KAPANKE ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Friday, February 19th, 2010 -- 11:39 AM
Kind, a Democrat from La Crosse, has been representing 'Wisconsin's' 3rd District since 1996.Sen. Dan Kapanke was first elected to the state legislature in 2004 and was reelected in 2008.
"The number one issue, of course, is the economy," Kapanke told Central Wisconsin Broadcasting News Thursday. "We're not pointing fingers at any one individual, we're going through a cycle, but it's how we've handled this that concerns a lot of people."
Kapanke says he?s known Rep. Kind for years. They live about one mile apart, they've attended the same church for 20 years and Ron?s dad owns season tickets for the La Crosse Loggers, the baseball team Kapanke owns with his wife, Ruth.
But, he says he would have voted differently on the $787-billion stimulus bill Kind voted for. He has real issues with the bank bailout bill and doesn?t support 'Cap and Trade' legislation.
Kapanke agrees there needs to be reform in the health care industry, but he doesn?t think the government has a huge role to play.
"Let's target tort reform. I'm told (there would be) an 8-10% reduction in health care costs if we target tort reform," he says.
He also wants individuals to be able to purchase insurance across state lines. "Estimates are 10-12 million more people would be insured if they were allowed to buy across state lines," he claims.
But, while he doesn?t seem to be for government regulation, he says he would support requirements that insurers offer coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
"You know, that's a mandate we try to shy away from whenever we can, but, at the end of the day, if they have no coverage and they end up in the hospital, it costs all of us," Kapanke says.
We?ll have more with both candidates as we make our way to the November Election.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.