Door County Election News: Getting To Know the Candidates

In an effort to give readers a better look at the candidates competing for the right to represent the 1st Assembly District in the State Legislature in Madison, the Pulse will be asking incumbent Representative Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay) and challenger Dick Skare (D-Fish Creek) to respond to a different question in each issue from now until election day, November 4.

If you have a question or topic you would like to see the candidates address, please email it to [email protected], and we may use it in a future issue. Visit http://www.ppulse.com to review the candidate’s responses to previous questions and find other articles related to the campaign.

This issue’s question: Too often government is a reactive body, responding to problems rather then heading them off. What would you suggest to make Wisconsin government more pro-active? In your vision of the state’s future, what is one challenge we will face in the near future we can address today, and how would you address it?

Garey Bies

In order for government to become more pro-active, it must become more efficient and more accountable to the taxpayers. More regular evaluation of state programs to identify and eliminate ineffective ones while supporting those that are productive would be of great benefit.

By far, the largest challenge we will face in the future will be to get our economy back on track. Families are struggling to pay for gas, groceries and health care. Too many good-paying jobs are leaving Wisconsin and too many businesses are closing or relocating out of state. There are two complementary approaches to this goal, one being holding the line on taxes and the other creating incentives for businesses to invest in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin residents pay too much in taxes. Wisconsin is ranked number 11 in the country for state and local taxes and while this ranking is improving, it is still too high. With the high prices we are paying for gas and groceries, now is not the time to be taking more away from residents with higher taxes. Sadly, that was the approach the folks in Madison advocated for over the past two years. I fought them every step of the way and helped lead the effort to eliminate more than 98 percent of the tax hikes proposed by the Madison politicians.

In addition to making sure more of your money stays in your pocket, we also need to make sure that Wisconsin is a good home for businesses where they can prosper and grow. This past year, I supported several initiatives that Governor Doyle in his State of the State addressed to get the economy going again. While the Democratic-led State Senate blocked our efforts, I will continue to support any steps we can take to keep and bring more good-paying jobs to northeast Wisconsin. I want to encourage businesses to innovate and modernize. I want to encourage business to invest in research and development so they can position themselves for the future. I want to help businesses provide health care options for their employees like tax deductibility for Health Savings Accounts.

Dick Skare

Wisconsin has a long history of progressive government. Many models of state policy have been copied on a national level such as workers compensation, unemployment insurance, and environmental issues.

The list of current problems facing our state is long. Health care reform, school funding, job creation, and environmental protection top the list of current problems we face. Partisan divisions in the legislature have prevented real solutions.

My experience in the community has been bringing groups together to face challenges, agree on solutions, and then implementing those solutions. My vision for Wisconsin would return a solution driven atmosphere to the legislature, one in which ideas are presented and discussed and solutions are brought forward.

To effectively solve problems and have a pro-active atmosphere, the legislature must work across party lines. A current example of this would be the recognition of Senator Robert Cowles (R-Allouez) and Senator Mark Miller (D-Monona) for reaching across party lines in their work on the Great Lakes Compact.

It is not about Democrat or Republican, left or right, it is about solving the problems which affect the people of District 1.

The Great Lakes Compact is one example of a pro-active initiative in which Wisconsin has taken a leadership role. Even though it languished for two years in the legislature due to partisan politics, its passage represents the State’s readiness to move forward and protect its valuable resource. We must stand ready to support initiatives that reclaim and reconstitute the Great Lakes in cooperation with the other signers of the Compact.

Another current example of a program which benefits District 1 are the initiatives to promote biofuels and alternative energy sources. Grants are currently available which promote such efforts in hopes of relieving our dependence on fossil fuels and reducing our contribution to global warming while encouraging businesses which develop this technology. This sort of program protects our precious resources and builds our economy, keeping dollars in the state.

The stewardship program is another forward thinking program. The properties saved become a part of our heritage and give the citizens of Wisconsin and its visitors the opportunity to enjoy what makes our state special.

We can be proud of Wisconsin’s history of progressive problem solving. My vision for state government has this legacy as a foundation on which to solve current problems and to encourage programs which will help our state grow in a responsible way.

Clarification on Equal Pay Vote

In the Sept. 19 issue of the Peninsula Pulse, we asked the candidates for the 1st Assembly District seat how they would support pay equity for Wisconsin women. Democratic candidate Dick Skare (Fish Creek) replied in part that, “Our current 1st Assembly District representative has voted in committee not to bring legislation supporting equal pay for women to the floor of the Assembly. I will support such legislation.”

Bies, in fact, is not a member of the committee responsible for the bill.

The legislation Skare referred to, AB-310, would permit the Department of Workforce Development to bring action in circuit court to recover damages caused by the act of discrimination. The bill was in fact referred to the Assembly’s Committee on Jobs and the Economy, of which Mr. Bies is not a member. A motion to suspend Assembly rules and pull the bill out of committee for full assembly consideration was made last February but failed in a party line vote. Bies did vote against pulling the bill out of committee.

Bies said the motion to pull the bill was a classic example of games played in Madison by both parties to score political points.

“It’s silly,” Bies said. “I ask people all the time ‘Why do we do this stuff?’ It’s brought up just to get votes people can campaign on.”

Bies said the bill did not receive a public hearing so it was not ready for floor action, calling Skare’s statement “an example of my opponent playing Madison politics and [that] is exactly what’s wrong with Madison.”

Skare said his statement was simply a mis-interpretation of Bies’ vote and apologized for the error.