ICYMI: Rep. Deb Andraca, Senate Candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin, and Former DNR Board Member Todd Ambs Slam Republicans’ Obstruction at Cedarburg Roundtable
MADISON, Wis. — Yesterday, Joint Finance Committee Member Rep. Deb Andraca, candidate for Senate Jodi Habush Sinykin, and Todd Ambs, a former Department of Natural Resources Board member whose appointment was rejected by Senate Republicans, joined local leaders and environmental advocates to call out Duey Stroebel and Joint Finance Republicans’ refusal to release critical PFAS cleanup and rural hospital funding and the abuse of anonymous objections to block land conservation projects like the Cedar Gorge Clay Bluffs in Ozaukee County.
Yesterday’s roundtable was the latest event in Wisconsin Democrats’ No More Games campaign, following events in Eau Claire, Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Madison in which Democratic leaders called out Joint Finance Republicans for playing games with Wisconsinites’ health, safety, and futures.
Watch the event here and see what speakers had to say, in part, below:
Rep. Deb Andraca: “If the Republicans spent as much time legislating and doing the will of Wisconsinites as they do trying to figure out new ways to get around the Governor, the state would be much, much better off. We have seen this on the Joint Finance Committee with the PFAS funding. We have seen this with hospital funding. We now see, just this Sunday there was an article in the paper about the $50 million in literacy funding that came through the education committee. Over and over again, we’re seeing these bills get hung up. […] There’s no reason we need to be doing this. It’s just another instance that Republicans are playing these games to try to subvert the process.”
Senate Candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin: “Folks have to understand that these bills have already been signed off on by the Legislature and by the Governor, yet this Joint Finance Committee is not allowing these approved funds to go forward. They’re the gatekeepers, and for their own partisan tactics who just don’t want the government to either work, or are representing other special interests, are holding up money. […] Because to most people, this gets bogged down in partisan games—it’s really tricky to understand. But people have to understand what is going on so that we can vote these folks out who are blocking government helping us as they should be.”
Former DNR Board Member Todd Ambs: “We have a groundwater quality law in this state that was passed in 1984. It was known at the time—still is known as—a model for the nation on how to protect our groundwater quality. We have used that law 140 times to clean up mercury, toluene, PCVs, benzene, atrazine. We know how to do this. We know how to do this with the DNR overseeing the work to make sure that it’s done properly. We actually have trained professional experts at the DNR that do this work. But this legislative majority has no interest in doing that. They are simply beholden to the large business interests and they’re not interested in actually doing something that can get people potable water. And so it’s just a sad situation that we find ourselves in and we need new representation in the Legislature because of it.”
###
