Here & Now

cc Republican Senator Van Wanggaard sits on the outer ring of the State Senate chambers, seating is reserved for the majority party. He and the republican party would like to keep his seat there. But the democratic party and former democratic Senator John Lehman would like to recapture it. After eight years in the Assembly, Lehman served four years in the Senate, rising to leadership. >> So the governor is good about doing that, about keeping those things in place, okay. >> Wanggaard defeated him in 2010, by about the same margin Governor Scott Walker beat Tom Barrett. >> We're spending all these resources because we did what we said we were going to do and because somebody wants a do-over. >> I don't know if it was because he was new and inexperienced, or if he really believes all this stuff. But he went in there and got right behind Governor Walker and whatever they wanted to do. >> Namely the stripping of most collective bargaining rights for most public employees. >> We did this collective bargaining to fix some of the structural issues, or we eliminated 10,000 teachers. Done, gone. >> In Racine, there are a lot of discouraged people, who say, I never thought Van would do that. I thought I knew Van, you know, he was an officer in the Police Association. He was involved in collective bargaining. >> Wanggaard was a Racine police officer for 30 years, a member and negotiator for its union. >> The first caucus we had after Act 10 was presented, I raised my hand in caucus and said, "I can't vote for this." And it was like, what? I can't vote for this, because there have to be protections for the worker. >> Wanggaard says he was responsible for adding language to the bill that protected the process for grievance, discipline and workplace safety, extending civil service protections to local public workers. But the Racine Police Association endorsed challenger John Lehman, saying as senator, Van Wanggaard voted for the two-year state budget that eliminated the police officers' right to arbitrate discipline. He voted for a budget that eliminated the right to collectively bargain health insurance. >> I'm Senator Wanggaard. I'm out just meeting and greeting, talking to people in the neighborhood. >> But as Wanggaard campaigns door to door in his Racine district, he gets positive feedback. >> So, you think we're on the right track? >> 100%. >> Absolutely? >> 100%, so yeah, you guys got our vote. >> Hi, I'm John Lehman. I just wanted to-- How are you? >> Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. I just want to drop by my card, if I could. This is for the recall election in June. >> At this door, on his campaign swing, John Lehman finds support in the family of a police officer. >> I think that endorsement was one of the first times that the Police Association has endorsed a democrat side candidate. >> Union support that Senator Wanggaard tried to address early on, because in the midst of protests at the capitol, Senator Wanggaard wrote this in an open letter to the people of Racine County. "Wisconsin's budget shortfall

can be ignored no longer. The simple truth is this

collective bargaining is changing because Wisconsin's fiscal crisis demands it." >> The declaring of emergency, the declaring that this is job stuff, and they're doing everything but, and now from the perspective of a year later, you can see that the jobs agenda really has been nonproductive, but they were just blowing smoke. >> Just like the 250,000 jobs. Where are the 250,000 jobs? Well, the governor has four years to try to reach that goal, you know, and what's it been, 14 months, you know? I mean, give the guy a chance. We're moving in the positive direction. >> While according to the U.S. Labor Department, Wisconsin as a whole ranks first in the nation for jobs lost in the last year. Racine County gained 600 jobs. Wanggaard says that was not thanks to Lehman or the previous democratic administration. It was due to a new business-friendly climate. >> If I can draw a corporation here to Wisconsin, and they relocate their company here, I'm happy to give them a break on paying their state taxes for two, three years, you know, and most of the taxes that we help them with create jobs. >> Republicans on many issues are doing that. They're asking, you know, WMC, or they're asking the business folks, what do you want us to do? And they're saying, well, cut our taxes and let us do whatever we want to do, and they're falling for it. In the process, the middle income people kind of get lost. They're not serving the middle income people. >> And who the next senator of the 21st serves will be different than in 2010, or in this recall election. New legislative boundaries mean the city of Racine will no longer be in the 21st Senate District. But recall voters in the city will help choose the next senator. Instead, the new district is much more rural, encompassing Racine and Kenosha Counties to the west of their county seats. >> Now we're going to be doing a recall election in the old district. >> You're voting in the old 21st, not the new 21st. >> This is going to be confusing. >> It's a little confusing. >>

Woman

It is.