Letter to the Editor: More Sad than Angry

Let me start out by saying I am in support of Andre Jacque for the 1st District State Senate seat. I am Garey Bies the former State Representative for the 1st District of the State Assembly (7 terms-14 years). When Andre was considering running for the seat of the 2nd district and we met to share thoughts on what he needed to do to win the election. Andre and I have been friends ever since.

Andre will make a great state Senator. He is a hard working and very knowledgeable. Andre is a very good father and a man of deep faith. I worked with him on legislation, we co-sponsored a number of bills.  Andre works relentless on issues his people bring to his attention. Andre is the type of person I want representing me so I know I can count on him if a problem comes that I need help with, someone who will listen, find an answer and then take action.  

The issue that has me between Sad and Angry is the support of the other person running against Andre in the Republican primary. What I have witnessed is something I haven’t seen before. When I inquired about running for office in 2000 I was told by the Republican Party of  Wisconsin I was on my own and the winner of the primary would then get Party support. The same happened 2002 when I had another primary. That was fine I understood the rules are the rules.

Now yesterday I received the sixth or maybe the seventh mailing piece by Andre’s opponent in the primary. All pieces show that they were paid for by the Republican Party of Wisconsin, they must have spent $50K-$60k for this primary already. So I’m saying to myself how can this be. These aren’t the rules I had to play by and besides a lot of us who support Andre are having the money we donated to the Party use against the person we support. The whole thing is Sad. It’s like no one in Madison is listening.

Andre Jacque isn’t a self-centered person who is in Republican Party just for himself. This man has volunteered to work on many other campaigns. In 2016 Andre had no opponent in his assembly race so he volunteered and worked on many others helping wherever he was needed. This guy had your back but they don’t have his.

One final thought, if we have good people in the district to run for office why did the State Party bring a guy to run that has moved into the district.  

For me the choice is Andre Jacque and the choice is to be Sad on what is taking place because it’s hard work to be Angry.

Garey Bies, Former State Representative

Sister Bay, Wis.