Candidates,
from p. 6
able to attend in-person events.
9. How are you involved in your community?
I have worked with many charities, most of which involve children. I have worked with Children’s Miracle Network, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Fathers for Children and Families, to name a few. I find community service to be satisfying and fulfilling.
10. What is the best way to contact you?
Go to Hallsforwi.com or “Halls for Wisconsin” on Facebook.
11. Anything else you would like the community to know?
Elected officials should actively listen to their constituents and advocate for their expressed needs and concerns. For instance, if most of my district supports expanding rural broadband or lowering healthcare costs, I would push policies that directly reflect those priorities. However, I also believe that elected officials must act as trustees, using their knowledge, experience and judgment to make decisions in the best interest of their constituents, even if those decisions aren’t always the most popular. For instance, I would rely on expert input and long-term sustainability goals to guide my decisions on complex issues like environmental regulations or budget allocations.
Karen Hurd (R-town of Withee) 1. Why are you running for public office?
I want to serve the people of Wisconsin. I care about people, and I think that being an elected official is one of the best ways that I can help them. There are many helping professions; this is one of them, and I feel that I am uniquely qualified to do so, so I need to step up and do that.
2. What knowledge and/or experience do you bring to this position?
I served as a local elected official. I was a Village of Fall Creek trustee, as well as a library trustee. I have been serving as a state representative for the past two years, which has been immensely helpful because when you walk in, you come with what you come with, but there is so much to learn. When you start, you don’t know, for example, that ‘this needs to go to the LRB (Legislative Reference Bureau)’ or ‘that needs to go to the Joint Finance Committee.’ So I had to learn all those things… I feel even more equipped going into this next session because now I understand how it all works together. I’m full of energy and drive, and I’m out for what’s very best for the people of Wisconsin. I don’t care which lobbyist or which legislator stands in the way.
3. Inflation is a major concern for many Wisconsinites, with groceries, gas and other commodities being less affordable than ever. If you are elected, what could be done to address that at the state level?
So I’m going to separate out the economy from inflation, because inflation is the prices that are going up. Inflation is pretty difficult for the state to get involved; it’s more of a federal issue. We can do something by reducing unnecessary regulations that we have placed on different businesses that make it more difficult for them to operate. That is one of the reasons I am requesting to be put on the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules, because some of our administrative rules created by the executive branch are overly cumbersome.
But what really drives up inflation more than regulation is spending more money than you have. And we don’t have that problem at the state level because we are required by our constitution to have a balanced budget. That is not so at the federal level. So that is the real thing that is driving up the cost, is you’re overspending with money that you don’t have, and so that lowers the value of the dollar and it costs more to buy the same product.
Now, the economy is slightly different. That’s how well our businesses are thriving. We can do something about that at the state level. We tried three times this past session to put more money in the pockets of every citizen by passing tax cuts, but all three bills were vetoed. But I will keep fighting to keep taxes as low as we possibly can.
4. Illegal immigration is another hot-button issue. To what degree do you see illegal immigration as affecting our local area, how would you address this issue in state office?
Well, there’s no state rule that we can make that goes against what the feds have already legislated. Right now, the federal government can place illegals wherever they want and we can just find out after the fact. As far as how it impacts us right now in the 69th — well, we know about what happened in Abbotsford with those two little girls being murdered. So there’s the possibility for crimes being committed by illegals, and it did happen in the 69th. And when that happened, I immediately contacted the sheriff and asked if this person was an illegal alien. And then I reported it to Senator (Ron) Johnson and Representative (Tom) Tiffany, who immediately jumped in also, because that’s a federal problem. They allowed an illegal alien here who then murdered two children.
As far as housing, it is a real problem because they need to be housed somewhere. I know it’s a major problem in Eau Claire. I currently represent seven wards of Eau Claire and we’ve had refugees come in… If we have an influx of people, where do we house them? So housing is a concern. Is it a huge problem at this time? Nothing like they have in other states.
As far as what we can do at the state level, we need to hold our federal representatives accountable.
5. Mental health is another big concern, especially among our youth as we see more and more young people struggling with depression or anxiety. As a state representative, what steps could be taken to address this issue?
Mental health is a problem, and mental health is closely tied to substance abuse. And we have a major opioid crisis in our state, and it’s not been helped by our southern border being open because the amount of fentanyl has skyrocketed… We are looking at, right now we don’t have any facilities except over in the eastern part of the state to take our mental health patients to. We usually have to ship them out of state to get help. So with Winnebago being the only facility that we have, we need another facility in this north central, northwestern part of the state. It is looking very positive. We have been working for this entire last session to get a facility over here and we will keep working this session, but it looks like it’s going to happen, so that will help us tremendously.
6. In addition to the issues I’ve mentioned, in talking to the people of the 69th Assembly District, what are some of the main issues or concerns you hear brought up, and how do you plan to address those concerns if elected to office?
The number one issue, way far and above, is the economy. They are very upset about it — it is expensive… Everybody says they’re worried about gas prices; they’re worried about food. The second thing they’re most concerned about is illegal — the borders. They’re afraid. And most of them have heard about Abbotsford. And they’ve heard that this was not a good situation. And they’ve heard about Whitewater, where we’ve got that situation going on. And a lot of them knew about the refugees, the last ones coming in… now refugees are different than illegal aliens. But it’s the border. That’s a big issue.
7. What are the main factors that differentiate you from your opponents in this race? In other words, why are you the better choice of candidate?
I have experience both in local and state government. I have experience in the United States Army. I was a captain in the military intelligence; I was a briefer to the generals for the 24th Infantry Division… My entire life, I have been steeped with huge amounts of information that most people would find very boring: I am very detail-oriented, so I don’t get bored when going through lots of information, such as reading long bills or agreements. I read everything and do my thorough research before I just agree to something. And I’m not afraid to call someone out if they propose legislation that would be bad for the people of Wisconsin.
8. The 69th District encompasses a wide area. How have you been working to connect with voters throughout the district?
I’ve knocked on close to 10,000 doors. Ever since the maps were re-drawn and I knew I would be running in this district, which was around February, I’ve been out knocking on doors. I’ve visited every city, village and town in the district.
9. How are you involved in your community?
I’ve been a member of the Lions, American Legion and the historical society — you can learn a lot about politics from reading history. I’ve been a substitute teacher. I’m not currently subbing as I spend a good deal of time in Madison. I’m on six different committees as well as the Speaker’s Task Force on Childhood Obesity. If I am elected for another
Please see Candidates, page 8
