Despite the rain, the Dunn County Democrats Picnic in the Park was a huge success with many folks listening to wonderful music, bidding on silent auction items, and listening to speeches by candidates and our Democratic elected officials. See below for the content of Joe’s speech.
“Campaign issues of the day are important. They drive most campaigns and focus debate. But today I am only going to address one of them.
Rotting dead deer alongside our roads.
I have a public voting record in the Legislature, city council and county board. You can look it up or ask me and I’m proud to talk about it.
Having the courage from the minority to vote against bills and constitutional amendments to ban so-called, “partial birth” abortions, and “same sex marriage” I look very much forward to working in the majority next year.
As the tenth most senior democrat in the assembly I will be in a clear position to offer my legislative and policy making experience to the many inexperienced representatives elected with me in November.
For the next few minutes, I plan to explain why I decided to run for the legislature again.
Last year was no surprise when the Wisconsin State Supreme Court found the current legislative district maps drawn by republicans heavily favored, well, themselves. The maps being used were an illegal abuse of power. The court ordered the legislature and governor, to send them new maps, legally drafted.
In January I approached Pete Huff and asked who was going to run for the State Assembly. Nobody had yet stepped forward. And those approached had not committed.
My spouse, Lavonne Solem, and I both became comfortable with the idea of returning to the legislature, and I began a series of strategic moves.
The first was to find if my traditional support base remained. It was and I searched deeper to discover there was another layer of support. This group were younger and most likely in their early teens when I was last in the legislature. During the second phase I tested the doors in Wards 1,2,6 and 8 in the city of Menomonie. I found people supportive and encouraging.
I again examined the seven proposed maps. I now concluded I could run in any of the seven proposed districts. And win.
I went on to examine my former assembly district. It started to be gerrymandered in the redistricting effort following the 2000 federal census. The GOP took more democrats out of the district during the redistricting of 2010 and solidified the deep red tint in 2020.
After losing my own reelection the republican assembly leadership told me that, “We really like you Joe, don’t take this personally. We just wanted to clear out west central Wisconsin”. Who could predict gerrymandering was to become an extreme use of raw power. And it was plowing through our fundamental institution. The ballot box. The GOP was selecting which voters would vote for them. The dead deer were piling up as road kill throughout our state.
By 2020 the GOP had cleared out every democrat north of highway 29. No democrat stood between it and Lake Superior or the Michigan border. Today there are no legislative democrats from the St. Croix River to the shores of Green Bay. That is a lot of, “clearing out”.
I decided to run for the state assembly no matter which of the seven maps became law. My political background and experience kicked in. Once the map was decided in mid-February, I knew the 92nd was the best district for me to face Moses. I know I am the one that can beat him. All campaign factors, numbers and issues add up.
Earlier, I had registered for a campaign committee awaiting my final decision to run. Now in mid-February I began gathering a few friends for advice. They and I began to set up a campaign team.
We discussed message and strategies to be considered. A campaign plan and structure evolved.
First – I want people to know me. I do not want to be a candidate using sound bites as policy.
Secondly – I am a liberal democrat. I will not deny it or run away from it. This country was made great by liberal thought, practice, and public policy. It is time to take liberalism back and celebrate it.
Third – My campaign plan includes building local campaign capacity for future local west central WI candidates.
Yet a few are cautious with my liberal activism and actions. I get that and fully understand the concern. But this liberal is proud of the work he has done and the causes he supports. …….. You can’t be too liberal when you’re defending people’s rights.
When militarized national guard and police from around the Midwest turned water cannons on peaceful American protestors on cold November days I could not stand and watch. I am proud to have answered the call when veteran organizations mobilized to stand with native Americans protecting their land from corporate interests. I proudly stood that line in the North Dakota blizzards. I would do so again. And I will stand that line or any line for you. I will not walk away, hide or apologize for my liberalism in thought, deed or action.
For some time, I have been concerned with the chaos I see in Washington D.C., and I am concerned with Madison being in the headlights of right wing extremists.
Every time tax money is allocated to tax breaks for the wealthy a balanced budget means you, 1) increase taxes or, 2) cut programs. Republican candidates are held to pledges they will not increase taxes. That only means budget cuts on services.
When the state eventually cut funding to end dead deer removal from the highways, they decided to leave the carcasses to rot on the pavement where they fell.
So, I ask you, how is the stench of budget cuts on education, the DNR, K-12 education, health care and the UW system smelling today? How many dead carcasses will the GOP let rot before they are satisfied?
Explain to me how conservative policies toward a woman’s right to choose, a gay couple to marry or refugees fleeing in fear seeking safety do not smell. Republicans leave a trail of stench whenever they make policy.
Clint Moses and every GOP member of the state assembly rode in the back seat of Robin Voss’s car as he charged recklessly down the highway. He and his Waukesha cabal gerrymandered our state for their own thirst for power. That raw power is today being used to prevent Governor Evers from doing the work he was elected to do for Wisconsin.
Governor Evers, …help is on the way. Joe Plouff will work with you to remove this stench in our state.
Thank you, my friends!!”
