10A AMERY FREE PRESS
OCTOBER 11, 2016 www.theameryfreepress.com
FROM PAGE 9A
daughter here. I was a teacher in the Unity School District for 23 years, retiring in 2008. I have been engaged in my community through service as a county supervisor, Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative board representative and member of the Polk County Board of Adjustment. I’ve been a volunteer with the Ice Age Trail Alliance, Kinship, Interfaith Caregivers, Northern Waters Literacy and the Natural Alternative Food Co-op. Those who know me will tell you that I’m a person who does his homework and comes prepared to meetings; and that, while I’m not afraid to speak my mind, I’m also someone who can compromise and is willing to change his thinking when the evidence demands it. I’m a Democrat, but I think for myself. My number one goal as an elected official will be to maintain a focus on the what’s best in the long term for everyone in my district. If elected to represent the 28th Assembly District, what are one or two key policies you would pursue during your term and how would you go about it? If anyone doubted the influence of big money in Wisconsin politics, the recent release of documents related to illegal coordination between elected officials and outside “dark money” groups should have been a wake-up call. There is little doubt that money buys influence in Madison, and the more money you have, the more influence you can buy. New laws are written as special favors to campaign donors, and the pay-to-play cycle rewards compliant lawmakers with ever more donations. These problems are not new, but they have reached new heights in recent years. As a legislator, I will work to expose and put limits on the influence of big money. Schools are at the center of community life in rural Wisconsin. We must devise a funding formula that provides adequate resources for every school district without overreliance on the property tax. The taxpayers of our state should not be asked to fund both public and private schools; I would press to eliminate the subsidization of unaccountable private schools by eliminating the voucher program and redirecting those resources to our public schools. As a legislator I would also be an advocate for protecting our water resources. Wisconsin is blessed with an abundance of clean water, but we can’t take for granted that it will always be there. As with most things, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I support the right of counties to enact regulations stricter than the state’s minimum shoreland zoning standards.
Vincent Zilka (Veterans Party) What abilities and experiences make you the best candidate to represent the people of the 28th Assembly District? I am a US Army veteran, prior educator, gunsmith, and machinist but one of the things I think makes me most suited to being a representative is that I consider myself to be a guardian and that I have always looked after people that I have felt were not able to or would not stand up for themselves. In this particular case I am just expanding who I am covering at one time to the entire 28th Assembly district as I feel like the current political parties have ulterior motives and no longer
represent their constituents. I am running to protect the integrity of the constitution and bill of rights while ensuring that my constituents get their voice back as I believe that any “power” the government may have it Zilka derives from its citizens and they are the ones who should have the ultimate say over what happens. If elected to represent the 28th Assembly District, what are one or two key policies you would pursue during your term and how would you go about it? First and foremost, anything I say is my personal opinion, and I will not implement anything unless my constituents agree that it’s something that should be pursued. The entire reason I am running is to give the people their voice back. In schools, I would stop the school voucher system and give the funding to mental health programs for school system to prevent suicides. We should implement an intake screening for students when they are first getting into the school system to evaluate them for susceptibility to depression and suicide and provide the earliest care to give the best long term result. We should implement mental health programs inside schools modeled after Minnesota’s program. As for curriculum, give a Maps Test at beginning and end of year, eliminating all other federal and state standardized testing leaving the rest of the year for teachers to teach curriculum and not teach to tests. Bring back or make stronger hands-on programs (metal shop, wood shop, welding, electronics, and home economics). Why is there not a standardized rate per student across the state? Right now schools’ rates vary per student. A state teacher conference put on at the University of Wisconsin during the summer months would allow teachers to stay in dorms cost free to them and very cheap to the taxpayers, which allows them to interact with other teachers to talk about things they have tried in their classrooms and to develop new teaching methods and incorporate them into the classrooms allowing for a greater level of instruction statewide. We should evaluate the requirements to be a teacher, allowing professionals in certain fields to teach even if they do not have a bachelor’s degree, which may help us with the teacher shortage and give a greater educational ability on the subjects. Another priority is law enforcement. Drugs such as meth, heroin, and prescription drugs affect individuals, families, unborn children and communities. We should fund long term treatment, which means nine months to a year minimum inpatient and outpatient. I would address the police shortage and funding issues in our district and ensure there is at least one K9 officer in each county.
US Senator Ron Johnson (Republican, incumbent) What abilities and experiences make you the best candidate to represent the people of Wisconsin as their U.S. Senator?
Most of us in Wisconsin start at the bottom. I sure did. Growing up, I helped on the family farm, mowed lawns, shoveled snow, and delivered papers to make a few extra bucks. At the age of 15, I got my first tax-paying job as a dishwasher in a Walgreens grill making the minimum wage of $1.45/ hour. Within my first year, I worked my way up to being a night manager. I worked full time during college to pay Johnson my own way, and after graduating, helped start a plastics manufacturing company. I did everything from installing and operating the machines to keeping the books. I like to say, at PACUR, we exported Wisconsin products, not jobs. I’ve spent my career in the private sector and learned valuable lessons – the value of a hard day’s work and how to solve problems. That’s the approach I’ve used in the Senate to get real results for Wisconsinites. My committee has passed 83 bills — most on a bipartisan basis — and 28 have been signed into law. Generally, these bills are designed to make government more efficient, effective and accountable, and strengthen our economic and national security. Working together and building consensus is how I’m fighting for people all across our state. If elected to represent Wisconsin citizens, what are two or three key policies you would pursue during your term and how would you go about it? As the only manufacturer in the U.S Senate, I’m taking that outsider’s approach that I learned in my more than 30 years in the private sector to get things done for Wisconsinites. That starts by finding areas of agreement to take on the dysfunction in Washington and to help Wisconsinites keep more of their hard-earned money to provide for themselves and their families. We can do that with pro-growth tax reform and scrapping burdensome regulations like the proposed Waters of the United States rule, which would give the EPA the power to regulate over 90% of Wisconsin land because it expands federal jurisdiction to “intermittent streams” and “playa lakes” (large puddles). I remain focused on keeping our local communities safe, and I’ve passed legislation into law to help keep terrorists out of the United States and to improve our cybersecurity defenses. I’ve also supported strengthening our military and called on the administration to lead by assembling a committed coalition and develop an effective strategy to actually defeat ISIS, and I staunchly oppose the Iran Deal. It’s clear that economic and national security are inextricably linked, and that’s why we need a strong economy, so we can strengthen our military, defeat terrorism, and secure our border. One of the most pressing issues that I’ve led on is the opioid epidemic. Drugs have affected so many Wisconsin families – including my own – and it must be addressed because it’s tearing families and communities apart. There are many steps we need to take, but one thing is clear, we need to secure our southern border to keep drugs from flowing in to the country. I introduced the PROP Act (Promoting Responsible Opioid Prescribing), which HHS recognized as important enough to implement using their regulatory authority. As I talk to folks in Polk County and across northwest Wisconsin, I hear their frustration about being told their
“local team” is the Vikings. I authored and passed legislation that allows Wisconsinites to demand the FCC to fi x this so that the Packers are available to viewers.
Russ Feingold (Democrat) What abilities and experiences make you the best candidate to represent the people of Wisconsin as their U.S. Senator? During this campaign, I visited each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties in 2015 and again in 2016. What I hear from Wisconsinites from Polk County to Dane County is the same: they are having a tough time making ends meet in an economic system that works for multi-millionaires and corporations but not for them or their families. They’re struggling to pay their bills. They’re worried about the rising cost of college. But Senator Johnson isn’t listening to the concerns of Wisconsin families. He’s happy to support his big DC special interest, while hard workFeingold ing Wisconsinites get shut out. Wisconsinites want leaders who will stand up to the special interests and fight for middle class and working families. If elected, that’s exactly what I’ll do. If elected to represent Wisconsin citizens, what are two or three key policies you would pursue during your term and how would you go about it? My top priority is to create an economy that works for Wisconsin’s middle class and working families. So I would immediately focus on passing a federal minimum wage increase, guaranteeing paid leave for workers, protecting the retirement security of working Americans and seniors, and making higher education more affordable. Most Wisconsinites want the same things: they want a good-paying job that lets them pay the bills and spend a little time with their families. They want to have access to a decent education for themselves and their kids without being drowned in debt for the rest of their lives. And, they want to be able to retire with dignity, with the promise of Social Security to support them. In the Senate, I’ll get to work immediately to achieve these things for the middle class and working families of Wisconsin.
Phillip N. Anderson (Libertarian) What abilities and experiences make you the best candidate to represent the people of Wisconsin as their U.S. Senator? My name is Phil Anderson, and I’m a Libertarian running for U.S. Senate. I’m a lifelong Wisconsin resident, a father and husband, and I run two businesses: I am the General Manager of Green Cab of Madison and broker/ owner of Silver Compass Realty. I have been involved in my community my entire life. From teaching Sunday school, volunteering at a local shelter, starting and operating a transporAnderson tation non-profit, and working with the vast variety of people that use and work for taxi companies, I CONTINUED ON PAGE 11A