Sunday, July 29, 2012

Tanya Lohr: Standing Up For Our Families And Communities

Tanya Lohr
On Saturday evening, I had the distinct pleasure and honor of speaking with Tanya Lohr, the Democratic candidate for the 20th Senate District currently being held by Glenn Grothman.

I told her that I didn't have to ask her why she is running. I said that almost anyone could give scores of reasons why he is not a good choice to represent the people of Wisconsin, between the damaging laws he helped enact to the many, many hurtful and hateful things that he has uttered over the years.

She agreed, saying that many of Grothman's comments are offensive across the board.

She told me that she was running because she could see that the communities are changing. They are tired of the mean-spirited attitudes and hyper partisanship that has gripped our state for too long.

Tanya said that has he has been doing the doors, and she has already done a lot of them, she keeps hearing the same thing from the people she speaks with. They want to heal the wounds that has been caused by the divisiveness in the state. They ask her if she is willing to to work with people on both sides of the table, Democrats and Republicans. Tanya told me that this is one of the things she would bring with her to Madison and it is something that her opponent has shown no interest in.

Tanya told me that even though her district is seen as a traditionally strongly reliable Republican area, she is getting a much better response from people than one might expect. While there have been admittedly people that simply shut the door on her when they learned she was running as a Democrat, there has been no explosive tirades, no verbal abuse or other poor showings.

She told me that the most common reaction she has gotten from people, regardless of their party affiliation, has been rather positive. Part of this is probably due to another comment she told me she's been hearing a lot: That no one has ever asked them for their input, not only on what needs to be changed, but how they would like to see the change take place.

That correlates with a lot of things that I have heard regarding Grothman being rather aloof towards even his supporters. I have heard from reliable sources that when Grothman attends events, he will often come late, stay to himself and then leave early.

Tanya told me that she saw the receptiveness of people to her is a sign that the people are ready to move forward.

Since both Tanya and her husband are teachers, naturally education is something about which Tanya is very knowledgeable and passionate. She said that the problems we are starting to see in school districts is a sign that the current approach isn't working. She said that it shows that we need to immediately fix the shared funding again. She also said that she would like to see the caps on school districts removed. She pointed out that referendums are expensive and time consuming and keeps people from moving forward. She feels that if people want to invest in their school districts, they should be able to without anyone from Madison telling them that they can't.

Tanya pointed out that in days of old, people could get by with just the basics: reading, writing and 'rithmetic. She pointed out that in in todays' global marketplace, just teaching the basics are no longer enough. Tanya stated that if our children aren't ready to enter the global marketplace sufficiently education, then we are dooming them to failure, which can lead to higher costs down the road.

Another unintended consequence of the gigantic slashes to the state's school systems is that the more rural communities, like those in the 20th district, are closing satellite schools and centralizing the schools. She pointed out that this means kids will be on buses longer, school districts will be more susceptible to the changes in gas prices and, most importantly, will lose their sense of community.

Tanya said that the number one issue she has heard about from speaking with the people is jobs. She emphasized that jobs are not a partisan issue, but requires both sides to sit down and actually focus on creating jobs in a bipartisanship manner. She said that not only are jobs needed, but that these jobs have to be family supporting ones.

This naturally led to discussion of Act 10. Tanya pointed out that the act cuts the take home pay of public sector workers which leads to cuts in their spending, which in turn hurts small businesses in their community.

Tanya with her family
Tanya offered two examples of this. She said that because of the cuts in her and her husband's take home pay, they no longer send their children to music lessons. This will hurt the music teacher, who in turn must cut down on her spending, and so on. Likewise, Tanya pointed out that she bought a pair of scissors and give her family haircuts instead of going to their usual place. This cuts the money that the barber is making and reduces his spending in return.

She went on to point out that these cuts in spending not only hurt the local small businesses, but can lead to other, and often, higher costs down the road, including people losing their jobs and receiving unemployment compensation and going on Badger Care.

Besides jobs, education and a higher level of congeniality among our politicians, the other big topic is taxes. Tonya pointed out that she has "no interest in raising taxes." Instead, she said that the state needs to collect the taxes that are owed. If people paid their taxes, a lot of the fiscal problems the state is facing would be resolved.

She also stated that she would seek to close the tax loopholes that are rife in the state's tax code. She state that "when billionaires pay nothing, but working people are paying up to 25% in taxes, something is wrong."

Tanya is very proud of the fact that her campaign currently has 22 volunteers and coordinators and no paid staff. She said that this is because she wants the focus to be on the people in the community.

Tanya will be a much needed breath of fresh air to the miasma caused by the hyper-partisanship which pervades our state now. She will represent all of the people in her district and will listen to them and act accordingly, which will make a pleasant change from her incumbent who has show a callous disregard for his constituents at best and has been rude and offensive to them way too often. She will also focus on the needs of the state as opposed to the wishes and whims of out of state special interests.

For these reasons, we are proud to give our endorsement to Tanya.

To learn more about Tanya and her positions on issues, please visit her website. You can also follow her on her Facebook page, which she updates regularly. And if you can, please help Tanya stand up for our families and communities by volunteering or making a donation today.

20 comments:

  1. boo hoo you cant send your kids to music lessons oh boo hoo.... families have made scarifies like this for years it's time you union clowns join the real world....poor little Tanya BOO HOO typical crybaby liberal.

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    1. So you're OK with killing small businesses and putting more people out of work instead of allowing everyone to prosper? Yeah, let me know how that's been working out for you.

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  2. oh please as if you union people respect mom and pops. If you did you would not have called for boycotts on those who supported Scott Walker. so get off your high horse

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    1. Um, yeah, it was your side that not only boycotted pro-recall businesses, but threatened the proprietors.

      You do realize that you're part of the problem with your irrational hatred, don't you?

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    2. Anonymous-don't you have somewhere else to be? Keep drinking the tea and spewing the rhetoric. You don't get it. Without employees, public and private, making a good wage to buy things, everyone is going to lose. Stop with the union bashing and get with the current issue.

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  3. "union people"

    lmao

    Google this article from Steve Forbes' magazine: "How Germany Builds Twice as Many Cars as the U.S. While Paying Its Workers Twice as Much"

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  4. To that right-winger on here that is calling Tanya Lohr a "crybaby liberal" and bashing "union people", Lori Compas has created more jobs than Scott Walker has, and she's self-employed!

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. OK, when you start attacking children, you have crossed the line. And considering that Anonymous is really WATF, I have no problem deleting such a low life comment as that.

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  7. yeah and I bet you never made a comment about Bristol Palin here did you....BOO HOO unionista

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    1. Actually, no, I haven't. Now be gone, coward sock puppet!

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  8. I live in Grothman's district (the redrawn one), in the city that basically put and then kept Rep. Pridemore in office. I hope West Benders have had enough of Grothman and help vote him out but he's just the ticket here in Hartford.

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  9. Tanya is such a breath of fresh air! We're all in this together. I believe its worth having Respectful, Rational discourse re. the issues the people in the 20th, and the entire state face. Union members/Non- union members; we all have commonality. Its time to put hatred aside and work together....even here in Hartford.

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  10. I thought at first that this was an article from "The Onion" but when I read that Tanya and her husband are BOTH teachers, it dawned on me that she was serious and completely out of touch with normal people.

    Whining about having to cut your kids' hair is insane. My husband took a 20% pay cut 3 years ago at a job with NO 401K or pension. We would be THRILLED if his company would match what he put away for retirement.

    Senator Grothman meets with his constituents and understands people "in the real world". Tanya may want to try reaching some of those people instead of her elite fellow "whiners"

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    1. Glen? Is that you? You're the only one that would believe that about yourself.

      Delete
  11. If my husband and I made $140,000 between us per year plus an additional $38,000 in benefits, I would be on my knees praising the taxpayers who paid my wages. I would not be whining about not being able to send my kids to music lessons or cutting their hair.

    Shame on Tanya Lohr for complaining about small concessions at a time when people are losing their homes, jobs, and life savings.

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    Replies
    1. Wow, talk about missing the point. She wasn't complaining for herself, but for the small businesses she used to support. But apparently you don't care about those people, do you?

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    2. Hey capper - who's the one who is missing the point? Here is her words: " She said that because of the cuts in her and her husband's take home pay, they no longer send their children to music lessons". Sounds like she feels unable to make ends meet to me! And we should trust this lady to care about the little guy? Give me a break! These teachers do nothing but whine and cry about having to pay a pittance towards their bloated salaries and benefits. Do you understand how others are hurting? Stop drinking the kool aide.

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    3. Really, westietwo? Either you're lying or you completely missed the next paragraph:

      She went on to point out that these cuts in spending not only hurt the local small businesses, but can lead to other, and often, higher costs down the road, including people losing their jobs and receiving unemployment compensation and going on Badger Care.

      Get your head out of the sand and use some critical thinking. You'll find it's Grothman and his talk radio buddies that have been lying to you all along.

      Delete
  12. a pitance towards their bloated salaries??? what the hell are you talking about??? have you been in a school?do you know what they make????

    I agree though with your final point...for every private sector worker who gets laid off we should find two public sector workers and lay them off and stockade them in the middle of downtown!!! Lets grab our pitchforks!!! we cant get grothman though he lives with his mommy....

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