Alex Dahlman is joining us in the studio today.
He is running for reelection to represent the 39th State Assembly District.
Alex is a Republican and he calls Markizan home nowadays.
That's relatively new, like a year or so.
Yeah, just a little over a year, two years, but I, uh, born and raised in Markizan, uh, moved to Green Lake for several years in the middle, but ended up moving back to Markizan a couple of years ago.
So you have a democratic opponent and the two of you debated the other night, the League of Women Voters in Ripon had a debate, I guess.
So people can catch that on the YouTube channel.
Yeah, I believe you had the Ripon YouTube channel.
It was a good, good event.
Yeah, it was a good event.
We got to go over many, many, many different issues.
A lot more audience questions than we even anticipated.
So we had a good turnout there.
I thought we tackled a bunch of good issues that people should be aware of.
And I think we agreed on a lot of things, but there's also some stark differences between our campaigns.
All right.
Well, tell us about those differences, if you would.
So I mean, I come from a background of public services.
First off working for Congressman growthman back in the day challenging bureaucracy and government and having a little bit of background in that I believe my opponent he comes from the private sector, which is which is also always great But I just think the way I've been able to navigate as a legislator legislator for this district Having success navigating our state government and being able to help our constituents out Navigate our state bureaucracies.
I think is is something that I'm very proud of and I think it's something that
directly benefits this district by being able to navigate government in an effective way.
And there's also just different issues around our county that I believe are around our county in our area that I believe I have a little bit of difference as well.
But some things we do agree on is that our school funding formula is broken.
I believe that our referendum system has kind of ran its course here in the state.
We're in a property tax crisis here in the state of Wisconsin.
I think we need to do all that we can go in the next session to make sure that we change that funding formula.
so it's fair for rural communities as well.
All right, now we were chatting beforehand about the fact that you've actually represented the 39th and the 41st because of redistricting.
So that kind of, you kind of represented different parts of those districts over the span of that.
So
yeah, this is my fourth time running for for office This is the first time I get to run under the same map lines than I had the previous cycle so very interesting fun fact that I like to tell a lot of people but It was frustrating at times.
I mean it's frustrating for voters.
It's frustrating for people trying to run for office I spent a lot of time my first couple sessions over in the Wisconsin Dells and over in Porter's trying to get to know people and then ultimately
I believe it's a good thing and I enjoy being able to represent places like Riffin again with the new maps.
So under the 39th district, our district runs from the outskirts of Fond du Lac around Lammartine and El Dorado all the way through Green Lake Marquette and into Adams County to the outskirts of the Dells and then down into Cambrian Friesland.
So it's a rural district.
It's a district that I was born and raised in.
I know very well and I'm just glad to be able to run in this district once again.
So what are some of the issues in the campaign?
Again, school funding is going to be a massive issue moving forward.
I just believe that we are we are overtaxed here in our state.
Affordability is a huge concern for individuals.
I believe we've done a good job of working across the aisle in a split government with Governor Evers on delivering
delivering tax cuts to make it more affordable for our, especially our seniors to remain in their homes and to remain in our district.
We cut retirement income tax down for our seniors.
We've delivered an income tax cut for everybody across the board.
We've delivered on no tax on your energy bills.
So we just want to be able to continue on those specific projects.
But there's a lot more that can be done.
We have to make sure we rein in these data centers.
I believe they're probably
necessary here somewhere around our state and country.
We've got to make sure that they're being done out in the open in a transparent way and they're being regulated in a way where they're not going to use up too much water.
They're not going to go into places that our communities don't want them in.
They've just got to be done in a transparent way and we've got to make sure that all the energy that they're using and they're transmitting and they're bringing in and they're producing that they're going to be paying for and not a single penny goes to the rate
pair.
A Republican candidate for State Attorney General Eric Tony would like to see some legislation regarding penalties.
for automated license plate readers and a flock camera system for abuses of those systems.
Do you think that might be something that will pop up in the legislature?
Yeah, this is absolutely a topic that's popping up right now across our state and country is the use of flock cameras.
And I totally believe that, yeah, if you abuse, even as a law enforcement officer, if you abuse the use of a flock camera to go beyond the bounds of what it's meant to be, I believe there should be penalties behind that.
Eric Tony has been a wonderful person to represent.
our mutual constituents with.
He's been very, very active in the Capitol.
He was incredibly successful at getting positions and new assistant district attorneys around our state to make sure that our prosecutions are better and moving in a more quickly.
moving faster through the system.
Oftentimes we see the problem with our legal system is that we just don't have enough prosecutors and attorneys to give them a fair and speedy trial and to get these backlogs broken down.
So Eric Tony's done a great job.
I fully support him and his run for attorney general.
I love to see him at that position because I know just how much he cares and I hope that everybody can join me in voting for Eric moving forward too.
Okay.
We're going to see some changes at the top.
for governor right
yes we got a brand new governor coming in we're also gonna have a brand new speaker in the state assembly and we're also gonna have a brand new majority leader in the states on it so uh... wisconsin's on the uh... new horizon of leadership uh... i'm i'm hoping that uh...
Personally, as a Republican, I hope that we have Tom Tiffany as our governor and so we can move forward with some things that we've seen over the last several years working with Tony Evers that I believe we could do a better job at with specifically tax cuts, specifically different reforms to welfare so we can help people on a gradual cliff rather than taking away all their benefits.
We need to encourage a lot more.
participation in our workforce and things like that.
So we're going to have a lot of new leadership.
It's going to be a brand new time in Madison.
It's going to be very interesting and I hope to be a part of it.
Okay, so you've served on the joint finance committee.
If you're reelected, is that something you'd like to continue to do?
Yeah, I've been very, very lucky to serve on the joint finance committee.
It's the committee that draws up our state budget every two years.
So it gives me a specific voice for our district on that committee.
So every dollar that gets spent in the state of Wisconsin goes through that committee.
So therefore, the 39th district has a direct voice on that.
on that spending.
So I believe I've been very lucky.
I hope to continue to move up the ranks there, hoping to have even more of a leadership position on that committee moving forward.
We have a couple of retirements off of that committee, or we have at least one retirement off that committee.
So it just automatically leans itself to moving up in that committee and have a little bit more voice as well.
So I look forward to hopefully serving in that role again.
I'm going to ask you because your district is a little bit more rural than some, but
How are we doing as far as transportation on the most rural roads now?
I think we've done a great job of creating new programs that shift the money away from these mega projects and put a big priority on our local roads and bridges.
I was instrumental in helping a new program called the Agriculture Road Improvement Program be created a couple sessions ago and we built upon that this session as well.
That just makes sure that
roads specifically designated for major agriculture purposes across our counties.
So a lot of county highways, a lot of town roads would be able to apply for this type of money.
It helps our rural communities, especially obviously with the agriculture.
And then we put a lot of their focus on bridges, small bridges.
So we oftentimes see roads get shut down, unfortunately, because maybe the road isn't bad, but the bridge, the small bridge can't support the major equipment going across it.
So there's weight limits on it.
We wanted to make sure that we're
keeping those roads open and replacing those bridges as well.
Should we be concerned about conserving our rural hospitals?
I believe we've tried as hard as we can to make sure our hospitals remain afloat here in our rural communities.
It's something that's first and foremost on my mind.
I believe in our rural communities.
The schools are incredibly important to have people remain local in our rural communities and a great access to healthcare is the next biggest thing that keeps people in our rural communities and is really important to our voters.
I've done all we can.
We continue to invest heavily into that.
Unfortunately, like everything else, the inflation is through the roof.
We've got to figure out a way to maintain that.
But I believe if we've spoken to the hospital association and the hospitals here in our local area, I think they would agree that we've done a really good job, especially of giving a focus to our rural hospitals to make sure everybody has access.
OK.
Alex, anything else that you'd like to bring up as far as the campaign?
No, I'd just like to say thank you for all your support over the last several years as your representative.
I hope to have your vote again on November 3rd.
Early voting starts two weeks out, so feel free to go vote early in person with your local clerk or vote by mail, absentee.
Otherwise on November 3rd, I'll join you at the polls and hope that I have your support moving forward there.
We've been talking with Alex Stalin who's running for the 39th State Assembly District to the seat here in Wisconsin.