WISPIRG's Dan Kohler (Jan Pelton)

This fall’s election saw the Democratic Party make gains at the state and national level. Experts offer various reasons for this shift in power. Whatever the reason,
the problems we face—too few citizens with health care, rising energy costs and reliance on foreign oil, scandals with our political process—remain the same.

The good news, and the reason for my stead- fast optimism, is that we have available solutions to these problems.

WISPIRG is advocating sensible policies that will improve public health, preserve our parks, forests and lakes, decrease our reliance on foreign oil, expand health care coverage and improve our democracy.

The question moving forward is: can we muster enough support in the Legislature to pass policies that are better for all of us— Democrat, Republican and Independent?

On the merits, all of these policies make sense for our state and enjoy broad support.

However, we know that entrenched, powerful special interests—oil companies, developers, utilities—have deep pockets and enjoy tremendous access and influence with some of our decision-makers.

To win, we plan to first make the case for these policies, based on the facts. We can expect, though, that it will also take citizen support and a grassroots effort.

If you haven’t already, I want to suggest calling or writing your legislators to ask them to support policies that protect our environment, improve public health, protect consumers and improve our democracy. Hearing from their constituents can make areal difference in what issues legislators prioritize.

Let’s work together for the public interest. On Wisconsin.

Dan Kohler