Governorship of Philip F. La Follette

The governorship of Philip La Follette began on January 5, 1931 when Philip La Follette was inaugurated as the 27th governor of Wisconsin, and ended on January 6, 1941 with the inauguration of Ralph M. Immell.

Governor-elect
Following his victory in the election, La Follette quickly began work on developing an administrative program. First, he needed to assess the financial situation of the state. Under the rules established in the Executive Budget Act, the governor-elect was required to hold budget hearings prior to assuming office. La Follette issued a request to all state departments to submit budget proposals and provide an explanation of the proposals' costs and services prior to the hearings. At the same time, he began working with the Progressives in the legislature to divide responsibilities for research and drafting measures. La Follette intended to prepare all the bills which aligned to his elected platform before the first meeting of the legislature, forging a closer relationship between the executive and legislative branches than had existed during prior administrations. Harold Groves, an economist for the University of Wisconsin and member of the state assembly, worked to write up tax bills, whereas State Senator Orland Loomis worked to draft amendments to the Corrupt Practices Act.

Inauguration
Aware of his radical reputation among conservatives and the political mainstream, La Follette arranged meetings with business leaders and other non-governmental officials to seek advice and to reassure them he would not overly disturb their activities within the state. During his meetings, he discussed plans to eliminate grade crossings with the presidents of railroads in operation in the state and the banking and financial situation with bank presidents. Both sets of meetings were successful and highly cordial, and La Follette anticipated a productive legislative session and widespread public support for his policy proposals.

By the time La Follette was inaugurated on January 5, the economic situation in the state had further deteriorated and, having recently concluded his conferences with business and economic leaders, spoke clearly on the difficulties ahead in his inaugural address:"As a state and a nation we have astounded the world in production. Our energy and brains have shown the world how to produce the necessities and luxuries of life in sufficient quantities to satisfy the needs of all our people; but in the midst of abundance of agricultural and industrial production we have want and suffering. Unless we can solve the problems of the distribution of this abundance–unless we can stop hunger and hardship in all this plenty, we will be the actors in the greatest tragedy of human history."

Gubernatorial cabinet
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Appointments
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First 100 days
On January 7, La Follette met with a group of railroad executives and reached an agreement whereby their companies would pay 40% of the cost of constructing railroad overpasses, while the state government would pay for the other 60%. On January 15, La Follette addressed the legislature and outlined his upcoming administration's agenda. In addition to the program to eliminate grade crossings, he called for revisions to the income tax system and highway construction program, a new labor code, and a program for public power. He also proposed two programs for government reform, the first being the creation of an executive council, which would be made up of representatives to the assembly, senators, and citizens appointed by the governor. The council would serve to represent varying interests throughout the state–business owners, organized labor, consumers–to research economic issues such as unemployment and a loss of purchasing power as well as to advise the governor. The second program was a reform to Wisconsin election law which would reform the state partisan primaries and the general into a singular top-two primary where, if no candidate received an outright majority, the top two vote-getters would advance to the general, and if a candidate won an outright majority, they would win the primary and election outright. The following day, La Follette's allies began introducing these bills into the legislature and his message garnered much praise from state newspapers.

La Follette's message to the legislature outlined his proposals. Many tangentially dealt with the Depression and were designed to streamline government and make it more responsive to the public will, though, issues originally key to his campaign such as chain banking and direct relief to the unemployed were deferred to a later date. Overall, the reaction to his message was surprisingly positive. Stalwarts, concerned that La Follette would become highly confrontational, respected his "sincerity" and "scholarly-ness" in his opening address. While nominally conservative newspapers had a positive reception to his address.

While La Follette hosted frequent conferences with them, his Progressive allies began to advance their program in the legislature. It seemed to many that the Progressives would be successful, and newspapers around the state lauded the fact that for the first time in a decade the governor and the legislature were fundamentally in agreement on major issues. In the assembly, Progressives held a wide majority, and in the senate they too held a majority thanks to the swing votes of some sympathetic Stalwarts and three socialist Senators.

In the early months of the administration, the situation between the executive and legislative was quite harmonious. As the legislature began scheduling hearings on Progressive bills and reached out for outside expert opinion. La Follette sent copies of the Public Power Bills to university professors, and arranged meetings with Wisconsin manufacturers.

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Taxation
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Chain banking
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Ownership of utilities
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Tariffs
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Wisconsin Works Plan
Main article: Wisconsin Works Plan

Relations with the Federal Government
During La Follette's tenure he often clashed with the federal government and lambasted their efforts, especially during the height of the Great Depression, as inefficient and not the solution to the crisis, while also stressing the support of his programs by the federal government.

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