Mary Burke, the Democratic candidate for governor, visited the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King on Oct. 3 in response to an invitation from one of the member veterans.
She received an exuberant welcome from the veterans as she was introduced. She described herself as a fourth generation Wisconsinite, where her great grandfather worked as a farmer, her grandfather as a mail carrier, and her father designed and built the first Trek bicycle in his garage.
Burke played an important role in the development of the business management at Trek, and helped it grow into a multi-million dollar business with 1,000 workers. The main office and plant are located in Waterloo, in the heart of south central Wisconsin. Her record there indicates that she is a very competent and intelligent individual.
She briefly listed the following priorities if she is elected: Restore collective bargaining for state workers, restore authority to Veterans Advisory board, work to assist small business to grow and thereby provide greater employment opportunities and restore anti-pollution standards for all mining and sand fracturing operations to the level of enforcement prior to the current administration. She is opposed to the iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin as presently planned.
Burke would also seek to restore equal pay for equal work for women, work with the legislature to encourage a bipartisan approach to the budget and all state agencies, support legislation to end out-of-state funding and interference in state elections. She stated that she would be the governor for all the Wisconsin citizens, not only for wealthy individuals and large corporations.
All in all, I got the impression that Mary Burke would be a sensible, fair and honest governor and one that Wisconsin can be proud of.