Letter to the Editor: Utesch for Assembly

I had not met Lynn Utesch until last week when my husband and I sponsored a “meet and greet” event at our home for a dozen friends from northern Door. We are very impressed with this candidate, and I urge you to become more familiar with his qualifications and positions.

Mr. Utesch is known for his work on the problems of waste disposal in the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) industry in Kewaunee County. He has learned to speak clearly about this set of problems that needs governmental attention sooner rather than later. Even more important, however, is the fact that he understands the responsibility of a citizen-legislator to identify real problems that face constituents and to address them in a timely manner.

He is not, however, a one-issue candidate. For example, he is deeply concerned about year-round employment in the county and is knowledgeable about the benefits that could arise from treating the internet as a public utility. He is also concerned about the quality of public education, along with the importance of landmarks like Eagle Tower and other cultural capital, as ways to attract young people to become permanent residents. In other words, his stance is proactive rather than reactive, and the problems he will address are long-term as well as immediate.

Utesch’s vision is based on his experience of working for a public utility on Washington Island and on farming in Door and Kewaunee counties the past 27 years. He is every bit as qualified as the current office-holder without being under the thumb of a Governor and an organization of corporations (ALEC) that writes one-size-fits-all laws for the states to pass. Lynn Utesch would not, for example, have ceded local control on our shoreline or any other issue where local knowledge is essential to good decisions. Instead, he would have upheld the established rule whereby the state set minimum requirements that could be upgraded by local governments.

It is time for the First District to elect a legislator who does not wait for public pressure or his party’s approval before he acts on issues that concern his constituents.

Estella Lauter

Fish Creek, Wis.