotaround the emergency operationsCenter and the unified center.It is working with directly withthe legislature, governor, andour federal congressionalleaders to find ways to bringmore resources back.Local governments have been onthe front lines.When we think about who we needto protect, local governmentsare doing what we can.We need to protect our healthcare providers and we are doingthat.When you think of the essentialworkers, bus drivers, those ingrocery stores, you have to makesure we protect them, too, so weare bringing back as manyresources as possible to givethem the proper PPE so peoplecan continue to provide thoseessentials.At the end of the day, this isabout making sure we understandthat we are all in thistogether.Once we get through this, wewill be on the road to recovery.What that looks like nobodyknows, but we know it will notbe a light switch.It will not just be a turn onand go.This will be through stages.This is really about making surewe work together.Something we talked about onthis campaign about thepandemic, whether Democrat,Republican, union leader orbusiness leader, we need you atthe table.This pandemic does not know arace, color, or creed, so we aredoing everything we can.Adrienne: we know thatcoronavirus isdisproportionately killingAfrican-American and blackpeople, specifically MilwaukeeCounty and across the country.I have a two-part question foryou.I am interested in what you wantto do immediately to help fightthat, and what needs to be donein the long term.I think there are some thingshappening now.When you think of a pandemic ina crisis, any type of socialjustice could be pushed to theback burner.I think this is a primopportunity for us to focus andwe know that we are coming downto help disparities.Nothing in the pandemic hasshown us it is a clear problem.I have to applaud the leadershipon taking on the public healthissue.I know they were passing anordinance to continue to make ita top priority for ouradministration.We have been leading the countin making sure this is somethingwe continue to talk about, soworking with our federalleaders, Senator Baldwin, whohas been leading at the federallevel and working with the restof the federal government aroundthe state, to make sure that weare leaning toward a healthycommunity, and we will have todo that based off racial equity.It will be a hard pill for somefolks to swallow, as well aslocally, but we want to makesure that we not only have ahealthy community, but once weare on the road to economicrecovery, we want to make surethat the economy is working forall.We want to make sure that we areat the center of theconversation.We will work with one anotherand bring back as many resourcesas possible.Adrienne: future MilwaukeeCounty executive, David Crowley,thank you.C.E.D.

CROWLEY: thank you.Adrienne: COMING UP, THE STATEparty chairmen offer THEIR TAKESON THE STATE SUPREME COURTELEC