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Job creation. Economic growth. Quality education. Access to health care.
“Poverty is really an indicator of what we, as a society, set as our priorities,” said Tara Johnson, who’s challenging Dan Kapanke for his 32nd District Senate seat.
Johnson and Kapanke, as well as 94th District Assembly candidate Cheryl Hancock and 95th District Assembly candidate Jennifer Shilling, who is running unopposed, participated in an afternoon forum sponsored by the La Crosse County Poverty Task Force and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.
They spoke before an audience of mostly community leaders from Catholic Charities, CouleeCap, Children’s Miracle Network and Justice Sanctions.
About 14 percent of La Crosse County residents live at or below the federal poverty level, according to according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“As a senator, as a legislator, as a community leader, we cannot turn our backs on these people that need our help,” Kapanke said.
The first-term Republican senator said the Legislature is attacking poverty on all fronts, with task forces already targeting dental care and autism.
Some people, he said, aren’t aware of or aren’t aggressive enough in finding the resources already available.
His challenger, Johnson, former director of the local United Way and a La Crosse County Board supervisor, called for a systemic overhaul of health care, saying Madison needs to do more than grasp at the low-hanging fruit.
It’s unacceptable, she said, that a half-million Wisconsin residents still are without access to affordable health care.
Johnson said repeatedly that dedicating more resources toward programs for people below the poverty line “can only happen if the state gets its fiscal house in order.”
The three other hopefuls agreed with Hancock, president of the Holmen School Board, that education is the best hope for pulling people out of poverty. Hancock is running against incumbent Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch.
“Education is the great equalizer,” Hancock said more than once, with Shilling joining her in advocating major rebuilding.
“We need to revamp the school funding program to make sure we deal with the inequities that exist between school districts,” Shilling said.
Shilling also said single female heads of households need continued assistance and support for child care, so they can go back to school and move into self-sufficiency.
