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Committee
McCrank for the 35th
Campaign Phone
7154360704
Education
Lawrence University, B.S., Boston University M.A./Ph.D
Personal Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
My priorities are protecting rural health care, addressing affordability – including housing and child care, and restoring and rebuilding our public education system to the national standard it once was.
I’ve worked in construction, community development, and higher education as well as served in local government and volunteered for a wide range of community clubs and projects. I’ve seen how people still cannot get health care (or get to that health care), seen how one-size fits all housing developments don’t help different types of people, seen how our public schooling has been strangled and how peoples’ options have been reduced in all of these areas. Fixing our problems requires expanding people’s options. That’s how I work.
The greatest – and unrecognized – issue in Wisconsin housing is the lack of variety in housing and the consequent lack of options for people. One size really does not fit all and, although homebuilders would like to build homes assembly-line style to maximize their profits, some variety can be added into their offerings while still allowing them to stay in business. Realistically, older couples looking to downsize to single story homes are not having homes built to their needs. Young, first-time buyers are finding homes too large and too expensive for them to afford. We need to build small, medium, and large, one-story and two-story, because in housing one size (and one price) simply does not fit all.
No one political party should be in charge of redistricting. Political parties have shown that they cannot be trusted to create districts that give true representation of the will of the people. A bipartisan commission with clear rules that bars lobbyists, party leaders, and elected officials, but is balanced between the major parties, and also includes major minority voices is the best instrument for this process. The process itself must be transparent, including public feedback or hearings, and should focus on being aligned with federal law, creating equal size districts, and following community boundaries when possible.
Before the Great Recession, Wisconsin indexed per student school funding to inflation. That was altered during the Recession – and not changed back after the economy recovered. So, Wisconsin schools have been on a starvation diet for over 15 years. We must go back to inflation-indexed funding. Further, we must put the brakes on options that lure students away and siphon funding out of the public school system. The economy of scale provided by public school funding means more can be done with less. Properly funded public schools can provide exceptional education for everyone, include those with disabilities. Not one tax dollar should ever go to institutions of higher education that do not answer to the taxpayers as a whole.
Banning or blocking these large projects would leave us behind as these major developments alter our world. We need to establish a specific zoning category besides the current residential, commercial, or industrial categories. Zoning allows us to determine where and with what conditions developments can take place. Requiring specific features for data centers such as power generation, treatment of water used, and routine re-certifications is possible within the CUP processes that already exist, IF we establish this new category. Furthermore, just as with existing zoning, the new category would be adjustable as the effects of such facilities become clearer. This way we are not left behind by growth but not overrun by it either.