Local Voices

The Lives Affecting Wausaus Past

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Russ Decker

Russ Decker is a Wisconsin State Senator. He was a 1971 graduate of

Athens High School as well as a 1980 graduate of the North Central
Technical Colleges Bricklayer Apprenticeship program.

Would you like to start with telling us your background?

Sure. I am a pretty typical person. I grew up on my parents dairy farm west of Athens. After I graduated high
school, I went to work in a cheese factory, and then I went to work in construction. I took my apprenticeship at
the technical college in 1977 and graduated in 1980. I got married; we have two sons who went to D.C. Everest.
They are 29 and 26 years old. We moved to Weston in November of 1985 and weve been there ever since. My
political career actually started with the bricklayers union. I was elected business manager, which runs the affairs
of the local union all the way from Adams County to Michigan. I was part of the apprenticeship program, the
health and welfare and pension programs as well as referring members, bricklayers, and cement finishers to construction jobs. I got into politics in 1990 when I was asked to run for the state senate. I took office in 1991.

So, could you tell us what businesses were in Weston before and how you saw Weston become a more technological and industrial area?
When I came to Weston, Highway 29 actually went down where Schofield Avenue is right now. The bypass wasnt in place. Also, it was a town then. That changed in 1996. I helped quite a bit with the village to get that into
place. I had to go through state government. It has a lot of retail. There was some commercial and manufacturing,
but the expansions have really taken place since then, such as 29 Super Market being built, along with Target. A
lot of the smaller businesses have sprung up around the area and now the business park on the eastern side by
the new school.

How many positions did you actually occupy in your whole career? What kind of committees were you on?
I have served on quite a few committees since I have been in Madison. One was the finance committee that oversees government spending, the labor committee, agricultural committee, economic development, military and
veterans affairs and corrections. I have been on finance for quite a while, and on a number of other committees.

Would you mind telling us some of the more difficult experiences you had and maybe touch on a failure that
you might have had throughout your political career?
I think one of the most difficult issues is trying to control the cost of health care. There have always been a number of us in the legislature that want to do it, but there is also the equal amount of people that I think are lacking
the courage to take on the health care industry and to contain the cost. So I think that has been disappointing. On
the success side, though, we have done some remarkable things. One is that the state took over two-thirds of the
cost of education. We started a dental center in Ladysmith that serves all of northwestern Wisconsin for kids that
cant get access to dentists.
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Local Voices

The Lives Affecting Wausaus Past

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What issues got you elected as Senator?

Well, the one issue that got me elected was when the lottery money was going to non-residents and I wanted to
target it just to the Wisconsin homeowners and farmers. The other things were that I didnt think that the working
people were getting represented in Madison as well as they should be, that their issues were not put to the forefront and the cost of health care was incredible. I just thought that the person who was in office voted the wrong
way on most of the issues.

You had a couple of issues that got you elected,

and now since you have been elected have you
found a solution to most of these?
Yes, I wrote the constitutional amendment that targeted all of the lottery money to homeowners and
farmers. So that was a big win, which stopped it
from going to out of state. The other was health
care. We have made some improvements. We have
the dental clinic in Ladysmith, I talked about that.
We also helped open the Bridge Community Clinic
here in Wausau, for low-income people to get access
to healthcare. We did Badger Care; that is a state
program for low-income working people who dont
have health insurance at work. So we have made
some big gains, but we still cant crack the nut to try
and contain costs.

I didnt think that the

working people were getting represented in
Madison as well as they
should be, that their issues
were not put to the forefront and the cost of health
care was incredible.

Could you elaborate on one of your success stories

other than solving the issues that got you elected?
Well, one of the success stories was putting the 2001 state budget together. I negotiated probably 85 percent of
that over a three-week period with the Republicans down in Madison. So that contained quite a few initiatives.
We started Senior Care, which is prescription drug coverage for people that are over 65 years old. We also
reduced school class sizes through the SAGE program, to 15 students per teacher. That was a pilot program and
then in 2001 we made it statewide. That was a big win. We also did a major economics stimulus package using
the University of Wisconsin, so I believe we had some major victories in that area. At the same time, we were
able to reduce some of the income tax rates.

Talking about healthcare again, you have heard about St. Clares hospital being built, what do you think
about that?
Well, I think that any hospital that is built in the state should go through a review process. Just like what the
Weston power plant is going through to see if it is wanted and needed, and what the cost impact is going to be.
I think that hospital construction should run under the same review. An independent agency should be set up that
is not tied in any way to one side that is for it or against it.

What are you most proud of in your career?

I think the number of people that were able to help. I think most people look at us as just passing and making
the laws, which is about half of what we do. The other half is helping people with their individual problems,
whether it would be an unemployment check that is not coming through to what they need or workmens comp,
and different types of businesses that need expansion help. I think those things add up to about half of what we
do and actually the number one thing that we have done is finding dental care for kids.
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We talked to Sarah Kamke just recently and

throughout her interview she gave us so many
stories about how she became an alderman, do
you have a story that you could tell us about?
I was elected business manager of the Bricklayers
Union in 1985, six years before I got elected to the
Senate. So that is how I got my start in politics.
What year were you elected into the Senate?
I was elected in 1990.
How many terms would that be?
I am in my fourth term.

Would you have done anything differently if you had a chance to start over?
I think I would have been a little bit sterner in my opposition to the Milwaukee voucher program where public
dollars go into private schools in Milwaukee. I think there was an opportunity to change it. I was one of the few
people leading the charge against it. I think I should have held out even longer to try and keep the funding down
because I dont think it is good policy to have public dollars going to private schools, especially when there is
zero accountability. We just found a school in the Milwaukee voucher program that is being run by a convicted
rapist, because there are no background checks or accountability. We dont know what those schools are doing.
Some of the schools, I suspect, would be very good because there are some very good private schools out there,
but we have a few clinkers like Alexs Academy of Excellence. He is the convicted rapist that is running the
school now.

Are they going to stop that or did they already?

No, there isnt any way to stop it because the law is
so weak. We have had proposals to do background
checks and all of those accounting measures, and we
have always been able to get it through the Senate,
but the Republicans in the Assembly refuse to go
along with it.

Do the parents know about it?

I dont know if the parents know about it or not.
They should if they read the Milwaukee paper. They
would be aware of it, but you know if you come to a
public school in Milwaukee that isnt to be the likely
choice as a parent to send your child to Alexs
Academy of Excellence when the roof was leaking
and there were virtually no computers or books.
Parents still saw that as an alternative to the public
schools, which tells me that they were not involved
in their kids education.

I think I should have

held out even longer to try
and keep the funding
down because I dont
think it is good policy to
have public dollars going
to private schools,
especially when there is
zero accountability.

Do you feel that you have made an impact in Wisconsin?

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Well, definitely because we did some major improvements on transportation. Highway 29 is now a four-lane
project. Highway 51 is being expanded. We are going to have a six-lane project out here by Lake Wausau and
Rib Mountain. I am most proud of reducing class sizes and opening the dental centers in Wausau and Ladysmith.

What drove you to consider public office in the first place?

I think of it as a challenge. A lot of people talk about doing it, but there are very few that have the courage or the
commitment to go out and do it. You see the TV ads and hear the ads on the radio and see our newspaper ads,
but that is just a small portion of what it takes to get elected. It is a lot of hard work to go everyday knocking on
peoples doors and saying hi to folks and introducing yourself and then answering the questions they have, so
the opportunity was there, and when the window is there you better take it because that window doesnt open
very often, if that is what you want to do.

What was the community like when you first came to office?
I think that Weston has changed. It has grown. Wausau has been changing quite a bit for the better with the
amount of downtown development. I think the problem in Wausau is that the school district has declining student
enrollment, which is putting a financial squeeze on it. But on the flip side, DC Everest is going up in students,
so they are in pretty good financial shape right now. Weston is now a village, which was incorporated a number
of years ago. Kronenwetter is now a village, which is a major change. Wausau is annexing areas. Our economy
is holding up better than most of the state, in most cases better than the rest of the nation, right here in central
Wisconsin.

What is the most interesting experience that you have had in public office?
I think meeting President and Hillary Clinton was pretty cool. And I met Al Gore when he was running for president and vice president. I got to meet Teddy Kennedy. So you get to meet quite a few people that you see on
TV.

Have you ever had fights or problems with other Senators?

We have points of disagreement. We all have a tendency to overlook things that we agree with people on. Take
for example if there are a hundred guys on a job and two of them are jerks, those are the two that you have a tendency to remember, and you overlook all the other good people who show up for work, do what they are told,
and are good people. I think it is the same way in politics. There are always a few lightning rods, the type of people that get under your skin, that stick out, but you will find that there is a lot of agreement between the
Republicans and the Democrats. Ninety-five percent of them are
good honest people, and they are pretty much reflective of what
is in the state, whether they are farmers, teachers, bricklayers,
tavern owners, or lawyers. They come from all walks of life, just
When the winlike what we have in Northcentral Wisconsin.

Do you have a specific memorable moment?

Meeting the President and Hillary Clinton was pretty memorable. I had met them during the 92 election. In 94 we were up
for re-election. We were targeted as the number one Democratic
Senator to knock off in the 94 campaign, but the 90 election
was pretty good because it went until 2 oclock in the morning
before we knew if we had won.

dow is there you

better take it
because that window doesnt open
very often.

Was your family really supportive?

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Oh, yeah. Our kids were eleven and thirteen when I ran the first time. My wife was really cool about it; she still
is. We had a lot of local help, and we got outspent two to one, but we still won.
If someone was considering public office, what advice would you give him or her?
If you want to get into public office, get involved with people. I think that is one of the best ways to do it. Get
involved in campaigns and go down to headquarters and meet the candidates, go out and do some volunteer
work. The other thing about public office is that you have to have some thick skin. If you have thin skin, then
some of these things will eat people up because they have such an anxiety over an issue.

What kind of things that happened in your childhood gave you the character traits to be a politician?
Growing up on my parents farm, we didnt have a lot of money. That kind of set the foundation that government
can be an asset to work with people in small businesses, but it can also be a hindrance. So I think that is one of
the things that have always gotten me going. I worked driving a tractor, planting crops, milking cows, bailing
hay and all those things. That was our way of life. My first job out of high school was working for minimum
wage at a cheese factory. That was an eye-opener, too. Once you get away from your parents, things get tight
very quickly because of financial problems. That was kind of ingrained into me, and I think it was in the sixties
when a major cultural revolution, civil rights, the Vietnam War and womens rights were coming up. There was
turmoil, and I think it really rocked the status quo.
Is there anything else you want to tell us before we wrap it up?
The only thing I would say is that things have changed even since I ran fifteen years ago, and there are so many
different media markets right now with talk radio and cable news networks. I think it is a little harder to focus
because when I was growing up we had three TV stations (two in Wausau and one in Eau Claire). Now everything is coming at people from all different angles.

Russ and Kathy, his wife, live in the village of Weston and
have two sons, Jeremy and Jeff. He volunteers his time to
the Wausau Area Habitat for Humanity, is a member of the
Wausau Moose Service Club and has supported the area
Boy & Girl Scouts.

Interviewers: Kim Duhaime, Karlee Shaw, & Leah Sherfinski

Transcribed by: Tiffany Hahn

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