PBS Wisconsin Public Affairs

Hi, I'm Tom Palzewicz. I'm a Democrat running in Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District. Some of the things in my background

that I think make me qualified to be your Congressman would be

my six years in the Navy including four years on a nuclear submarine, where I really learned servant leadership. When I came back to Wisconsin, I got my accounting degree and I went into banking for 15 years really helping Wisconsin banks manage their risk and really work with Wall Street where I learned how the economy really works. And then last but not least, my brother and I have owned a business-coaching company for the last 14 years, where we've helped small business owners on a regular basis create jobs. We've been able to help them create over 2,000 jobs in the southeast economy over the last five years.

And we're very proud of that. So the things that really make me want to run and the things I care about are really four main things. And it starts with healthcare. I think healthcare in this country is a right not a privilege.

And I believe that one of the things that we really need to do next is get everybody covered 'cause once we have everybody covered, we can actually start to lower healthcare costs. I also think by getting everybody covered, it will help unlock entrepreneurship because it'll be easier to start businesses and will also create more job-portability where people will be able to move from one job to another. Education is also a very important component of our platform. Education right now is unequal across not only the state of Wisconsin but the country.

We have some school districts where people can do very well and other school districts where it's very hard to get an education for non-education reasons. And I think we need to invest a lot more in our infrastructure of education in order to help not only this generation but the next generation have the ability to go out and find jobs and reduce the income inequality gap we have in this country. Student loan debt is also on our educational platform because I think it's out of control. The way I like to describe it is people are leaving the higher education system with what I would call a house or a car payment without a house or car.

Climate change is real. It's happening. My four years on a nuclear submarine helped me understand that science is real. Climate change is real.

We need to start doing something about it. We need to start doing something about it now. And then last but not least is infrastructure. I think we need to be investing in infrastructure in this country.

Not only roads, bridges but also broadband across rural America because broadband delivers education and jobs to rural America. And then last but not least is research and development. I think we need to invest a lot more in research and development into universities the way we used to. A lot of the things we have in this country we take for granted but they really came out of that research and development arm.

And then people ask me why I'm a Democrat because I live in Waukesha County. My wife and I have raised three great kids in Brookfield. And people ask me, "Tom, you're a business owner. "You're a Navy vet.

Why are you a Democrat?" And it really boils down to two main reasons. It's about fairness. It's about equality. Fairness and justice, economic fairness and then equality.

I believe that people are equal and they should be treated as such. So I'm Tom Palzewicz. I'm a Democrat. I'm running in 5th Congressional District.

And I would love to be your Congressman. Thanks.