Rep. Howard Marklein
Representative Howard Marklein announced in April 2013 that he would be running in the 17th Senate District Seat. Marklein, who studied accounting at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, was elected to the state Assembly in 2010 and re-elected in 2012.
Marklein is from Spring Green and announced his candidacy for the seat in 2013. He said he’s running for the senate seat because he feels he made an impact in the Assembly and wants to carry that over to the Senate.
“In the state government, I think my skills as a CPA are very well suited to what we need in government today, so, I want to take that background to the senate,” said Marklein. “My background is in the private sector and I know how jobs are created, how our economy works and I believe I can have a positive impact representing people in the senate district.”
When it comes to the issues, Marklein says there is a need to focus attention on jobs and job creation. He says one obstacle is the regulatory environment that is burdensome for small business owners, making it harder to create those jobs. Marklein says small businesses are the backbone of the economy and regulatory reform needs to be on the table. He agrees that job creation is just part of Wisconsin moving forward.
When it comes to healthcare, Marklein believes he has a good understanding of the issue. He served on the board of directors for Fort Healthcare and currently serves on the Board of Directors of UW Health. His wife is also a Registered Nurse. “My wife is a source of information of issues affecting the healthcare community.” He says that this has made him privy to discussions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the implications of the law. “For the first time, everyone is covered.” Marklein credits this to the governor’s expanding BadgerCare to cover those who weren’t eligible before and having the exchanges there for others with the ACA.
On the subject of education, Marklein believes that the rural schools have unique challenges that need to be address. He believes there needs to be more flexibility. He used the example of licensing. “It’s hard to find a teacher who is licensed in for different areas of science for example and they have to teach in a high school in a small district. Why isn’t there a license that would allow them to teach multiple science topics? So, I think we need to look at the flexibility of a lot of those things.” Marklein also believes that transportation for smaller schools is another issue they face.
Some of Marklein’s voting record during his time in the assembly included voting for the Mining Bill this session. “We’re looking for good jobs in the state, we’re criticized for having low paying jobs, but this is an opportunity for some very good high paying jobs and I think we need to take advantage of it.” Despite what his predecessor, Senator Dale Schultz said about the bill neglecting some environmental concerns, Marklein believes the bill included adequate safeguards for protecting the state’s natural resources. “You have three different agencies that need to sign off on that with the DNR, the EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers, all have to sign off on the permitting process, so you have multiple layers and multiple sets of eyes looking at the project.”
The review of the UW System Reserve Fund also can be credited to a meeting of accountants, in which Marklein was a part of in 2013. “The billions of dollars in excess cash had no detail or breakdown, and that’s why we questioned it.” One of the distrubing things Marklein said was that there was this excess cash, and tuition just kept increasing. He says he has been very involved with the process with UW Board of Regents President Ray Cross and he feels more comfortable with the transparency and the methodology of the system.
When asked about his opponents Ernest Wettwer and Patrick Bomhack, he said it doesn’t matter who wins the primary, he is just going to focus on his campaign and continue to talk to people in the senate district.
WRJC will be interviewing both Democrat candidates later this month.
WRJC is doing a previewing series for candidates for upcoming elections. This is the first of many candidate profiles.