With just a few days left before the primary election on August 12th, I would like to share with you who I am supporting in this election and why. I have had the privilege of interviewing every candidate in the 15th State Senate, Rock County Sheriffs, Rock County Clerk of Courts, and 45th Assembly District races and I hope and encourage you to check out my conversations with the candidates on Discover Janesville in order to learn for yourself who your favorite candidates are. For Rock County Sheriff: My vote goes to Bob Spoden. I have known Bob for years, but more importantly, I have been a resident of Rock County since 2004, and I have been pleased and impressed with the level of security thats been provided by Rock County Sheriffs department. While I believe that it is a healthy thing to have debate about whether a change is needed, in my opinion, the challenger failed to convince me that removing Sheriff Spoden from office, will increase safety in Rock County. I also found it disconcerting that the challenger is opposed to having the Sheriff be an elected position. For Clerk of Courts: My vote goes to Peter Severson. More than any other candidate in the race, Peter understands the importance of public service that comes with being an elected official. Over the last several months, I have seen Peter all over, including at several Janesville Community Coffees where he has become a regular, always interested in discussing issues with the other residents, and looking for ways to serve the public. In addition, Peter brings a wealth of experience from working with the CCAP system in his day job with the State of Wisconsin. CCAP handles over 3,000,000 requests per day and puts him in regular contact with all 72 county courts in Wisconsin. For State Senate: My vote goes to Janis Ringhand. Janis is the only currently serving public servant in the race. Not the flashiest person in the bunch, Janis has always impressed me for being able to work hard both to get elected - endlessly knocking on doors - and once elected, working hard for her district, repeatedly crossing the party aisle whenever needs of the district or the State called for it, and still standing strong with organized labor as she did during the Wisconsin uprising in 2011 and 2012. Ultimately, I have gained confidence in Janis throughout her time as Assembly Representative since she was first elected in 2010 and I am confident that she will be a great State Senator for the 15th district. For 45th Assembly District: I dont live in the district, but having interviewed both candidates in the Democratic primary, my support in this race goes to Sheila DeForest. I first got to know Sheila when I was serving on Janesville City Council and both of us felt that Janesville and Beloit City Councils need to work closer together. Eventually we were able to bring the two councils together and more cooperation between the cities followed. I am generally pleased with both candidates but I feel that in this particular race, Sheila De Forest is the better candidate because of the spirit of public service and commitment to serving her constituents, which she displays. As an example: while campaigning, Sheila visited Orfordville food pantry. Seeing that the pantry was about to shut down, Sheila took it upon herself to get involved with running the food pantry because of its importance and value to the Orfordville community. That is a kind of person, I want to see in Madison. I thank all the candidates for running, and hope that this will encourage you to learn more about each of them, and to vote on August 12th or earlier, using an absentee ballot form.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 17:07:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015