Letter: Laning, Harris are best options

Letter: Laning, Harris are best options

Over the course of the last few months I have had the pleasure of getting to know State Senate candidate Martha Laning and Congressional candidate Mark Harris.

Martha is the type of person we need at the State Capitol. She is someone who understands the concerns of the average citizen while having the finance and business experience to solve problems by identifying their source. Martha is someone who doesn’t just say she will come to a table to work together with folks; she is someone who has actually done just that. She is a leader in our community and someone that I know will represent the best interests of the people of our area. She also believes in restoring local control for municipal governments and letting your local officials make decisions for our community – not those in Madison.

Mark has the local government experience needed by serving as Winnebago County Executive, an experience he will bring with him to Washington, balancing budgets, controlling spending, maintaining services and reducing debt. Mark also knows that affordable higher education is crucial to upward social mobility and vital for a community’s success.

Washington and the Sixth Congressional District will miss Tom Petri for many reasons. However, I believe Mark will be able to fill his shoes and bring a reasonable approach to the issues our nation faces.

We need to end the partisan bickering and gridlock in Madison and Washington. I wholeheartedly believe that both Martha and Mark will work tirelessly to do just that. They will work across the aisle and work for the best interests of the citizens they represent – not their party.

I officially endorse Martha Laning for State Senate and Mark Harris for Congress and encourage everyone to vote on Tuesday, November 4th.

Manitowoc Mayor

Justin Nickels

Mark Harris

Austin Given: As a Republican, I say don’t vote for Glenn Grothman

Austin Given: As a Republican, I say don’t vote for Glenn Grothman

Dear Editor: As a lifelong Republican, I am excited to see so much potential success for our candidates across the nation. We are projected to gain seats in the House and capture the Senate. With so much momentum, it may sound strange for me to urge 6th Congressional District Republicans to do a bold thing: Do NOT vote for Glenn Grothman.

Grothman is a roadblock standing in the way of a better Wisconsin. When women said they wanted a chance at better pay, he responded by saying “women never had it better.” When his staff wanted to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, he dishonored King and refused to recognize the national holiday. Grothman is clearly not interested in representing everyone.

Republicans historically supported the advancement of women and minorities. Southern conservative Democrats were the ones in opposition. Grothman may be a conservative, but he is not a Republican.

Concerns have mounted. Grothman signs are suspiciously absent on otherwise Republican lawns. Retiring Congressman Tom Petri has refused to endorse him, rather encouraging voters to learn about all candidates in the race. Wise advice when the most Republican candidate in this election is the Democrat, Mark Harris, a fiscal conservative.

Not every candidate is worthy of support. As Republicans, we cannot allow pretenders to ride our wave of success to victory. It is impossible for Grothman to speak for Wisconsinites with his foot perpetually stuck in his mouth. Vote Republican. Vote for someone else.

Austin Given

Sheboygan

Letters: Congressional race pits Paul Bunyan against Grumpy

Letters: Congressional race pits Paul Bunyan against Grumpy

Paul Bunyan vs. “Grumpy” of the Seven Dwarfs? That seems to be our choices for electing a Congressperson in the 6th Congressional District this year!

Mark Harris is our very own Paul Bunyan; a proven and effective government official who really knows how to run a public, tax-funded agency and get the best possible results. And then there is the Republican version of “Grumpy,” one Glenn Grothmann. Incidentally, does everyone know that Grothmann actually has only an apartment in the 6th District? Which he rented only to establish residency in the district and (supposedly) qualify to serve the residents of the District for the next two years? His Republican bosses in Madison must have worked hard and fast to get him positioned for this power grab on their behalf. If elected (a very depressing thought!), will Grothmann report to those bosses first, rather than to the citizens of the 6th District? Or to the wealthy business people who have provided plenty of contributions to promote his candidacy? Where will his true allegiances be as a “our “Congressman?

Harris is the type of Congressman truly needed in Washington, D.C. He has “walked the walk;” Grothmann only “talks the talk”! And all of his talk is the same old, tired, themes the old time Republican hacks have been promoting for decades. Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush (No. 41) were actually more progressive Republicans than most of Wisconsin’s Republicans today (e.g., Scott Walker and Grothmann) are. How can any reasonably responsible Republican possibly vote for Grothmann when Harris is such a highly superior candidate for Congress in the 6th District?

Richard Schallert

Winneconne

Letters: Grothman not ready for prime time in Congress

Letters: Grothman not ready for prime time in Congress

Mark Harris is a third-term Winnebago County Executive and a married father of three grown sons. Harris has the qualities of a statesman and diplomat. He is a fiscal conservative and a moderate in the manner of retiring Congressman Tom Petri. Even Petri has expressed admiration for “the fine job” Harris has done. However, Petri recently said he would not endorse Grothman.

In addition to being a fiscal conservative, Harris believes that seniors should live with dignity by strengthening Social Security. He suggests a federal minimum wage of $8.53/hour this year and automatically adjusting the wage each year to make it more predictable for employers.

Harris would not repeal the ACA and take away coverage for children up to 26 years of age, those with pre-existing conditions, or put a lifetime insurance cap on those suffering from chronic illness. He believes students should receive a fair rate on loans. He believes in equal pay for equal work for women. He believes the guy working on the factory floor be taxed less than the owner of the factory.

Glenn Grothman believes in none of the above. Grothman is not your father’s Republican. He is an extremist and will add to the gridlock in Congress because he will not compromise.

Grothman has introduced some extreme legislative proposals affecting families, such as: Getting rid of the weekend by having people work 7 days/week; opposing equal pay for women; and opposing all forms of birth control. He espouses social ideas from pre-1900, such as women do not need to be educated, they just need to marry rich. He ignores the civil rights of poor people and wants to legislate drug testing before they receive unemployment or food stamp benefits.

Judy Poull

Saukville

Bloomberg – What Would a GOP Candidate Say If He Absolutely, Positively Couldn’t Lose?

What Would a GOP Candidate Say If He Absolutely, Positively Couldn’t Lose?

By David Weigel

MENASHA, Wis.—Before he could become its congressman, Mark Harris needed Wisconsin’s 6th District to eat his African peanut soup. Ten days before the midterm election, Harris stood behind his table at Fox Valley College’s annual potluck fundraiser. He cheerfully gabbed to passersby about “this wonderful restaurant in Oshkosh” that inspired the recipe. He sprinkled cilantro over their bowls. He noticed when people passed him by.

“It might not be the best time to advertise something called African soup,” said Harris, the Democratic executive of purple Winnebago County. Was that an Ebola joke, before an election, in front of a reporter? It was. Harris permanent half-smile curved into a three-quarters smile. “Oh, I shouldn’t say that!”

If that went on the “gaffe” board, Harris would remain many flubs behind his Republican opponent. State Senator Glenn Grothman was well known for his habit of answering the phone when reporters called and saying reliably right-wing things. He’d favored “injunctive relief” for relatives, not just parents, who wanted to stop a woman from obtaining an abortion. When “don’t say gay” bills started getting momentum in Republican legislatures, Grothman confirmed that he opposed any talk of homosexuality in sex-ed classes, because “some of those who throw it out as an option would like it if more kids became homosexuals.” He’d even condemned the progressives who opposed international anti-gay laws.

“What we have is the secretary of state going to Africa and educating Ugandans or saying he is going to send American scientists to Uganda to explain how normal homosexuality is,” Grothman said this year, before he won the primary. “Think about that. I mean, what must God think of our country?”

There was so much more to work with, and Harris was on the air with a commercial that warned voters of the greatest hits.

“Even Republicans say Glenn Grothman is too bizarre to be our congressman. Grothman claims that preschool causes psychological damage on children. Grothman said single parents are committing child abuse. And Grothman opposed laws requiring women get equal pay for equal work, saying that money is more for men.”

Grothman won an August primary only after a bitter recount, and the national press wondered how. The New Republic, Mother Jones, and The Daily Beast discovered in Grothman the latest member of the “Republican Lawmaker Says” caucus, of that storied group of back-benchers—Michele Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, Steve King, various legislators in New Hampshire—as likely to end up being mocked by Jon Stewart as they are to pass a bill.

Retiring Representative Tom Petri even refused to endorse Grothman. “Why would I endorse a person who has said that if in two years people said he was ‘just like Petri’ he would be insulted?” Petri said to a reporter in the district. “I don’t want to smother him with love or anything like that.”

In a competitive district, or in another year, this would have blown the doors open for Harris. Just as rumpled, unassuming to a fault, Harris was locking up the district’s newspaper endorsements over a Republican who “formed his opinions through anecdotes” and “outraged and incensed” people.

David Weigel/Bloomberg
Mark Harris, shown here serving his African peanut soup, has raised one-fifth as much money as his Republican opponent, and is not expected to win.

The punchline: Grothman was universally expected to win. Wisconsin’s 6th was an example of just how neatly the post-2010 wave of gerrymanders had locked in the Republican majority. Democratic strategists who looked at the district this year gave it a DPI (Democratic Performance Index) rating under 45 percent. Mitt Romney had carried it easy over Barack Obama. Buying media in the district meant throwing money—most of which would be wasted—into the Madison and Milwaukee markets. And Harris had raised a little more than $200,000, one-fifth as much as Grothman. Republicans worked and spent and worked to maximize the number of districts where Democrats could not seriously mount challenges. The result, as another election cycle and a round of retirements had proved, was that the seats of Republican moderates were being taken over by the right. When the primary is the only contest that matters, why should conservative voters settle?

So outside groups would stay out of the district. They had no choice. They’d stayed out of a North Carolina race where a Republican was open to the possibility of using “lasers and jets” against drug cartels. They’d avoided a Georgia race in which the Republican nominee warned of a radical gay agenda that favored “a ‘Gestapo-like’ presence” in order “to corral and keep under control all these ‘dangerous’ Christians.” And Republicans weren’t about to waste money in the safe blue seats into which they’d packed Democratic voters. As many as 89 percent of districts are safe holds for the incumbent parties, and “safe” means that a candidate could say almost anything and win.

The national party had no say in that. When Grothman jumped into the race against Petri, Rep. Paul Ryan endorsed the incumbent. Grothman, after all, had mocked Ryan’s budgets and accused them of leaving too much waste untouched. “Their idea of cutting is not the normal idea of cutting,” he told the Capital Times, Madison’s liberal newspaper. “It may be cuts by Capital Times standards.”

Then Petri dropped out of the primary, dodging a challenge from the right, and leaving Grothman to win against a weaker field. Ryan got behind Grothman, and even held a fundraiser for him. “Glenn Grothman is a very effective legislator, and I expect him to be just like that in Congress,” said Ryan in an interview. “People forget this, but he’s authored more legislation than most members of the state senate.”

Was Ryan confident that Grothman wouldn’t join the increasingly frequent rebellions against House Republican leadership?

“I think he will be effective and productive,” said Ryan.

Infamy had made Grothman hard to reach. Redistricting had made his seat hard to lose—but he could make it impregnable if he simply stopped angering liberals for a while. Reporters who’d pinged him easily in the past found themselves submitting questions in writing, instead of getting new interviews. “It was as though his handlers were keeping him from public appearances, from in-person or phone media interviews, because they could not control his responses as effectively,” wrote the editors of the Fond du Lac reporter as they endorsed Harris.

A friendly volunteer at his local campaign office confirmed that he was always on the trail, but would release no public schedule. He’d agreed to only three debates with Harris, none of them televised live. At a Rotary event, when Harris urged him to debate in all 11 of the district’s counties, Grothman kept his arms folded and demurred.

“People know where I stand,” he said. “I’m not going to be at the beck and call of anybody around the district who wants to have an unlimited number of debates.”

On a whim, after I met Harris at the potluck, I went searching for the man who would beat him. It took no time at all to locate Grothman, standing behind the “congressional cornbread” that he was serving with honey butter. His arms hung at his sides, and he wore the expression usually deployed when an annoying neighbor walks onto your lawn for a chat. There he was: The rumpled villain in the equally-rumpled Mark Harris’s TV ads.

David Weigel/Bloomberg
Glenn Grothman offering his “congressional cornbread” at Fox Valley College’s annual potluck fundraiser in Menasha, Wisc.

“Let’s step away from the cornbread,” said Grothman. We found a corner of the college that wasn’t yet flowing with donors and potluckers, and the man accused of wanting to abolish Kwanzaa and weekends explained how ready he was to join the House Republicans. He found nothing foul to say about the Ryan budget. “We need to start by cutting discretionary spending,” he said.

So what was the meaning of Grothman’s newfound shyness with the press? He was explicit about that. He knew that he’d drawn a target on his back, and as safe as the district made him, he didn’t want to risk new gaffes.

“I didn’t tell people I was going to be here,” he said. “We do know that in today’s world, there are unethical people who follow you around. We believe we saw one of those people at another event today, which we’d announced. There’s a group called American Bridge—one of them was going to show up.”

So, what did he really think about preschool? “That thing about ‘psychological damage,’ come on,” said Grothman. “We were educating the public on the dangers of the single parent bringing someone in the home. For him to say that, after I’m trying to protect children, is just a horrible lie. It shows he’s not an ethical person.” What about the gay agenda? “That was out of context. I still don’t favor gay marriage.”

Grothman didn’t deny any of the actual words in the ads, but he wasn’t going to give Harris new material. He walked back to his table, and I walked around the college, but after I’d made one circuit, Grothman beckoned me over.

“Why should I tell everyone: ‘Hey, Glenn Grothman’s going to be at the VFW, eating a pork chop?’” he asked. “It’s not my event I’m promoting. It’s theirs. It would be disrespectful to promote myself like that.”

What worried him about the trackers, or the reporters? “Well, I should probably careful about the way I express myself,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve definitely learned to be skeptical when the national media calls. That Mother Jones piece was horrible. The New Republic piece they did, that was just awful. Did you know that their reporter even interviewed me for their piece? I thought he was a nice, normal guy.”

Grothman returned to the election-winning work of talking to voters over his homemade treat. The next day, he rejoined Governor Scott Walker on a bus tour through his district, acting as the warm-up act for the statewide ticket, wearing a Packers jersey and talking himself raw. His speech, which I saw twice, was all about Walker’s work, and only mentioned his own in the context of how he’d helped the governor.

On Tuesday, Grothman got his first real preview of his possible national role: The president showed up in Milwaukee, and quoted him.

“One of the Republicans running for office in this state right now said, ‘You could argue that money is more important for men,’” said the president, leaving Grothman’s name out of the quote. “Women, do you agree with that?”

The president’s audience started jeering and laughing. The president himself started laughing at Grothman’s idea. But he’d only be in Washington for two more years. Grothman had a safe seat, and no term limits. He could stay awhile.

Fond du Lac Reporter – Reporter Editorial: Mark Harris is best choice for Congress

Reporter Editorial: Mark Harris is best choice for Congress

Tom Petri has served residents of Wisconsin’s Sixth Congressional District admirably for 35 years.

Not everyone agrees with all of his politics or votes, but Petri has emerged as a moderate who worked to effect change and bring positive results to the Sixth District, to Wisconsin and to the country. He is somewhat soft-spoken, disheveled in appearance at times, thoughtful and intelligent.

Petri is largely an extension of the people he represents. He is the face of Sixth District voters in Washington.

Think about the choice you will face when you go to the polls on Tuesday. Does Glenn Grothman or Mark Harris better represent you? Which one is an extension of your beliefs? Which person do you want representing you in Washington?

Forget about Republican or Democrat for a moment. Will Grothman be able to reach across the aisle and effect positive change? Or will his politics, his past statements that reference a “war on men;” that indicate a job and money are more important to men; that people really, truly would turn down a raise or a better job in order to stay on public assistance; that women should not have control over their health-care decisions; will his views be too extreme in our nation’s capital?

Whether Democrat, Republican, Independent or other, most people agree on one thing: We’re sick and tired of the gridlock in our political structure. Electing those with extremist views, those who indicate they aren’t interested in compromise, will only exasperate that problem.

Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris, a self-described numbers cruncher and “fiscally conservative progressive,” shows a willingness to work across the aisle to help the country move forward.

Before the Republican primary for the Sixth District race was even completed in August, Harris had issued an invitation to the frontrunner to debate him in every county in the Sixth District. Grothman had already shied away from some debates in the primary (i.e. the League of Women Voters forum).

Harris’s invitation was pretty straightforward: He wanted voters to have a chance to see their candidates, to ask them questions and hear their opinions and ideas on the issues.

Grothman declined to participate in a number of debates and tried to control the format and attendees list in some of those he did participate in (the private Noon Rotary debate in Fond du Lac where invitations to select media were extended ahead of time, is one example).

Grothman even hesitated to make himself available when the media sought him out for comment on issues-based stories. He preferred to answer questions that had been emailed. It was as though his handlers were keeping him from public appearances, from in-person or phone media interviews, because they could not control his responses as effectively.

The public deserves to have access to its elected officials. Mark Harris has been accessible.

He has negotiated effectively with unions in Winnebago County, whereas Grothman voted with fellow Republican legislators to end collective bargaining for most unions. Harris has solved problems without calling attention to himself; the opposite could be said of Grothman.

Many politicians seem more concerned with standing on a soapbox and pandering to a hardcore segment of their party instead of compromising to effect changes everyone can agree to live with.

Putting Grothman in Congress will not improve the gridlock in this nation. We don’t know what he’ll do or say next that will make us cringe, but we hope he’s not in Congress when he says it.

We want a representative who shows Washington what the people of the Sixth District are all about. That person is Mark Harris.

Herald Times Reporter – Letter: Petri stance a ‘major red flag’ against Grothman

Letter: Petri stance a ‘major red flag’ against Grothman

It should be a major red flag to all Independents and moderate-leaning Republicans that retiring Rep. Tom Petri will not endorse Republican candidate Glenn Grothman to take his place in Washington.

My dad greatly respected Mr. Petri. Growing up, Petri’s mailings were the only ones I remember my dad reading, and Petri was the only politician my dad ever gave money to because “the rest are all crooks.” So many Republicans have so much respect for Petri that I find it incredibly shocking that Grothman would feel insulted if people thought he was “just like Petri.”

But it tells us a lot!

Grothman’s negative statement about Petri and his reluctance to participate in press interviews and public debates are stark indicators that he will be the opposite of the much-admired Petri. It is obvious that Grothman has no plans to serve or listen to the majority of Republicans, much less any non-Republican! That should be a frightening thought to all Independents and moderate-leaning Republicans.

Mark Harris, the other major candidate, has shown a dedication to listen to the people he serves. In this era of politicians being in it only for themselves and their special interest monetary backers, ordinary people need a person who will at least listen to them if they want a fighting chance in Washington. We will not have that fighting chance with a person like Grothman, who avails himself only to the microcosm that is the far-right fringe.

My Independent-minded vote is going to Mark Harris because the alternative — Grothman — is a move back to the Middle Ages when the ruling elite were too “good” to mix with or care about the needs of the commoners.

Carla Halvorson

Fond du Lac Reporter – Seniors should stop, think before they vote

Seniors should stop, think before they vote

Glenn Grothman, who doesn’t even live in the 6th Congressional District and only owns a P.O. Box here, is running to replace Tom Petri for the United States House of Representatives. Mr. Grothman has said that the reason he threw his hat in the ring was because Rep. Petri wasn’t “conservative” enough.

Let’s look at Congressman Petri’s record:

• He voted 50 times to return to a time when health insurance companies could deny you coverage if you had a pre-existing condition.

• He voted to shut down the United States government, a political stunt that cost $25 billion.

• He voted for the U.S. government to default on its debt, another stunt that would have sent the world economy tumbling.

• He voted for Congressman Ryan’s plan to end Medicare.

Mr. Gothman also wants to make big cuts to Social Security and more.

Mr. Grothman wants to make big cuts to food stamps because he feels food stamp recipients are lazy and are on drugs. The truth is most food stamp recipients are working at jobs that don’t pay a living wage.

In my opinion, raising the minimum wage would be a better way to reduce the number of people on food stamps. Mr. Grothman doesn’t feel people need weekends off or overtime pay for working six or seven consecutive days. Perhaps he feels exempt seeking a job where the select few work an average of three days per week.

Seniors are the largest voting block for Republicans. Do you senior citizens really want to see Medicare go away and big cuts to your Social Security? Think about it before you automatically vote against your own self-interests.

Dean Wendt

Fond du Lac

Mark Harris

Oshkosh Northwestern – Letters: Glenn Grothman’s ‘tax reform’ means picking winners, losers

Glenn Grothman’s ‘tax reform’ means picking winners, losers

Democratic candidate Mark Harris has offered to publicly debate Republican candidate Glenn Grothman. Grothman has refused because, “People in the district already know where he stands on issues.” (Journal Sentinel Sept. 15) So where does Grothman stand on issues such as taxes?

From the Grothman for Congress website, “One of Glenn’s greatest legislative accomplishments is the Manufacturing and Agricultural Tax Credit. This credit will essentially make manufacturing and agriculture, the foundation of Wisconsin’s economy, tax free.”

Harris was one of the first people to note that with this “tax reform,” a full-time minimum-wage worker would pay more in state income taxes than a factory owner with approximately $2.6 million in production income. Yes, that number is $2.6 million.

From Grothman’s record, we can see that with respect taxes, Grothman stands for using “tax reform” to: 1. Pick winners and losers of his choice; 2. Convert the state income tax to a tax on wages only; and 3. Convert the tax system to a regressive tax system in which lower income taxpayers pay at a higher rate than higher income taxpayers.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has estimated that Grothman’s “tax reform” will mean $349.7 million less in tax revenues for the state over its first five years (2011-2015) as the tax credit is phased in, and $128.7 million a year starting in 2016 when the credit is fully operational.

Grothman labels himself as a fiscal conservative out to reduce government spending. However, his record indicates otherwise. Grothman’s “tax reform” is nothing more than an unfunded tax expenditure that will lead to future budget deficits. Deficits that wage earning taxpayers will primarily have to bear since the Republicans and Grothman have let their friends off the hook for paying taxes to the state of Wisconsin.

I support Harris, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. 6th Congressional district.

Michael Schellenger

Oshkosh

Appleton Post Crescent – Editorial: Harris better choice for Congress

Editorial: Harris better choice for Congress

The Winnebago County executive is smart and moderate, making him the right candidate to replace Tom Petri.

Republican Glenn Grothman, a state senator from Campbellsport, faces Democrat Mark Harris, the Winnebago County executive from Oshkosh, and Libertarian Gus Fahrendorf, a small-business owner from Neenah, in the Nov. 4 election to replace the longtime incumbent, Republican Tom Petri.

Here, we rate Grothman and Harris on the important issues in the race, based on their stances and our views of the issues, and offer a recommendation. You may have different views on what issues are most important and what you want candidates to do about them. We hope our analysis and opinion give you something to consider — to scoff at, cheer on or simply think about. And we encourage you to vote.

MARK HARRIS

Federal budget — 30 points maximum

Harris calls himself a fiscally conservative progressive. His experience as Winnebago County executive has shown the fiscally conservative part. A bank officer, accountant and attorney, Harris can break down a budget with the best of them — and can do so with the federal budget, too. He sees the need for a cautious approach to reducing federal debt, addressing it in a way that won’t cause another recession. He favors raising the income level for Social Security taxes to the 90 percent it started with and favors a more efficient tax code. He did not have a detailed answer to controlling Medicare costs. 22 points

Domestic issues — 25 points maximum

On immigration, he favors a larger guest worker program, tying reform to business needs for skills and innovation. On the minimum wage, instead of supporting the $10.10-an-hour plan, Harris proposes indexing the minimum wage at 40 to 42 percent of the previous year’s average wage. This year, that would be $8.53. He sees that as a way to minimize any negative effects from raising it. On transportation, he makes a strong case for need, but sees some type of tax or fee increase as an option. Harris favors giving college graduates the ability to refinance student loans. He’s not proposing a particular change to health care reform. 18 points

Foreign issues — 15 points maximum

On the issue of military involvement, he opposes boots on the ground unless there’s a humanitarian disaster, a threat to a national economic interest or a military threat. That leaves open a lot of possibilities. He also stresses the need for an exit strategy, a continued local power after our troops leave and the affordability of military involvement. 10 points

Other factors — 30 points maximum

Harris is knowledgeable, reasonable and has a strong track record of working with a conservative county board to control expenses and protect services. Those same qualities would serve him well in a dysfunctional Congress. 22 points

Harris’ total points — 100 points maximum: 72 points

GLENN GROTHMAN

Federal budget — 30 points maximum

Grothman advocates for reducing federal government overspending, reducing the corporate tax rate and the top marginal tax rate and getting rid of special-interest tax credits. On balance, in these proposals and in his state legislative career, he favors helping businesses, but what will that mean for individuals? On Social Security, he wants to raise the retirement age for most workers who aren’t at or near retirement age. 15 points

Domestic issues — 25 points maximum

This is where Grothman has gotten into trouble, saying that money is more important to men than women and vilifying all low-income people who receive government benefits because of anecdotal evidence of abuse. He says people “arrange their lives” to get benefits and that employers have told him that people have turned down raises or jobs to maintain benefits. On health care reform, he calls the Affordable Care Act a “burden” and proposes nebulous free-market reforms instead. 8 points

Foreign issues — 15 points maximum

When asked about his line for military involvement, Grothman didn’t offer a definitive answer, other than criticism of President Barack Obama and the need for a clear end game. 7 points

Other factors — 30 points maximum

Grothman’s “loose cannon” factor is high. He says what’s on his mind and doesn’t back down from it. One of the problems is that he often seems to form his opinions through anecdotes — what people tell him and what he’s heard. And he takes what may be small problems — welfare fraud, for example — and extrapolates them to an entire population. That’s just wrong. Finally, he didn’t agree to a Gannett Wisconsin Media editorial board interview that was livestreamed so the public could tune in. Along with his reluctance to debate Harris, that’s troubling in someone who’s supposed to be a representative, accountable to his constituents. 10 points

Grothman’s total points — 100 points maximum: 40 points

OUR RECOMMENDATION

The 6th District has elected Petri, a moderate Republican, for more than 30 years. It remains a Republican stronghold. But all those voters who elected Petri for all those years are going to have to decide who the better fit is — the moderate budget-cruncher from the other party or the extreme conservative who was going to challenge Petri in a primary and is going to say things once in a while that’ll make you cringe. We think Harris is the better fit for this district.