Issues

Especially in the northern part of the district, in the Pestigo and Marinette areas, a business released a spreading plume of toxic PFAS chemicals into the groundwater and wells. These “forever chemicals” don’t break down over time and are proven to cause cancer and other illnesses. Families are forced to use bottled water for drinking and cooking, and are afraid to bathe their babies in the toxic water coming from their taps. My opponent sponsored Bill AB 392 to use one-time federal Covid relief money to create grants to address PFAS contaminated water. That bill has nothing to do with Covid relief. Its effect is to spend taxpayers’ money to repair the environmental damage a business caused. I would work to hold the business accountable. It’s not right to privatize profits and then socialize the costs of damage on the taxpayers!

My opponent has stated publicly that there is a “poison pill” in his legislation. In order to qualify for proposed state government grant money, an applicant that receives a grant waives the right to bring or maintain legal action against those responsible for the pollution. Communities should not be required to give up their legal right to hold polluters accountable as a condition of receiving state grant funding. The Senate would not take up this bill, even though it passed in the Assembly.

The extent of PFAS damage grows with every passing day. Contaminated tributaries and streams flow into Lake Michigan. This is both a state and federal issue that will require determined, ongoing effort to avoid a full-on catastrophe where the largest body of fresh water in the United States is contaminated beyond recovery.

The reason Wisconsin still has good schools is because school districts beg for funding over and over again through referendums, and often our citizens are willing to pay to support them. Schools need consistent funding! I’ll drive to finally improve the funding formula to make it more fair across the wide variety of our school districts. I’ll push for the state to pay its fair share of per pupil costs, including getting us out of the national rock bottom for reimbursing for special needs pupils. Let’s follow the money used for the different kinds of charter schools and vouchers to see how they draw down the budget for public schools, cause teachers to flee the profession, and erode the quality of our public education system. There are fairer ways to provide high quality public education.