Kleefisch ignored problems with Wisconsin's unemployment system, former workforce development secretary says
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MADISON – A cabinet secretary who served with former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch turned against her Friday, saying she had ignored problems with the state's unemployment system for years, leading to a crisis when claims skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Manny Perez, the first workforce development secretary under Republican Gov. Scott Walker, wrote in a column in the Wisconsin State Journal that Walker and Kleefisch had disregarded his pleas to upgrade the state's decades-old computer systems that process unemployment claims.
"They knew this was a crisis waiting to happen and did nothing," Perez wrote.
Keith Gilkes, who served as Walker's chief of staff, called Perez's claims false. He described Perez as a disgruntled employee who left his position in 2011 after less than five months on the job.
More: Wisconsin's overwhelmed unemployment system comes after years of warnings about its weaknesses
In his column, Perez wrote that he flagged the problems three weeks after Walker and Kleefisch took office. He outlined a plan to work with the U.S. Department of Labor to overhaul the state's systems using federal funds, but the idea was rejected, he wrote.
"It was clear to me that under no circumstances would the Walker-Kleefisch administration accept federal help from a Democratic president to fix the failing unemployment insurance system in Wisconsin," he wrote. "They did not care that a failed system would hurt businesses, workers and families. They only cared about how it would look politically if they accepted help from President Barack Obama. It was playing politics at its worst, and it hurt Wisconsin."
In an interview Friday, Perez said Gilkes had emphatically turned down the proposal when he raised it with him. He said Gilkes spoke for Walker and Kleefisch.
"Speaking to Keith Gilkes, it is automatically a given that the lieutenant governor was informed and that the governor was informed," Perez said.
Gilkes said he and others knew a variety of computer systems across state government needed expensive improvements but Perez did not stress the need for specific upgrades or say he could get the federal government to pay for them.
"There was nothing where he specifically came to us and asked for permission to go and get a whole new system paid for by the Department of Labor," Gilkes said. "If that had come about, we absolutely would have done it. But the reality is that those were not things that were discussed or put forward in a serious manner or in a way that drew attention to it for anybody."
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers was in charge in early 2020 when the pandemic hit and unemployment claims reached unprecedented levels. The state fell months behind in processing claims, leading to Wisconsinites falling behind on their bills. Frustrated callers discovered it was nearly impossible to reach the Department of Workforce Development, and when they did they often could not get basic questions answered.
More: After helping to clear backlogged unemployment claims, Amy Pechacek appointed head of DWD
Kleefisch and other Republicans have blamed Evers for the problems, but Perez noted in his column that Walker, Kleefisch and Republicans who controlled the Legislature for eight years overlooked the need to upgrade the computer system even though they knew it needed to be done.
Problems with the system first came to light before Walker and Kleefisch took office and were spelled out in an audit and budget memos during their eight-year tenure.
Kleefisch campaign manager Charles Nichols in a statement called Perez a "disgraced ex-cabinet secretary."
"He has absolutely no credibility today, and after he left, he praised DWD and said he had accomplished everything he had wanted," Nichols said in his statement.
"This is just another attempt by Tony Evers’ office to point the finger at someone else because the Governor is too cowardly and weak to accept responsibility for his own actions."
Nichols' statement said Perez had been accused of harassment.
A woman who worked with Perez said she had filed a harassment complaint against him with the state Department of Administration in 2011, but records showed she had not actually done so.
In 2013, Perez faced harassment allegations from a different woman when he served as general manager of Esperanza Unida. A court commissioner dismissed her complaint soon afterward.
Perez called the harassment claim falses. He said he had not been talking to the campaigns of Evers or Kleefisch's Republican rivals.
Perez served as workforce development secretary from January to May 2011. When he announced his departure, he told employees by email "we have accomplished great things together in a very short period of time." Perez said Friday he believed he had done what he needed to do because he had reported the problems with the unemployment system to his bosses.
Shortly after he left, Perez said he had been escorted out of the building by a Capitol Police officer. The Walker administration at the time said that was not the case.
The state recently began a yearslong program to overhaul the computer systems. It is expected to cost $80 million and is being paid for by the federal government. The work comes after the state abandoned a similar project in 2007 because of delays and cost overruns.
In his Friday column, Perez noted Kleefisch said in a September 2011 interview with WMTV that the administration had heard about "some issues with unemployment insurance."
Perez's decision to speak out against his former bosses echoes the 2018 campaign, when four other former cabinet secretaries criticized Walker, including three who urged voters to support Evers that year.
Kleefisch is running in the Republican primary against construction business owner Tim Michels, management consultant Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Tim Ramthun of Campbellsport.
The winner of the Aug. 9 primary will face Evers in the Nov. 8 general election.
Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kleefisch ignored Wisconsin unemployment problems, says then-secretary
