Steven Potter:
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Peter Peckarsky. Thank you for joining us.

Peter Peckarsky:
You're welcome. Glad to be here.

Steven Potter:
You're an intellectual property attorney from Milwaukee. Why do you want to be a U.S. senator?

Peter Peckarsky:
I want to be a U.S. senator because the country faces a lot of problems and I think this is what I can do to help. So I'm running because this is what I can do for my country. In my view, I'm seriously qualified to take Ron Johnson's policies apart on and off the debate stage and to represent all the people of Wisconsin on the many critical, complicated, technical, and legal issues we face at home, in cyberspace, national security, and foreign affairs.

Steven Potter:
If elected, what would your legislative priorities be?

Peter Peckarsky:
The first thing we got to do is protect the elections and elect people who are willing to step up to the plate for the American people and get the American people, people of Wisconsin what they want on a number of issues. Universal healthcare is a basic right for all Americans. Universal broadband, you need broadband to do business, to get education, to do all kinds of things in this country. Now, that's got to happen. I support workers and unions and union jobs. Sustainable agriculture is an issue in Wisconsin. We have enormous problems both in the dairy farming industry and other farmers. Affordable education is an issue. We're here right on the UW campus, crown jewel of the state, and we've got to support it and make sure people get a decent education, both from pre-K, K through 12, college, and beyond. There are other issues. Something's got to be done to prevent and try and stop climate change. Justice for our veterans. They were there for us when we needed them and it's our responsibility to provide for them and provide the medical care, the mental healthcare, any other kind of care they need for the rest of their lives, and that's got to be done.

Steven Potter:
Let's talk about inflation. It's at a 40-year high. How should federal lawmakers address inflation?

Peter Peckarsky:
It's not clear what federal lawmakers are able to do about it. There are some measures which can be taken, but I'm not going to sit here for a second and say, "Okay we can have federal legislation to stop inflation immediately." We made this decision to go ahead and take the $4.5 trillion and make the world safe for junk bond investors

Steven Potter:
Shifting now to gun violence, there have been a number of major mass shootings and an uptake in other gun deaths. President Joe Biden recently signed into law new gun control measures. How would you address gun violence?

Peter Peckarsky:
There are a lot of responsible gun owners, all of whom handle their guns properly. They know how to use them. They're safe. They don't circulate. So the first order of business is, yeah, there are people who are responsibly using their guns in this country. We have to take a look at the text, I think, of the Second Amendment, which says more or less, you can look it up, "a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." I'm not hearing a whole lot about well-regulated militias these days. Everybody's got to realize, as I understand it, it doesn't take an AR-15 to shoot a deer. It doesn't take a 30 or 50 or 100-round magazine to do that. Something has got to be done, recognizing there are responsible gun owners and they ought to hold onto their guns and they deal with them properly and safely, they don't get into the wrong hands. So I think somebody's got to pay attention to all the interest involved here and work this out. But the bottom line is 21 kids dead in a school room is not what's supposed to be happening here.

Steven Potter:
The Supreme Court has recently overturned Roe versus Wade, which now returns the decision on allowing abortions to the individual states. What should the U.S. Senate do on the matter of abortion?

Peter Peckarsky:
The Senate should codify Roe V. Wade right now, which would be a step in the right direction. That's the short answer to your question.

Steven Potter:
How would you reassure Wisconsin voters to have confidence in the election system?

Peter Peckarsky:
In general, the people administering elections in Wisconsin, that is the ordinary election inspector in your home ward, who you've seen for 10, 20 years, however long, they're there, they're doing it. They're doing a good job. They're doing an honest job. They're giving you a ballot. They're not obstructing your voting. They're helping you vote. They're accurately handing those when they're all done. But bottom line, the assurance is the people working for you, the election inspectors in your home ward are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing and they're trying to do it and doing it honestly.

Steven Potter:
Ron Johnson has won election twice. Why are you the Democrat who can beat him in the general election in November?

Peter Peckarsky:
Ron Johnson has violated his oath of office. He took an oath of office, which every senator must take under Article Six of the United States Constitution, to support the United States Constitution. When he failed to vote to convict Donald Trump at Donald Trump's second trial... Everybody saw on television what Donald Trump did. There's no question of anybody's mind about what happened there. There's video of it all over the place. When Ron Johnson failed to vote to convict Donald Trump, he breached his oath of office, that's one. He has taken $1.25 million from the National Rifle Association and their affiliates during the course of his career and done nothing to stop the carnage which we were talking about, the carnage in our schools and on our streets. And three, he arranged to change the tax code to put $500 million of the people's money in the hands of three people who, one way or another, managed to get $20 million into his campaigns. Ron Johnson should not be elected. Ron Johnson ought to be retired right now at this election. And given what has going on and is coming on about what he did on January 6th, in connection with the fake, that's a soft word, anyway, with the illegal electoral votes, if he wants to leave office right now, that's perfectly fine. He has no business being there.

Steven Potter:
Peter Peckarsky, thank you again for joining us.

Peter Peckarsky:
You're welcome. Thank you very much.