Here & Now

6th CD Voters to Decide Replacement for Tom Petri

Frederica Freyberg:

For the first time in nearly 35 years, there is an open election in the 6th Congressional District. The seat had been held since 1979 by US representative Tom Petri, who decided to step down shortly after being challenged by firebrand state senator, Glenn Grothman. Grothman jumped into the race saying the long-time Republican incumbent was not conservative enough. Another self-described moderate, Democrat Winnebago County executive, Mark Harris, is running against Grothman.

Ellen Balthazor:

I’m a registered Democrat, but I always voted for Tom Petri.

Frederica Freyberg:

The departure of the moderate Republican incumbent leaves the 6^th Congressional District in a bit of flux after so many years. Republican Jerry Lang of Neenah now doesn’t know who to vote for.

What are you waiting to hear before you make up your mind?

Jerry Lang:

No particular item, because there are so many. I just can’t pick one.

Frederica Freyberg:

Lang does know he wants elected officials willing to work together.

Jerry Lang:

We just don’t have people who are willing to compromise in congress any more, very few. And that’s too bad.

Frederica Freyberg:

At this one lunch table in downtown Oshkosh, three friends in three different political places share their views.

Ed Hudak:

My position is that I support Glenn Grothman. And I like Glenn because I know what he stands for and he’s more than willing to tell us what he stands for.

Ellen Balthazor:

I’m going for Mark Harris.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why is that?

Ellen Balthazor:

Because I think that he’s someone in the mold of thinks that government can do things. And that he’s concerned not just with too much government, but with the difference between good government and bad government.

Frederica Freyberg:

Winnebago County executive, Mark Harris, has his work cut out for him gaining the seat in a district that hasn’t voted for a Democrat in 50 years, and where in 2012 Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama by seven points.

Mark Harris:

Well, I think I am a little bit of a different kind of Democrat, but

Frederica Freyberg:

Harris calls himself a moderate, socially progressive and fiscally conservative, citing spending cuts and debt reduction in the county.

Mark Harris:

Tom Petri, who was reelected so many times, was reelected because he was a thoughtful, quiet, moderate man. And I feel I fit that pattern much more than my opponent.

Glenn Grothman:

Well, I’m not afraid of controversy, and I think the reason this country is a mess right now is because we have too many politicians in Washington who are afraid of controversy.

Anchor:

Senator, that’s pretty tough language. Did you not expect to feel some heat on this one?

Glenn Grothman:

No, because we sent out–

Frederica Freyberg:

And he’s hit some nerves over the years.

Glenn Grothman:

The fact that I’m not afraid to get involved in controversial issues I think is a positive for me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Elected as a legislator 21 years ago, state senator Glenn Grothman proudly embraces the Tea Party.

Glenn Grothman:

Well, I think I’m clearly going to be the most conservative of the congressmen in Wisconsin right now because I didn’t see enough people anywhere standing up to the George Bush Republicans when spending went through the roof.

Frederica Freyberg:

But Harris says taking Wisconsin’s Republican budgeting to Washington would be more of the same.

Mark Harris:

That would be just continuing the fiscal nonsense that we’re already so critical about Washington right now, because, for instance, Glenn Grothman has been in the legislature for a long time, but during that time the debt has more than tripled and spending has more than doubled.

Frederica Freyberg:

Grothman says the recipe for growing the economy nationally and in Wisconsin starts with improving the business climate.

Glenn Grothman:

I’ve done something called the Manufacturers Tax Credit, my opponent's a little bit not necessarily all on board in that. So we’re going to make manufacturing in this state income tax free, which I think has done as much as anything to improve the feeling that we have a more pro-business climate here in the state.

Frederica Freyberg:

Harris is especially critical of Grothman’s signature tax credits, which he says are pushing the state budget into deficit.

Mark Harris:

And when you combine a large tax credit with a graduated tax structure, it has a big impact.

Frederica Freyberg:

But one of Grothman’s top issues brings into sharp focus the difference between a self-described social progressive and the senator with a Tea Party bent. That is welfare reform.

Glenn Grothman:

I think the welfare benefits, the way they’re structured in this country, are both discouraging work, and more and more employers are telling me that. They’re also discouraging people raising kids in an old-fashioned nuclear family.

It’s time somebody attacked this problem because if we don’t attack the problem, it’s going to sink America.

Mark Harris:

The main solution to too much welfare cost is an increase in the minimum wage and finding good employment for Americans. I don’t know anyone that aspires to be poor and on some sort of welfare.

Frederica Freyberg:

And so it all comes down to how voters in a congressional district known to elect a moderate Republican will cast their ballot in this one.

Ed Hudak:

You can’t depend on government to solve all of our problems.

Ellen Balthazor:

I want government to solve some problems.

Frederica Freyberg:

A production note on that report. We asked Senator Grothman multiple times for a sit-down interview like the one we did with Mark Harris, but he couldn’t make it happen.