Neenah Assemblyman Dean Kaufert is looking to take the office formerly held by John Gard. Current Assembly Majority Leader, Mike Heubsch of La Crosse, was expected to take the Speaker seat, but Kaufert says he may be the better fit. "I can work well together with the other side of the aisle," Kaufert tells WHBY . "I can work well with the governor, and most importantly, I thing my colleagues respect me and believe I can get the job done."
Kaufert says the legislature can't behave the way it has the past few years. "Vicious types of personal attacks . . being uncivil to each other, doing things strictly for partisan politics, getting away from the bread and butter issues," needs to stop.
Given the outcome of this week's election , Kaufert says voters sent a message that lawmakers "need to change the way we're doing things" — and he believes he can help make that happen as Assembly Speaker.
(audio WHBY)