October 29, 2018 at 4:39 p.m.
Swearingen runs on his record, experience
Making sure the Northwoods gets its share
Swearingen runs on his record, experience
That's one reason the incumbent lawmaker and Rhinelander native says he doesn't bother filling out special-interest election questionnaires.
"After six years, I have a record," he says. "They can look at the record."
Swearingen says he feels comfortable that when voters look at that record, they'll choose him for another term on Nov. 6.
Besides his record, Swearingen says his experience - and the broad knowledge of issues that goes with experience - also recommends him because it puts him in a better position to help the Northwoods.
"Six years ago when I started running, my background was hospitality," Swearingen told The Lakeland Times in a recent election interview. "I went down there with that mindset. Now here I am, fast forward to six years later, and obviously tourism is part of hospitality so I am still high on tourism, but I have been deeply involved in school funding, in learning about health care, transportation and roads, broadband - all these things I now have a lot more encompassing knowledge over what I didn't know six years ago."
Legislators don't have the luxury of picking and choosing issues, Swearingen said.
"Some of them are tough, quite honestly, because you go down there and, if it's not something that you are really interested in, you might want to put it on the back burner, but what you fast realize is that there are other people in your district who are interested in it, so you need to learn it and get experience with it," he said. "So I personally think I've come a long way in those six years, and can put that knowledge to good use helping the Northwoods and my constituents.'
Swearingen, who served as chairman of the Legislature's Rural Schools Task Force, says school issues have been the most revealing, and he points to solid accomplishments in the education sphere, such as the growth of Fab Labs.
Broadband
Broadband has been another area of intense involvement, Swearingen says.
"We've been talking about broadband since day one, and once again that is a term I had to learn," he said. "The governor put another $1.5 million into it this cycle. Democrats continue to say that that's not enough and it's not coming fast enough."
The reality is, Swearingen said, the state is hard at work developing public-private partnerships to accelerate broadband deployment.
"I sit on a committee within the Public Service Commission that is strictly broadband related," he said. "We sit there with people from Frontier, Charter, CenturyTel, all these players, and finally now they are starting to lower their defensive curtain and talk to each other and talk to the state in terms of where they are."
Progress has been made, Swearingen says.
"We have come a long way in the six years I have been in the Assembly," he said. "Broadband grants just came out again, and I am proud to say that the 34th Assembly district has gotten the most broadband grants in the state of Wisconsin."
Though he would love to take credit for it, Swearingen says it's not just because he's the state representative but because the district has some very active and effective economic development corporations.
"Oneida County and certainly Vilas County," he said. "The Vilas County Economic Development Corporation is top notch on this issue for sure, and it's fun to work together with them."
Swearingen said there is also a federal component, the Connect America Fund.
"And so there are federal dollars coming into these same stakeholders, and, by putting it all together, the job can hopefully get done at a quicker pace," he said, though he added there is still substantial work to do.
"There are still pockets where people have either dial up or a zero Internet connection at all," he said.
Swearingen says so-called white-space technology holds out promise, too.
"That was focused on at the end of the last session," he said. "Rep. (Mary) Felzkowski was instrumental in that and so was Sen. (Tom) Tiffany. I would argue that that is still in kind of a learning phase, but that is exciting, too."
If that bandwidth is out there and can be accessed, Swearingen said, it might be a no-brainer. But he said broadband will continue to be a priority for him as long as gaps in coverage exist.
Labor shortage
Swearingen says he has a priority he is not sure he can fix or even adequately address, and that is the region's worker shortage.
"I'm suffering the same pain at my restaurant," he said. Swearingen owns the Al-Gen Dinner Club in Rhinelander. "We're in a tough spot for key employees, especially kitchen cook, second cook, what have you, and the youth, the busers and dishwashers."
Swearingen says he's lucky to still have core employees who are vital to his business, but overall he is continually operating with a shortage. And that is a common problem in the Northwoods, he says.
Affordable housing is a must in maintaining a sustainable workforce in the region, Swearingen said.
"At some point, we are going to have to address the housing issue," he said. "If we are going to bring students in, or workers in for these positions, we have to house them somewhere. There has been talk of putting up temporary housing for potential workers."
And the shortage is a problem not just in hospitality but in all occupational categories, Swearingen said. The Rhinelander representative said Fab Labs in schools are one potential solution to the shortage.
"We know that not every kid is four-year college bound," he said. "If they are, that's fine because we need them too - the doctors, the lawyers, whatever. But Fab Labs are unique in the fact that we can start these kids in like the fourth grade getting familiar with manufacturing, whether it's making a Christmas ornament or a key chain."
As they go through the eighth grade and get more and more interested in the Fab Lab, Swearingen said, they can get into the actual manufacturing processes, whether it's 3D printing, a CNC router machine, computer graphics, or plasma cutters and more.
"The Fab Lab allows them to go to the next step," he said. "That could be going to a technical college like Nicolet, or if they choose and they are really into something, they can go right into the work force."
School funding is a hot-button issue in the governor's race this year, and Swearingen said it's no different in the Assembly race.
"School funding continues to be an issue, and we moved some things forward over the last couple of years with the Rural Schools Task Force," he said. "The next step is, the speaker of the Assembly has a blue-ribbon commission on school funding."
Swearingen said the school funding formula issue has been the most frustrating he has worked on in his six years in the Legislature.
"It's pretty obvious that there's one pot of money, and if you take some from here and give it over there, then this guy is going to complain," he said. "Up here, we rely on categorical aids, the high-cost transportation aids and the sparsity aid, which actually some schools up here don't get either."
Swearingen says the GOP-controlled Legislature keeps moving the ball down the field toward fairness.
"But will we ever get to the point where we actually redo the funding formula?" he asked. "It's a pretty tall order."
Foxconn
Is Foxconn good for the state and is it good for the Northwoods?
"Yes, it's great for the state, and I think in time it will be great for the Northwoods," Swearingen said. "I know that the Rhinelander Expera mill does business through its De Pere location with a Foxconn supplier, so we already have those shirttails heading north."
Swearingen says there are also increased sales with one of the manufacturers of heavy equipment based in the Rhinelander area.
"They are ecstatic with what is going on with Foxconn because they are moving heavy equipment down there," he said. "I'm aware of other small contractors that have gone down there as well."
At the very least, Swearingen said, there's hope the growing Foxconn work force will take a vacation up north at some point, but he said there are contractors as far north as Wausau which have committed to that project, and he says there are probably more in the Northwoods we don't yet know about.
"It's a lot of big-time money and big-time tax cuts, but I think the residuals in the end are going to be well worth it," he said.
All that economic activity dovetails with what is going on with Kimberly-Clark in the Appleton area, Swearingen said - the Assembly has already passed a package of tax credits to keep that company in Wisconsin; the Senate will take action after the election.
"So here's another project," he said. "Kimberly-Clark has been a staple in the Appleton area, so we have offered them that incentive package as well."
Of course there are concerns about such large incentive packages, Swearingen said.
"The question now is, is everybody going to come to the state and threaten to leave, but I think there's a case to be made that it should be dealt with on an individual basis," he said.
With Kimberly-Clark, 600 jobs are at stake, Swearingen said.
"So Foxconn was a pretty big pill to swallow, but if you take a look at the size of the campus down there, I think it's going to be great," he said. "We'd love to have something like that in the Northwoods, though with the worker shortage I don't know that we could sustain that. Maybe it would attract others to come here."
Economic diversity
Swearingen says the state's tourist economy is booming: "Tourism is up 40 percent since 2011, $20 billion this year, which is huge," he says.
But diversification is needed, Swearingen says.
"You could argue that Rhinelander isn't a tourist town, but certainly we have the premier resort tax because everybody who vacations in the Northwoods eventually heads to Rhinelander because of the box stores," he said.
But there is manufacturing in the Northwoods, too, all the way up to Florence, Swearingen says.
"But is it big?" he asked. "Is it family sustaining? Is it enough to keep our kids here? Are these communities making it attractive enough for someone else to relocate here?"
Again, Swearingen says, broadband plays a role. And he says the Northwoods has had its manufacturing victories, though nothing on the scale of FoxConn or even close to it, but he points to Printpack's decision to reinvest in its Rhinelander plant versus moving away.
"And then Expera picked up their old facility, which was a win-win for everybody," he says. "So we're not just tourism-driven."
On the state level, Swearingen says Republicans have done a great job in tax cutting, but they can do a better job when it comes to borrowing money.
"I'm not a big bonding guy," he said. "I loathe the fact that we put more money on the state credit card. We fought in the Assembly against a lot of that in the last budget in terms of transportation."
As a legislator from the North, Swearingen says he wants to make sure that, if the state cuts priorities such as transportation, the North still gets its piece of the pie.
"I understand the Zoo interchange, and now the interstate going down to the Racine area for Foxconn, but we're still seeing some activity in this area, too - the Highway 51 project, for example - so we have our projects," he said.
Still, Swearingen said, the state can't live above its means, and so the Assembly decreased the bonding amount that the governor originally wanted for transportation in the last budget.
On corrections, Swearingen says the state has a real problem with aging prisons. Waupun, he says, has been around for more than 100 years.
"The state needs to face this issue head on, real quick, because the cost of construction isn't going to go down," he said. "And I would argue that the savings to us by putting a new prison somewhere in the state is going to be pretty large once we decide how big it has to be and how efficient it has to be."
One thing that won't work, Swearingen said, is cutting the prison population by 50 percent, as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers and other Democrats have proposed.
"You're going to be letting out the wrong people," he said. "I would be surprised if there wasn't an effort to address the issue (of over-incarceration) in the next budget, whether it comes out of the governor's office or corrections or the Assembly."
When it comes to legalizing recreational marijuana, Swearingen says he's not there yet.
"This comes up every session," he says. "You can put me on a lie detector test, but I have never, ever smoked marijuana, and I'm 55. But I know there are plenty of polls that come out and they say it might be time to legalize it."
But that's not his opinion, Swearingen says.
"I think it is a gateway drug," he says. "I would be open to looking at legislation on medical marijuana, but I can't say I'm totally there yet, either."
Swearingen says he supports legislation that would allow concealed carry of a firearm without a permit.
"What's the difference? Wearing a coat?" he said. "So either you are wearing a coat or you are not wearing a coat."
On the issue of sulfide mining, Swearingen says mining has a come a long way, and so has technology.
"Put those two things together, and I'm confident we can mine safely and in an environmentally friendly way, and we'll leave it as good or better as we found it initially," he said. "My issue is the jobs. We need those jobs, and I think this is a win-win."
Why another term?
Swearingen says there is always unfinished business, and that is why he is seeking a fourth term in the Assembly.
"My goal is to make sure that everybody in the Northwoods is connected to broadband," he said. "I want to make sure that our schools stay top notch and No. 1. We do have some damn fine schools."
Swearingen says he has also been a big fan of Gov. Scott Walker - though that doesn't mean he agrees with everything he does, particularly on road funding - and he says, "we need to keep this train going."
As for his opponent, Democrat Chris Meier, Swearingen said he didn't know much about him.
"From what I understand he's a veteran, which I give him credit for," he said. "I appreciate his service to the country."
Swearingen said his opponent claims he was involved in the DPI's rural schools initiative, and talked about being involved in the creation of sparsity aids.
"That surprises me because one of the first things we had to fix when I got to Madison was sparsity aids," he said. "So he's taking credit for it and the first thing I had to do was try and fix it as it relates to up here."
Swearingen said he believes this area is better served with Republicans under Gov. Walker.
"Once again I am applying for the job of state representative for the 34th Assembly district," he said. "I am a life-long resident of Rhinelander and the Northwoods. I grew up here and I graduated from Rhinelander High School in 1981. I am a small businessman. My wife and I have run our restaurant for 25 years. We raised two kids here and we're very proud to call ourselves part of the community."
Swearingen says he enjoys representing the voters of the 34th district, and he says there's still unfinished business that he wants to tackle. Most of all, Swearingen says he wants to continue to be a good steward of the citizens' tax dollars.
"I think the most important question is, and Gov. Walker asks it all the time, are you better off than you were six years ago, in my case? I think the answer is yes."
Richard Moore is the author of The New Bossism of the American Left and can be reached at www.rmmoore1.com.
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