Meyer, Kestell speak out at District 27 Assembly candidate forum

KIEL – With less than one month remaining until the Republican primary in state Assembly District 27, challenger Randy Meyer of Sheboygan Falls and incumbent Rep. Steve Kestell of Elkhart Lake met face to face to express their views on key issues, during a candidate forum at Kiel High School Thursday, Aug. 19.

The forum gave voters an opportunity to compare and contrast the differing opinions and leadership styles of the two candidates, who will be squaring off in the Republican primary on Tuesday, Sept. 14.

Independent candidate Jack Lechler of Kiel, who will go up against the winner of the Republican primary in the fall general election on Tuesday, Nov. 2, also took part in the forum.

The forum, which was organized by Wisconsin Citizens Involvement, allowed each candidate an equal chance to discuss their views on various topics.

Meyer, who has served as the mayor of Sheboygan Falls for the past six plus years, was highly assertive in delivering his message of restoring a high level of accountability and strong judgment to state government.

Kestell, who has served in the Assembly since 1999, drew heavily from his extensive background in state government to describe the current political climate in Madison and detail the changes he believes must be made in the next several years.

Lechler took a more unconventional approach in his responses. While he agreed with Meyer and Kestell on many issues, including eliminating tax increases and reducing spending, he disagreed strongly with the validity of user fees, which Meyer and Kestell support.

The candidates were given three minutes to comment on 18 submitted questions from voters in District 27.

What would you include in the job description for a District 27 state assembly representative?

Kestell

“The job changes every day. You need to remember you are an employee of the people you represent. One day you are a business manager, the next day might be a policy wonk and the next you could be a letter writer and so on. Sometimes you are all of those things in one day.”

Meyer

“Leadership is the number one quality required with this job. To me leadership means you must listen, learn and lead using the information you gather. I believe holding regular listening sessions is a key element to the job.”

Lechler

“Serving the people is the most important part of the job. Representatives need to be more active. I’ve heard many stories of the so-called ‘good old boy’ network, where the status quo is accepted no matter what. There are elected officials who don’t seem to be taking their job seriously by not showing up or taking action.”

Would you support or call out a member of your political party that had been accused of ethics violations?

Meyer

“In Sheboygan Falls, I have made it well known that there are no breaks for aldermen, and no special treatment period. I consider myself to be strong on ethics. I would certainly call out a member of my political party that had engaged in unethical behavior. No one in elected office should receive favors. That is something I take very seriously.”

Lechler

“All ethics violators should be gone no matter who they are. If someone is caught with their hand in the cookie jar, actions must be taken.”

Kestell

“It pains me when public servants mess up. I like to take a direct approach by talking to the individual personally. We are human beings and we are all sinners. It is important to stand up and admit our faults. There comes a time when a person must resign.”

What place does religion have in our government?

Lechler

“It is definitely going in the wrong direction. We shouldn’t have our religious values put down by a vocal minority.”

Kestell

“Our country was founded on basic Christian principal and our law is based on the Ten Commandments. That is getting lost in today’s world.”

Meyer

“I don’t think any one of us disagrees with any one of the Ten Commandments. It is ridiculous that we need to call our city Christmas tree a Holiday tree. When I was a kid, it was okay to say a prayer in school. Now we can’t do that. I believe God and the Ten Commandments should have a place in our schools and local government.”

If you did not vote for raising taxes, but voted for user fees and charges, would you feel that you are being honest with your constituents?

Kestell

“If you look up my record in the legislature, I have not voted for tax increases. However, I believe user fees are different. I have voted for user fees when the fees are used for specific purposes as intended for the users that are paying the fee. User fees are inappropriate when they are paid into a fund that the government uses for something completely different than what was initially intended.”

Meyer

“User fees should be directly tied to the service they are providing. They should not be misdirected or raided to pay for something else. I have always said there is no free lunch for government services. That certainly applies for user fees.”

Lechler

“To me user fees are still a tax because they cost our citizens money. Many times it is hard to understand where the money goes, which bothers me a lot. These fees seem to keep getting higher, so that one day the users are going to wake up and say they can’t afford to be users anymore.”

How would you vote on a bill that was going against your values and the views of your constituents, but lobbyists wanted you to vote for.

Meyer

“I always would cast my vote based on my values. I live by the 12 core principles that are listed on my Web site. I would tell lobbyists no to a bill that went against my principles. I have told friends that before. There are no breaks in Sheboygan Falls and there will be no breaks in Madison.”

Lechler

“This is a tough issue, but ultimately I think it is important to serve the wishes of the people. The challenge is to find out what the people really want. Right after I filed my running papers, I started to get huge amounts of forms and surveys from lobbyists. It is a real problem.”

Kestell

“There are hundreds of decisions that need to be made as a member of the legislature. I always start with my core principles, or what I call my inner compass. Lobbyists should not trump personal values or the views of constituents.”

How would you balance the state’s budget?

Lechler

“First I would ask the question, how did it become so unbalanced in the first place? That is a question I can’t answer yet. I do know that we are paying a lot of money for a product, but we are not getting a good product in return.”

Kestell

“I would start with a ground-zero budget and justify everything that is spent. The governor and legislature need to take a different approach and learn how to control spending. The automatic payment increases are out of control. Sometimes it seems like our state government is running on auto pilot in the way that money is spent.”

Meyer

“I think government should be run more like a business where failure is always a possibility. Our government is not allowed to fail. If it failure was part of the equation in government, different decisions would certainly have been made over the years. We need to start with a zero-based budget and eliminate government entitlements and handouts.”

If you were to support

spending cuts, which areas would you cut?

Kestell

“We need to learn how to say no. No program should be exempt from scrutiny. There is a lot of waste in all aspects of government that we should examine through ground-zero budgeting.”

Meyer

“We can’t just take a machete and cut 10 percent across the board. We do need to look past the normal two-year budget cycle and develop a strategic long-term plan. I suggest that if the public is not happy with government spending, don’t give any candidates a dime for their campaign funds. Legislators need to lead by example and pay a percentage of their health care insurance and receive the same pension as state workers. If those things happen, you will definitely see a change in spending habits.”

Lechler

“Some of the spending cuts are ridiculous to me like furloughs. I’ve seen where some state workers are furloughed, but others work overtime to take their place. That doesn’t make sense and saves no money.”

A crowd of approximately 70 people attended the two-hour forum. The candidates’ responses to the remaining questions posed at the forum will be featured in next week’s Sheboygan Falls News.