like live to tape doesn't mean like we're gonna air everything. Yeah yeah fair enough. I want to
restart an answer or something. Yeah. Koda Royce, thanks for joining us. Good to be with you Zach.
So let's give voters the elevator pitch. Introduce yourself and say why are you running for governor?
I'm running for governor because Wisconsin needs higher wages, lower costs, and more freedom.
We face a huge threat from the Trump administration and we need a governor who is willing to stand up
to the bullies and billionaires and fight to protect Wisconsinites from their harms.
At the same time we also have an incredible opportunity to actually elect a governor
who is able to govern and pass laws with a new fair legislature. Is there a single issue that
drives you or perhaps a lane within the Democratic Party that may define you? I think it's all about
making it possible for working people to have the freedom to thrive in this state.
For too long people have seen their wages stagnate or even go down. Meanwhile the cost of living
are skyrocketing. Everything from housing to healthcare, child care, and utilities is going up.
We have to make Wisconsin a place where people can afford to live and have a good life.
How much money do you need to raise to be competitive and win this primary and will that leave any
room for the general election after that? Yeah I'm very confident that we're going to have a good
pot of money that's been raised by the Democratic Party and national partners for whomever our nominee
is. I think the primary it depends on who all is running but I'm confident I'm going to have
the resources needed to run a strong campaign and prevail. When it comes to a competitive primary
you're no stranger to those. What's the difference in your view between negative campaigning against
a member of your own party versus defining differences between candidates? Well I think primaries are
a really important opportunity for voters to vet the candidates and see what their experience is,
see how they perform under pressure. There's going to be a huge spotlight on Wisconsin. This
is an incredibly important high stakes race in one of the most pivotal states in the country
and it is essential that we have a governor who not only is able to stand up to the Trump
administration when needed but also capable of actually making the change that we need
in this narrow window of opportunity that we're going to have. When primary voters are looking at
these candidates should they be thinking in terms of which issue they most closely relate to a
candidate or simply electability? Well I think each voter is going to decide for him or herself
what matters and I ask everyone in Wisconsin for your vote on August 11th and November 3rd
but I really want to make the argument that whatever the issue that you care about is
the most important thing is having a governor who can win and who can actually get things done.
I have spent over 20 years working in and around state government in a variety of capacities as a
legislator in the Senate and the Assembly as the only candidate running that served on the joint
finance committee, small business owner, mom, attorney and I have been able to get meaningful
legislation passed on a whole variety of issues through every kind of legislature, democratic,
republican split. Those skills are going to be essential for our next governor if we want to
actually make change in this state. All of the Democrats running for office have connections
either to Madison or Milwaukee. What is your job in terms of introducing yourself to the rest of
the state especially rural Wisconsin that may not recognize your name? Well unfortunately I've
spent my career traveling around the state and building relationships and trying to build
democratic power and I'm actually from Taylor County. I was born in Marshfield, grew up in a
one-room schoolhouse in rural Taylor County north of highway 29. I'm the only candidate that had pet
goat as a child and so it's been really fun for me to travel around the state areas where I have
deep family roots or other connections that I built throughout my career, reconnect with people
and meet new people and the reception has been really strong. What do you think the impact of
Donald Trump will be on this election? I think that people in Wisconsin are feeling angry and
hopeless about the economic situation. The chaos and the corruption that we are seeing
by this administration is unprecedented and we're also seeing him shredding our constitution and the
rule of law. As an attorney and as a patriotic American I think that what Trump is doing is
totally unacceptable and we need to have strong governors who are willing to stand up and hold
him accountable as well as you know his you know private paramilitary force that he's building
with ICE. We can have secure borders without violating people's rights and destroying the
things that make this country good. The democratic nominees are an incredibly diverse panel of
Democrats but there's still some names being referenced out there and why does it feel like
there are Democrats that still feel the need for a white guy to run? Well you know that's not
something that I've been hearing from people around the state. Voters want somebody who has
courage and is willing to use power when needed and who has competence and can actually govern
and I think when you look at what happened in Virginia and New Jersey you have these middle-aged
moms who just know how to get stuff done. They were both experienced in government. I have a similar
profile and when I talk to voters around the state they love the experience that I bring. They love
that I've worked hand-in-hand with Republicans to expand access to health care. At the same time
that I've defended public education and worked to actually fund our schools in early childhood
at a time when Republicans have been slashing funding and privatizing public schools. Those things
are attractive to voters and I think it's that that's the kind of issue of focus that we need.
As governor you could have a democratic majority in a legislature. What would your AB1 be want to
be? What's your act one you want to sign? Well I want to sign a budget that raises wages for people
restores people's rights lowers costs on the biggest ticket items like health care and funds
our public school system. Our kids have been getting short changed for a generation and it's
not fair and it's actually terrible for our economy. Big signature policy items that I'm
interested in passing is opening up the state health insurance and the state pension systems
to any person to be able to buy in. So if you're a small business owner or if you're taking time
out of the workforce to be a caregiver or if you run a big company and you're tired of those
double-digit increases you can buy in to these low-cost very well-managed high-quality plans
and know that you or your employees are taking care of. On the flip side as governor you could
have Republicans still a part of the legislature. What's your history of working across the aisle
to get things done? Well I have a long history again over 20 years of working with some of the
most conservative Republicans to get things done whether it's criminal justice reform whether it's
helping to pass the first pro-choice legislation in a generation working with in a Republican
anti-choice assembly and getting that passed into law or just earlier this year where I helped expand
access to rural health care options by allowing nurse practitioners to practice and for a long
time I was the only Democrat on that bill and Governor Evers Beethoven that bill several times
we finally got it done. So I have a long history of being able to work well with folks from across
the political spectrum. The Public Service Commission is looking at a lot of rate hikes across the
state. We've got data centers that are popping up all over. What will you do to make sure that
regular ratepayers aren't going to be covering the cost of all these expansions? This is a huge
issue and we need a statewide strategy to deal with data centers because they're coming into
local communities and kind of steamrolling them and I think that people deserve to have a voice
in what happens in their communities and we also need to really know what the impact is going to
be on our environment, on the water and land usage as well as the impact on ratepayers for
these data centers. I've sponsored legislation along with my colleague Senator Jody Hepacin to
ensure transparency as these data centers are coming in and trying to negotiate. We want to
know exactly what the impact is going to be and we have to make sure that not only are
ratepayers not going to be bearing the cost because that is happening all around the country
but that we're actually going to see massive public investment. These are huge, very profitable
companies that are run by billionaires and the most powerful people in our country. They need to
help pay to upgrade our infrastructure. They need to pay more than they're just the cost of
the energy that they're going to be using. They need to actually give community something of value.
When it comes to public education is it simply a matter of more money or do you think there needs
to be reform into how schools are funded? Well you can't do it without money and we've been
asking schools and teachers to do more and more with less and less and less. Our kids haven't even
gotten an inflationary increase for 15 years. That to me is unacceptable. So money is essential
but it's not only money. Teachers also need professional development time and training
and the respect that they deserve as professionals. The single most important factor in a kid's success
is the quality of the teacher at the front of the classroom. Investing in teacher retention so that
we have the most experienced, the most capable skilled teachers able to stay in the classroom
and stay in the education field and mentor newer teachers I think is absolutely essential.
To do that I think high standards for teachers and kids along with giving them the resources
that they need are necessary. We also need to start with early childhood education too.
There's no reason that we should wait until a kid turns five to start nurturing them and
help setting them on a path for success. What would you like to see happen with the voucher system?
Expand contract reform. I would like to see the voucher system brought to a responsible close.
We simply cannot and should not try to fund two different separate school systems.
Their taxpayer money needs to be accountable to taxpayers and public dollars should fund the
public school system. When it comes to a tax reform is there a number one policy that you think needs
to happen? Well I want to make sure that the wealthiest and the big corporations that have
been getting not just a free ride but have been getting hundreds of millions of dollars in public
subsidies actually pay their fair share because what's happened over the last few generations
Zach is that you and I and working people around the state have been forced to pay more and more
and more for the cost of the public services that we all need and share and big businesses have
gotten away with paying very little. It's time for that to change because we all have a stake in
making sure public services are strong. Over the course of the last year the Supreme Court has
rolled back a lot of legislative oversight over the rulemaking process both with the attorney general
with the fiscal and also with the governor's office. Do you think there needs to be
some sort of compromise to bring legislation back to retain some oversight from the legislative process?
The legislature always has the first say and the last say on any piece of legislation and
I don't think that the legislature should be abusing the oversight process which is what has happened
under Republican rule. I think that once a legislature passes the law and they direct the
experts at the agency to implement that rule the agency should be allowed to do that and if the
legislature doesn't like it guess what we can always go in and change it and pass a new law
but we shouldn't hold laws in limbo and not allow them to be enforced just because Republicans didn't
like what the governor did and a perfect example of this is PFAS so the legislature passed laws
directing the DNR to set standards for PFAS and the DNR did as they were directed and then
the legislature at the behest of special interests like WMC came in and said well actually we don't
want you to put those in standards in place we don't like them and so we have a law in the books
that is now not enforceable because there aren't rules in place. What that means is that people
are drinking poison water like a gentleman that I met up in Marinette who was recently diagnosed
with Parkinson's because as well was contaminated. When it comes to local government funding there's
also been another short change over the years what would you like to see there? I think that the
state needs to meet its commitment to local governments and to our public schools you know the promise
was the state would cover two-thirds of the cost and we have really very very infrequently ever
lived up to that. Meanwhile local property taxpayers are asked to raise their own already
two high property taxes just to keep the lights on for our schools and keep the snowplows on the
road and police and firefighters on the street. That's not fair. The state is sitting on a
multi-billion dollar surplus and has for years and it's time that we reinvested that money where
taxpayers expect and deserve it to be spent in our local communities. Across the Northwoods
there are a number of exploratory drilling projects that are looking at becoming potential
mines. What would you like to see in terms of state oversight of mines and would you want to
change the current law? No I think the current law has worked well for us. I want to see mining
companies prove first before they open up a hillside and pollute our water that they're going to be
able to extract things in a safe way that is consistent with our natural resources management
and our environmental goals. Do you have concerns about your own safety in this modern political
environment with threats regularly being made? I do and it's something that I take seriously
my staff and my family take it seriously and I think it's it's very unfortunate that we have
political leaders at the very top of our system whose use of violent rhetoric and violent actions
are making us all less safe and as Americans you know every one of us lives with the specter of
gun violence every time your kid walks out the door to school every time you go to church or a
concert you have to think is this going to become a mass shooting event. We have to do so much more
to help all Americans be safe and free from violence and there's a lot that states can do
to make that true. A lot of people talked about affordable housing. What needs to happen there?
Is it about regulation? Is it about density? Is it all the above? It's all of the above. I'm really
passionate about this. 13 years ago I started a small business with the goal to make it more
easy and affordable for Wisconsinites to buy and sell homes. My business has helped save Wisconsin
homeowners nearly two million dollars in real estate fees but this is an issue that I'm really
passionate about. The state should both be doing more to incent development projects,
helping local governments make zoning changes to allow for more housing to be built and to
allow more flexibility in how we use our dollars so that we can actually get more bang for our book
in terms of building new housing but ultimately this is really a supply and demand problem. We have
too much need for housing and not enough houses being built and it's been that way for since the
Bush recession. We've underbuilt housing and now we're really reaping the consequences so we just
have to get more housing online quickly. When it comes to corrections would you follow through
on Governor Evers plan on how to overhaul the correction system? Yes I think we need to right
size the correction system and we have to get serious about safety. In this state we have pursued
policies that are not only not evidence based but that really undermine public safety. It is how
we incarcerate people, it is how long and it is the lack of services and training to help people
succeed when they actually reenter society. We spend an ocean of money on this and we are
not getting the safety return that we deserve. When it comes to the topic of abortion are there
any bills that you would like to see brought forward to change Wisconsin's laws? Yes and I've
authored many of them. I believe that abortion and frankly all healthcare decisions are personal
and individual. Politicians have no role in making those decisions for you and certainly
we cannot allow abortion, contraception, IVF to be criminalized or put doctors under threat
when they're simply providing care. I want to see your freedom to make your own decisions
guaranteed in this state. Alright Kelter Royce thanks for your time. Great to be with you thank you.
Alright that was a lot of territory but thank you. Yeah great questions. You didn't even need your
notes.