Curmudgeon's Corner

State Senate Race Series Begins...

Posted by Al Campbell on March 9, 2008

Germantown, Political, Quality of Life, Wisconsin

The race for State Senate between the incumbent, Alberta Darling (R), and the challenger, Sheldon Wasserman (D), is nearing its conclusion.  Is it just me, or has this race become subdued to the point that we hear little to nothing about it?  We were treated to the door-to-door campaign of Rep. Wasserman and we have seen the press releases offered and listening sessions offered by Sen. Darling, but, beyond that, this race seems to have gone into dormancy.

With the cooperation of each candidate, which has been pledged, we'll see if we can cast the spotlight on their respective positions on various issues as we move toward the April 1st decision date.  We have some idea based upon the voting records of each even though Rep. Wasserman has voted in the Assembly while Sen. Darling has voted in the Senate.

We have the information from each campaign as to positions on the issues they think important to us.  And, each of us has a pretty good idea of what we think and how we would vote on the issues as they arise...assuming that our arms were not being 'twisted' behind the scenes to force us to do something in order to gain in another area.  This is, after all, politics.  And, as the old saw says, 'politics makes for strange bedfellows'.

We will pose a series of questions to each candidate and publish their responses.  We will, in the interest of space, ask that each candidate provide answers that run no longer than 300 words so that readers can make their interpretations relatively quickly.

The initial set of questions follow:

1. Where do you stand on the issue of voter photo identification and why?
2. Do you vote your conscience or the desires of the majority of the voters?  Why?
3. How have you voted with regard to such voter ID bills over the past 5 years?
4. How should Wisconsin deal with the budget shortfall recently projected?  If through spending reduction, where?  If through increased taxes or fees, where?  If through tax reductions, where and why?
5. What is your position regarding the so called "Frankenstein Veto' power currently available to the Governor?
6. If elected to the next Senate term from this district, what will be your three top initiatives as our Senator?

I hope we'll receive responses in a few days; we'll publish those as soon as possible, one question and response at a time.  Our thanks, in advance to the two candidates!

By the way, questions from readers are most welcome.  Send those to me via e-mail or as comments posted to this Blog.