By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Two candidates in the November election for the state’s 29th Assembly District spoke on Wisconsin Public Radio about a variety of topics, including school vouchers, COVID-19 and fair redistricting.
Democratic candidate John Calabrese and Republican candidate Clint Moses, both of Menomonie, participated in a debate on the Wisconsin Public Radio show “The West Side” on WHWC (FM) 88.3 on September 25 hosted by Dean Kallenbach.
The current 29th Assembly District incumbent, Republican Representative Rob Stafsholt, decided not to run again for re-election in the Assembly and is instead running to represent the 10th Senate District against Democratic incumbent Patty Schachtner, who won a special election to replace Sheila Harsdorf when Harsdorf went to work in the Scott Walker administration.
The 20th Assembly District covers in Dunn County the Towns of Lucas, Menomonie, Stanton and Tiffany, and the Villages of Boyceville, Downing and Knapp as well as the City of Menomonie and parts of St. Croix County and Pierce County.
In St. Croix County, the 29th Assembly District includes the cities of Glenwood City and New Richmond, and the villages of Baldwin, Deer Park, Hammond, Star Prairie, Wilson and Woodville as well as the Towns of Cady, Cylon, Eau Galle, Emerald, Erin Prairie, Glenwood, Hammond, Pleasant Valley, Richmond, Rush River, Springfield, Stanton and Star Prairie.
When asked why he decided to run for representative of the 29th Assembly District again, after losing to Stafsholt in 2018, Calabrese said he has been following Wisconsin politics for 10 years and is a member of a volunteer group working to get money out of politics.
Calabrese, who owns a woodworking business, serves as a supervisor on the Dunn County Board and said he has learned a tremendous amount from the effort to get money out of politics and by serving on the county board.
Calabrese said state government “strangles” county government and that the 29th Assembly District has been represented by a Republican for 20 years, and he is driven to change that and to help his neighbors.
Moses, who is a chiropractor in Menomonie, noted he had prevailed in a three-way primary in August.
Moses lives on a small farm in the Town of Menomonie with his wife and four daughters and in addition to serving the community as a chiropractor has served in a wide variety of community organizations, on various boards of directors and currently serves on the Menomonie school board.
Serving on the school board has shown him there are many things beyond the control of the school board because of the state Legislature, he said.
And while Moses is new to state-wide politics, he said he listens all day to clients who are complaining about various problems and that he is concerned for the future of his patients, his children and for other people’s children.
Businesses
One caller to the West Side asked how Moses and Calabrese plan to step away from their businesses and focus on the job of governing.
Moses said he treats patients about 45 to 50 hours per week, and that if he wins the election, plans to see patients one day per week and to hire an associate to fill in for the rest of the time.
The clinic has had extra help before, and about 95 percent of the clients are willing to see either Moses or his wife, who also is a chiropractor, he said.
Legislators need to be “boots on the ground in the community,” Moses said, adding that he does not want to be a rubber stamp in the Legislature and that he wants to represent the people in the district.
Calabrese said his woodworking business “will change drastically” because he would plan to step aside completely.
Being a Legislator is a good-paying job with good benefits, he said.
The Republican party has controlled the Legislature for 10 years and is largely a club of landlords, real estate developers and small business owners who see it as a side job so they can write laws to favor themselves and their friends, he said.
Calabrese said he plans to attend all of his committee hearings in the state Legislature and noted that Stafsholt has attended 52 percent of his committee hearings while starting a small business in New Richmond during the legislative session.
In addition to attending Dunn County Board meetings, Calabrese said he would plan to attend, when possible, St. Croix County Board meetings, town board meetings, and hold town hall meetings when COVID-19 makes in person meetings possible.
Prior to the pandemic slowing down, the town hall meetings can be held online, he said.
Serving the state Legislature “will be my full-time job,” Calabrese said.
School vouchers
Another question focused on private schools receiving taxpayer money, even though private schools are not subject to the open meetings law, are less accountable than public schools, and receive money from taxpayers who do not have the opportunity to put their children in private schools.
Calabrese said he would work to dismantle the voucher school program.
The program was formed by people who had other interests besides the education of children, and no tax dollars should be going to private schools, he said.
Moses noted he serves as the clerk on the Menomonie school board and that there are great public schools in this part of the state.
With COVID-19, however, public schools cannot adapt as well as private schools to help students with special needs, he said.
Public school accountability should apply to private schools, but the tax dollars must follow the student and the family, Moses said.
COVID-19
One caller noted that the increase in COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin are “staggering” and that Wisconsin ranks third in the United States for rising infection rates. The Republican-controlled Legislature has closed down the governor’s efforts to try to get the virus under control.
What would each candidate do to restore the public’s faith that their government cares about their well being? the caller asked.
Moses said he believes the governor has gone “too far” on requiring masks and other measures, although the response could have been faster initially on the state level and the federal level.
Transparency will help restore faith, and people are tired of the partisan bickering, he said.
The numbers have increased, but Wisconsin has a large university system. As the numbers climb, people need to be smart and practice good hygiene, Moses said, adding that he is wary of government mandates because they are slippery slopes that will cause people to lose freedoms.
Constitutional rights are important, and people should be able to choose what is right for them, he said.
If Moses would like to avoid partisan bickering, he should not be joining the Republicans, Calabrese commented.
No one saw the pandemic coming, no one knew how to prepare for it. The pandemic is like space aliens coming from outer space, and everyone should be fighting together, he said.
Republican governors in other states have instituted mask mandates, and the Republican legislators are not complaining, he said.
If Wisconsin had a Republican governor who issued a statewide mask mandate, all Republicans would be in favor and would follow the mandate and help their neighbors, Calabrese said.
The best way to restore the faith of the people would be for Legislators to be willing to criticize their own party when it is deserved, he said.
Photographs have been posted online of Moses in packed places with many people and no masks, Calabrese said.
“You lead by example,” he said.
Unemployment
Unemployment is twice as high now as it was last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, although at around six percent, it is lower than it was in April at 14.7 percent.
Does the decrease in unemployment mean Wisconsin is responding successfully, and what about the unemployment claims backlog since the Republicans have made it harder to claim benefits? asked one person.
The Legislature has not been in session, and anything the governor proposes is pushed aside, so the decrease in unemployment is due to the resiliency of our neighbors, Calabrese said.
State government should be helping small business owners and workers instead of demonizing people who need help. People want to succeed, he said.
Businesses have been adaptive, and people are resilient. The government should make it easier for businesses to function. The pandemic will not go away quickly, and some changes will be permanent, Moses said.
The unemployment number could be lower because fewer people are looking for work, or maybe some people do not feel safe going back to work or they are educating their children at home, he said.
As for the backlog in unemployment claims, is is a good deflection technique to blame the Republican legislators since there is a Democratic governor, Moses said, noting he knows people who have waited a long time for unemployment benefits.
Improving the backlog of unemployment claims falls on the governor, he said.
Moses says it is easy to blame the Republicans, and it is true. Republicans have been in charge of the Legislature for 10 years, and they have been working to make it more difficult to claim unemployment benefits, Calabrese said.
Calabrese noted he has been following Republican Legislators on Twitter, and they post memes and make jokes about people who need help.
Now they are complaining about people who need benefits when they made it more difficult to claim those benefits, he said.
Healthcare
Another person wanted to know what the candidates would do to about access to affordable healthcare.
People were excited about Obama-care at first, but then the deductibles and the premiums turned out to be high, Moses said.
Under the Medicaid system prior to the Affordable Care Act, the unemployed or disabled were covered, although they may have had to pay a small premium. Under a single payer system, people will lose choices. People need more choices and more competition among insurance plans, he said.
As a member of the Dunn County Board, Calabrese said he sees how much Dunn County pays for healthcare every year.
During a global pandemic, neither party seems willing to provide coverage, he said.
The insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies have engaged in “legalized bribery.” At the state level, people should be informed of the benefits of Medicaid expansion, Calabrese said.
Wisconsin sends taxpayer money to the federal government. The failure to accept Medicaid expansion has caused the closing of 40 nursing homes around the state because Wisconsin’s reimbursement rate is so low, he said.
People somehow believe we cannot afford universal healthcare in the richest nation on earth, so the propaganda must be turned back the other way. Healthcare should be viewed as service in the way police and firefighters provide a service, Calabrese said.
If other countries can do it, we can do it, he said.
Marijuana
Both Republicans and Democrats have supported medical marijuana. What are the views of Calabrese and Moses?
Marijuana would provide a medical benefit, and recreational marijuana would be a source of revenue for the state if it were legalized, Calabrese said.
Alcohol is much more dangerous, and marijuana should legalized, taxed and regulated, he said.
Moses said he has seen the benefits of medical marijuana for a 90-year-old patient for whom the chiropractic adjustments “were not holding.”
The government should regulate it, and there would be revenue benefits, he said.
Fair redistricting
One caller asked if the candidates had signed the pledge for fair redistricting maps to end gerrymandering in Wisconsin. All together, 72 percent of Wisconsin voters are in favor of non-partisan redistricting.
Redistricting traditionally respected county boundaries, but the current maps “chop up” Dunn County and St. Croix County so there are four assembly districts, Kallenbach noted.
If it were truly a non-partisan effort, “I would be all over it,” Moses said.
The maps “are crazy.” Whoever is in power will want to draw the maps, he said.
Calabrese said he has signed the pledge for fair redistricting.
Representatives are supposed to represent their constituents, and 72 percent say they want fair redistricting, he said.
Calabrese said he is in favor of fair maps and noted that other states have figured out a fair way to do redistricting on a scientific basis, so it can be done.
