|
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Endorses Cory Mason for State Assembly
MILWAUKEE—Two promising candidates are vying against each
other in the 62nd Assembly District, now represented by John
Lehman, a Democrat, who has stepped down to run for the state
Senate. The district includes Sturtevant, Elmwood Park and
southern Racine.
Our preference is the Democratic candidate, Cory Mason,
a union organizer. He presents a better action plan - it's
more specific and more reasonable - than does his Republican
foe, Van Wanggaard, a retired police officer who sits on the
Racine County Board.
Mason backs an advisory referendum on the Racine ballot
that calls on the Legislature to enact a plan to lower health
care costs and to thin the ranks of the uninsured. A member of
the Racine Redevelopment Authority, Mason sees reducing the
cost of health care as an economic development issue, since
high costs hamper small businesses.
On school choice, Wanggaard has the better idea. He wisely
supports Milwaukee's voucher program. Mason, an organizer for
the American Federation of Teachers, says he accepts that the
program is here to stay but believes the choice schools must
be held "to the same standards and accountability as public
schools."
Wanggaard wrongly opposes embryonic stem cell research,
which has the potential of leading to breakthrough cures for
many illnesses. Mason supports such research, which the
University of Wisconsin-Madison has pioneered.
All things considered, Mason is the better bet.
Wisconsin Professional Police
Association: State's Largest Law Enforcement Group Endorses
Cory Mason for State Assembly
MADISON—The
Wisconsin Professional Police Association (WPPA) today
announced their endorsement of Cory Mason in his bid to
represent the 62nd State Assembly District.
In making their endorsements for the state legislature, the
group evaluated the input of its local members, the
candidates’ responses to a questionnaire, and where
applicable, the candidates’ legislative voting records. The
62nd Assembly seat is being vacated by Rep. John Lehman, who
is running for the State Senate.
“Cory is committed to protecting public safety, as well as the
labor rights afforded to the dedicated men and women who serve
to provide it,” said WPPA President David Mahoney. “We are
satisfied that, as a member of the Wisconsin Legislature, Cory
Mason will be sensitive to the fact that people need property
tax relief in a way that will not negatively impact core local
services like police and fire.”
The state’s largest law enforcement group, the WPPA represents
nearly 11,000 active and retired members from over 375 local
associations. In the 62nd Assembly District alone, the WPPA
has members from several agencies, including Mount Pleasant,
Racine, Racine County, and Sturtevant. With over 70 years of
service to the law enforcement community, the WPPA is widely
recognized as the premier law enforcement group in Wisconsin.
Racine small
business owners who met with Democratic candidate for Racine's
62nd State Assembly District, Cory Mason,
identified high health care costs as the number one factor
blocking economic growth and job creation. Mason listened to
the concerns of some dozen small and medium sized business
owners about economic development and job creation.
"Small
businesses are critical to growing our community and creating
much-needed jobs," Mason said. "Lowering the cost of
healthcare will make it easier for small and medium businesses
to provide those benefits to middle class families. We need
to allow small businesses to get started and grow in our
community."
Brenda
Thomas, a Racine area event planner, told Mason the main
reason she went into businesses was to synthesize her personal
passions with making money and to add something to the
community she felt was missing. But business owners
complained about the difficulty of owning a small business in
Wisconsin. They said the high cost of healthcare is a strong
deterrent to going into business on your own.
Healthcare
costs in Southeastern Wisconsin exceed the national average by
more than 27%. Joel Venn, a heating and cooling business
owner in Racine, said that the health costs for his employees
have increased 186% in the last 5 years. "Some of us haven't
received an ounce of help from government since getting
started," said Jerry Maiers, owner of iTech Inc.
"My family
has been involved in small business for generations," said
Mason, whose father and grandfather both worked in the small
business sector. "My father helped small businesses get
started at the small business development center. Growing
small businesses isn't a political slogan for me, it's
something my family has been working on in Racine for
decades. As a state Representative, I want to address the
concerns of our business community head on."
"Like Cory
Mason, I come from a legacy of small business owners," said
Jeff Neubauer owner of Krantz Inc. "It is really important to
have someone in government that understands what it's like to
be in business."
CLICK HERE to read Cory's Plan for Small
Business Growth in Racine (note: you will need
Adobe Acrobat to read this file. You can get Adobe
Acrobat for free at
www.adobe.com).
Campaign has more than 600 contributions from Racine County
Racine, WI-- Cory Mason, the Democratic candidate for the
62nd Assembly District, has received more than 600
contributions from within Racine County. In addition,
according to a report filed with the State Elections Board
last week and made public today, Cory Mason has raised over
$81,000.
The finance report also revealed a substantial lead from
Cory Mason over his opponent Van Wanggaard. Cory Mason had a
cash balance of $64,549 compared to Wanggaard’s $32,291 cash
balance.
“I am humbled and inspired by the outpouring of support,”
Mason said. “The enthusiasm is very encouraging. I am very
grateful to have so many good people behind my campaign. As a
fifth generation Racine native, I know what a great place
Racine is, but we also face great challenges. I want to
represent our community to fight hard for family supporting
jobs, affordable health care, and quality education.”
We all take pride
in our home river, and Cory works to protect our heritage.
Click title for full article.
(Racine, July 28th) - A former Democratic legislative aide is
leading a long-time local official in fundraising for the
city's open seat in the state Assembly.
Cory Mason, who
is running in the 62nd District as a Democrat, reported a
cash balance of $56,849.57 on his campaign finance report
due July 20. That gave him about a $23,000 lead over his
Republican opponent, Van Wanggaard. Wanggaard reported
a cash balance of $33,651.17 on his July 20 report.
Mason and Wanggaard
are running for the seat being vacated by state Rep. John
Lehman, D-Racine, who is running for state Senate.
Wanggaard is a retired Racine police officer who was elected
to the Racine County Board in 2002. While campaigning against
Mason, he'll also being running against history.
No Republican has
ever won the 62nd District, which includes a large part of
Racine.
Wanggaard said his
service in the community would make up for his fundraising
deficit. "The dollars I'm getting are all local dollars
from local people," he said, adding about Mason's campaign:
"They're going to have a lot more money than me, and I'm OK
with that ... people realize I'm not in this for a paycheck.
I'm doing this to make a difference."
Mason is making his
first run for political office after working in state politics
since 1995, when he got involved in the local fight against
building Miller Park. Among his jobs is to work at different
times as a legislative aide to Sens. Lynn Adelman and Judy
Robson, D-Beloit. He's currently on leave from his job with
the American Federation of Teachers.
Mason outraised
Wanggaard in the first six months of 2006 by about $28,000.
Despite the advantage, Mason said his focus was on knocking on
doors and talking with voters.
"It's Democracy the
old-fashioned way and at its best," he said, estimating that
he's knocked on 10,000 doors so far.
Mason added about
running in the seemingly Democratic district, "I'm not taking
anything for granted. Voters are looking for a representative
to fight for Racine. They consider the party second."
In response to his fundraising deficit, Wanggaard said most of
Mason's money was coming from outside of Racine, particularly
from Milwaukee and Madison. Wanggaard said he could look
outside of Racine for support, but is instead choosing to
raise funds locally.
Hinting at a theme
of the upcoming campaign, Wanggaard tried to portray Mason as
an out-of-towner returning home for the political opportunity.
"I've lived here
for 51 years, I didn't just come here to get a job," Wanggaard
said. "That's what Cory's done. He hasn't lived here for the
last 12-14 years."
Mason, who had
Lehman as a middle school teacher, said he was following the
departing legislator's advice with his campaign. Namely, he's
introducing himself to as many people, and intends to keep
doing so through the Nov. 7 election.
"You've gotta do it
in a grassroots, Democratic sort of way," Mason said.
Campaign collects 5 times signatures needed to be on November ballot
(Racine, July 12th) Cory Mason and volunteers with the Mason for Assembly campaign collected 1,044 signatures from voters throughout the 62nd Assembly District. The district includes Sturtevant and Elmwood Park and parts of the City of Racine and Mount Pleasant. The campaign submitted the signatures to the Wisconsin State Election Board yesterday, officially qualifying him as a candidate.
"While the laws only requires 200 signatures," Mason said, "I am pleased to announce that with the help of friends, family, and volunteers throughout the district, we collected over 1000 signatures in a little over a month."
Mason is honored to have such strong support from residents in this district, "I
really enjoyed this. This is democracy at its best: meeting
the voters at their door one on one, listening to their
concerns, and asking them for their support to appear on
the ballot. I want to thank everyone who participated in
this part of our democracy."
To get on the ballot for state Assembly, a candidate must turn in at least 200 signatures from voters in the district collected between June 1, 2006 and July 11, 2006. The signatures collected by the Mason campaign are more than five times than the 200 signatures required for Mason to qualify to be on the ballot for the November 7 Election.
RACINE – Cory Mason, a Democrat running to replace state Rep. John Lehman, has received more than double the number of campaign contributions as his Republican opponent, according to state campaign finance reports.
Read more
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, AFT, AFL-CIO has endorsed Cory Mason for the 62nd Assembly District.
Read more
|
