NEWS
Victors assume legislative roles
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Staff:
- The candidates' positions (March 22, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Student battles for assembly seat (October 4, 2004)
- State legislature shifts more right (November 4, 2004)
- Big spenders not big winners in city elections (August 1, 2001)
- Redistricting trial leaves legislative lines in limbo (April 16, 2002)
- Results remain same after primary election recount (September 27, 2006)
Share This:
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Assembly District 78
Democrat Mark Pocan claimed victory over Republican James Block in the battle for the 78th District Assembly seat in last night’s election.
The 78th District represents an expansive stretch of Dane County, including the town of Maple Bluff, the south side of Madison and nearly extends into campus, stopping just short on Gilman Street.
Block, a 20-year-old UW student, counters Pocan on many issues and sought to win on the platform that Pocan was doing nothing to help rising tuition costs.
As a self-proclaimed moderate Republican, he supports the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), which would write government spending limits into the Wisconsin constitution, and opposes efforts to raise the minimum wage.
Pocan touted the fact that he worked with student governments and the Teaching Assistants’ Association on a regular basis and had received a ‘legislator of the year’ award from the Council of Student Governments.
Pocan’s political beliefs lie mainly in raising the minimum wage, supporting gay marriage and creating universal health coverage, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. He is largely critical of TABOR.
Pocan has also been outspoken on the matters of out-sourcing state jobs and the care of inmates in the state’s prison system.
Assembly District 48
Joe Parisi, Dane County Clerk since 1996, went head-to-head with Republican Dan Long Tuesday for the 48th Assembly District seat. Parisi garnered much of the vote in his win in the election.
“It feels great. It’s very humbling,” Parisi said of his win Tuesday night.
District 48 covers a large part of eastern Madison.
Mark Miller, who decided to give up his post to run for the State Senate, formerly presided over the region. Parisi, a University of Wisconsin alum, supports a statewide health-care pool giving small-business owners access to the same group prices as others, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
“Health care is one of my top concerns,” Parisi said. “We [Dan Long and Parisi] had differing opinions on our approaches to health care. I support a fairly aggressive approach to providing health care in Wisconsin.”
Long, an engineer, supports President George Bush’s plan of Individual Health Savings Accounts and believes the concept of universal health would not work in the state’s system.
Parisi also supports SeniorCare, a program for Wisconsin’s Senior Citizens, and the importation of prescription drugs. He believes wealthy special interests are corrupting the system and subsequently supports campaign-finance reform.
Assembly District 47
Eugene Hahn took a narrow victory Tuesday over Democrat Meagan Yost in the fight for the 47th Assembly District seat.
Hahn has represented the district, which includes Deforest, since 1990. Yost and Hahn battled for the seat in 2002, but this time Independent Bill Landgraf was an added ingredient to the mix.
Many of Landgraf’s platforms strive to give Independents a fair chance in elections by rewriting campaign-finance laws.
According to her campaign website, Yost seeks to offer public education to everyone and, in order to do this, she supports an increase in the state sales tax providing revenue for education. Yost’s website states she also believes in providing universal health care.
Hahn’s ideas about health care differ, as he seeks to make it completely deductible for people who buy their own health care.
He also sees many problems with TABOR and wishes to correct them instead of scrapping the program entirely. Both Yost and Landgraf oppose TABOR.
Hahn uses his experience as a primary example of his ability to perform well in office.
