Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A former Wittenberg teacher who made two unsuccessful bids for the state Assembly is challenging Robert Cowles for his 2nd District seat in the state Senate on Tuesday.
Democrat John Powers faces an uphill battle. Cowles won his Senate seat in a special election in 1987 and has been re-elected every four years since 1988.
The Republican incumbent said he is not taking anything for granted.
“I take every election seriously,” Cowles said. “I’ve been campaigning hard.”
That has included attending countless community events and talking to the public, Cowles said.
What he’s hearing back from people has less to do with the 2nd District Senate race than the national election, he said.
“People are disgusted with the tenor of the election nationally,” he said. “They’re tired of the TV ads, and they’d like this to be done.”
Cowles, who lives in Green Bay, feels he has something of an advantage in the race, given that he has been a known commodity in the district for so many years.
“They know me, and they know that I work hard,” he said.
Cowles said he has been aggressive on controlling state spending, active in auditing state agencies, and has worked to strike a balance between economic development and protecting the environment.
He also touted efforts to link job applicants with jobs and training opportunities on the state’s Department of Workforce Development website.
Cowles has sometimes split from his party, voting against the last biennial budget because it was overladen with policy-making items.
“I’m not afraid to stand alone on principle,” Cowles said.
Powers could not be reached for this story, but outlined his reasons for running in a press release in July, calling Cowles an “emperor that has no clothes.”
“In this time of drastic cuts to our public schools, a state agency that gives hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to businesses that fail to create jobs, and a complete gutting of the authority of the DNR, you would hope someone with that kind of seniority would be a voice for reason,” Powers wrote. “Instead of being part of the solution, our senator is part of the problem.”
Powers also criticized the increase in tax dollars being siphoned away from public education and going to private schools.
“Our children and grandchildren deserve better than this,” he wrote.
Cowles said Powers is free to say what he wants.
“I’ll run my own campaign,” Cowles said. “People in the district know that I’m a straight-shooter, that I’m honest, forthright and predictable. I look forward to continuing to represent the people, given that chance.”
Cowles said he was part of a coalition that worked to modify the budget to improve public school funding.
“Our schools are very important and they should not be allowed to whither on the vine,” he said.
Cowles said he is an advocate of K-12 and technical colleges, as well as the state’s university system.
Though open to the school voucher program that sets money aside for charter schools, Cowles said he would first make sure the public school system isn’t being hurt.
“If someone wants to increase vouchers, my first question is, ‘what’s happening to base funding for K-12?’” he said.
Education funding will be one of the top issues for the Senate going into the new year, Cowles said.
Water issues will also be prominent, along with cleaning up areas of contamination, he said.
Also on Cowles’ agenda will be “refining of Workforce Development initiatives,” an audit of the King veterans home and increased laws addressing domestic violence, Cowles said.
Powers served four years in the military, including a year in Vietnam. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, he taught in Shawano County schools for 31 years while spending 15 years as a Boy Scout leader. For the past 10 years he has worked as a unit coordinator in an emergency room.
He unsuccessfully challenged State Rep. Gary Tauchen for the District 6 Assembly seat in 2008 and 2012.
