Rob Summerfield, Cliff Taylor to face each other in 68th district

Rob Summerfield

Rob Summerfield was born in Eau Claire, in 1980 and was raised in Bloomer. He is married and has 3 children.

He is a 1998 graduate of Bloomer High School and earned a B.S. in Business Administration from UW – Stout in 2002.

Small business owner and a member of the Bloomer Chamber of Commerce; Bloomer Community Lake Association; Bloomer Rod & Gun; Chippewa County Tavern League; NRA; and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (Bloomer, Wisconsin).

He was first elected to the Assembly in 2016 and had served as the Majority Caucus Chair since 2023.

What do you see as the most pressing issue impacting Wisconsin and how as a legislator would you address it?

I think the big thing is the economy and the inflation. People are struggling to afford things like groceries. That's been a real challenge when I'm out talking to people about ways to address it. The best thing we can do is to return money to the people in tax cuts, and with their surplus. That's what I've been trying to do down in Madison in that session, to help with the economy and inflation.

Unfortunately, the governor has vetoed most of our tax bills, but we're continuing to work on that. We have to put money back in people's pockets to help with their economic situation.

What is your level of independence within your party caucus? Would you be willing to go against your caucus and leadership if you felt it was in the best interest of your district?

Oh definitely. I've done that. You know, in my previous terms in the legislature, I'm down there to represent this district, not the party, not any interest.

I'm here to represent the people of my district. I've been proud to stand up and fight for my district. What should the state’s role be in promoting residential and economic growth particularly in rural communities?

I think the state has a strong role in it. That's what we did with the housing packages that we did this last session. I'd like to help people in the rural area, and give economic boost to them. Also working with the broadband I think that goes hand in hand with economic development, because we know we're not going to be able to grow our economy if people don't have access to the internet.

That's why I’ve been such a strong advocate, and have been in the lead in the assembly for the last 2 terms on the broadband. I've been continuing to work on that and have been proud of the steps we have made but know that you need to continue to work till everybody, is covered and that will definitely help our area. Allowing the families to stay here because they'll be able to start their own businesses or work from home and see businesses relocate to this area because of our great place to live.

We are seeing medical services being scaled back and centralized across the state. How do you think the state should address the resulting coverage gaps?

I think we need to look at ways that we can bridge those gaps, one of the biggest ones which we did was the Telehealth reimbursement for telehealth, so people can stay in their homes or go to the library and go somewhere without the cost and time of driving an hour to an hour and a half to go for routine clinics. We also need to see what other innovations are out there. How can we use technology to help with our healthcare needs within the state of Wisconsin and especially the rural area with the closing of the HSHS hospitals was impacted.

Within two weeks we worked to have a bill to get emergency department services for the area. This is an ongoing issue. It’s a challenge, but I think with the ideas that are out there, we can continue to work to get great healthcare for our rural areas.

Why should someone choose you as the candidate?

I feel with my small business background by growing up in it, working in it, owning a small business, in my experience as a businessman being a very strong leader, I think you can talk to anybody who has worked for me knowing that I put the interest of my district first and will fight as hard as I can to deliver what is best for my district.

I'm continuing to be honored with your support to be able to continue to fight and be a strong representative for our area.

Cliff Taylor

Cliff Taylor, is a 61-year-old decorated Navy veteran and successful businessman. A four-decade resident of Ladysmith, Taylor has a deep connection to the area, which he has demonstrated through his extensive public service and entrepreneurial ventures. After serving in the Navy, he returned to Ladysmith where he founded Colonial Nursery, a leading nursery and landscaping business. Alongside his wife Kathy, Cliff also established the Heart of the North Brewing Company, a popular microbrewery and community hub attached to their nursery greenhouses.

Beyond his business success, Cliff Taylor has been an active participant in local governance, having served several terms on the Rusk County Board of Supervisors. During his tenure, he advocated for fewer regulations and robust protection of property rights, often challenging budget decisions to save taxpayer money.

What do you see as the most pressing issue impacting Wisconsin and how as a legislator would you address it?

I think one of the biggest problems is immigration. I think we should get a bill that eliminates any funding for illegal immigration, not legal. I'm all for legal. I think immigration's huge, but, I mean they're not vetting anybody and we've seen the crime rates going up.

And they come into our communities and it's passed on by the state, while we take care of these people. Our social services, they're overwhelmed and I just believe that if they're illegal, they come here illegal, I believe that we should have a bill that there's no funding for illegal immigration. Any program should not have to be funded by a municipality.

I believe one of the first things I would be working on is a bill on immigration.

What is your level of independence within your party caucus? Would you be willing to go against your caucus and leadership if you felt it was in the best interest of your district?

Totally. Yes, 100%. I'm a constitutional conservative and I believe we should be operating under our constitution of the state and the federal government, and unfortunately, that's not how it is. If it's better for my district, yes, we're going to do it.

What should the state’s role be in promoting residential and economic growth particularly in rural communities?

Yes, I believe, for instance, we have a surplus? What was it a billion dollars? I think of tax last year. There was a million dollar tax, and there's a surplus, so they gave $600 million to the Milwaukee Brewers.

If that money could have went back, maybe save the 300 jobs over at Jeld-Wen. I believe the state should take a role in promoting Wisconsin as a viable work state. Where it's necessary to have a tax break, they get a company back rolling that's really good.

We are seeing medical services being scaled back and centralized across the state. How do you think the state should address the resulting coverage gaps?

I feel there has been failed leadership down there. Why weren't we abreast of what was going to happen in Eau Claire with 2 hospitals closing down?

We should be interactive. The state should be interactive with all of our healthcare systems. We can be sure we don't get into a bind like that where we lost those 2 hospitals and put a crunch on emergency services.

And I know that they passed a bill, which Evers wouldn’t allow it to go through to try to get some money there because he's wanting to spend it all over the state.

I think they came into the picture too late. As an assemblyman, I want to be all over my district, knowing what's going on so we can get in there, it's the same with the Jeld-Wen again. Nobody even knew that, and all of a sudden there was an announcement made.

They should have been on that. I personally knew 6 months before then.

They were making that move and it goes back to our immigration again. They actually bussed the workers up, that are going to take over all that stuff over in Illinois. Very few of them are even able to speak English. And so you know the biggest thing they always said about it was about the transportation from that plant out to the freeways and whatever was the issue.

Well, they could have got some type of tax credit to offset that. When that company goes like it did it's not only that company. It was 300 families, a lot of them were couples, so they lost their total income. I just feel that our assembly, our state leadership should have been on point, that they should have been ahead of that. If I was the assemblyman in the district, I guarantee you I would have known because I personally knew 6 months before that what they were doing.

Why should someone choose you as the candidate?

The reason why you should choose me is because the gentleman I'm running against has been there for 10 years. I don't really see a big change. Now he did get put into this district, so I won't hark much on that, but I think people should vote for me because, I've got leadership, I've got integrity.

I served in the military. I’m a veteran, a decorated veteran at that and I ran a business in Ladysmith for 38 years. I'm a problem solver, and I feel that I could help and I've always given back.

I've been blessed to have a couple successful companies, and I served my country. I serve the county on the county board level. And now I feel it's time to step up again and do a little service down at the state.