In picking a new state senator, Coulee Region voters have a choice between a familiar face who came close to winning the job four years ago and a local boy returning home from Washington, D.C.

Republican Dan Kapanke of the town of Campbell and Democrat Brad Pfaff of Onalaska offer 32nd District voters a range of experiences and clear ideological choices.
Kapanke's strong name re-cognition made him a front-runner, said political analyst Joe Heim, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. "He ran a strong race against (Demo-crat) Mark Meyer in 2000, and then you throw in what he's done since then with La Crosse and the Loggers."

But Pfaff also has "done quite well," Heim said. "He's run a vigorous campaign and done all the right stuff. He's brought in the governor and gotten endorsements from every important local Democrat.

"This is a focus race in Wisconsin," Heim said. It's one of three or four seats in the Senate that could switch from one party to the other, he said. Democrats hope to regain control of the Senate, which the Republicans hold 18-15.

Local, rural roots

Kapanke has lived his entire life in the 32nd District, growing up on the family's farm near Coon Valley, graduating from Onalaska Luther High School and UW-La Crosse. He has worked throughout the area as a regional sales manager for a seed company.

Until he brought the La Crosse Loggers baseball team to town last year, Kapanke was best known as chairman in the town of Campbell, which covers most of French Island near La Crosse. As chairman since 1997, Kapanke made headlines for being on the front lines of a border war with the city of La Crosse, which ended last year with a truce of sorts. Campbell didn't get to incorporate as a village, but it gets to maintain its borders for 20 years.

He has earned high marks from area leaders for efforts to collaborate with La Crosse, but remains a controversial figure on the island — admired by supporters and reviled by opponents.

When Republican state Sen. Brian Rude retired in 2000, Kapanke and Democratic state Rep. Mark Meyer of La Crosse fought a close race fueled by outside interest groups and state political parties.

When Meyer announced he wouldn't seek a second term, many political observers assumed the race to succeed Meyer was Kapanke's to lose.

But Pfaff has proved to be an able opponent after easily winning the Democratic primary.

A Melrose-Mindoro High School graduate whose family has farmed in northern La Crosse County for 150 years, Pfaff has deep roots in the area.

But because he has spent much of his adult life outside the Coulee Region, Pfaff was relatively unknown in the district, despite having run against Republican state Rep. Mike Huebsch in the 94th District in 1996. Even though he came closer to beating Huebsch than any other opponent, Pfaff doesn't list the race in the biography on his Web site.

After that defeat, Pfaff took a job working for newly elected U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, as a policy adviser in Washington.

"I love public policy," said Pfaff, who wrote much of the legislation introduced by Kind, including an "alternative farm bill" in 2001 that came within six votes of passing the House.

Pfaff said he helped increase funding for the Environmental Management Program, which pays for Mississippi River restoration, by working with groups like Ducks Unlimited and the National Rifle Association, whose members are interested in improved wildlife habitat.

Shadow of Rude

Everyone who runs in the 32nd District will be measured against Brian Rude because of his popularity and ability to work with people from both parties.

Both Kapanke and Pfaff mention Rude as an example of the kind of senator they would be.

Kapanke's campaign has focused on bread-and-butter Republican issues: taxes and economic development. His direct mail advertising emphasizes his support for a Republican-backed property tax freeze, while TV ads have focused on job creation and the Loggers.

"Dan will lower your taxes because he understands you are paying too much," says one of Kapanke's direct-mail ads.

Pfaff opposes any new income, sales or corporate taxes but dismisses the property tax freeze, claiming it will hurt Wisconsin's bond ratings and "destroy economic development."

Pfaff waited until after Wednesday's final presidential debate to launch his TV ads, which highlight his local roots by showing him walking with the cows on his family's dairy farm. He said he has raised $72,000 for TV ads to run on local stations for the remainder of the campaign.

The policy centerpiece of Pfaff's campaign has been a broad "working families agenda" covering a variety of issues, including job and economic security, health care and education.

Pfaff said the differences between him and Kapanke include "more leadership, more experience and broader vision."

Kapanke said it's experience, including 13 years in local government. "I don't just come from a farm. I work with farmers. I'm a small business owner," he said.

Pfaff said he can work collaboratively and he "understands the process in Madison and Washington. I can provide value and get money back" from Washington for Wisconsin.

Kapanke said he has plenty of experience working with Madison on legislation related to Campbell's efforts to become a village.

Pfaff describes Kapanke as "a very nice man," but someone who has polarized people because of his involvement in the border disputes between Campbell and La Crosse. "Sadly, there's a love-hate relationship there," Pfaff said.

"Anybody on the front lines of local government doesn't get 100 percent approval," Kapanke said. "We don't all have to think the same."

Pfaff is "listening to people in Campbell who don't want a water system," Kapanke said. "I could say the sun is shining and they'd say it's cloudy."

In 2000, Kapanke received 1,376 votes in the town of Campbell, compared to 1,114 for Meyer. It's an area where Heim thought Kapanke should have done better.

But overall, Heim thinks Kapanke should have a positive outcome this time because of the way he handled the boundary war truce between Campbell and La Crosse.

Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.

THE CANDIDATES

Dan Kapanke

PARTY:

Republican

AGE:

57

RESIDENCE:

Town of Campbell

JOB:

Co-owner, La Crosse Loggers; regional sales manager, Kaltenberg Seed Farms.

FAMILY:

Married, five children, 10 grandchildren.

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE:

Thirteen years on town of Campbell Board, chairman since 1997.

COMMUNITY:

Board member, La Crosse Area Development Corp. and La Crosse Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Serves on the La Crosse Area Planning Committee; coached youth baseball for 15 years.

Brad Pfaff

PARTY:

Democrat

AGE:

36

RESIDENCE:

Onalaska

JOB:

Former aide to U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse

FAMILY:

Married, two children.

EDUCATION:

1986 graduate of Melrose-Mindoro High School; bachelor's degree in public and environmental administration, UW-Green Bay; master's degree in public administration from George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.

EXPERIENCE:

Held staff positions for state Rep. Virgil Roberts, 1992 to 1994; U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, 1995 to 1997; U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, 1997 to 2004. Ran for state representative against Mike Huebsch in 1996.

THE DISTRICT

BOUNDARIES: Includes all of La Crosse, Vernon and Crawford counties, and parts of Monroe and Richland counties.

HISTORY: The district was represented from 1984 to 2000 by Republican Brian Rude of Coon Valley, and from 2000 to 2004 by Democrat Mark Meyer of La Crosse, who did not seek a second term.

ON THE ISSUES

Where Dan Kapanke and Brad Pfaff stand on the issues

Taxes

Kapanke:

Supports property tax freeze proposal by Republicans in Wisconsin Legislature. Calls for a special legislative committee to reform education funding in Wisconsin. Supports creation of a committee to review of state mandates on local governments.

Pfaff:

Opposes any new taxes. Opposes property tax freeze.

Abortion

Kapanke:

Opposes all abortion with the exception of saving the life of the mother.

Pfaff:

Supports a woman's right to choose abortion. Opposed to partial-birth abortion, with the exception in very limited cases to protect the life or health of the mother.

Health Care

Kapanke:

Believes health-care legislation "must provide consumers with more options through the removal of mandates and bureaucratic red tape. Se-cond, any proposal should invest in developing more healthcare professionals. Third, new and old programs need to incorporate more preventive health-care measures." Opposes re-importation of prescription drugs.

Pfaff:

Supports re-importation of prescription drugs, establishing group-purchasing and risk-sharing pools, creating health insurance discounts for those who live healthy lifestyles, providing consumers with information about health providers and health benefits in an effort to improve quality, controlling prescription drug costs by joining with other states to negotiate larger volume group purchasing from pharmaceutical companies, and encouraging farmers and independent small businesses to purchase insurance by buying into the state employee health benefit plan.

Education

Kapanke:

Calls for a special legislative committee to overhaul education funding so that it will be fair and equitable to all school districts, and will be a consistent funding source that school boards across Wisconsin will always be able to count on.

Pfaff:

Supports investing in early childhood education (four-year-old kindergarten), guaranteeing small class sizes, promoting healthy eating habits with the implementation of the school breakfast program, ensuring that children have proper health coverage, and retaining and recruiting quality teachers.

Economy

Kapanke:

Supports "an aggressive state strategy to recruit and attract business to Wisconsin. If Wisconsin wants to attract these businesses, we need to get out of the top 10 in taxes." Supports easing the tax burden on the residents and small businesses in Wisconsin and attracting new business. Supports providing better opportunities for small businesses to secure venture capital so they can expand and add jobs. "The time has come for Western Wisconsin to start being proactive in growing our local businesses and attracting new businesses that provide good-paying, family-supporting jobs."

Pfaff:

Believes "our economy is not as strong as it could be. While new businesses struggle to grow, long-standing, existing businesses face new and increased national and international competitive challenges."Believes "we must build off the advantages and assets that we currently possess. Our natural resources provide tremendous growth opportunities in the tourism, hospitality, and recreation industries." Believes public K-12 schools "must ensure that their curriculums reflect the demands of today's economy."

Sources: Candidate interviews, position papers and Web sites

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