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Ed Fallone
Residence: Milwaukee Experience: Marquette University Law Professor; practicing lawyer for 25 years; found- Fallone ing president, Centro Legal legal services Why are you running for Supreme Court? Im running for state Supreme Court because I absolutely know that we need to have a functioning, independent Supreme Court, and as an observer of the court and a law professor, I dont believe the court is functioning properly. We need to make a change. I think its a plus for the court to have someone with an academic perspective. As a professor, what I do is teach my students future prosecutors, future judges, future people who are going to be arguing before the court how a judge decides things properly, how a judge decides things improperly. Also as a law professor, Im able to step back and take a broader perspective on the law. Is it functioning properly? Is it advancing our societal goals and needs? If we treat our judicial elections as if they are a political contest, then we are going to end up with a judiciary that is just as partisan and polarized as our other two branches of government. ... I think its the job of justices to do everything in their power to explain their reasoning and to try to dissuade the public from viewing the job as political.

COMMUNITY

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SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2013

Your voters guide for the spring elections

Editors note: Daily Herald Media today is publishing information about candidates for local office and excerpts from our Editorial Board interviews to provide information voters can use to make a choice. The election is Tuesday.

STATE SUPREME COURT

Pat Roggensack
Residence: Madison Experience: Incumbent justice since 2003; Wiscon- Roggensack sin Court of Appeals judge for seven years Why are you running for reelection? First of all, because I absolutely love my job. Its really been an honor and a thrill to hold this office for the last 9 12 years, and I thank the people of Wisconsin for that opportunity. There are a lot of things that need to be done on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I think they can best be done by someone who has the breadth of experience that I bring to this job. Because Ive done the work of a judge (in appeals court), I know what should have been done in the case. Most of our cases come out of the court of appeals. I served there for seven years. I can bring a unique perspective to our discussions. Voters should look ONLINE at my record. Im not EXCLUSIVE a mystery Visit wausaudailyherald package .com/opinion to watch here. Ive interviews with candidates been decidfor the April 2 elections. ing cases for Start your full digital access almost 17 by clicking Activate at the years. You top right of the screen and can see what following the instructions. I do.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION SUPERINTENDENT

Tony Evers
Residence: Madison Experience: Incumbent since 2009; deputy state superintendent from 2001-09; more than 30 years of education experience Why are you running for re- Tony Evers election? I feel weve had a good four years and are beginning implementation of some really important things across the state of Wisconsin. The adoption of Common Core state standards is really changing the way we look at what is taught and how its taught. It really is the game-changer that I hoped it would be when we decided to adopt the Common Core state standards. We have a new assessment system that will be online, and well be able to use it to inform the way we do instruction. The results will be instantaneous, and parents and teachers and students will be much better served by the new system. And weve (added measures of) accountability, whether its the school district report cards or the teacher evaluation system were implementing. Ive had a chance to work across the aisle with Republicans and Democrats. Ive been able to forge a working relationship with the governor, so we can find common ground. And I believe my 36 years of public school experience is needed to get us through these next four years and implement these policies were working on.

Don Pridemore
Residence: ford Hart-

Experience: State representative since 2005; 34 years in priDon vate sector as an elecPridemore tronics engineer Why are you running for state superintendent? Education is one of my passions. Ive been on every education committee the Assembly has offered. I have noted a steady decline of education ever since we made the teachers asso-

ciations into teachers unions, and we have allowed teachers unions to take control of our education system and monopolize public education. We have dealt with that to some degree with the governors 2011 budget repair bill. That essentially has started the breakup of the monopoly that the teachers unions have had over education. But a lot of the policies that are coming down from DPI are the result of that teachers union control. The bottom line is that our kids are hurt in the process. Unions do what unions do, which is protect their own jobs. Improving education is really not on their radar.

WAUSAU SCHOOL BOARD

Voters will choose three:

Theresa Miles
Residence: Rib Mountain Experience: Incumbent since 2010; taught in Wausau for Theresa more than 30 years Miles What unique qualities do you bring to the Wausau School Board? Im the chairperson for education, and a lot of people worried that I would not remember to take off my teacher hat and put on my school board hat, so I worked very hard at remembering that Im a school board member. But 36 years of teaching makes you very aware, and it makes you a good question-asker. (My experience) helps me fill in the gaps and know the questions to ask.

Jane Rusch
Residence: Wausau Experience: Incumbent since 2006; former corrections officer What unique quali- Jane ties do you bring to the Rusch Wausau School Board? I know a lot of the history of the Wausau School District, having parents who grew up here and grandparents, having children and now a grandchild in the district. I also have two children on the autism spectrum, so that was a different side of education that I saw. I was a correctional officer, so I saw the kids who didnt get an education, who had educational issues that didnt get addressed. And I went back to school to get my elementary ed degree, so I have insight from that side of it, too.

Matthew Young
Residence: Rib Mountain Experience: Works at employee benefits firm UMR Matthew What unique quali- Young ties do you bring to the Wausau School Board? Most of my day-to-day job involves looking at projects and trying to pick the right ones for our company, making sure we understand the benefit that spending the money is going to provide. In a lot of ways, its what we need our School Board to do. We need to make sure that were spending our limited dollars in a wise manner, that we know what were getting for our dollars and that were measuring it after the fact.

Dale Lawson
Residence: Rib Mountain Experience: Incumbent since 2004; sales/marketing in wholesale lumber distribution Dale What unique qualities do Lawson you bring to the Wausau School Board? My background is sales and marketing. Thats why most of the years Ive been on the board, Ive been on the operations committee, since we deal with the numbers and personnel, buildings and grounds. ... As I look at (the district) from the business side, we have done many good things and we will continue to watch our dollars and cents. I bring my business sense, my ability to listen and a passion to serve the Wausau community and the Wausau School District.

MERRILL SCHOOL BOARD

Voters will choose three:

LINCOLN COUNTY JUDGE

Robert Russell
Residence: Merrill Experience: Owner and president, Russell Law Office What qualities make a good judge? A judge (should) have a good demeanor, not be a hothead. A judge should lis- Robert ten and allow people to be heard, who Russell makes decisions in an expeditious manner. For the most part, the cases heard in court here are local cases. Youre dealing with everyday cases. It might be a landlord-tenant dispute, someones son or daughter who got in trouble. You need a judge whos going to listen and let people be heard, and then make a decision so people can go on with their lives.

Lin Kautza
Residence: Merrill Experience: Incumbent since 2010; School Board president since 2012 What do you bring to the School Board? Lin Kautza Ive been in education for 30 years. I think its a good thing to have a person on the School Board who has a background in education because education is not business. It does run in its own way. I graduated from Merrill High School, Im from Merrill, my family is from Merrill and I wanted to give back to the communities.

Norbert Nubs Ashbeck

Residence: Merrill Experience: Retired director of radiology at Ministry Good Samaritan Hospital Norbert What do you bring to the School Ashbeck Board? We have decreased enrollment all over, which is causing decreased state aid. We need to find money to replace this because we still have costs. The second thing is we have to stay with advanced technology. If the kids arent really up to date on information technology, theyre lost in the workplace. We (also) need to find a way to improve the morale of our educators.

Jeff Verdoorn
Residence: Merrill Experience: Merrill School Board president, 2009-11; executive at Wausau Paper What would you bring to the School Board? Jeff Ive been a Merrill resident since Verdoorn 1993. Both of my kids spent their entire education in the Merrill School District. I do care a great deal about Merrill. Im active in a number of community organizations, and I do have experience with leadership. The district needs strong leadership in these times of change. We should embrace technology. We need to focus on collaborative problem-solving with the kids rather than pure individualism. We need more focus on (4-year-old kindergarten) and our HeadStart program. People can be positive or negative about Act 10, but the reality is it creates opportunities in how we reward teachers and how we approach our budget situation.

John Shull
Residence: Merrill Experience: Attorney; candidate for School Board in 2012 What would you bring to the School Board? Sometimes somebody who John Shull has new blood and new thoughts is a good thing for a school board. Im running for School Board because I have two kids who are in the school district. I want to put a positive focus on our school district. Theres too many times Ive read (statements or letters to the editor) of a board member criticizing a board decision. That shouldnt happen. It makes us look bad as a community and as a school district.

John Yackel
Residence: Merrill Experience: Lincoln County judge since October; private practice attorney; appeals court clerk What qualities make a good judge? A judge needs to be kind and patient. John Yackel There are people there who are very emotional. Their lives are being affected. If there is a judge who is ... angry and rude to people, that is not the proper administration of justice. The second quality is the ability to listen. Ive noticed in the time Ive been on the bench that if you give people the opportunity to say whats on their mind and acknowledge that youre listening, even though they may be on the losing end, they will more than likely accept the outcome of that case because they feel theyve had their day in court. And the last really important quality is to be able to come to a decision rather quickly.

Chuck Bolder
Residence: Merrill Experience: Incumbent since 2007; retired from agricultural chemical field What do you bring to the School Board? Were in good shape in the Merrill Chuck School District. Every year, theres Bolder something that comes up unexpectedly that we have to take care of, but most of the time, I think we can handle it. One of the problems weve had recently is with unity on the board. We havent been hitting on the same cylinders. It bothers me that we cant get that pulled together. I dont think we need to agree wholeheartedly on every issue, but we need to come to an agreement.

Linda Yingling
Residence: Merrill Experience: Associate degree in administration What would you bring to the School Board? My main focus in running for School Linda Board is the children and the community. Yingling Recently, I feel that the communitys concerns have not been met. I also know that our childrens education has been falling by the wayside a little bit with overcrowding of the school buildings.