Albrecht was among protesters ticketed at fundraiser for incumbent Republican
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
In what promises to be an interesting set of fall elections, at least one local incumbent will be challenged.
Republican State Rep. Robin Vos, current 63rd Assembly District representative, will be challenged by Burlington resident Kelley Albrecht, who is running as a Democrat.
The two will compete in the newly configured 63rd district, which now includes the immediate Burlington area. Pending a possible primary, the general election is Nov. 6
Albrecht filed her candidacy papers two weeks ago, but did not officially announce her candidacy until this week.
While both candidates said they want the campaign to focus on the issues, it didn’t take long for the first rhetorical salvos to be fired.
In her statement, Albrecht said Vos helped Wisconsin and the 63rd district make history with record job losses and budget cuts.
“It is time to bring the citizens of the 63rd district back to the table to work together and find solutions that will once again move our community and state forward,” Albrecht stated.
Vos said he knew very little about Albrecht, but pointed out that Albrecht was one of several picketers arrested outside a fundraiser for his campaign Jan. 5. As far as Vos knows, he said, Albrecht is a professional protester.
“I wasn’t arrested,” Albrecht said Tuesday. “We were given a municipal citation.
“He abused his authority by asking the police to pull us over after we left immediately when we were asked to,” she added. “Those tickets are being fought in court.
“Those people were trying to have their voices be heard because Robin refuses to listen.”
Albrecht added that getting voices to be heard throughout the district was one of the main messages of her campaign.
“That’s the problem with our state government,” she said. “They’re refusing to listen to what people have to say, or even give them a seat at the table.
“We can solve the problems that we face without excluding the voices of the people.”
For his part, Vos, the Assembly Chairman of the powerful Joint Finance Committee, said he remains focused on wishes of district residents and has already visited “several thousand” residences in the Burlington and Rochester areas.
Vos said he’ll continue to campaign on his record of low taxes, balanced budgets and job creation efforts.
“When we balanced the state budget and erased a $3.6 billion deficit, our goal was to return financial stability to the state,” Vos said last week responding to a Department of Administration report that showed the state will likely finish with a surplus for the current biennial budget. “This is a great example of how honest budgeting pays off.
“Our budget reforms and business incentives helped grow jobs and personal income,” Vos added.
In her statement, Albrecht said it was her goal to be a voice for everyone in the district regardless of political ideology.
“Unlike my opponent, I cannot and will not be bought and sold by special interest groups,” she said. “I will be the voice of the people for the people and promise to make sure the citizens of the 63rd district are heard loud and clear in Madison.”
Vos said Tuesday the vast majority (5-to-1) of the residents he has encountered during his door-to-door campaign support the direction the state is headed.
He labeled the new 63rd District as among the 12 most conservative in the state. Roughly 60 percent of the district is west of I-94, an area that typically selects Republicans.
Albrecht must collect between 200-400 signatures and submit them to the Government Accountability Board by June 1 to get on the ballot.
Editor in Chief Ed Nadolski contributed to this story.
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OMG. Kelly could barely run a little league properly, let alone an Assembly District! Pffttt! This ought to be good.
Dear LLM,
I don’t know if you have any real or specific complaints or if it’s that LLM,Jr. didn’t get to pitch. But one doesn’t “run” an Assembly District, you’re supposed to REPRESENT the citizens of that district.
Kelley will represent the people of the 63rd. Robin Vos, on the contrary, has a well documented, although until recently, secret record of sitting down with corporate lobbyists at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) where the lobbyists get an EQUAL VOTE with our “Representatives” like Robin in the selection of model legislation that serves those global corporate interests, NOT Wisconsin’s citizens.
As the public-sector State Chair of ALEC, Robin is tasked with making sure that the ALEC legislation gets passed in Wisconsin. This is flat out betrayal of our system of representative democracy and of the citizens of Racine County.
Robin Vos doesn’t like to talk about his role with ALEC or the “Scholarships” they’ve given him to be wined & dined in a sunnier clime while they ply him with their plans for our state. Maybe Robin is embarrassed by these facts. Perhaps he’s even ashamed. He should be.
You must not be familiar with Ms. Albrecht’s history.
But we are familiar with Mr. Vos’ history…..
Well, the way she RAN the little league speaks volumes about her character. Therefore, she is not someone I would ever choose to REPRESENT me, a citizen of the 63rd Assembly District.
My service to the Burlington Little League which includes 50 hours a week was very much appreciated by over 600 little league parents. It is unfortunate that their are parents who expected me to not care about ALL the players and give their children preferential treatment. I hold my head high when looking back to the time and service I gave to the little league and to the community by inspiring the players and parents to not only participate but give back to the community for their support in the program.
I never expected my child to receive preferential treatment. It’s your story Kelly, tell it how you want. Typical democrat. It all makes sense now.
I just find it revealing when someone doesn’t use their real name to criticize someone else. If you have a legitimate complaint, you should stand behind your claim, and not just try to create conflict. Did you approach Kelley about your concerns?
What I find fascinating is that the above-respondents would take such an issue regarding a thing like little league baseball, fercryinoutloud, with I might add nothing but nebulous allegations regarding Kelley’s character, but take no issue whatsoever with Robin Vos selling your representation in secret to the interests of his global corporate masters at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). You wanna talk about “character”? You’re citizen is being betrayed! And you’re worried about kids baseball!?
I bet you love freedom don’t you? Well I’ve got news for you. Freedom requires self-determination of the citizenry, the informed consent of the governed. Anything less is a sham. Those governed in the interest of others are not free! They’re just being led by the nose.
You might want inform yourselves on this issue. You may decide that it’s a lot of bunk, but you won’t hear about it at all on Sykes, Belling or Fox and that should speak volumes!
Here’s a place to start: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11514/cmd-releases-new-report-alec-exposed-wisconsin-hijacking-state
I support the present governing party in Wisconsin 100%. I have no interest in re-visiting any semblence of the Doyle Administration. The State of Wisconsin can not afford it. We do not want to be like Illinois. I read your article and it is nothing more than an abject opinion. Let Kelly do as she may, I have no reason to support her. The state is improving now. Let the reforms work. If your wife is a school teacher, vote for Kelly to increase taxes on the taxpayers who quite frankly have had enough…
“We don’t want to be Illinois” You mean the Illinois that lead the nation in new jobs over the last year? Yeah wouldn’t want that! Geez, turn off the AM radio and get some real information for a change!
Mr. Bernhardt, if you’re claiming that my statements about Vos’ involvement with ALEC are “nothing more than abject opinion”, then you have not informed yourself on the subject. This matter is well documented.
You can turn a blind eye to Vos selling out of your representation to the ALEC global corporations, because it just doesn’t square with your ideology, just like you can ignore the transfer of 100’s of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from out of state billionaires to Walker’s criminal defense fund, while seven of his top aides are arrested, indicted and convicted of felonies. Nothing to see here, everything is hunky-dory in GOPland.
Neither my wife nor I are teachers, union members or public employees so my only direct interest in this matter is as a citizen who loves the State of Wisconsin. The Republicons are selling out Wisconsin to the highest bidders. The budget is not balanced and the reforms are not working. The worst is yet to come if we don’t restore sanity and balance to state governance.
I don’t know. I’m part of a lot of volunteer groups and organizations in Burlington and just the fact that someone would step up and donate their time and effort to head up a 600 kid league tells me they are good people.
I try to get people to joins things and volunteer and I might as well be asking people to pull their teeth.
First of all I have to say that I have never had anything to do with little league in Burlington or anywhere. That said, I find it very difficult to take anyone seriously that uses an anonymous screen name in order to attack someone’s character. For all we know Little League Mom may very well be Robin Vos. Or it could be someone working for the Vos campaign.
If there really is something substantial regarding Kelley’s handling of the little league that would have a direct affect on her ability to serve the public in the capacity of Representative it is Little League Mom’s civic duty to state who she/he is and exactly what is being referred to. It’s pretty easy to shoot off one’s mouth hiding behind the Internet and quite another to take a public stand for the public good. We can see here firsthand who stands by what they say in the light and who lurks and works in the shadows– that should tell you a lot about which candidate would be better serving us in the full light of public view.