April 24, 2025

By Lane Kimble

A star-studded cast including Wisconsin’s governor, legislative and industry leaders, and even an NFL Hall of Famer inspired construction workers in Madison this week.

The Construction Business Group held its annual meeting Wednesday and Thursday at the Madison Club.

Gov. Tony Evers welcomed the crowd by touting his administration’s historic levels of investments in the transportation sector.  The governor pledged to restore collective bargaining rights for union workers and prevailing wage, and vowed to repeal Wisconsin’s right-to-work law.

“My goal is to keep our workers safe and our economy strong,” Evers said.

A bipartisan panel including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Senate President Mary Felzkowski, Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, and Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer disagreed on certain policy positions, but found common ground on the topic of transportation as it pertains to the state budget.

Vos (R-Burlington) noted it’s “dumb” that the cost of fixing roads largely falls on Wisconsin drivers through the gas tax and vehicle registration fees when so many out of state tourists, especially from Illinois, use our highways essentially free of charge.

The show-stealer, though, was former Badgers and Cleveland Browns star tackle Joe Thomas.  The 10-time NFL Pro Bowler encouraged the group to be self reliant and focus on their individual roles for the betterment of the state.

“Barry Alvarez used to come into the training room every day (when I was at UW) and say, ‘Hey, Thomas!  How are you doing?”  And before I could answer, he’d always say, ‘Nobody cares.  Do your job,” Thomas recalled.

Thomas set an NFL record by playing 10,363 consecutive snaps.