for your time. >> Thanks so much for
having us. >> And go Badgers.
>> We're continuing our look at some of the biggest
issues in the race for governor. As a reminder,
you can see the interviews for nine different
candidates on our web page, PBS Wisconsin. Org. And
then click on the news tab. Here's Zac Schultz asking
the leading candidates for governor to show us their
track record of bipartisanship and working
across the aisle. >> With a Democratic
governor and a Republican legislature. The last eight
years in Wisconsin politics have been defined by
gridlock and a lack of trust in the Capitol. And
whether a Democrat or Republican wins the race
for governor this fall, there's a good chance the
other party will control at least one chamber of the
legislature, meaning the next governor will need to
know how to work across the aisle to pass a budget. We
asked nine of the leading candidates for governor
about their track record of bipartisanship.
>> I'm incredibly proud to have passed the Asian
American education legislation that was
Republican led, where we had stakeholders from all
across the state, a coalition that was
multi-generational and multi ethnic, where
Republicans and I came together to make sure we
delivered for working class families and what they were
demanding. 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
vetoed 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. >> So I've done bills when
I was in the legislature and as well as in Congress,
working on a bipartisan basis. And we're going to
try to do the same thing. The thing that I won't get
away from is my principles, though. And number one is
we got to make sure that we have balanced budgets. We
cannot spend too much money. The second thing is we got
to do a better job with our educational system public,
private, parochial, homeschool, whatever every
kid in Wisconsin should expect to get a good
education regardless of their zip code.
>> Yeah, I mean, even out of office, I've been
working with a bipartisan group on democracy reform
because there are a lot of folks, sometimes both sides
of the aisle who, you know, may make comments, may say
certain things, or, you know, we've seen these
issues, obviously, January 6th, but other instances
where people call into question the integrity of
elections and campaigns. And, you know, with a
bipartisan group we've worked to instill more
confidence in the electoral process.
was confirmed twice by the Republican Senate
unanimously as secretary of Economic Development. And
if you asked any of them, I believe that they would say
they have a record of working with me. I would
also say that I've had a bipartisan board at Wedc
for six years, and in that whole time we had two close
votes. Other than that, the board was practically
unanimous in many of our moves approving our budgets,
passing programs. So I have a mindset of working with
everybody who is willing to come to the table and have
good discussions and think about how do we make
Wisconsin better. >> I think this has been
one of the things I've been most critical of recently
is the lack of communication between the
East Wing and the legislative branches. Both,
I mean, look back to the state budget process. The
Democrat minority leader is critical of the Democrat
governor for not even giving her a seat at the
table in the conversation about the budget. You know,
Greta Neubauer and I probably don't agree on a
whole lot. One thing we do agree on is everybody
should have a seat at the table. 90% of things, we
probably disagree, but there's probably going to
be 1 or 2 where I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. How
do we get to. Yes. >> Well, I think I'm
somebody who over the course of 30 years has
demonstrated that I am a relationship person. First.
It's something that I have made a point of, and I have
ensured that as I go throughout my career, I
think I check my ideology at the door when I want to
roll up my sleeves and get things done. It's necessary
to do in the nonprofit sector, it's necessary to
do in government. >> You know, I spent seven
years in the state capitol. So, you know, having worked
under both Governor Evers administration as well as
Governor Walker's administration, I've had to
to navigate these political landmines, if you will. And
as the county executive of Milwaukee County, I've
worked with the Republican controlled legislature not
only to benefit Milwaukee, but every community across
the state with the passage of act 12, but continue to
work across the aisle even in this most recent budget,
where we're going to receive reimbursements for
our highway patrol, giving us the ability to invest in
our public safety building in our courtrooms to make
sure that we can deliver justice for those who need
it and take care of those who are in our care. And so
I'm going to always show up and deliver for those that
I represent. And I want communities all across the
state to know I'm going to be a governor for everybody,
not just one party. >> So coming from a
rhetoric community, I'm used to having those types
of conversations with Republicans. I represented
a purple district. My strategy would be able to
do things that have, you know, wild popular support
in Wisconsin and be able to start with those types of
things. So whether that is fully funding our public
schools, we know that that's something that
people want to do within Wisconsin. We want to make
sure that we're going to be able to get some relief for
healthcare across, across the finish line. I'm
willing to work with anybody who's going to make
life better for Wisconsin. life better for Wisconsin.