Candidates clash over opposing goals for the future of the Fox Valley

For the first time in years, the northern shores of Lake Winnebago in Neenah and Menasha features a competitive Assembly race. 

After retiring from his decades-long political career in 2021, former Neenah mayor and state Rep. Dean Kaufert is returning to politics in a bid to represent the 53rd Assembly District as a Republican. Challenging him is lifelong Neenah resident and Democrat Duane Shukoski, a political newcomer who previously worked as an environmental health manager at Kimberly Clark.

Current Rep. Mike Schraa was drawn out of the district and unsuccessfully ran in the 55th Assembly District Republican primary. Now, the competitive 53rd could become a deciding seat in Democrats’ quest to gain control in the Assembly.

Kaufert is running on a conservative platform supporting a referendum on a 14-week abortion ban, lowering taxes and continuing public funding to private voucher schools. Shukoski is running a progressive campaign to ensure abortion access, repeal anti-union legislation and expand Medicaid funding.

Redistricting

For more than a decade, Neenah has been represented in the Assembly by Republicans, sharing the 55th Assembly District with rural parts of Winnebago County. Neighboring Menasha, meanwhile, has consistently remained a Democratic stronghold, as it has shared the more urban 57th Assembly District with Appleton.

Since redistricting, the two Fox Valley cities have been grouped together in the 53rd Assembly District. Now, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis, Democrats and Republicans in the district are separated by less than five points, ranking the 53rd Assembly District among the most competitive races in Wisconsin’s Legislature.

‘I’m not an extremist’

Kaufert has a lengthy resume — after starting his political career on the Neenah City Council in 1986, he won a bid to represent the 55th Assembly District in 1990 and remained there until 2015, after he was elected Neenah mayor.

His voting record includes opposing Medicaid expansion, favoring the repeal of iron mining restrictions and supporting anti-abortion measures. Kaufert received a 96.43% lifetime ranking from the American Conservative Union. 

But in an opening statement during an October candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Kaufert refrained from identifying as a conservative and emphasized bipartisanship. 

“I’m not an extremist on any issue,” Kaufert said. “This isn’t working, the partisan divide (in Madison). I’m a proven person that was well respected on both sides of the aisle.”

Kaufert did not make himself available for an interview for this story.

A progressive proposal

Shukoski, a lifelong Neenah resident, grew up under the state’s foster care system before working up the Kimberly Clark corporate ladder, starting as a union worker and eventually becoming environmental health manager. 

“I’m not a politician,” Shukoski said during the October candidate forum. “I’m a retired Kimberly Clark employee. I come from the working class and I care about the working class.”

When asked about his political ideology, Shukoski said that he “would lean more progressive.” He identified a strong social safety network during his youth as a large source of support, and he counted his background as a strong influence on his political positions.

“The fact that Winnebago County and the state took care of me has inspired me to run and to give back to my community,” Shukoski said.

Shukoski’s platform includes accepting federal funding to expand BadgerCare, to enshrine Roe v. Wade into the state’s constitution and to repeal 2011 Act 10, a law that crippled public sector unions in the state.

Cost of living

Some of Shukoski’s main focuses are poverty and the cost of living. In a statement on his campaign website, Shukoski said that he hopes to “ease the cost of living and make childcare more affordable.”

Shukoski also spoke about rising housing costs and homelessness, referencing his previous work as a volunteer for Pillars, an organization focused on providing housing and other resources to populations experiencing homelessness.

Kaufert had a different perspective on the cost of living.

“Things seem to be going a lot better than they used to, other than inflation,” Kaufert said. “Minimum wage is raised in this country, more people are working. Salaries are up.”

While unemployment rates have remained low and median household incomes have increased in recent years, Wisconsin’s minimum wage has remained at the federal level of $7.25 per hour since 2009.

Kaufert also spoke against implementing social welfare programs. “There’s no doubt that there’s a shortage of adequate quality affordable housing,” Kaufert said. “But rent control, things like that, aren’t the answer.”

Kaufert claimed individual financial choices are the cause of the problems for people experiencing poverty.

“You see people who don’t have the financial means to do the things that they should be doing, but they all got a 65-inch screen TV. They got cigarette butts on the front porch. They got a $1,000 cell phone,” he said. “I’m not willing to give a handout.”

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Labor

Both Kaufert and Shukoski claim to support unions.

Kaufert, one of only four Republicans who voted against Act 10, said he has worked with unions in the past. “I know the leaders and we work well, and to be painted as an extremist just isn’t fair,” he said.

But Kaufert now defends Act 10, calling it “the best thing that ever happened to this state.” He spoke against the idea of repealing Act 10, saying that “to just come and say we’re going to overturn everything is not the right answer.”

Kaufert also received a lifetime score of 27% from the AFL-CIO in 2014, indicating that he voted against the union’s positions in the vast majority of votes. He has been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.

Shukoski, on the other hand, has openly called to overturn Act 10, saying that it is one of the first things he hopes to achieve in office.

A former union member, Shukoski has received endorsements from several unions, including UAW and AFL-CIO. Shukoski spoke in favor of unions, saying that with stronger unions, “we’re all lifted up. The economy does better. Wages are better.” 

According to a 2023 Treasury Department report, unions “serve to strengthen the middle class and grow the economy at large.”

“I raised a family on union wages back in the ‘80s. You can’t do that today,” Shukoski said. “We need to strengthen our unions.”

Abortion

In a September Facebook post, Kaufert said that he would support a “statewide referendum on (the) 14-week abortion bill,” echoing AB 975, a Republican-backed bill that sought to ban abortions after 14 weeks.

In the post, Kaufert also said that he was pro-life and would support “exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother” and “legislation for birth control to be sold over the counter by pharmacist(s).”

Kaufert has previously supported anti-abortion legislation, including 2013’s SB206, which forced those seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound and mandated that physicians provide a verbal description of the fetus.

Shukoski, who has been endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, said that he hopes to “enshrine Roe into the State Constitution.”

“It’s none of my business. It’s none of the government’s business for what women do in situations like that,” Shukoski said.

Education

Kaufert and Shukoski diverge further on education in Wisconsin.

Over a decade ago, Kaufert introduced legislation to give tax credits to parents who enroll students in private schools. Instead the state expanded the Milwaukee private school voucher program statewide. Kaufert said he would continue the expansion of school choice.

He also said Wisconsin’s public schools are adequately funded.

“Public school spending has increased every single year of the state budget,” Kaufert said. “To people that say public schools aren’t being funded adequately, public schools are.”

Public school spending has increased every year except in 2011, when Kaufert joined Republicans in passing a budget with an $834 million cut to Wisconsin’s K-12 budget. The lost funding to schools was offset by requiring teachers to contribute more to retirement and health insurance premiums. Between 2002 and 2020, Wisconsin’s public school system experienced the third-lowest school funding increase in the nation, and the state’s growing school voucher system continues to divert hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars toward private schools each year.

Nearly half of all Wisconsin school districts are seeking additional funding through referendums this year.

Shukoski, on the other hand, is critical of the voucher program and said that public education spending has to increase. 

“Schools in this district have closed. My elementary school has closed,” Shukoski said. “This is what happens when you defund or you underfund schools for 14 years.”

Shukoski, who was endorsed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, also called for additional restrictions on the voucher program in a candidate survey put out by the League of Women Voters and the Fox Cities Advocates for Public Education, agreeing with calls to disclose voucher costs on taxpayer bills, reevaluate the need for the voucher program and charter schools, and develop accountability measures for private schools that would be similar to those of public schools.

Climate

On environmental issues, Kaufert said that “climate change probably exists.”

He also said that it “is more of a global problem than it is a Wisconsin problem,” adding that more has to be done federally and internationally to address the issue.

Kaufert received a 0% rating from the Sierra Club during the 2013-14 legislative session, indicating that he voted against the environmental group’s preferences in every identified issue that year. He also co-sponsored a Republican-led effort to weaken requirements for mining permits in the state in 2011.

Shukoski cited his environmental work at Kimberly Clark when speaking about climate change, saying in a statement on his campaign website that he had worked closely with the Department of Natural Resources and had helped improve environmental standards at several Kimberly Clark facilities.

Shukoski also called for increased funding in the event of future climate emergencies, citing recent disasters such as Hurricane Helene.

“We all know climate change is real,” Shukoski said. “When we fire our scientists and we don’t fund the DNR or underfund, that hurts the state.”

Shukoski has been endorsed by the Sierra Club.

Health care

Kaufert spoke against accepting increased federal funding for BadgerCare. He also warned that federal child care subsidies would be “one-time money” and that it could lead to increased tax costs.

Shukoski said that he would support programs to increase child care funding in the state, saying that “our working families need the help.” He also favors BadgerCare expansion, saying it would “improve healthcare access, support local hospitals, and prevent medical bankruptcies” in a statement on his campaign website.

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.