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Dear Editor;
I'm tired of the party-line voting by our local State Assemblyman and Senator. The most consistent characteristics of their voting records in the legislature is that
they represent the special interests of the GOP mega-donors rather than what's best for the whole of our rural communities in SW Wisconsin.
The records for the 2017-18 legislative term reflect that Senator Marklein voted on all 274 Senate Bills as directed by his GOP leadership, Walker and Fitzgerald; and Novak voted as directed by GOP leadership on 332 of 351 Assembly Bills. Neither voted for any Bills sponsored by a Democrat that were opposed by their GOP leadership regardless of how much the bills would have helped SW Wisconsin.
It's little wonder that Dale Schultz, the moderate Republican Senator who previously represented this District, has been so critical of Marklein's party-line conservative extremism. As moderate Republican Dale Schultz put it in the prior election cycle: "...when Howard Marklein says he's an independent, to me, it's like the Russian News Agency saying they're independent of Vladimir Putin." (10/23/2014 press release on One Wisconsin Now).
Novak is no better. I encourage voters to read the factual full-page Madison newspaper article about Novak published on 4/18/2018, at p.39. In that article captioned "VOTERS SHOULD BEWARE OF POLITICIANS LIKE REP. TODD NOVAK", the paper correctly notes that "the Dodgeville Assemblyman is a bought-and-paid-for member of the legislature's Republican majority". It goes on to note that "He sits in the Assembly thanks only to the massive amount of special interest money that was spent to keep him in that position [and that] he spent the most by any Assembly candidate in the State in 2016," donated by "a laundry list of groups that advance the agenda of Donald Trump and Scott Walker." The article concludes by noting that: "If there was truth-in-labeling in Wisconsin politics, Todd Novak's [re-election] announcement would have been stamped: 'Voters Beware."
It's time for fresh, independent ideas. Kriss Marion, running for Senate is a small-scale organic farmer and member of the Lafayette County Board. And Jeff Wright, running for the Assembly, works in a local public school district. They are committed to vote for what's best for the people of Southwest Wisconsin, not a political agenda.

Chris Kopmeier
Dodgeville