53rd Assembly Candidates

The following are reported candidates vying for the open 53rd assembly seat:

A. Tim Blake (D), 1416 Valley Road in the town of Algoma.

According to the Appleton Post Crescent: "Blake said that if elected, he would fight against higher taxes and the placement of sex offenders in places where children congregate. He said he would seek to bring higher paying manufacturing jobs to the district."

Tim has a website from his town of Algoma Board campaigns: http://voteblake2007.com/default.aspx. According to the site:

I’ve been a member of the Town Board since 2003... I’ve been a member of the Town’s Parks Committee since 2005 and a member of the Oakwood School Safety Committee since 2006. I’m married and have three children (Michael (12), Christian (9), and Quintin (6)). My wife Katie and I enjoy raising our family in the Town of Algoma. We are members of St. Raphael’s Catholic Church. I’m employed as a Production Supervisor (North Plant) at Oshkosh Truck Corporation. Prior to my promotion, I was an Assembler and member of the UAW Local 578. I have attended both Fox Valley Technical College (Supervisory Management) and Lakeland College (Business Administration). My beliefs have been shaped by personal experiences as a Christian, a working person at Oshkosh Truck, and as a father and husband.

Eye on Oshkosh has the following about Blake:

"the Town of Algoma may take legal action to try preventing the Oshkosh Area School District Board of Education from establishing new boundaries for the district. Town supervisors are apparently upset that the town was not included in the planning team’s decision-making processes regarding any potential boundary changes and that town of Algoma residents are affected as it is within the OASD. One town supervisor, Tim Blake, was actually quoted in the article as saying, “It shocks me that the town of Algoma was never invited to any meetings that other municipalities were. To me, that’s appalling because it affects our community.”

picture from Blake's website

B. Cecil A Streeter (R), 1000 Alpine Court, Oshkosh, WI 54901

We included information on his campaign on Nov 11, 2007 here.

According to the Oshkosh Northwestern: "He said that if elected he would want to focus on unequal spending in Madison because he think Madison and Milwaukee get a disproportionate amount of the state's resources. "

C. Mike Hatch (R), Town of Empire

Mike has a website here: http://mike_hatch.tripod.com/

According to this site: Mike Hatch, the author, is an engineer and computer scientist who has past experience in defense industries including radioactive materials handling equipment for nuclear weapons and military aircraft production. Today, Mike teaches computer science and computer-based business logistics at the University of Wisconsin. His novels are packed with authentic cutting-edge computer, weapons and communications technology presented in a reader-friendly manner.

picture from US Rep Petri's website

Here is another Bio and interview of Mike.

Mike was also a "Gore Detector" back in 2000.

picture from UW Madison college of engineering news piece

Recent Assembly Happenings Jan 25, 2008

Rep Hintz wants Public Defenders to be more accessible to low-income individuals. According to Hintz's release: The legislation would update the SPD’s financial eligibility criteria to be the same as that of the W2 program (except the SPD criteria limits the asset exclusion for a home to $30,000, and takes the cost to hire an attorney into account). Under the new eligibility requirements, the SPD would be able to provide legal representation in about 15,400 additional cases per year. Additionally, the new requirements would ultimately eliminate the liability for counties to provide counsel to people who do not qualify for SPD representation.

Rep Kaufert wants mandatory breathalyzers attached to your ignition for all repeat drunk driving violators. They would need to breath into it before being able to start the car and randomly while driving.

As many other sources have already told you, Rep Carol Owens is stepping down after 16 years of government service. You can read her release here. Rep Owens, like Rep Roth, would not respond to questions from this site, because she would only provide feedback to constituents in her district and we may or may not have had an address in her region. Hopefully the next official in the 53rd will be more open to disclosing their opinions and positions. Good luck in retirement Carol. This local site linked here didn't care much for Owens.

The Oshkosh Northwestern interviewed Rep Hintz and State Sen Roessler on their response to Doyle's state of the state address. The entire interview can be found here. Really not much is said, but here is one statement from each:

• Hintz, when asked if anything was left out of Doyle's address: "..one thing that was missing was campaign finance reform. We seem to be closer to getting our governor’s attention when he called for a special session and we certainly still have time this year to act. I’m a little bit disappointed that we haven’t heard anything about campaign finance reform. It’s just because to me one of the biggest issues that needs to be addressed in Wisconsin. I think the support is there from the public."


• Roessler, when asked about Doyle's Health Care proposal: "my first comment is that it puts a further nail in the coffin of the Senate Democrats Healthy Wisconsin proposal. The governor continues to not support that proposal. What he did talk about is that the public cares about disclosure, how much they are paying for and they want to see those costs and who is performing the service. They want to be more in charge of it, consumer driven. The governor is now talking about the involvement of consumers and again, the Democrat majority simply want to pour more money in it and raise the money and then have a board determine what the benefit plans are going to be. A board of absolute generalists and no one from the medical community and on and on.A government operated health care system and government run system is costing $15 billion in taxes on our workers and employers is not the way to go. Now, the first that I heard of BadgerChoice is tonight. It is all about the cost. I agree with the governor that it is all about the health care cost. He said something there that it is the cost. He is the saying the same thing that we republicans have said for months when we came up with Healthy Wisconsin that it is about the cost. I do not know really the particulars about this plan. This is the first that I heard of it tonight."

The "Labor Chicks" are back to life, with early endorsements of any Democrat that will run. According to the site, they would support "Any Democrat who will do a good job in the 53rd Assembly district. All you have to do is be able to stay awake during Assembly sessions and you will be doing better than the incumbent. " Oddly naive - this blind Dem support at any cost leads one to endorse Chuck Chvala over Bob Lafollete. Not everyone has to like Bob.

Rep Roth and friends have introduced a bill that would require the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to prepare report to be released to the public for 48 hours before the Joint Committee on Finance, the Assembly, or the Senate can approve a budget bill. The report will bring to light all earmarks, including the cost, location, beneficiary, and requesting representative or senator. Their press release can be found here.

Rep Kaufert sponsored a resolution paying tribute to former state assembly rep and WW2 decorated veteran Richard Steffens, who passed away Jan. 2.

Roth Deploying to Iraq

According to the Appleton Post Crescent, 56th Assembly Rep Republican Roger Roth of Grand Chute will be deploying to Iraq later this month with the Madison-based 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard.

Rep Roth plans to hold his seat while gone, having all business run by his staff. While Roth's press release indicated he could be back as soon as March, we have seen deployments of far longer periods.

This site wishes Rep Roth the best and hopes for a safe and quick return for Rep Roth and the entire 115th.

For a video of Rep Roth and additional biographical information, go to WisEye.

Hintz, Performing, and Booze

Rep Hintz performed with the Oshkosh Chamber Singers and several other public figures in Oshkosh during their recent Christmas event. The local on-line community and west coast groupies are wondering: was it the revival of air guitar?

As noted in June, Rep Hintz introduced a bill, AB584, that would exempt restaurants where alcoholic beverages are 50 percent or less of gross receipts from counting under the state's liquor license quota. The bill was co-sponsored by State Sen Roessler. According to analysis by the LRB:

Current law prohibits a person from selling alcohol beverages at retail unless the seller possesses a license or permit authorizing the sale. A "Class B" license authorizes the retail sale of intoxicating liquor for consumption on the licensed premises and, depending on the type of intoxicating liquor and whether a municipal ordinance has been adopted, may also authorize the retail sale of intoxicating liquor for consumption off the licensed premises, subject to certain limitations.

Current law imposes a quota on the number of "Class B" licenses that a municipality may issue. This quota is generally determined by a formula based on the number of licenses previously issued by the municipality and the municipality's population. Current law provides quota exceptions for a full-service restaurant that has a seating capacity of 300 or more persons and for a hotel that has 50 or more rooms and has a restaurant or banquet room meeting certain criteria.

Current law also provides a quota exception for certain opera houses and theaters, but a "Class B" license issued under this exception authorizes the sale of intoxicating liquor only for consumption on the premises and only in connection with ticketed performances.

This bill modifies the quota exception for full-service restaurants. The bill provides a quota exception for full-service restaurants regardless of seating capacity, but creates a definition of "full-service restaurant" that limits the exception to establishments where meals are prepared, served, and sold for consumption on the premises and in which the sale of alcohol beverages accounts for 50 percent or less of the establishment's gross receipts.

In addition, a "Class B" license issued under this exception authorizes the sale of intoxicating liquor only for consumption on the premises. The bill prohibits a person holding a "Class B" license, other than one issued under this exception, from surrendering that license and applying for a new license under this exception.

Additional information:

Opposition: According to director of the Tavern League of Wisconsin Peter Madland in a Milwaukee JS story: "Historically we've always been opposed to anything that creates more licenses," he said. "Obviously, the more licenses there are, the more it decreases the value of existing licenses."

Support: Oshkosh North Western: Liquor license barriers must come down: Anybody with a decent business plan, investment cash and the guts to open a full-service restaurant with fewer than 300 seats has to get in line and wait for one to be relinquished. Here, the city's 131 "Combination" liquor licenses are typically spoken for – it's been this way for years. Rarely, one frees up.

State Beverage and Alcohol Laws

State Alcohol Beverage Laws for Retailers