Dear editor,
Here are two questions for the readers:
- Do you contact Wisconsin legislators?
- Do the legislators respond?
Recently, I sent an email to Assembly Speaker (Robin) Vos regarding statements Vos has made during and after the 2023-2025 budget session. Here are some of the statements I addressed in the email.
Speaker Vos said he is embarrassed to be an alumni of UW-Whitewater. He stated he and his fellow Republicans will withhold the $32 million allocated to the UW-System in the 2023-2025 budget.
What is his reason? He disagrees with the DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs that are happening throughout the UW-System.
I sent Speaker Vos a link of famous people, from all walks of life, who graduated from UW-Madison and other Wisconsin universities. Just think of how the alumni of the UW-System have impacted the quality of life for millions of people all over the world. Here is one link: https://www.uwalumni.com./alumni-achievements/
Speaker Vos has greatly benefited from his UW educational experience. His net worth is about $1.6 million.
“In 2020, his popcorn business, Robin J. Vos Enterprises, received more than $150,000 in coronavirus relief from the Paycheck Protection Program.
Vos has an ownership stake of $4.8 million in rental properties in Whitewater.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Vos#Business_career_and_early_political_career
I stated in the email that I am a grateful alumni of the UW-System. I am thankful I had the honor to be an elementary school teacher. I had the honor, through NTC, to teach Hmong adults who came to Wausau. They spoke of the horrors and deaths of loved ones while they lived in Laos during the Vietnam War. The Hmong were recruited by the CIA to be the “Secret Army.” I have learned so much from my students from all walks of life.
So often the Hmong students cried as they described fleeing Laos and going to Thailand where they were in encampments behind barbed wire for several years.
At the end of the email, I asked Speaker Vos: “Are you grateful for the opportunities you have had? So many of our fellow Wisconsinites haven’t had these opportunities. And yet, you have the audacity to say you are ashamed.”
I will send another email to Speaker Vos regarding his refusal to accept the Medicaid funds to expand BadgerCarePlus.
“The State Department of Health Services found that Medicaid expansion would broaden coverage access to roughly 89,700 additional people in Wisconsin.”
https://www.wpr.org/assembly-speaker-robin-vos-medicaid-expansion-medical-marijuana
As a legislator in the state Assembly, Speaker Vos receives a salary of $57,408 per year. https://thebadgerproject.org/2023/04/27/the-financial-interests-of-assembly-speaker-robin-vos-top-republican-in-wisconsin/#:~:text=All%20legislators%20serving%20in%20the,stipend%20of%20%2425%20per%20month.
https://legis.wisconsin.gov/lhro/benefits/ This link explains the benefits the legislators receive including healthcare coverage.
I was taught that we have three equal branches of government: Executive, Legislative and the Courts: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lc/briefing_book/ch01_structure_government.pdf
How can one man who is Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly have so much control over the lives of about 5 million Wisconsinites?
Please contact Speaker Vos and your legislators. They need to hear from all of us.
https://legis.wisconsin.gov/about/contact
Thank you.
Joyce Luedke of Weston
Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.
