Endorsements
Neil Palmer, Elm Grove Village President
In addition to the important statewide and county races, Elm Grove residents have a contest to represent us in the 13th State Assembly District. I urge you to support Tom Michalski. Tom Michalski has lived in this district for 23 years, served as a volunteer firefighter for 16 years, a Village Trustee for 13 years, and 6 years as our Waukesha County Supervisor. Experience is important. All local governments are a creation of the state. The state determines how and how much money local governments can raise to provide services. The state legislature also creates the rules on how many services are delivered. Most of the work our legislature does is for the benefit of all residents and businesses, however, good intentions don’t always make good law and special interests can and do interfere with good policy. One of the major problems I have observed in years of my professional career and my service as Village President is that many state elected officials have no experience in private business or at the local level of government. This lack of experience has a significant negative impact on how our Village functions. That lack of local experience is how we end up with a system in which the state has a huge budget surplus of hundreds of millions of dollars while every community in the state is unable to properly maintain roads and is forced to cut staff and programs. Wisconsin municipalities rank 7th nationally for being most reliant on property taxes for local services. State rules severely restrict alternative options for local governments to generate revenue. Few states in the country restrict municipal funding flexibility as much as Wisconsin. Please help send someone to Madison who has the experience to begin helping our Village on day one. Vote for Tom Michalski on August 9th (or before) and in November.
Jim Gage, Elm Grove Police Chief (ret.)
Tom has been a village trustee for 13 years and a county supervisor for 6 years. During this time, I had the good fortune of working with Tom on several village budgets and projects. He has always had the best interest of the citizens in mind, while still maintaining a fiscally conservative approach. He is the finest example of public service and giving back to his community. A firefighter, Village Trustee and Waukesha County Supervisor, he knows what it takes to maintain conservative values for the families that he serves. Best of all, he is the only conservative candidate that actually resides in the district he represents! You will find that Tom has a proven history of great representation for his friends and neighbors in the communities that he serves.
Paul Decker, Chairman Waukesha County Board
Tom serves his community in many capacities and utilizes his experience and breadth of knowledge for the benefit of all constituents. His ability to look long-term at issues and understand the implications of decisions being made assures that taxpayers are getting great value for their investment. He truly is that public servant that serves the entire community and not himself.
Dale Kooyenga, Wisconsin State Senator District 5
https://ballotpedia.org/Dale_Kooyenga
Wisconsin Family Action Group