A Neenah lawmaker was one of four Republicans in the assembly to vote against Governor Walker’s plan to strip nearly all public employee unions of most of their collective bargaining rights. Representative Dean Kaufert said he supports requiring workers to pay more toward their pension and health insurance, but he thought the proposal went too far. “I understand these bold steps have to be made,” Kaufert told WHBY. “But there has to be some working together, there has to be some areas of compromise, some ways to do it where we don’t have to start a civil war.”

Kaufert said there are a lot of hardworking people in his district, including public employees and union members. He said they were very vocal, and that part of his job is to listen. “A lot of people just think that this bill, there was a little bit of an overreach,” he said. “And I’ve been saying from the beginning, I believe the Democrats last time, part of the reason that they lost was that they overreached. I want to caution us, that we don’t do the same.”

Kaufert, a business owner and former Neenah city council member, said his record shows he’s a fiscal conservative, and he’ll side with the governor and the Republican party 99 percent of the time. “I’ve got to be a part of my community, I want to be a part of the community. I love my job, but I just think this is one of those where maybe we overreached a little bit. I know what the governor’s trying to do is one of those things that need to be done. You can do it in a way that you don’t have to poke people in the eye.”

“I’ll continue to fully support the governor on many of these spending cuts, spending decisions that are going to have to be made,” Kaufert said. “The governor’s a friend of mine. But, I don’t remember during the campaign him saying that he was going to gut one of the fundamental rights many of my constituents worked hard for.”

AUDIO: Rep. Dean Kaufert (1:25)

Mike Kemmeter, WHBY

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