June 13, 2022 at 11:53 a.m.
Kleefisch pledges a focus on Northwoods needs if elected
State could glide its way to zero-percent income tax, candidate says
Kleefisch pledges a focus on Northwoods needs if elected
The lieutenant governor while Scott Walker was governor, Kleefisch is running in the August 9 GOP gubernatorial primary against businessman Tim Michels, management consultant Kevin Nicholson, and state lawmaker Tim Ramthun.
In an exclusive interview with The Lakeland Times, Kleefisch said the health and growth of small businesses was a central concern for her while she was lieutenant governor, and so it will be if she is elected governor.
"I started Small Business Academy [a seminar that provides entrepreneurs an opportunity to connect with technical and financial resource providers and identify the tools needed to start and grow a business] to encourage female and minority and veteran potential entrepreneurs to jump into the small business market and become their own bosses," she said. "And I also started the governor's Small Business Summit."
Supporting entrepreneurs in those and other ways is especially important for northern Wisconsin's tourism industry, Kleefisch said.
"Big businesses are grown from small businesses, and the nice thing about the Northwoods is that you have an incredibly entrepreneurial population," she said. "Obviously we wouldn't even be talking about tourism if we didn't have entrepreneurs who are willing to take a risk, and I would argue that it is a considerable risk because tourism in a state like Wisconsin is incredibly weather dependent."
But it's not just tourism businesses that benefit, Kleefisch said.
"So you have very entrepreneurial people, but, over my time as lieutenant governor, I also celebrated and we gave out a considerable amount of entrepreneurial grants to small businesses that had nothing to do with tourism," she said. "Tech businesses [with] fantastic inventions that solved problems."
And Kleefisch says the Walker-Kleefisch administration also provided support for those who teach future generations those skills and instill within them that entrepreneurial spirit.
"One of the reasons we could [support small businesses] is because we had very entrepreneurial educators, and so I was also proud to have distributed grants for Fabrication Laboratories throughout the Northwoods and all over the state because when you encourage and teach young people entrepreneurial skills but also how to problem solve, I think it makes a magnificent difference."
Gov. Tony Evers turned his backs on northern and rural schools, Kleefisch said, particularly when he vetoed a $750,000 grant the Legislature included in the state budget for Lakeland STAR School/Academy.
"One of the saddest things that I have seen in this administration is a disregard for the potential for Northwoods schools with a $750,000 grant that was basically just completely bounced by Tony Evers, and the STAR Academy could have done spectacular things, and I would argue also be a draw to the Northwoods economy because one of the reasons people like to move back to or to Wisconsin in the first place is K-12 education," she said. "We are not Florida. That's a good thing here. There are a lot of great things that Ron DeSantis [the governor of Florida] is doing, but at the same time our schools have the potential to be the very best in the nation, and one of the ways we can do that is making sure there is a great fit for everybody."
Inflation
Kleefisch says she understands the burden high gas prices inflict on rural families.
"I live in a rural area, too, and I open enroll my kid two school districts away," she said. "One of the reasons that I am a huge proponent for universal school choice is because there are a lot of moms out there who don't have the greatest school district or schools for their kids. That means the Kleefisch family drives 23 minutes there, 23 minutes back, 23 minutes there for pick up, 23 minutes back, every single day. That is our reality."
Kleefisch said she filled the family car at $4.89 per gallon this past week.
"We're looking at doubled gas expenditures just to take my child to school," she said. "And that is an everyday reality in the Northwoods, too. It's undeniable. I can't promise you a new president at the moment, but, when I am in office as governor, what I can promise you is that I will do absolutely everything in my power as governor to assure that Wisconsin plays her own role in American energy independence."
Kleefisch panned the Evers administration's version of the Green New Deal.
"You saw Tony Evers' version of the Green New Deal, with Mandela Barnes' green plan for Wisconsin, basically asserting that they wouldn't even, if there were broken fossil fuels' infrastructure, they wouldn't even fix it," she said.
Over in Michigan, Kleefisch said Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer has tried to completely shut down the critical Line 5 energy pipeline.
"She and Tony Evers are good pals," she said. "This is a huge problem for the state of Wisconsin because that line provides energy for the entire Midwest. If we were to have fossil fuels infrastructure go down, we couldn't even count on Tony Evers to fix it. As your governor, I will assure you I will not only fix but continue to invest in an all-of-the-above energy strategy because what we need to do first is to protect people, and families are in incredible pain at the pump right now."
Kleefisch said she would never raise the state gas tax, and, if it's feasible, she would consider a temporary elimination of it while gas prices are high, but she pointed to two other solutions she would try first.
"One of my primary opponents has lobbied in the past to raise the gas tax, as Tony Evers has lobbied to do as well," she said. "But what I can promise you is that, in our DOT budget, in the transportation fund, which as you will recall Jim Doyle raided and we restored, we will be peeling off state patrol and putting that in general purpose revenue, and also transit because moving those two things out obviously takes a considerable amount off the rolls being paid for by our transportation fund."
Kleefisch said her administration would also move the sales tax for auto parts into the transportation fund.
"It is absolutely essential that we continue to pave and repair and also grow our transportation infrastructure," she said. "If you hear or see complaints about roads, it's not usually the federal freeways they are carping about, it's our local roads. And that's what I have a problem with, too. I live very rural. It is a choice. It is very intentional, and I am open to all suggestions and solutions when it comes to reducing the pain at the pump and reducing the pain at the grocery store."
As for specifics about easing prices at the pump, Kleefisch said she needed to see upcoming estimates for state revenues, which are released in September.
"Our revenue estimates aren't out yet, and we are headed into a recession thanks to Joe Biden and Tony Evers," she said. "I would argue that a lot of [inflation] is a result of stupid decision making blamed on Covid. If that's the case we should exhaust all Covid dollars, which are one-time dollars from the federal government, before we dip into GPR (general purpose revenue). But GPR is there, we have a surplus we are sitting on, but on top of that we do have a Rainy Day Fund that we assured is considerable when you look back at where we came from."
As problems continue to worsen, Kleefisch said, she would look at all three of those potential rescue mechanisms.
"But we haven't spent all of the federal Covid money yet and we have this federal infrastructure spending that's coming as well," she said. "You can trace all of these problems directly back to Joe Biden's and Tony Evers' bad decision making, and part of it frankly is because they printed too much money, sent it all out, and now we're dealing with hyper-inflation. I think you directly go back to those funds for the solution as the immediate rescue."
State income tax
Kleefisch says she would aim toward a zero-percent income tax in the state, but it won't happen overnight, and a flat tax could be an intermediary step. She declined to endorse a plan by UW professor Noah Williams of the UW-Madison Center for Research On the Wisconsin Economy (CROWE) - a plan endorsed by both the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and former governor Scott Walker - to repeal the income tax but raise the sales tax to compensate for lost revenue.
Kleefisch said the numbers have to be vetted - Williams's plan imagined a 3-percent increase in the sales tax but Kleefisch said it could be much higher - and she said the state's real revenue position needs to be known.
"It would be irresponsible for me to say repeal the income tax without looking at the revenue estimates," she said. "You know that Noah's paper has only been dynamically scored, not traditionally scored, so economists are both excited about it and at the same time others are very cautious, saying that this will lead to at least a 13-percent sales tax."
In a tourism area of the state, Kleefisch said, better safe than sorry.
"We have to be really, really cautious before we say we're going to take you down to zero percent income tax, and then we are going to give you a 13-15 percent sales tax in exchange," she said. "Especially right now, in the middle of a formula shortage nationwide, I'm not going to say, 'Hey moms, we're going to do away with the income tax but in the middle of this formula crisis we are going to charge you a 15-percent sales tax on diapers."
That said, Kleefisch said the goal is ultimately a zero-percent state income tax.
"I would love to be able to compete directly head to head with Gregg Abbott [the governor of Texas, which has no income tax] and Ron DeSantis [Florida does not have an income tax], but on our way there - obviously we can't do this overnight, we're Wisconsin, we don't have Disney and oil here and, if you take a look at zero-percent income tax states, they are states that have really high sales taxes or usually something to supplement their general purpose fund, which is usually energy or tourism revenue."
Wisconsin will need to be on a glide path, Kleefisch said.
"My hope is that we gun toward zero," she said. "You know that Wisconsin gave the world the progressive income tax. We are surrounded by low, low flat tax states. I want to beat every one of our neighbors and get us first to a 3.54 percent flat tax. I would also like to stop taxing retirement income in the state, and I will eliminate the personal property tax, which will save small business about $200 million."
On the spending side of government, Kleefisch says, for starters, government spending and growth can be cut by eliminating some of the new and needless departments Evers created.
"We do not need a chief resilience officer," she said. "We don't need our own Green New Deal department."
And Kleefisch says the state needs to be smarter about where and how employees are placed.
"This is why I have said we need to move chunks of state government out of Madison and closer to the people they actually serve," she said. "So we double down on both accountability for our state employees, but also in this time post-Covid, when you see non-traditional working environments, we put people where there is job satisfaction but also extreme accountability."
Gun rights
Kleefisch says her family is a Second Amendment family.
"We are a hunting family," she said. "I myself am also a hunter, and we enjoy shooting sports as a family, and I think it's very important that we evaluate the true cause behind the incredible [shooting] tragedies likes the ones we just saw in Texas and in Buffalo."
Mental health is at crisis and epidemic levels in the country and in the state, Kleefisch said.
"Twelve- to 17-year-old girls have seen a 51-percent increase in ER visits for suicide attempts," she said. "We literally locked kids out of their own classrooms for two years in a virtual exclusive learning experiment, which failed miserably. We are left now with an epidemic of mental health issues, and we have to do something about it."
Kleefisch recalled the fast action taken by the Walker-Kleefisch administration after the Parkland school shooting.
"Within 48 hours, our administration had put together a $100-million grant program out of the Department of Justice to ensure that schools could get truly locked up and locked down to make sure there were going to be no violators of what should be sacred walls, safe walls," she said. "On top of that, as a requirement, we also said 10 percent of employees would be sent for adverse childhood experiences training. This is basically so administration, law enforcement, and teachers can actually begin to identify behavior that might identify a potential school shooter before anything bad ever happens."
That was an era in which everyone began to get funneled through one entrance, Kleefisch said, and doors were locked on either side.
"That's what that grant money was for," she said. "After that, Covid happened, and schools did completely the opposite of what had been priorities before. Back then it was 'School resources officers (SRO), let's get them in here and make sure our kids are protected. Let's harden these entrances so everyone goes through just one so we can keep an eye on who is coming in and who is going out, and make sure all the other doors are locked.'"
Now, Kleefisch says, in the middle of the 'defund the police' movement, some school districts in Wisconsin have booted out school resource officers.
"About a third of Madison area high school students just stayed home because they were just scared, because they kicked out their SROs," she said.
Kleefisch said many school districts around the state opened every entrance to try and spread students out so they wouldn't get Covid.
"But a child is 10,000 times less likely to die of Covid than a senior," she said. "We've got to do common sense right now. As governor, I will double down in the very things we did in that 48 hours after Parkland."
Schools should have locked doors at all times, Kleefisch said.
"We need much more mental health services to make sure these kids can cope with what has happened to them over the last two years," she said. "And we also need to make sure that our teachers actually have the opportunity to teach and not be referees."
As for red flag laws, Kleefisch observed that there are already legal vehicles for removing firearms from a person who might harm themself or others, but, more important, the former lieutenant governor said, we have to remember that bad guys don't follow the laws.
"Instead we need bail and sentencing reform to take away discretion from bad district attorneys and bad judges who are simply allowing bad guys back out on the streets," she said. "A lot of what we are seeing across the state with [overdose] deaths, that's because of the drug trade gone wild. Milwaukee County can't contain its own crime anymore."
If she is elected, Kleefisch said people should expect swift action.
"Income tax, first 100 days," she said. "Tony Evers vetoed 126 different bills. I'm going to get carpal tunnel syndrome from signing so many bills in the first several weeks. So, we have to do election reform. We have to do universal school choice. We have to do income tax reform. And we have to get crime under control with 1,000 new cops minimum."
Finally, Kleefisch says Northwoods residents can trust that she won't ignore them like the current governor does.
"The best indication of what you will do in the future is what you have done in the past, and, as lieutenant governor, I spent a considerable amount of time in the Northwoods, not only when it came to promoting our technical colleges and the grants that they administer for small businesses and business growth but also tourism," she said. "We actually did a whole separate business summit particularly for the Northwoods. We did Fabrication Lab grants to school districts across the state."
And Kleefisch said rural broadband was a priority in the Walker-Kleefisch administration.
"Sadly, as much lip service as Tony Evers pays to it, I'm still one of the 100,000 families waiting, and I know I'm not alone," she said. "Our commitment to the Northwoods is renewed in a Kleefisch administration."
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