COLUMBUS - Attorney and residential mortgage lender Dick Pas of Oconomowoc is challenging two-term representative Joel Kleefisch for the seat in the state legislature from Wisconsin's 38th district.
The 38th district includes all of the city of Columbus, the villages of Clyman, Hustisford, Lowell and Reeseville, and the towns of Clyman, Elba, Hustisford, Lebanon, Lowell, Portland and Shields.
The two men are having a surprisingly calm and courteous campaign.
Pas's campaign manager called Kleefisch's campaign to ask for a sign when a restaurant owner in Oconomowoc said the establishment would post both signs, but was not comfortable with putting up only Pas's sign.
The two plan to meet after the election to talk about the campaign and share ideas, all with congratulations to the victor.
"It's the kind of after-campaign (meeting) that should be occurring as a matter of course for every office throughout the land," Pas said. "Races should be about anything but labeling."
DICK PAS
Pas, a Democrat, is making his first run at a state office. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Waukesha City Council in 1988, but has never held elected office.
Pas is 63, and is married to Gerry, a counselor with a healthcare provider organization and co-founder of The Women's Center, Inc. in Waukesha, which provides a safe place for battered women and their children. They have two daughters, both trained in economics. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, and also studied economics.
When asked about his ideology he said, "I don't think that any convenient label is appropriate." He suggested that he might be called a "business-owning progressive."
The main qualifications that Pas points to as preparing him for office are co-owning Heartland Home Mortgage Co. since 1990, with great continuity within the business, and also serving as branch counsel for the United States Small Business Administration for almost five years until 1979 and serving as acting branch manager at various times for the U.S.S.B.A.
Pas also served as an economic analyst for the Congressional Research Service (which is part of the Library of Congress) in 1967 and 1970, and said he wore "a bunch of different hats" in the Army Reserves, where he earned the rank of captain.
"I would be bringing a very, very broad background," Pas said when asked what he hopes to accomplish if elected. "Non-partisan is the only way we look at making the best policy decisions. My opponent has voted with his party's leadership over 95 percent of the time over each of the last two year's sessions."
"There aren't any good choices looking at the budget shortfall," Pas stated.
"I am certainly planning on taking a page from (Tommy Thompson's) book," Pas said of the former governor's attempts to promote the state of Wisconsin.
He called the state's tourism promotion "woefully inadequate."
Pas believes that the state's reliance on property taxes is hurting older residents and fails to take advantage of the sales taxes that could be collected from the tourism traffic that the state currently has. He believes that sales tax is "much less averse" than property tax because necessary items can be exempted from sales tax.
"Law enforcement is perpetually underfunded in this state," he added.
Regarding differences with Kleefisch, Pas stated: "I am not going to be legislating for headlines, I am not going to be legislating in a partisan way."
"There is nothing that chews up morale like our having to deal with providing health insurance for our families for our employees," he added, speaking on another subject that he is passionate about. "I am for an extremely serious, well-considered view of our options."
Pas believes that he has a better view of potential healthcare legislation than Kleefisch.
"Relative to the big picture in Madison, we are looking at having to make very substantial and painful cuts in state expenditures, and there are no good or easy choices."
JOEL KLEEFISCH
Kleefisch, also of Oconomowoc, is a former television news reporter who studied communications in college. He is running for his third term in Madison.
In the legislature, he chairs the criminal justice committee and is vice chairman of the state affairs committee. He is also a member of the colleges and universities committee, the children and family law committee and the judiciary and ethics committee.
"I have had more than a dozen bills signed into law," Kleefisch said of his four years of experience. "Nearly all, if not all, have been co-authored by Republicans and Democrats." He noted that all were also signed by a Democratic governor.
Kleefisch said he has lead-authored more than 20 bills with Democrat co-authors.
One that he mentioned immediately requires the GPS tracking of child-sex predators who leave prison and go back on the street.
"I have been so proud the work we have done and successes we have had on stiffening penalties on those who prey on our children and families," he stated.
"I was the lead author for innovative tax credits for companies who want to expand businesses in Wisconsin," Kleefisch stated. "I authored a bill which allows child victims of sexual assault to testify on videotape instead of facing the accused molester in court. I had a bill which will save the state millions of dollars in the disposal of chronic wasting disease deer."
Kleefisch said that he co-authored a plan for tax free health savings accounts so that citizens could pay for healthcare tax free. He said that this would mean nearly a 30 percent savings in health-care costs.
What would Kleefisch hope to do if voters send him back to Madison for two more years?
"My first piece of legislation will be making the third conviction of a DUI a felony," he stated, saying this idea was spurred by a deadly crash that occurred recently in Oconomowoc. "It's time Wisconsin starts getting tough on repeat offenders."
He said he also wants to "crack down on organized retail theft."
"It is going to be critical to balance this next budget without a tax increase," Kleefisch said. "In economic difficult times we have to cut wasteful programs rather than balancing the budget on the backs of the taxpayers."
Kleefisch said that he has met Pas only once - in an editorial board meeting with the Wisconsin State Journal, which endorsed Kleefisch. The two have not debated during this campaign.
When asked about the differences between them, Kleefisch referenced the fact that he is 100 percent pro-life and supports no tax increases.
"I think we need to cut millions of dollars from the administrative end of the DNR," he said, citing one example of a place where the state budget could be trimmed.
Kleefisch said that the Department of Natural Resources needs to keep its wardens and its fish-stocking program and must continue fighting the spread of invasive species, but thinks that the DNR could end much of its activity related to private property issues, which often costs citizens unnecessary expenses.
"By far the most rewarding and just plain fun part of this job is helping constituents cut through government red tape," he said.
Kleefisch said that he believes Pas "wants to expand government, and I want to reduce it."
"It's been an honor and I hope to continue," Kleefisch said of his experience in office. "I hope that, as we go into this next session, we can have a true spirit of bi-partisanship. The people in the 38th district don't want negative campaigns."
Kleefisch is 37 and married to Rebecca. They have daughters Ella Rose (5) and Violet (2).
pscharf@capitalnewspapers.com