My name is Paul Johnson.

I'm running for the 74th Assembly of the State of Wisconsin.

The reason I decided to run is I felt that taxes are not being appropriated to the correct places.

The main thing is schooling and taxes.

I found that the state of Wisconsin is not providing funding for the schools in northern Wisconsin.

We pay our taxes up north.

We send them to Madison, but at this point, our taxes are not coming back to our state.

We need to know that the taxes that we're paying to Madison are coming back to this end of the state.

We have many school districts in the Northern 74th Assembly District that get very little taxes from the state.

Therefore, what we have to do is we have to go through funding called referendum.

Referendum funding is not fair for us.

What's happening is every two years, our school districts are coming forward asking for more and more because they're getting less and less.

Part of the problem we have in Wisconsin is vouchers and charter schools.

Vouchers and charter schools are taking a great amount of money from our state public education.

We also need to have some more help with our taxes regarding law enforcement, public services, [clears throat] excuse me, as well as healthcare.

We in the state we have to rely on our local townships and towns and cities to provide ambulance services.

What's happening right now is services are not being provided and the people are being hurt because of it.

We're looking at the state, we're looking at the federal government who's also providing Medicare funding.

Medicare funding is not being increased.

Therefore, that is going to hurt our local hospitals.

Currently in northern Wisconsin, we have uh deliveries for birth hospitals that are not in the area.

They're shutting down.

We need to get more hospitals that are providing birthing centers for our local communities.

Our local families are also hurting.

This comes back to a wage issue.

My time on the school board in the Spooner School District taught me that approximately 30% of our students are meeting the criteria.

Therefore, about 70% of our students are reducing are getting free and reduced lunches.

The fact that they're getting a free and reduced lunches shows that there's a wage discrepancy in northern Wisconsin.

small families are having trouble making ends meet while other families who are retiring in the area don't seem to be having the problem.

One of the reasons I'm running and I'm sorry the reason I'm qualified for this job is I've spent eight years on the Splinter Area School District School Board.

I was the clerk.

I understand how funding comes to the state.

I've also been on the Washurn County Board and on that role I served as as a uh I'm sorry I served as the uh committee chair for forestry department.

I've also been on health and health and human services.

I've also been on zoning and resoning.

And zoning is a terrible area to be in Wisconsin right now because our laws don't support a lot of the county zoning laws and the zoning ordinances are being brought up by counties.

They're having to deal with very difficult solutions.

My wife and I, Terry, have been there been married for 43 years.

I've been a police officer.

I've been a sheriff detective.

I've been a chief of police.

I've been in government a long time.

I've seen how government officials operate and I understand what is needed in northern Wisconsin to represent the people.

I'm asking for your support to be the 74th Assembly candidate and I look forward to serving you in Madison.

The League of Women Voters of Duth is a proud underwriter of PBS North.