Tag: Ulysses S. Grant

Gov.-elect Tony Evers’ pick for transportation secretary is in limbo after Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Friday he has serious concerns about the appointment. Within hours of Evers announcing Craig Thompson, the director of an influential transportation advocacy group, as his selection, Fitzgerald, whose GOP-controlled chamber must confirm all Cabinet appointments, flashed a warning Thompson may be the wrong person for the job. “Gov.-elect Evers has made a wise choice in this selection of a bipartisan consensus builder to tackle the significant transportation challenges facing Wisconsin,” he said in a statement. Other industry and government groups, such as the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, Public Works Association and Operating Engineers, offered their full support of the nomination, referencing Thompson’s leadership in the field and understanding of the critical role of infrastructure to the state. Fitzgerald’s comments came after Evers announced four new agency appointments Friday in Madison as his Cabinet takes shape less than three weeks before inauguration. In addition to Thompson, Evers named Brad Pfaff as secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; Rebecca Cameron Valcq as head of the Public Service Commission; and Mark Afable as Commissioner of Insurance. During a news conference Friday, Thompson said all options are on the table as transportation funding solutions, declining to offer specifics. Those concerns were echoed by consumer advocacy group Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, or WISPIRG. On Wednesday, Evers announced four other Cabinet appointments in Milwaukee. They are: Preston Cole, a member of the state’s Natural Resources Board and a Milwaukee city official, as Department of Natural Resources secretary; Joel Brennan, CEO of Milwaukee’s Discovery World science and technology museum, as Department of Administration secretary; Kevin Carr, a U.S. marshal, as Department of Corrections secretary; and Sara Meaney, chief marketing officer for Milwaukee Film, as Department of Tourism secretary.

At Trump's latest campaign rally he told a long and convoluted story about Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss joins to set the record straight and discuss his new book, 'Presidents of War.' »…