When you decide on which candidate you vote for, perhaps the most important criterion is the values that animate the candidate and his campaign. I entered the race because I believe the people of the Northwoods deserve better values representing them in the state legislature. Better values leads to better policies. So let me outline my basic values, which lead to the positions I take on the issues of our time.
During a health emergency such as a global pandemic, government must protect the health and safety of the people. Yet Republicans have stripped of the ability to establish a state-wide Covid-19 recovery plan. Wisconsin must come together to overcome this terrible health crisis.
Wisconsin solutions
Follow the advice of scientists and health experts.
Adopt a state-wide, coordinated recovery plan, which re-opens our state is a carefully designed way to avoid a resurgence of Covid-19.
Develop resources needed for sufficient testing and tracing.
Ensure the state has adequate testing and protecting equipment.
Access to quality, affordable healthcare is a human right. Yet too many Wisconsinites have inadequate health insurance while facing excessively high medical bills. Government must invest in its people by extending quality healthcare to all Wisconsinites. We all do better when we all do better.
Wisconsin solutions
Accept the expansion of BadgerCare, which will give healthcare coverage to over 80,000 Wisconsinites while dramatically reducing taxpayer expenses and making us eligible for additional federal money to fund healthcare services.
Make BadgerCare a public option so any residents can opt in.
Reign in the cost of prescription drugs by forming an oversight board and allowing BadgerCare to negotiate prices.
Legalize medical marijuana.
Transition to BadgerCare for All.
Follow the advice of scientists and health experts.
Adopt a state-wide, coordinated recovery plan, which re-opens our state is a carefully designed way to avoid a resurgence of Covid-19.
Develop a comprehensive plan for testing and tracing.
Ensure the state has adequate testing and protecting equipment.
The people of the Northwoods cherish their natural environment. Many of us are here precisely because of the pristine nature of our land and water. They provide outdoor recreation for hunters and fishermen, snowmobilers and kayakers. And those resources are the backbone of the tourist economy. But over the last 10 years, they have been under attack by the politicians in Madison, and environmental protections have been eroded for the benefit of corporations. We must make protecting our land and water a top priority, not just something we pay lip-service to.
Wisconsin solutions
Resist efforts to open the Northwoods to toxic mining.
Preserve our wetlands and protect shoreline zoning.
Restore the funding and the independence of the DNR.
Ensure all Wisconsinites have clean water and protect our water resources from corporate exploitation.
Restore local control over natural resource protections.
Promote renewable energy and pursue other ways to fight our climate crisis.
Our economy must work for all our people. We cannot accept an economic system in which prosperity is primarily found in the super-rich and corporate elites. Today, our economic system is rigged so that the rich get richer and working people rarely benefit. We must fight against severe wealth inequality in Wisconsin and empower those work hard for their living. We also must find ways to promote long-term job growth for the 21st century that will bring sustainable and equitable prosperity to the Northwoods and throughout the state.
Wisconsin solutions
Transition to a living-wage economy, with $15 minimum wage.
Build a clean-energy economy for the 21st century that provides living-wage jobs and an agriculture that is economically and ecologically sustainable.
Provide sufficient funding for the expansion of high-speed internet and cellular coverage.
Provide employment that benefits the people, including infrastructure jobs that help us transition to a clean-energy economy.
Reform the tax system so that the wealthy pay their fair share and huge corporations like Foxconn don’t receive tax giveaways.
Protect our workers and ensure good-paying jobs by safeguarding and expanding collective bargaining.
The core value of the United States is democracy. Nearly 250 years ago Americans fought for independence so they could live in a truly democratic country. But democracy is currently under attack. Partisan gerrymandering takes power out of the people’s hands by rigging elections so one party retains power despite the will of the people. The ability to vote is being suppressed in many ways. And Big Money too often controls our government. We must be diligent in building a stronger democracy where government is of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Wisconsin solutions
Adopt nonpartisan redistricting to avoid elections that are rigged by partisan gerrymandering.
Remove unnecessary and burdensome obstacles to voter registration.
Ensure that all people have easy access to voting, whether it is in-person or by mail.
Free our elections from undue influence by the rich and powerful, with restrictions on campaign donations.
We cherish our children – all children in the state. There may be nothing more essential for Wisconsin to thrive into the future than quality education for all. But public education is also under attack by politicians who refuse to provide it adequate funding, who drain taxpayer money out of our public education system, who devalue the very notion of public education. We must make a firm commitment to support public education so our children can fulfill their potential.
Wisconsin solutions
Invest in our children by providing sufficient funding to our schools.
Direct education tax dollars to public schools only.
Give local communities more control over their schools.
Transition to universal childcare to prepare our children for school and to help young parents be employed.
Support our teachers with adequate salaries and training.
Transition to tuition-free technical colleges and eventually tuition-free four-year college.
American history can be seen as a long struggle for social justice. Unfortunately, that struggle has had mixed results, with racial inequity and a failure to provide equal justice to all Wisconsinites. We must make sure we are actively promoting justice for all people in Wisconsin, so that certain social groups are not suffering because of prejudice or greed.
Wisconsin solutions
End mass incarceration that breaks up families and communities and burdens taxpayers.
Decriminalize recreational marijuana.
Reform our police systems so they live up to the honor and service of good police officers.
Invest in communities by funding programs in intervention, treatment, and rehabilitation.
Wherever appropriate, release inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes
