Primary election is Feb. 18
Wisconsin’s spring primary election is Tuesday, Feb. 18. The purpose of this primary election is to narrow down selections for open seats in city, county, state and federal government races. There are local elections plus multiple candidates for a seat in the U.S. Congressional District 7 as well as one on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Local Primary
For Rhinelander, half of the common council seats as well as the entire county board of supervisors are up for election this year. Only one seat, Rhinelander Common Council District 5, has more than two candidates. This is the seat currently occupied by Alderperson Dawn Rog. This is the only Rhinelander race in the spring primary, and only those in Wards 8 and 9 will vote for this race during the primary. The top two candidates for district 5, along with candidates for common council districts 1, 3 and 7 and all county board seats will be on the ballot for the spring election on Tuesday, April 7.
The Star Journal provided each of the three candidates for Rhinelander common council district 5 with the same three questions, gave them one week to submit their answers and restricted them to 500 words in fairness for all. Their answers are below.
Gerald Anderson
[email protected]
Tell us about yourself
My wife Susan and I have grandchildren who have grown up in the Rhinelander area. We are involved in church activities and contribute to Learning in Retirement. I have always been an avid reader and like to keep up with the issues in all levels of government. I enjoy outdoor activities, including hiking the Appalachian Trail three times and doing trail maintenance on the Ice Age trail and North Country trail.
Throughout my life, I have been given many opportunities to serve others. During eight years as a civil engineer in the U.S. Air Force, I learned a great deal about governmental processes, especially planning and carrying out public works projects. While practicing law in a small town for 25 years, I represented ordinary people in a variety of legal matters and provided counsel to two municipalities. Then I was called to serve two congregations and their communities as a pastor. Working on the common Council will be an opportunity to serve the public interest in Rhinelander.
What would you bring to the common council?
I hope to bring peace to the Council and contribute to harmony with other governmental and community agencies. My life experience has brought considerable ability in analyzing issues, explaining them, and helping to resolve them. Especially, I believe I can be a calming influence in times of tension, encouraging people to work together for the common good. All these skills are much needed in our city at this time.
What do you feel are the main issues for the city of Rhinelander and how would you address them?
I see Rhinelander as a city that still provides excellent services, even in a poor economic situation and amidst serious interpersonal issues. Yet there seems to be a lot of public doubt that city government knows where it is going. Large numbers of people have been attending common council meetings, coming away without answers. I’d like to be a part of serious and open discussions that reduce the level of conflict, make all the facts known, and lead to forward movement.
With a common purpose, there are so many things that can be done to make this city a better place to live and work: enhancing our image as a tourist destination, drawing in job-creating businesses, encouraging our local educational institutions to train the necessary workers, upgrading our housing stock so workers can afford to live here, generally making Rhinelander a great place for us all to live and where business and medical professionals want to come and stay.
Jason Dailey
[email protected]
Tell us about yourself
My name is Jason Dailey. I am 42 years old, and my wife Tammy and I have four amazing children: Hannah, Jasmine, Alex and Serenity. I am an Army National Guard and Afghanistan combat veteran. I work for the Oneida County Veterans Service office and love my job. I have the privilege of serving the heroes of our country on a daily basis.
What would you bring to the common council?
What I can offer Rhinelander, is selfless service, doing what’s best for the city without looking at what I can get out of it for myself. Logical thinking, using common sense to help guide decisions. Respectful and professional behavior, because everyone, regardless of their past, has the right to their opinion and feelings about our city and should not be criticized for voicing those opinions and feelings. I have the drive to do what is best for Rhinelander, I was born and raised in Rhinelander. I love this city. I know together we can make Rhinelander more than what it is, we can make it grow and thrive.
What do you feel are the main issues for the city of Rhinelander and how would you address them?
The biggest concerns I have for Rhinelander are our city’s well issues, we need to find a solution to the contamination issues and find the cause to prevent it from happening again. We need to find the responsible parties and hold them accountable.
I have concerns for Rhinelander’s economic health, we need to look at what can be done to attract businesses to Rhinelander. We need jobs with good pay and benefits to improve the income of residents and attract new families to our beautiful northwoods. Rhinelander is positioned perfectly to be the hub of the north and we should try to take every advantage we can to make it a reality.
Rhinelander is beautiful; I am so happy to see the city being celebrated with the events downtown. I’m excited for the park projects, and the fun that residents will have. Rhinelander is amazing and I am proud to call it home!
https://www.facebook.com/Jason-Dailey-for-District-5-Alderperson-Rhinelander-108495570696302/is
Wil Losch
[email protected]
Tell us about yourself
I am a 1990 graduate of Rhinelander High School. After moving away to go to school and start a career I returned home and have spent the last 20 years working in our schools and raising a family. I currently teach American history and government at the high school. I spent a dozen years creating, teaching and leading in our charter schools. My charter school work was especially rewarding as it allowed me to regularly introduce students to a variety of valued community members/groups, including Veterans, small business owners, scientists, artists, and retirees. As a school principal I gained valuable insight in how local government and state government interact. After many years of coaching, these days I am most often in the stands watching my three high school kids play hockey.
What would you bring to the common council?
I’d bring a strong ability to listen, to ask fair questions, to seek out needed background information, to understand multiple points of views on complicated issues and to confidently weigh in and advocate for what would be needed in a given situation. I would do all this consistently with a sense of decorum and respect towards fellow council members, other city officials, and city/area residents. I’d bring an attitude of “We’re neighbors and we’re in this together.”
What do you feel are the main issues for the city of Rhinelander and how would you address them?
Each resident having access to quality city water is the most important issue facing Rhinelander. There are a number of questions not only about the quality of our water, but how things came to be as they are and how we can effectively treat our water to ensure future public safety. The most important of these questions is how we move forward. As we continue to learn about PFAS, city officials must work effectively and transparently with state offices, local business and industry and other partners, such as UW, to determine what infrastructure is needed to have clean water.
Taking care of the workers that take care of us – from police and fire to each department and office worker is important right now. When city employees all come to a workplace free from harassment, are supported with proper training and resources, are communicated with clearly (including their voices) about priorities and policy, they do and will take care of our water, streets, and other services for all our benefit.
Local governments, like school districts, rely on a flawed revenue sharing system from Madison. Maintaining a balanced budget in future years will require attentiveness and planning on the city’s end, and it will require loudly advocating to state leaders about needed changes so our “property rich, income poor” area doesn’t continue to disproportionately send property tax dollars down south that don’t come back.
City leaders have done many things well recently with regard to improving roads, parks and beautifying downtown. Successful partnerships with private organizations can continue such improvements. To make Rhinelander a destination location for families to visit or move to, a forward-thinking city council is vitally important. I ask for your vote on Feb. 18.
Special Partisan Primary
The primary for the representative to U.S. Congress (District 7) is the seat formerly held by Sean Duffy. There are two Democrats and two Republicans on the ballot as well as write-in slots for Democrat, Republican and Constitution parties. Since this is a partisan primary, voters must select a party and then only vote for a candidate in that selected party. The candidates for the primary election are listed below along with their respective websites.
Democrat
Lawrence Dale (dale2020.com)
Tricia Zunker (triciaforwisconsin.com)
Republican
Jason Church (churchforwisconsin.com)
Tom Tiffany (tiffany4wisconsin.com)
The primary will narrow candidates down to one for each party. A special election to select the next U.S. congressman for Wisconsin District 7 will be held Tuesday, May 12.
Nonpartisan Primary
The primary for the Wisconsin Supreme Court is for the seat currently occupied by Justice Daniel Kelly, who was appointed by Gov. Scott Walker in 2016 when Justice David T. Prosser retired. Two candidates, in addition to Kelly, are running for this seat. The primary election will narrow the candidates down to two, which will be voted upon at the spring election on Tuesday, April 7.
Justice Daniel Kelly (justicedanielkelly.com)
Jill Karofsky (jillforjustice.com)
Ed Fallone (falloneforjustice.com)
All of the Northwoods will see the U.S. Congressional District 7 and the Wisconsin Supreme Court races on their ballots. However, residents outside of Rhinelander will not be voting for Rhinelander common council seats and may have other local races in the spring primary instead. Information on what will be on the ballot in your area as well as polling places and voter registration can be found at myvote.wi.gov. Rhinelander residents who wish to determine their wards and districts can find this information at http://www.rhinelandercityhall.org/index.php?page=Elections-Voters.
Reminder: In Wisconsin, a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, is now required to vote.
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