time and do each one as a separate answer. But yeah, we've got a whole bunch of things to talk about
including the campaign. So we'll get to all that and we'll roll in here in just a moment.
Just got to silence that story. I have some times, I have some times outside the window
there so now they should be silenced in just a second. Sorry about that. I was just a
man of the industry. I probably should have come in the studio. This would all have been not necessary.
Okay, I've been on your set quite a few times. I got to know Furtarico very well and I'm good to be
with you Zach of course and I am.
The last time a Democrat represented Wisconsin's first congressional district was in the early 90s
and that man was Peter Barker who recently announced he is challenging style again this fall. Peter
Barker, thanks for joining us today. Perfect to be with you Zach. Thank you so much.
Now you've spent the last few years serving as the Secretary of the Department of Revenue and
the Evers administration. Why did you decide to leave that job and run for Congress this fall?
Well, it's a difficult decision. I served for five and a quarter of years in the Evers administration.
It was a great opportunity. We accomplished a great deal. We were able to cut taxes for middle-class
families. We were able to give law enforcement tools on everything from vaping laws to have to
have registries because my law enforcement agents that worked for me told me that you know we had
people end up and especially children end up in the emergency rooms in these dangerous
vaping and one of the last bills he signed was near and dear to my heart and that was used to
tax system for organ donations. Something vitally important in fact at the end of that bill signing
I have four people from the UW organ donation center and they said Secretary Barker you have
to tell your staff you are definitely going to save hundreds if not thousands of lives
through this aspect. So it was a great opportunity. I love doing it every single day. It was a
difficult decision to leave but like most people in America in fact I haven't talked to anybody
yet that doesn't feel we have a do-nothing dysfunctional Congress and I don't like what I'm seeing. I
think it's uh you know it's something that absolutely has to change when I worked in the
political system whether it was in Congress or the state legislature I was the kind of person that
believed your role of your sleeves you work with people in both parties and you solve the major
issues of the day and right now there's too many political games going on there's too much
intense partisanship and not enough effort to try to resolve the issues of our day and to make
progress for the American people and people in Wisconsin like you're deeply about so there was
one thing that Congress passed recently and that was the foreign aid package and I want to get
your perspective on how you would have voted had you been in Congress so if you can I'm gonna run
through the four elements of the bill just give me a quick yes or no and then we'll talk about
them so yes or no would you have supported the aid to Taiwan yes yes or no on the aid for Ukraine
yes yes or no on forcing TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company
yes and yes or no on funding for Israel yes so give me a perspective as a representative Mark
Polk and a Democrat from Wisconsin voted no on both TikTok and aid for Israel why would you
have supported those two elements well I would have certainly voted for it because
you know for the entire bill we have to protect our national security we have to protect our allies
and you know it's vitally important that America continue to have a strong presence in the world
and to support our allies and to defend our our national security over the long term and this
bill did accomplish that I'm glad it passed and it's a very important measure so looking at the
campaign it had the first congressional as a consistently republican district what needs to
happen for you to be able to put it in play this fall well the district changed two years ago
um it's a district even when I represented it you've got parts of walker shot colony which you know
is deep rad very difficult for a Democrat that was taken out and instead parts of Milwaukee
were put in but it still has all of Kenosha County all of Racine County all while we're
virtually all of Rock County and so it's a very it's a typical purple type district
that uh especially for someone like myself who have many people encouraged me to run uh um you
know it turns out that Kenosha Racine area are the most uh swing parts of the district
an area I represented for over a decade before joining the Evers cabinet and I have a strong
reputation here of working with people in both parties and getting things done and I just feel
like it's time for a change when things are not working I believe accountability is the cornerstone
of a democracy and and right now we have serious problems and I have a very full agenda of items
I'd like to bring forward to try and make a difference but first and foremost I think people
know they can count on me to go to bat for people in fact uh in uh my home district and the
assembly I've always won by overwhelming margins uh because I've had support from Democrats
independents and Republicans and I'm very proud of that so what impact do you think the top of the
ticket uh Biden versus Trump the president will have down ballot on the rest of the state including
your race you know it's difficult to know quite frankly and I really can't worry about that I have
to worry about my own race we have a dysfunctional do-nothing Congress and and we need to change
it and I think people believe in accountability and that's why I like my chances uh you know I'm a
person no one for getting things done uh in the legislature I was a leader for you know seven of
my last seven of the ten years that I was here and I'm somebody that was known for standing up for
the people in my home district and and we accomplished a tremendous amount and and some of the things
that are most vital right now we have people that are hurting that are having trouble making
answer me you know you got people struggling to get in the middle class but even in the middle
class they're having trouble you know and there's things we can do we can have uh by american
provisions which I championed in the legislature I was a lead author um also in the congress when
I was in the congress I got a by american provision the defense authorization bill so ships engines
would have to be made in america and that brought back hundreds of people that were laid off
being smarter so many more were hired we have to support unions unions are what gave us a pathway
to the middle class and we have to get rid of these disastrous trade deals that are hurting american
businesses hurting american competitiveness and hurting american workers so those are the kinds
of things that I plan to champion but as a former small business owner both my parents are
entrepreneurs workforce is the biggest issue I've heard about traveling escape for five years as
secretary and same thing down and not you know the first congressional district
you know so one of the things I'll champion is is it's ridiculous to have greens restrictions on
people that get in a social security maybe that made sense 20 years ago but people desperately
need workers so if people want to work you know they're now restricted 15 20 hours a week in many
cases they want to work 30 or 40 hours god bless them okay they're helping propel this economy so
those are the kinds of things that I will champion and things that I think are important
stand up for our freedoms are taken away freedoms for women to make their own you know health care
decisions people's right to vote I mean it's unbelievable all right peter bark up we'll follow
this throughout the fall thank you thank you so much nice talk to you Zach I appreciate you keeping
your listeners and viewers informed all right thank you for your time I appreciate it that was good
we will be following up on you