Alicia Leinberger is challenging incumbent Rep. Lee Nerison for the 96th Assembly District seat in southwestern Wisconsin because she believes the district isn't being well-represented.
"There's a disassociation between the constituency and the things that they value and the way that they want to see the government working and what's actually happening in the capitol," Leinberger, D-Viroqua, said. "And, I think, it's getting to a point where, I think, it's dangerous."
For examples of such a disconnect, Leinberger points to the fallout from Act 10, which stripped collective bargaining rights from many state employees, the private school voucher expansion and the property tax approved by the Republican legislature that she said have harmed K-12 public education.
Nerison, R-Westby, voted against Act 10 and is seeking his seventh two-year term in the state Assembly. Nerison declined to participate in a WPR debate with Leinberger.
"Mr. Nerison has voted a number of times, even though he keeps saying he voted against Act 10, there's a number of other votes he's taken that shows in reality, he goes right along with the agenda," said Leinberger, who owns a renewable energy business.
The 96th Assembly District covers Vernon and Crawford counties and a portion of Monroe County, and the biggest challenge facing the district is low wages in a conventional agricultural economy struggling with low commodity prices and forcing may people to work two or three jobs, Leinberger said.
Conversely, organic farming – driven by national leader Organic Valley based in La Farge – is a strength; a strength Nerison, who chairs the Assembly Agriculture Committee, has not done enough to help, she said.
Farmers need more support from state government in transitioning from conventional to organic farming and more help on issues like organic licensing and marketing, she said.
"It's interesting to me that Mr. Nerison, after 12 years in the legislature and as ag chair, has never written one piece of legislation that helps other farmers come into that market base," Leinberger said.
Leinberger said she's in favor of raising the state's gas tax to improve roads and wants to find solutions to broadband availability in the district that won't put local communities and consumers at a disadvantage.