Appleton Post Crescent endorses Charlie Most in the 1st Senate District

The Appleton Post Crescent is endorsing against long-time incumbent Alan Lasee in the 1st Senate District. They are urging voters to pick the Democrat, Charlie Most.

They have a good reason. Even if you agree with Senator Lasee on many issues, the tactics Lasee and his colleagues have chosen to pursue just don't get things done.

The Appleton Post Crescent is hardly a liberal rag that the Republicans can dismiss, so anyone looking for the sleeper race in the Wisconsin State Senate should keep an eye on this race. Charlie Most is picking up steam every day.

Alan Lasee is a straight shooter. Whether he's talking about the need to cut state spending, the death penalty or the faults of the Department of Natural Resources, the 1st District state senator is blunt. We appreciate that. But we frequently don't agree with him.


Lasee, a Republican from Rockland, has been in the Senate for almost 30 years, the last four as Senate president. For better or worse, he's unlikely to change. On balance, that's a negative.


Charlie Most, a Democrat from Liberty Grove, is a better choice than Lasee or Green Party candidate Jill Bussiere.


As the chairman of the Door County Board and Liberty Grove town board, Most knows about the effects of government on residents - and the effects of state government on local government.


He says that, as part of the budget process, the state needs to have a frank discussion with citizens about what services they want the state to provide. He says the Legislature hasn't done nearly enough to reduce health-care costs and favors opening the state employees' health plan to all. He cites the school-aid formula and land-use policies as other priorities.


Lasee wants to reduce spending by cutting University of Wisconsin administration and employee insurance costs, but also by cutting funding for 4- and 5-year-old kindergarten. He would consider some form of campaign-finance reform but opposed the bill to add enforcement power to a combined ethics-elections board.


As for the DNR, Lasee appears to be on a vendetta, convening a Senate committee with the sole purpose of bashing the agency. That's not an effective way to solve what, in some cases, are legitimate problems.

Most has better answers for the district and the state."