With the waterfalls of the Eau Claire Dells as a backdrop, Wausau School Board President Tricia Zunker announced her intentions to seek a much higher office in Washington, DC.

The Associate Justice of the Ho-Chunk Nation Supreme Court will seek the 7th Congressional District seat vacated by Sean Duffy in late September.

Zunker says she’s been considering a run for the seat long before Duffy’s announcement back in August that he would be leaving Congress. “This has been in the works for a bit. I had intended down the road to run for this seat, it was something I had considered in great detail.”

She plans on running on the Democratic ticket but says her first job will be to represent the people, something she already does on the Wausau School Board. “It is always a good idea to remember your focus. We are here to serve the people.

“We all want to afford our health care, we all want to feed our families without breaking the bank, we want to make sure our farmers stay in business, and we want to make sure that our environment is protected,” adding those are all “people over party” issues.

Zunker adds that she supports finding a way to comingle private-sector health care with a public marketplace option as opposed to medicare-for-all. She declined to go in-depth on the recent impeachment inquiry into President Trump because she expects the matter will be cleared up before the special election is head but did say it is the job of Congress to uphold the constitution.

Zunker chose to hold Monday’s announcement in the park because of its significance to her family, saying entertainment funds were hard to come by so they took several day trips to the park. She also promised to support legislation to natural resources like those found in the park.

Members of Zunker’s family and Elders of the Ho-Chunk Nation were also in attendance during Monday’s event, some displaying the Tribal flag.

During both her opening remarks and a one-on-one interview after, she made it clear that she feels the direct leap from local to national politics is not too much for her. “I’m incredibly competent, I”m a hard worker, smart, fierce, I’m determined, and I’m ready. I can do it.”

Zunker became the second Democrat to announce their intention to run for the seat after Vietnam War Veteran Lawrence Dale announced his intentions, meaning both parties will now require a primary before the general election for the seat.

Dale, a Michigan resident, made his announcement outside the 7th district boundaries in Madison on Monday but reportedly promised he would move to Hurley “in the legal sense” soon.

It’s still unclear when the election for the seat will be held as state and federal officials attempt to find a spring 2020 date that will satisfy both regulations.

WSAU

A contentious debate saw the state Assembly approve rules to accommodate a disabled lawmaker. Representative Jimmy Anderson (D-Fitchburg), argued his case on the Assembly floor.

“Remember, I was just asking to use the damn speaker phones. Something the Senate is already doing, something we’re already doing during joint committees,” he said.

Anderson explained to his colleagues that he’s been in a wheelchair ever since a drunk driver slammed into his family’s car. The crash killed Anderson’s parents and younger brother and left him in a wheelchair as a result of a severed spinal cord.

In the end, Republican leadership removed language dealing with veto overrides from the a package, leaving the disability accommodations in place. “The changes to the committee process allowing him to phone in, allowing anybody to phone in that is certified with a disability, and the things on the floor that help us ensure that we don’t have lengthy delays and overnight sessions,” explained Majority Leader Jim Steinke (R-Kaukana).

The vote Thursday ended a months-long dispute, in which Anderson had retained a disability rights group to represent him in a potential lawsuit.

It was a busy floor session on Tuesday in the State Senate, with dozens of appointments and bills on the agenda.

Senators started the session by approving all of Governor Tony Evers’ Cabinet picks. Those appointments had been held up for several sessions before making it to the floor.

One pair of bills will change how the state handles sexual assault testing kits. One bill lays out distinct procedures for what happens once a test is performed, something that State Senator Robert Cowles says was oddly not in place. 

“We have no statutory procedures currently for sexual assault kit processing. We need to have that. We need to have a clear chain of evidence to prevent the kinds of problems that have occurred in the past.”

The other bill requires police and investigators to keep victims appraised on when their kits are being tested. State Senator Patty Schachtner says that’s vital after years of neglect when it came to DNA testing at the crime lab.

“It empowers victims and survivors, and we need to really support our victims, and this helps them track through the justice process. So I hope everyone supports it.”

Senators also approved a bill that would make the state’s industrial hemp program permanent and afford some protections to farmers who grow it.

The bill formalizes policies from the state ag department on how to handle growers of hemp, and would protect farmers who unknowingly grow hemp that contains too much THC.

Senator Lena Taylor of Milwaukee voted for the measure. 

“This is an important industry that we want to be a part of. But without this bill, the federal government would be in control. Those of you who feel strongly about state’s rights? Today is the day that you should be voting for this if you support states rights, because otherwise you’re giving the federal government control over your farmers.”

The bill also modifies Wisconsin’s hemp laws to match language found in the new U S D A Farm Bill. 

The families of officers and EMTs killed while on duty will not lose their health insurance coverage under another bill. State Senator Van Wangaarrd says it’s something that that state should have had in place a while ago. 

“I’m sure that the law enforcement officers throughout the state and the EMTs will really appreciate the thoughtfulness in caring for their living spouses.”

State Senator Dave Hansen says the bill will match a measure that’s already in place for the surviving families of firefighters who died while on duty. 

“We were able to do this for fire personnel several years ago. I’m very proud of being a co author of this. But this today is about doing the right thing together.”

The state will pay for that insurance through the Police and Fire Protection fee that residents pay on their phone and wireless bills. 

Sen. Jon Erpenbach

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to give $110,000 to a suicide prevention group — but not without partisan commentary. State Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-West Point) noted that the money was included in the budget approved this summer.

“I get the due diligence, but this in my eyes is not due diligence. This is jut holding things up for a couple months,” Erpenbach said.

Committee Republicans held off, awaiting recommendations of a suicide prevention task force. JFC co-chair Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette).

“We might have been even doing some other changes here today if four minority members of that task force hadn’t decided to leak their initial report to the media because it wasn’t going the way they wanted it to,” Nygren said.

The money will go to the Center for Suicide Awareness to operate Hopeline, a text-based counseling service.

Rep. John Nygren

The UW-System will be getting $8.8 million to fund new dairy research facilities at UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-River Falls, after those funds were released by the Joint Finance Committee. But committee members spent time discussing USDA secretary Sonny Perdue’s comments about small farms needing to consolidate or fail.

John Holevoet with the Dairy Business Association said Perdue’s comment’s just emphasize a long standing discussion in the industry.

“There’s always been this sort of discussion about ‘how do we protect small farms?’ Do we do that at the expense of big farms? Do we protect big farms at the expense of small farms? At least from our perspective, there’s space for both to operate.”

Like suicide prevention funding, the Dairy Innovation Hub was part of the recent state budget.

Former state Senator Leah Vukmir will not run for the U.S. House.

Vukmir lost a race for U.S. Senate to Democrat Tammy Baldwin last year, and has since taken a job with the National Taxpayers Union. In a statement, she said that’s allowed her to “enjoy some personal freedom.”

She’s the third Republican to pass on a bid for the 5th District seat being vacated by Jim Sensenbrenner.

WisPolitics has reported that state Senator Chris Kapenga plans to enter the race. Other Republicans considering it include Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Matt Walker, son of former Governor Scott Walker.