Friends of Eric Wimberger
P.O. Box 1893
Green Bay, Wisconsin 54305
Government has a function to make our community safe and to create an environment where we all have an opportunity to succeed. Everyone has personal preferences on how people should live, but preferences don't justify impositions. The heavy hand of government ought to be used sparingly and only with clear goals and with specific plans to address important needs. As your Senator I will aim to keep taxes low, cut red tape, and keep our community safe for you to work, live, and achieve.
Public Safety and Accountability
Law enforcement serves a critical role in protecting and serving our community. Most men and women in blue perform their duties admirably and want to see every member of their community thrive. We need to ensure that these officers continue and are rewarded for their upstanding service while holding those that cause issues accountable.
As your state senator, I will look at departments with strong community relationships, like the Green Bay Police Department, to determine what successful practices can be expanded statewide. Reforms like body cameras, psychological evaluations after trauma, community outreach programs, and use of force training can prove to be valuable tools for departments to improve on their safety efforts and improve the quality of life for all members of our community.
-
Building strong relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve through community outreach and local events.
-
Encourage the use of body cameras to provide accountability and transparency to the public.
-
Develop use of force training and trauma evaluation procedures to ensure our law enforcement is equipped with the tools they need to serve the public.
Making Government Work for Wisconsin
Families, charities, and even government can only succeed when armed with a clear mission objective. Keeping government focused and efficient will create an environment for all Wisconsin residents to succeed.
As a small business owner, I know how much obtuse regulatory schemes can keep Wisconsinites from starting that next step in their personal journey. I will ensure that bureaucratic red tape does not keep families from putting food on their table or local entrepreneurs from following their dreams of opening a successful business.
-
Ensure that every government program has a clear mission goal and is efficiently executing their duties.
-
Targeted regulatory reforms (or Eliminating burdensome red tape) to promote innovation and increase participation in the economy.
-
Reduce the financial burdens on residents and businesses so families in Wisconsin can thrive.
Investing in our local community
One of the most consequential local investments we can make as a state is funding the Green Bay Coal Pile Cleanup. This project would provide an opportunity for $200 million in community development and result in removing a potential environmental hazard from the Fox River. As your state Senator, I will ensure that state dollars will be allocated to the cleanup so our community can leverage our local resources and reduce the risk of an environmental hazard.
Promoting Business Development and Economic Growth
Businesses need a low cost, stable environment to thrive, which in turn helps our community thrive. When the governor closes businesses without warning and without a long term plan, families cannot adjust. Over the last 6 months, we have seen countless local businesses close their doors forever. To keep these small businesses afloat, we need to ensure that they are spending as much of their time keeping their employees and customers safe, not filing out onerous forms. I believe we should strive to reduce bureaucracy and implement a personal property tax holiday to help these community institutions weather the ongoing financial storm.
-
Ensure that there is a competitive business environment here in our state.
-
Reduce bureaucratic red tape to keep businesses focused on serving their customers and keeping the community safe.
-
Pass a targeted tax relief to help main street businesses survive.
Getting Wisconsin Back to Work
With the Governor still failing to deliver unemployment payments, thousands of Wisconsin families have gone months without a paycheck through no fault of their own. There have been reports of government workers hanging up on unemployed Wisconsin residents.
While in office, I will get the Department of Workforce Development to work for the people of Wisconsin and get Wisconsin residents the benefits they paid in for. I will ensure that we reform the culture of incompetence in DWD and fix our broken UI system so that Wisconsinites will never need to wait months on end for their needed benefits.
-
Ensure accountability in the Unemployment office to get WIsconsin residents their benefits during times of crisis.
-
Continue Wisconsin’s successful workforce training and job search initiatives that connect every worker with the tools and opportunities needed to support their families.
Supporting Our Farmers
Wisconsin has a proud tradition of farming, an industry that contributes more than $100 billion annually to our state’s economy. Wisconsin farmers want to put in a hard days work, provide for their families, and act responsibly. But in the current environment, WIsconsin is at risk of losing this industry, and our family farms, forever.
Far too often our farmers do the responsible thing and reach out to state agencies for guidance only to traverse bureaucratic red tape. Our state should be working with our farmers, not against them, and that starts with ensuring agencies have a clear priority to provide advice and streamlining the regulatory process so our farmers spend the bulk of their time tending to their fields and animals, not filling out piles of paperwork.
We also will arm our farmers with the most up to date research on soil management and runoff mitigation, to keep them competitive on the global stage. Finally, we need to ensure that we keep agriculture taxes low, to keep our struggling farmers from choosing between tilling that last field or putting food on the table for their families.
Common Sense Transportation for NE Wisconsin
During my time as a long-haul truck driver, I logged more than 120k miles on the road. I have seen all of Wisconsin roads, from the pristine freshly laid pavement in SE Wisconsin to the struggling rural roads right in our backyard.
I believe our state needs to look at both our revenue streams as well as DOT practices to ensure we have a stable income stream and that taxpayer resources are being used responsibly. I also want to ensure that Northeast Wisconsin sees the same investment that Madison and Milwaukee County receive year after year. This means continued investment in local road aids and the reconstruction of the Southern Bridge.
-
Ensure a stable transportation revenue stream and accountability with taxpayer dollars.
-
Investing in local NE Wisconsin Roads and construction projects.
-
End the decade long discussion on the Southern Bridge and ensure prompt construction and completion of the project.
Promoting Education that supports our youth
Education should be focused around important critical thinking skills and marketable skills. Our education system needs to put children at the forefront of the planning process. This includes investing in trades education and dual enrollment courses. Doing so will allow students to enter school with a number of credits completed well in advance of their tuition being due.
-
Keep tuition freeze to ensure economic certainty for students and families.
-
Encourage K-12 University partnerships to get students credits before enrolling at a 2 or 4 year institution.
Creating real PFAS solutions
Marinette and Wisconsin at large are facing the unprecedented challenge of increasing PFAS levels in our environment. Whether that be from the local businesses, field runoff, firefighting foam, or city wastewater, this challenge poses a serious risk to our environmental and personal health and demands an innovative solution.
This means that the state needs to provide residents, local governments, and businesses with high-quality, accurate information to adjust their conduct to best practice standards. Residents need to be able to financially pursue damages through civil court, with the state availing expert testimony to those residents. And finally, we need to mitigate the current damage posed by PFAS and clean up our local waterways.
Clean water is something we can all get behind and it requires a collaborative approach. I will bring together lawmakers, scientists, and business leaders to craft that solution and to keep our communities flourishing for generations to come.
-
Bring together lawmakers, experts, and the business community to develop best practices.
-
Get accurate information to the public about PFAS and provide them resources necessary to pursue harm to their property or health.
-
Clean up existing PFAS hazards with a sound budgetary approach.
-
Conserve our natural resources and encourage a new generation of sportsman.
Advocating for wisconsin veterans
Wisconsin has a long tradition of honoring the men and women who have dedicated their lives to defending our nation. Our state should continue to leverage the resources available to us to serve our veteran population, whether that be those who last donned the uniform decades ago or others just returning from overseas.
In Madison, I will be committed to reaching across the aisle to find solutions for veterans in need and guarantee they receive the resources they have rightly earned.
Our veteran community went abroad to serve us, they shouldn’t have to go it alone here at home. Robust state resources and a welcoming community can only begin to repay the debt of service we owe our veteran community.
That includes supporting our County Veterans Service Officer (CVSO) to ensure that our veterans have a hand in navigating available benefits, reforming inefficiencies at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs to keep response times low, and make sure that King’s Veterans Home has the resources it needs to provide end of life care to our states veteran population. I will also bolster the Veterans Outreach Recovery Program (VORP), reaching homeless veterans at their most vulnerable and work with the Court system to ensure veterans struggling with substance abuse are placed in treatment and diversion programs, not locked up and ignored for years on end.
