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District #27 - Steve Kestell (R)

Wisconsin State Representative

See the State Elections Board and new candidates HERE

On the issues - 2008 (See the legislator's 2006-2007 position on health care, ethics and campaign reform below)

F - Public funding of judicial campaigns

(AB250) Incumbent voted AGAINST passage of public funding of campaigns for judges. In a recent study by Citizen Action, in 75% of the cases reaching the Supreme Court level there was a campaign contributor on one side or the other. Campaigns for judges are being financed by attorneys and business leaders. How's that for justice? ALL Supreme Court Judges came out in support of this bill.  2/27/08 Sequence No. 195

On the issues - 2007 (See the legislator's 2006 position on health care, ethics and campaign reform below)

F - Healthy Wisconsin

Incumbent OPPOSED the Healthy Wisconsin amendment to the state budget. All Democrats voted for it and all Republicans voted against it. Healthy Wisconsin was opposed by the insurance industry and business associations (though not the business members themselves). To understand your representatives vote see Follow the Money (upper right). For more on the benefits of Healthy Wisconsin see Sen. Joe Leean's article HERE

B - Ethics Reform

(SB1) Incumbent voted to pass an Ethics Reform bill in 2007, but voted to block it in 2006.

F - Healthcare - HSAs

Incumbent supports Health Savings Accounts, which as a tax subsidy benefit the wealthy. But they are detrimental to the low- and middle-income population who face high health care costs, or have them imposed by employers. See more HERE. HSAs are supported by the insurance industry, bankers, credit card companies and bankruptcy attorneys, all of whom have given campaigns significant contributions to this legislator. See Follow the Money (upper right)

Many politicians refuse to answer the questions in the Project Vote-Smart solicitation because they don't want voters knowing where they stand on the issues! They like being able to fudge and evade when being asked about an issue, and having it on record and posted on the web is the last thing they want. Especially when it can be compared to their voting record while in session.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters Rated Incumbent at 18% acceptance

Conservation Scorecard on your state assembly representative at: http://www.conservationvoters.org/Public/scorecards/sc05-06.pdf (Newly elected members will not be listed yet.) Vote Tracker -- SB1 Ethics Bill http://www.conservationvoters.org/Public/voteTracker.php?billID=47 (Includes 2007 session) Past Scorecards: 2003-2004 http://www.conservationvoters.org/Public/scorecards/sc03-04.pdf 2001-2002 http://www.conservationvoters.org/Public/scorecards/sc01-02.pdf

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Who won the Fall 2006 Government Ethics Voter Guide Questionnaire distributed by League of Women Voters, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and Common Cause? See all survey questions at the WDC web site. (I) = Incumbent

(Many of those who did not reply simply do not want to go on record as supporting reforms they know they will vote against, and do not want to be held to their word. Others will say Yes and not mean it, or will vote as dictated by their party. It is up to constituents to hold their representatives to their word.)

Assembly, District 27	Question 1	Question 2	Question 3	Question 4	Question 5	Question 6
Steve Kestell (Republican) (I)	No Reply	No Reply	No Reply	No Reply	No Reply	No Reply

On the issues

Note that during this same week, the majority and in some cases all, legislators voted yes on three no-brainer minor ethics bills -- and some even sent out newsletters proclaiming how great the act was. But what really mattered was SB1, the mother of all ethics reform which would have established an ethics commission independent of the state legislature it would be overseeing. Your representative voted AGAINST this more conclusive bill, which meant that even violations of the three no-brainers would not have faced tough scrutiny. Those voting against SB1 like things just as they are, requiring virtually zero accountability on the part of politicians.

In another action, the Assembly approved by a 96-0 vote identical measures to [shorten] the legislative session -- to July 12, from December. The end of the session is significant because state law bars lawmakers from accepting donations during the session. Lawmakers also cannot ask lobbyists to bundle donations from their clients during that period. Now they can do both beginning July 13.  

 

Incumbent's record on Ethics Reform: Bad

From WDC: What's most notable about the three roll call votes is that several Republican members – including two considered politically vulnerable and likely facing tough reelection fights, Brett Davis of Monroe and Mark Pettis of Hertel, who originally voted to take up SB 1 – voted three times against making SB 1 part of the GOP "ethics reform" bills. Pettis is one of the Jensen 10 who were implicated during the former Assembly speaker's trial. All of the Jensen 10 voted consistently to block approval of SB 1.