January 31, 2025 at 10:30 a.m.

Listening sessions not worth a crap


Dear Editor,

In last week’s “Chronicle,” State Senator Howard Marklein announced yet another winter round of “listening sessions.”

These annual events are little more than political theater; they are formatted to let you talk (for three minutes), while the politicians - by design - say nothing.  If I wanted to know what my neighbors think I’d go to a coffee shop or a cafe or a tavern. 

I’d much rather know what my legislators think.  I’d like a “talking session” in which constituent questions are asked, and then answered.  Wouldn’t it be great to hear Howard or Todd tell us what he thinks about gerrymandering, election fraud, funding for our schools, judicial ethics, the PSC, or Donald Trump?  Wouldn’t it be great to hear their ideas about energy production and transmission, about health care for an aging population, about CAFOs and the steady demise of small farms, about encouraging a new generation of teachers for our schools and nurses for our hospitals? 

Well, you’re not gonna hear anything about any of that at a listening session.  These guys are our legislators.  We empower them to address our concerns.  Shouldn’t we know what they think; how they’re gonna vote? 


Jim Bach 

Dodgeville, WI

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