- [Steven] Democratic US Senate candidate,
Peter Peckarsky.
Thank you for joining us.
- You're welcome. Glad to be here.
- You're an intellectual property attorney from Milwaukee.
Why do you want to be a US Senator?
- I want to be a US Senator
because the country faces a lot of problems
and I think this is what I can do to help.
So I'm running because this is what I can do for my country.
In my view, I'm seriously qualified
to take Ron Johnson's policies apart
on and off the debate stage
and to represent all the people of Wisconsin
on the many critical, complicated,
technical, and legal issues we face at home,
in cyberspace, national security, and foreign affairs.
- If elected, what would your legislative priorities be?
- The first thing we gotta do is protect the elections
and elect people who are willing to step up to the plate
for the American people
and get the American people,
people of Wisconsin what they want on a number of issues.
Universal healthcare is a basic right for all Americans.
Universal broadband, you need broadband to do business,
to get education, to do all kinds of things in this country.
Now, that's gotta happen.
I support workers and unions and union jobs.
Sustainable agriculture is an issue in Wisconsin.
We have enormous problems both in the dairy farming industry
and other farmers.
Affordable education is an issue.
We're here right on the UW campus,
crown jewel of the state, and we've gotta support it
and make sure people get a decent education,
both from pre-K, K through 12, college, and beyond.
There are other issues.
Something's gotta be done
to prevent and try and stop climate change.
Justice for our veterans.
They were there for us when we needed them
and it's our responsibility to provide for them
and provide the medical care, the mental healthcare,
any other kind of care they need
for the rest of their lives,
and that's gotta be done.
- Let's talk about inflation.
It's at a 40-year high.
How should federal lawmakers address inflation?
- It's not clear
what federal lawmakers are able to do about it.
There are some measures which can be taken,
but I'm not gonna sit here for a second
and say, "okay we can have federal legislation
to stop inflation immediately."
We made this decision to go ahead and take the $4.5 trillion
and make the world safe for junk bond investors
- Shifting now to gun violence,
there have been a number of major mass shootings
and an uptake in other gun deaths.
President Joe Biden recently signed into law
new gun control measures.
How would you address gun violence?
- There are a lot of responsible gun owners,
all of whom handle their guns properly.
They know how to use them.
They're safe.
They don't circulate.
So the first order of business is, yeah,
there are people who are responsibly using their guns
in this country.
We have to take a look at the text, I think,
of the Second Amendment, which says more or less,
you can look it up,
"a well-regulated militia being necessary
to the security of a free state,
the right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed."
I'm not hearing a whole lot
about well regulated militias these days.
Everybody's gotta realize, as I understand it,
it doesn't take an AR-15 to shoot a deer.
It doesn't take a 30 or 50 or 100-round magazine to do that.
Something has gotta be done,
recognizing there are responsible gun owners
and they ought to hold onto their guns
and they deal with them properly and safely,
they don't get into the wrong hands.
So I think somebody's gotta pay attention
to all the interest involved here and work this out.
But the bottom line is 21 kids dead in a school room
is not what's supposed to be happening here.
- The Supreme Court has recently overturned Roe versus Wade,
which now returns the decision
on allowing abortions to the individual states.
What should the US Senate do on the matter of abortion?
- The Senate should codify Roe V. Wade right now,
which would be a step in the right direction.
That's the short answer to your question.
- [Steven] How would you reassure Wisconsin voters
to have confidence in the election system?
- In general, the people administering elections
in Wisconsin, that is the ordinary election inspector
in your home ward,
who you've seen for 10, 20 years, however long,
they're there, they're doing it.
They're doing a good job.
They're doing an honest job.
They're giving you a ballot.
They're not obstructing your voting.
They're helping you vote.
They're accurately handing those when they're all done.
But bottom line,
the assurance is the people working for you,
the election inspectors in your home ward
are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing
and they're trying to do it and doing it honestly.
- Ron Johnson has won election twice.
Why are you the Democrat
who can beat him in the general election in November?
- Ron Johnson has violated his oath of office.
He took an oath of office, which every Senator must take
under Article Six of the United States Constitution,
to support the United States Constitution.
When he failed to vote to convict Donald Trump
at Donald Trump's second trial...
Everybody saw on television what Donald Trump did.
There's no question of anybody's mind
about what happened there.
There's video of it all over the place.
When Ron Johnson failed to vote to convict Donald Trump,
he breached his oath of office, that's one.
He has taken $1.25 million
from the National Rifle Association and their affiliates
during the course of his career
and done nothing to stop the carnage
which we were talking about,
the carnage in our schools and on our streets.
And three, he arranged to change the tax code
to put $500 million of the people's money
in the hands of three people who, one way or another,
managed to get $20 million into his campaigns.
Ron Johnson should not be elected.
Ron Johnson ought to be retired right now at this election.
And given what has going on and is coming on
about what he did on January 6th,
in connection with the fake, that's a soft word,
anyway, with the illegal electoral votes,
if he wants to leave office right now,
that's perfectly fine.
He has no business being there.
- [Steven] Peter Peckarsky, thank you again for joining us.
- You're welcome. Thank you very much.