Frederica Freyberg:

Now a look ahead to the 2018 governor’s race and the latest in a growing list of announced Democratic primary candidates. This week Mahlon Mitchell entered the race. His second try at state-wide office. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor during the Walker recall election of 2012. He is the president of Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin. Mahlon Mitchell joins us now. Thanks very much for being here.

Mahlon Mitchell:

Thanks for having me again. Been a while.

Frederica Freyberg:

Yeah. We talk about this big cast of Democratic candidates. What sets you apart?

Mahlon Mitchell:

Well, I think it’s leadership. I’ve been a firefighter for 20 years giving back to my community. As firefighters, we lead. We don’t divide. We unite each other. We have one common goal and that is to help others. As firefighters we respond to those on the worst days of their lives. When they are at their worst, we have to be at our best. So doing that for 20 years, giving back to the community, leading, I want to take that some style of leadership to the executive branch in our state capitol and bring people together and do what’s right for all people in the state of Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

On the issues, what do you think is the most important thing Wisconsin needs to do for its education system?

Mahlon Mitchell:

We need to fully fund it. We need to get back to levels that actually give the resources and the real tools for our teachers to teach our greatest commodity which are our children. I have a son in 8th grade. I have a daughter that’s a freshman at UW-Oshkosh. Education is one of the most important things and a pillars of the state of Wisconsin. You can’t take $1.6 billion from public education in your first two budgets and then put $600 million back in your last budget before you run for office and call that progress. We need to actually fund our schools, make sure we take care of our greatest commodity, which is our children.

Frederica Freyberg:

If the Affordable Care Act remains in place, would you like to accept expanded Medicaid in Wisconsin?

Mahlon Mitchell:

Yes. I think we should have done that. We have to — one of the core issues we’re going to talk about around the state is health care. We should have taken the Medicaid expansion. There should never be a time where a child can’t go to the doctor because their parents can’t afford it. There should never be a time where a senior has to decide between paying their rent or getting their prescriptions filled. It’s just one of the core things that — and we talk about economics. One of the core things in someone’s checkbook or their own pocket, in their own financial status, is health care and paying premiums, co-pays and deductibles. We need to make health care more affordable. We can do that in Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

What in your mind is the best way to grow good-paying jobs in Wisconsin?

Mahlon Mitchell:

I think we need to invest in Wisconsinites that are here now. I think we need job training and apprenticeship programs and need to build around our ecosystem we have in place now. We need to raise wages. And once we raise wages, when we have more as the middle class and those living below middle class wages, we spend the money. And when we’re spending more money, there’s more goods and services that need to be produced. More goods and services need to be produced, more jobs need to be created. That’s more people working. It drives our economy.

Frederica Freyberg:

What's your position on the $3 billion Foxconn deal, which is now moving ahead?

Mahlon Mitchell:

Look, it’s signed into law. But let’s talk about what Foxconn really is. It’s a massive giveaway of $3 billion of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to a foreign company. What we need to do is invest in our infrastructure we have now. You can’t say that we don’t have money for education, we don’t have enough money to adequately fund our roads, we don’t have enough money to take care of our people with health care, but we have enough money to give $3 billion to a foreign company. We need to build our roads. We need to make sure our education system is fully funded. We need to make sure people have decent health care. We need to raise wages. Once we do those things, people will come to Wisconsin. We won’t have to give a golden parachute to a foreign company. They’ll want to come here. Foxconn would come here without us giving them $3 billion because we have the great workforce in Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

You’ve talked twice about raising wages. How do you do that?

Mahlon Mitchell:

You have to have family-sustaining jobs. The governor talks a lot about the unemployment rate, which is low. But there’s more to an economy, there’s more to our state than just the unemployment rate. You actually have to build jobs from the inside out, meaning that you have to have job training and apprenticeship for sustaining jobs. Right now, the governor talks about our unemployment rate, but people are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet. We actually have to have family-sustaining jobs.

Frederica Freyberg:

What in your mind would be the best way to create sustainable funding for Wisconsin's highways?

Mahlon Mitchell:

I think we need to look at the gas tax. I mean there’s a lot of options on the table. I know there’s been talk about toll roads. We need to get back together, have bipartisan legislation. We need to sit down at the table and make sure that we fully fund our roads. We’re 49th right now as far as roads go in the country. That’s unacceptable. We need to look at the gas tax. We need to look at different ways to fully fund our roads. The gas tax, I think, a minimal tax, is one way that we can help build our roads back again.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why do you think you could unseat Scott Walker?

Mahlon Mitchell:

Well, I think it’s going to take a different type of candidate. We’ve been with Governor Walker for eight years. Eight years to do the things we just talked about. And he hasn’t led. He ran for president, which God bless him, that’s his right to do. But for him right now, Wisconsin's plan B. We need leadership in the capitol. We need leadership from our governor. We haven’t seen that in the last eight years. So now he’s coming back in plan B and asking for years 9, 10, 11 and 12. It’s time for a change. It’s time for us to turn a page. We need leadership and I believe I can provide that leadership that’s needed desperately in the state of Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

Mahlon Mitchell, thanks very much.

Mahlon Mitchell:

Thank you.