Wisconsin State Senator Patrick Testin

Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Friday, November 15th, 2024.

Have your host, James G. Mailoff here.

In part two today, we're going to speak with Peter and Lisa about breakfast with Santa

going out of their local VFW this Sunday, December, December 15th.

We'll talk about that.

Right now we have on with us on the phone, Wisconsin State Senator Patrick Teston with us

right now.

Good morning, sir.

Good.

How are you doing?

Great, James.

Well, yourself.

All right.

I'm getting my bearings here a little bit.

Actually, it's been a little bit of a busy week here, and you know what I'm talking about

because it's been pretty busy a couple weeks for you, too.

Yes, it has, and regardless of how people feel health is turned out, I think everyone's

breathing a cyber leap that everyone's favorite season of Wisconsin is over, election

seasons over, the ads are gone, no more mailers, and now we can look forward to the next session

and rolling up our sleeves and getting back to work.

I do want to congratulate you on being re-elected, and you know, I know you've done this a number

of times.

You've been at this for a while now, but I imagine that it still hits you very similar

to the first time you were elected.

Oh, absolutely.

It's really humbling, and it's quite the experience to have your name on the ballot, and you know,

I really want to thank all those who supported me, and especially with the new maps, we

had a lot of new areas to the new 24th Senate District, so you can't take any for granted,

and really thankful for all the outpouring of support that we got throughout this race.

And especially I want to thank Colin McNamara, who ran for the 24th Senate District on

the Democrat side for his willingness to step up and want and to serve the 24th, and I wish

him all the best.

I appreciate you noting that, too, sir, because we need more and more people going out there

and trying and running for a public office.

And I would imagine, too, in not knowing this never running for a public office or anything,

but just knowing politics and understanding competition, we bring out the best in each

other one.

There's competition.

We bring out the best in each other when we have other sides of the coin, if you will,

in some of that.

So I appreciate that note, and again, congratulations.

And I won't stop there either, because you were also recently, but your colleagues selected

you to serve as President Pro Tempor of the Wisconsin State Senate as well.

Can you explain to our audience what that means and what it means to you to be selected

for that?

Yeah.

So being the Senate President Pro Temp, it's a constitutional position, and really it's

the, I guess you can call it the backup quarterback to the Senate President.

So oftentimes, I'll be in the chair, overseeing floor sessions when the State Senate is in

and taking votes on the floor, and the primary job of the President and the Senate President

Pro Temp is to really make sure that the flow of debate and the flow of business continues

to go smoothly and allow for a healthy debate and, you know, enforcing the rules of the

State Senate and making sure that we have a level of decor on which I think is extremely

important.

There's actually an old quote from former State Senator and now Congresswoman Gwen Moore

that, you know, the majority gets their way, but the minority has their say.

And so making sure that the minority party has the ability to raise their concerns, and

that's one thing that I've really tried to focus on in the past two sessions in this position.

That's going to be my emphasis and focus going into this next session.

And let's go ahead and lead right into that.

What are your goals, the things you hope to accomplish in this term?

Well, I'm hoping to, once again, be on the Joint Finance Committee.

There's a strong likelihood that I'm going to be the vice chair of the Joint Finance Committee.

So as we get ready for the next State budget, there's going to be a lot of things that

we need to address.

And first and foremost, we're looking at a roughly four to a four and a half billion

dollars surplus and trying to manage at the best that we can and making sure that we

state government lives within its means, and that we're doing what we can to help those

individuals who have really been struggling over the last few years.

And I think the best way to do that is for tax relief.

And then outside of that, there has been legislation that I've been extremely adamant about,

getting signed into law that unfortunately we've been that sort of a loggerhead with the

governor's office, which deals with our advance practice registered nurses, allowing them

to operate the highest level of their scope of practice.

And so I think one, one thing I'm really hoping for, James, is, you know, now that the

dust is settled and the campaigns are over, I really hope that we can strike a new tone

and tenor with the Evers Administration.

And I'll be the first to admit that the relationship between the legislature and the governor

of oftentimes has been tense, but I think this is a great opportunity for us to kind

of recalibrate and hopefully we have more of a dialogue, which hasn't necessarily been

there in the past.

And of course that cuts both ways at the two-way street, but I do think there are areas

where hopefully we'll leadership in both houses, we'll be able to sit down and have power

stations with the governor and see where we can find areas of agreement and hopefully

build on that and get something done for the state.

To that point, sir, you're more privy to this than I am in some ways, but you understand

that there were people out there that didn't vote for you, that didn't vote for, you know,

some of the, the Republicans that were put into office, whether it's here in Wisconsin

or around the country.

And you've heard some of the fears, some of the concerns, when it comes to that, I'm

not asking you to ease any minds out there necessarily or anything, but when you talk

about reaching across the, the stories you've shared with us about your own parents and

everything.

What do you have to say, what do you want those people out there, those constituents

to know?

Well, I think first and foremost, we saw a lot of, uh, amped up rhetoric and the lead

up to the election, especially directly towards the top of a ticket and, uh, uh, present

electromes campaign and, and, you know, what, what I would tell those individuals is the

day after the election, we woke up, the sun still rose in the east and set in the west

and well, people may not necessarily agree or they didn't support the president and support

other individuals, such as myself, you know, the country's still moving forward.

And, you know, we all taken up to uphold the Constitution at every single level of government.

And, you know, I guess my personal pledge and my fleet or those individuals who didn't

support me just know that my door is always open for you.

And no difference when I first got elected in 2016, one of the first things I did was

made a point to reach out to a number of my democratic colleagues and say, look, if you

guys have ideas and bills, we think we can work together on, know my door is open and

those individuals who took me up on that offer, we, we did just that.

We sat at the table, we had conversations, we sometimes had disagreements, but, uh, we

got bills done.

And I think at the end of the day, that's what people really want to see in their elected

officials is that understanding that we may not always see, I, I, that's fine.

But having a, a parental relationship and a good working relationship with individuals,

you don't necessarily agree with 100% of the time is really what people are looking for.

And I think that's one of the primary reasons why I privileged and fortunate enough to have

another four years down the Madison.

I agree with you about the rhetoric leading into the election and so much of that it's,

it's misleading and doesn't help anybody.

I will say as well, though, the currently elected president Trump has also, by his own

quotes, uh, given plenty of reason for people to have concerns.

And I think those are legitimate concerns, uh, and should be taken legitimately and

seriously, regardless of how we personal feel about it, we all have a job to do and

part of your job and his and many others is to hear of, uh, from everybody and cover

everybody.

And that is, I agree with you that I think that is part of the reason why you were reelected,

why, uh, representatives like yourself, especially in this state, um, were reelected or are

looked at it for leadership in this situation and to stand up for the voiceless, to stand

up for those, um, that you may, may have not voted for you, but there are still people

you, you represent and your job is to take care of those people as much as the people

that were elected you.

Uh, and I think we have a lot of that in this state, which is something that we can lean

in and, and, and certainly appreciate, um, and, and something else that I know that

we're appreciative of is our local wildlife and our, we are getting into hunting season.

And recently you got to get out there and I put on the fatigues and get out and have

some fun with our local, uh, ducks unlimited.

How did that go?

It was a blast.

In fact, uh, you know, you want to talk about a crazy week.

So, you know, we had an election on Tuesday and then, you know, Thursday and down a

Madison, we've got leadership elections and then I hop on a plane.

I go out to Kansas City to, uh, for a work trip to, uh, meet with a veterans organization

that we're going to try and help us next session that come back and, uh, and, uh, win

up, win down the beaver dam to, um, first time I've ever duck hunted and it was, uh,

with ducks unlimited, some of their board members and we are beaver dam lake and, let

me tell you, I, I, I've never duck hunted before.

This was an absolute blast.

And while we saw tons of ducks, uh, we didn't, we didn't beg that many.

We only got two.

I, I got to, um, take a, uh, teal duck, but it was a ton of fun and I would do it again

on a heartbeat and what's so great about organizations like ducks unlimited is that not only are

they just tremendous volunteers, but they do a lot of conservation work.

In fact, it was about, uh, a year and a half ago, I did one of my own jobs with them, uh,

over in the Mead Wildlife Reserve where they're repurposing roughly 180 acres of a former

cranberry bog that they're, uh, rehabilitating for, uh, duck habitat.

So, you know, it just goes to show that our sportsmen, they, they lead by example and the

volunteer hours that they put in not just through this area, but a problem to state, it,

it is truly remarkable.

And if you've never had the opportunity to go out and duck hunt, I strongly encourage

it.

It was a, a ton of fun and, uh, let me tell you, uh, coming home with some, um, some freshly

harvested duck breast, you got the throw those in a hot pan and, and cheer those up and,

slice them up, it was delicious.

Uh, I got a couple of friends that do that, uh, and, and one of the things that tell

me every time, uh, and encourage me to go out there with them as men at the very, there

is no, even if you don't catch anything, you're out there enjoying nature, uh, you, you can't

have a bad time.

It's, it's, uh, and it's something else that I wanted to note too along with this, uh,

the department, uh, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is going to be hosting some

different open houses this month and they're going to be in our neck of the woods here

pretty soon.

Uh, November 20th, I see that they have a, uh, a meat district meetings in Adams, uh,

they'll have, you have one from, uh, November 20th from five to seven.

So, yeah, if you're able to get out there, uh, encourage people to, uh, to make that,

and that's one thing that I know the DNR is trying to do, go around the state and get

feedback and input from, you know, um, our different organizations, whether it's, you

know, the, the hook and bullet crowd or the conservation side of things on the whole

whole state issues.

So if you're able to get out there, please attend.

We're speaking with Wisconsin State Senator Petra testing right now.

And Sarah also saw that you got to attend the, uh, red kettle campaign and, and check

that out.

Uh, just something I wanted to make sure to highlight and make sure, uh, people heard

about this and, uh, a really fun event.

It, it was, it was a blast.

Um, so the Salvation Army, they always do the red kettle kick off early in November

until, uh, this year is actually the day after, uh, the election.

So I think I was operating on about maybe two or three hours of sleep.

So I can't say I got an A plus for, um, I remarks that day, but, you know, it was so great

to see because we had folks from, uh, municipal leaders from the city of Stevens point, the

village of Clover, uh, Sheriff Lucas was there along with a number of our men and women

who served in, uh, our first responders and even had the, uh, uh, Stevens point, UW

SP cheerleading cheerleading squad there and just seeing the amount of support and the

individuals that come out every year because the Salvation does a tremendous, uh, job of

raising funds for their, their shelters all across the state because, uh, believe it or

not, we do have a huge and significant amount of homeless here in central Wisconsin and

Stevens point area, Wisconsin rapids and, uh, you know, the funds that they raised between

now and through the end of the year go to help these shelters and help their operations

and help those who are most needed to get back on their feet.

Yeah, I encourage you to look out for those, uh, red kettles and help out and, uh, support

your communities whenever you get an opportunity to everybody.

Uh, definitely one of the, uh, touch on this too, sir, because I, I know with along all

these things and you, you've had a very, very busy, uh, a couple of months here leading

into this. So you probably haven't been able to do as much of, but you mentioned the

on the job series. Uh, are you looking to get back into that here in the next couple

of weeks or months? Yeah, we're, we're getting things lined back up. Um, we kind of hit the

pause button here these last couple of months with, uh, the, uh, the, the busy schedules

of, uh, campaigns like all, but I think, uh, we've got a few lined up.

The one is going to be with Ellis construction that we're still working up the details on

and we actually, we had one lined up in September and I was really excited about it and also

terrified where I was going to go into a cough dust and plane, but, uh, the weather wasn't

cooperating. So we weren't able to get that one in the books, but we're going to be getting

these lined up here and, and, um, you know, as I've done in the past once a month, we'll

be going out and working a different job in the district. So if you're a, uh, employer

out here in the central Wisconsin area and, uh, you want to put me to work contact my office

and, um, there's no job I want to. And when it comes to, uh, those jobs, I don't, I, I,

I believe you have, I'm not 100% if you've been over at the Del Monte, but I know that you

wanted to highlight them recently, uh, about them, uh, naming one of the, the name being

named one of the 2024 winners of the Vets Ready employee initiative. Uh, this is something

that, especially in the last couple of months, I've talked a lot about, uh, getting our

vets, uh, back into the workforce and, and the transition of that being smoother and

how much that, uh, as a, as a domino effect, when it comes to our soldiers, whether it

is their way of life and having a better income or mentality and, and just have better

mental health, there, this leads to so many things. Uh, our job can oftentimes be, uh, what

we identify with or how we identify ourselves. What's one of the first things you ask

somebody when you're getting the gnome? What do you do for a living? Uh, and it's no

different for our soldiers. And of all the people that have earned it, uh, they certainly

have. They have done more than enough. So I didn't want to highlight Delmani and I

know that you did, uh, recently as well. Yeah, I mean, it just a testament to some of

our great employers in the area and Delmani being one of them a great through process

of facility that, you know, they put our veterans above all else and they have them

recognized for or their efforts in higher veterans is, is critically important. And going

back to that. So, you know, I really, really touched on it. But, um, you know, last

week and I had the opportunity to go out to Kansas City, uh, to meet with an organization

called the Veterans Community Project. And this is a, a nonprofit organization that has

popped up. And, uh, what they do is they provide wraparounds or provide tiny homes along

with wraparounds services for veterans who are going through issues such as PTSD, substance

abuse, mental health, you name it. And where they've been implemented in the place like

Kansas City, Maricopa County, down in Arizona and hopefully here in Wisconsin near future

if we can get them some support in the next day budget is that their success rates are

far beyond better than anything that the VA has offered currently. And so, um, I'm really

excited. We heard a lot of great testimonies that they're open house when I was down there

in KC last weekend. And, uh, I think it's something that we can easily, uh, make happen here

in the state of Wisconsin. And, and, uh, I'm really excited to again, hopefully do what we

can help our men and women who have served and, and make a strong case that Wisconsin's

one of the best states in the country for recognizing our men and women who served our country.

There is certainly work to be done and we need you out there, uh, working at it like all your

colleagues and everything. But with the election being over and with it being more of that,

that great, great area time where there is a transition going on. I'm curious. What are you

looking forward to doing that doesn't have to do with anything with politics? Uh, yeah, hunting,

sitting back and watching your favorite TV show, uh, whatever it is. Uh, what are you looking

forward to? Uh, maybe this weekend, even. Well, hi, I can tell you I'm looking forward to, uh,

getting out in the woods next weekend for, uh, the opening of gun deer season. I

hung up in Lincoln County with my, my dad and a couple of his friends on some land that they own.

And, and, uh, obviously, if, you know, we still got football. So, you know, hoping for some good

games this weekend and really hoping that Bucky can turn it around and the badgers can bring home

the axe. So that's, uh, that's gonna be, uh, what's on my to do list. Those are all really good.

I had sleep. I had sleep number one on there. I had, uh, I imagine that you haven't been able

to sleep very much in the last couple of months. I've been pretty busy. Uh, but, uh, yeah,

that's a good one. Those are all good ones, sir. Appreciate it. And I appreciate the conversation.

Uh, if people have follow-up questions, they'd like to know more or maybe bring some things to light.

Whatever it might be, how can they reach you? Yeah, I mean, if anyone eats again,

touches my office and especially right now is, you know, even though this is sort of considered

the downtime, there's still, uh, a lot of action here for this budget session. It's a place with

budgets. So this is really the, the opportunity to contact with your elected officials and

Madison, myself included. So if you need to get in touch, I got ideas, thoughts, concerns.

Reach out to my office, my number is 608266-3123. You can shoot us an email at s-e-n dot testin

at l-e-g-i-s dot w-i dot gov. And of course, follow us on social media, drop us a line.

And like I tell people all the time, you need to meet with me in person. I got no issues with

it. I'm like a whole school doctor. I have no schools.

And, sir, just wrapping up, I did want to tell you, and we've talked about this before in our,

on air and off air. Um, I had a listener tell me a couple of days before the election. How much

they appreciated our, our conversation, our talk. And I know how much I appreciate it. I know

you and I have been able to do this for a while now. I always want to, I just want to thank you

again for the conversation, putting up with my questions and having some fun with us at the same

time. Thanks a lot for the time. Oh, likewise. And I, I always enjoy our conversations and look

forward to it every month. We'll talk again next month. You safe travels out there and we'll talk

against you. Sounds good. Thank you. State Senator Patrick testing joining us right now. We'll

be back with us next month, everybody. And we'll have more midday magazine coming up for you right

here at 97 5 FM 13 20 AM WF HR. We are locally grown radio.