Candidates get last minute chance for debate

Posted 10/28/2010
by Patrick Lilja, Staff Writer

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Candidates for the 73rd Assembly District and 7th Congressional District came to the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Manion Theater in the Holden Fine Arts Center on Wed., Oct. 27 for a debate put on by Wisconsin Public radio. It was a chance for candidates to make final pushes in the polls, with Election Day less than a week away on Nov. 2. The debate was also broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Radio.

The first debate was between incumbent Democratic State Assemblyman Nick Milroy and Republican Challenger Bonnie Baker. 

UW-Superior Professor Emeritus Albert Katz was the moderator for both of the night’s debates. Not unexpectedly, jobs and taxes were the two main themes that pervaded both debates, and also not surprisingly, there was little that all candidates agreed on in either debate.

Sparks flew quickly in the Milroy/Baker debate as Baker immediately went on the attack against Milroy’s voting record in her opening statement. Milroy defended himself, saying that the tax cuts that Baker accused him for voting in favor of were “some of the most painful cuts we have had to make.”

Milroy himself constantly accused Baker of being too loyal to the Republican Party throughout the debate.

“It’s one thing to read the recommendations of Republicans down in Madison, but it’s another thing to have your own ideas,” he shot in response to Baker’s answer to a question about how to fix Wisconsin’s budget problems.

Some of Baker’s suggestions to that question included a repeal in the increase in the capital gains tax, simplifying and streamlining tax codes, cutting red tape by freezing new regulations and providing incentives for employers to re-train their employees. 

Milroy’s response was that he wants to “grow the economy.” 

“I believe state budgets have to be about priorities, and Democratic priorities have been about education and healthcare,” he said. 

Following their debate, the three candidates who are vying for retiring incumbent Congressman Dave Obey’s soon-to-be-vacant Congressional seat – Democratic Party candidate Julie Lassa, Republican Party candidate Sean Duffy, and little-known Independent No War No Bailout Party candidate Gary Kauther - took the stage.

For the 7th Congressional District debate, little-known Independent No War No Bailout Party candidate Gary Kauther joined his two mainstream party rivals Julie Lassa and Sean Duffy in a debate for the first time. 

The three are competing to replace outgoing Democratic Congressman Dave Obey, who is retiring after 41 years in Congress. 

“I’m tired of what’s going on today. We have some very serious problems [in this country],” Kauther said about his reasoning for why he decided to enter the race. 

The three spent most of the hour disagreeing about taxes and hot-button issues such as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but did agree on one thing: that education is an extremely valuable asset that needs to be promoted and protected.

“Education is very important to our children’s future,” Julie Lassa said, and Sean Duffy said that funding to guarantee loans to college students is vital. 

Current polls generally show Duffy with a modest edge in the race for the seat; regardless, it will be a battle right up until Election Day, and the race may not be decided until late into Election Night.