Lassa to Run on Experience
What was your early political career?
My early political career consisted of volunteering for a number of local and state Democratic candidates like Senator Dave Helbach and Sheriff Ron Borski, a number of folks. I also ran for the state assembly in 1994 and prior to that I was actually appointed to the Town of Dewey Board as one of their town supervisors.
Give me just one example of how you’ve already proven your “worth”, if you will, as an elected official.
Sure. This past session I was able to work with Representative Evan Wynn, who is a Republican who represents Oshkosh- well, I’m not exactly sure but he’s from southern Wisconsin. And what we did together was work on a bill that Governor Walker later signed into law that helped disabled veterans find employment by giving businesses tax credits in order to hire our disabled vets, because we have found in the State of Wisconsin, and unfortunately throughout the statistics for the rest of the nation as well, that disabled veterans have a much higher unemployment rates, hoovering around 50%. These are men and women who have valuable skills, have served out country, and really deserve for employers to give them a serious look and consideration, and to hire them for a variety of jobs. This new law will help give [employers] incentive to do that, and help defray any cost they might have to make some adjustments to their business, like making it handicapped- accessible, or adjustments like that.
Can you give me one example of a new piece of legislation you would like to introduce if you are reelected? What’s your first priority?
Well, the first priority really has to do with improving the state’s economic outlook, and getting people back to work. There are a number of things I’d actually like to see passed, but the first I’d like to see is helping our rural economy, that has to do with what I believe, increasing the tax credit programs we currently have for diff businesses that are related to agriculture, manufacturing, dairy. We also need to, I believe focus on helping entrepreneurs starting their own businesses, which includes offering micro-loans and micro-grants to them, which help them get off the ground, and by providing mentor-ship with other business owners who would be able to help them along the way.
You mentioned having worked on veteran- geared legislation with Evan Wynn, and you did that at the art’s forum as well. Do you see a change in how we think about veterans, just from the political side of things? One might think they would be the first ones an employer would want to hire, because they have a proven track record of responsibility and accountability from their military experience.
Well I would hope so. What we heard yesterday (at a listening session in Sparta), especially from those veterans who are returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that there are some employers who are really search out veterans, they recognize that they have a particular skill, training and work ethic. But we’re also hearing there are others who, for whatever reason, are really hesitant, and that’s why I believe we really need to do everything we can for those veterans who want a job to be able to get one. Even with the State of Wisconsin, I worked with former Senator Pam Galloway and others to get the state law changes in terms of hiring preference for disabled veterans because even under the old law, they were only given preference for entry level jobs, and the job that Pam and I worked to get past expanded that hiring preference for disabled veterans to all classified positions within state government.
Do you have any veterans, disabled or otherwise, on your staff?
I do have one individual who does have military experience, unfortunately he’s decided to move and take a job in Arizona to be closed to his family. But I do think we really need to look at ways we can help returning veterans. One of the things pointed out yesterday was the U.S. Army, when these troops are coming back, they’re going to be letting go about 80,000 across the United States, potentially followed by the release of another 100,000. That will make, for so many veterans, it crucial that the state be there in partnership with the federal government, and hopefully the private sector as well, to really provide links to employers, through hiring fairs, be able to help them build resumes and provide additional incentives for these veterans, so they are able to get good jobs in both the private sector as well as the public sector.
How accessible would you describe yourself as a legislator?
I’m very accessible to my constituents. During this last term I have held over 30 listening sessions and office hours throughout the district, and that doesn’t county the numerous meeting I’ve had with groups and individuals around the district, or the impromptu ones I’ve had at the local grocery store where people bump into me in the aisles. So I’m very happy to get their feedback on legislation pending before the state senate, or if they have ideas for improving a particular law in the state, or if they’re having an issue with a state agency, how we might be able to help them get that resolved.
How unique is it for you, coming from such a small community, that is so intertwined. How does that experience help you when you go to Madison?
I think that what is most helpful in representing the constituents of this area is the values that I grew up with from my parents, as well as the interactions I’ve had with people in Point, or Dewey or wherever. We have a common set of core values. That’s what I think is really important- knowing how people feel about particular issues, what they value and prioritize, and that is what I really fight for in the state senate in representing them.
What do you see as some of those core values being?
I see those core values as being our work ethic, the ability to work together to solve a problem or a challenge. Things on the farm would not have gotten done if, you know, my mom and dad and brother and sister and I weren’t able to pull together in order to get the work done. The hay would not have been bailed, the corn would not have been harvested, the cows would not have been milked, because you may not want to do the work, but it has to be done. And I think that is really an important value that people have around here is the ability to work together to solve our challenges. I think that’s why folks not only here in this area are really concerned about what they’re seeing not only in Madison but in Washington, because they just are frustrated that there are some extreme partisans out there, that are not able to work together, to be able to move either or state or our country forward.
Let’s talk about “Walker-gate”, as we’ve dubbed here it here at the City-Times. You are one of the “Democrat 14”, also called the “Wisconsin 14”. When a constituent would come to you and say, “How could you just leave the state?” how do you explain your actions to a constituent who maybe did not agree with the decision you made to flee to Illinois while the legislature was still in session? I think it’s important to remember back to last year, when Governor Walker and the legislative Republicans were really trying to ram through their mini- budget in less than a week. They didn’t give legislators, or local officials, or even citizens around the state, the time to be able to look at what was in the bill, to digest it, and then to contact their state senators and legislators to let them know whether they supported what was in that bill or were opposed, or what changes they wanted.
And I think that people assume that the state senate operates under the same rules as the US Senate. It’s not a correct assumption, because under U.S. Senate rules, members can indefinitely hold up pieces of legislation through filibuster. But in the state senate, at any time, the majority can change the rules to shut off and end debate to go immediately to the vote. And the ability of the minority to discuss and debate legislation is really diminished.
What I tell people is that there was so much focus on the piece of that legislation that stripped out workers’ rights and took away workers’ rights from public employees, that there was not a lot of media coverage about what else was in the proposal. Governor Walker, in that mini- budget, had proposed increasing the state’s debt ceiling. He had proposed allowing himself and unelected bureaucrats over at DHS (Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services) the ability to gut programs and make dramatic changes within senior care and Badgercare, and other Medicaid programs without having it come to the legislature for a vote.
In that proposal, he also proposed raiding funds set aside to cover costs associated with enforcing the tougher drunk driving laws that we had passed thr previous session. And for this year, the UWSP heating plant, he had proposed in that mini- budget to be able to sell heating plants and power plants that are owned by state taxpayers, off to different entities without even having to put them out for competitive bid so that taxpayers got the highest value they could possibly get for those assets. And it was items like that where, when I tell these people who may have been concerned about us slowing the way we slowed down the process so they would know what was in it, they for some of them, it was a surprise to know that these items were also included in this mini- budget. All the media attention was really focused on the workers’ rights issue. Many of them are like, “Oh, I didn’t know that”, and that was the whole goal: to let people have the time to know what was in it, and to let legislators know what was in it and to hear back from their constituents.
What has happened in this last legislative session is that there is less transparency now in state government, I believe, because of some of the actions that were taken earlier on in the legislative session, where you have the governor and legislative Republicans trying to ram this budget through.
Then when they decided to split off just the workers’ rights piece, and quickly calling for a vote in the state senate, before that bill was even printed and handed out to senators. And there have been countless examples where they really try to keep the public out of the process, and it’s just a real shame.
And one of the other provisions in that mini- budget I forgot to mention earlier, is it endagered municipalities and their local transit systems. The way the language was, it would have meant losses to Point, Wausau and other municipalities throughout the state, they would have lost federal funding for their transportation systems. If we hadn’t given local officials enough time to look at what was in the budget bill, that would have gone through, and those municipalities would have lost the transportation funds. That would have meant massive chjanges would have been made to the transit systems, where they either eliminated, drastically reduced, or taxpayers would be paying more in taxes to sustain them.
No disrespect intended to you or your husband, but do you feel there is any potential conflict of interest having your husband count ballots that may or may not be cast for you? Do you see a potential conflict, or an appearance of impropriety in that?
No. There is not a conflict of interest. There is a staffer in the clerk’s office that actually is the one who runs the ballots through the counting machines, and there is very high standards in the city clerk’s office. So there’s absolutely no conflict on interest there whatsoever. At no time is any individual in the city clerk’s office ever alone in a room with a ballot.
How does being a mom affect your decision making?
I believe that my experience as being a mother really does give me a unique perspective on issues dealing with children in the state legislature. And that’s actually a opportunity for me to work with other women legislators who are also parents across the aisle. This last session I worked with Representative Samantha Kirkman from the very southeastern part of the state on getting passed Hailey’s Law. As mothers, when we heard about the fact that in the Casey Anthony case that she had gone so many days without reporting her child missing, was just horrifying to me and every other parent I talked to in the district. It was unimaginable to us. The number of contacts I received through emails and calls, including an online petition, that really struck a chord with moms and dads throughout the state. So together we worked on that issue in writing a bill, and we’ve worked with local district attorneys, including Tom Eagan who recently became a judge, and were able to put together a really good piece of public policy that Governor Walker signed into law. I think that, yes, as a mother I do have, because of that experience, it does give me a unique perspective on issues. It also, I think, gives me the ability to work with other moms in the state legislature, whether they are Republican or Democrat, on good public policy, and I think that’s very helpful when you can find that commonality within legislature, whether it’s on a piece of legislation, it gives you a good basis for you to work off of to get things done, and that’s real important.
You actually got a petition on the whole Casey Anthony thing?
Right, what they were really concerned about is that kind of thing wouldn’t happen here in Wisconsin. When we were researching what the laws were at that time, there was really a gap. So we worked to strengthen the law, so there are parents and guardians would be responsible for reporting the death of a child. The DA’s have had instances where they had problems with the death of a child, where people were using it to collect their social security benefits. So we were able to work together and get it through the legislature, but we received quote a few calls from people who were absolutely incensed something like that could happen, and no responsible and rational adult would report their child missing.