Budget
Ask yourself why was the budget not done in time? It cost the tax payers $200,000 per day due to the Republicans failure in the Assembly to get the job done. And what did we get for this delay? No healthcare, increases in property tax, and a reduction to UW for research. Are you better off today with Mrs. Kerkman as your rep since 2000?

We need the change that our Presidential candidates have been endorsing. This must happen at the local levels also. Representative Kerkman has not delivered the change to Wisconsin since being elected in 2000. We need someone that shares our values and can deliver. I consider myself a moderate unlike my Democratic opponent being a progressive liberal. We need level heads representing our needs not extremist. I will be more than a ribbon cutter. I will be a change agent for a better Wisconsin.

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My name is Mike Orr. I am running for the privilege of serving you as Representative to the Assembly in the 66th District.


I am Burlington resident. Currently the President of the Dyan Orr Foundation dedicated to finding a cure for Lymphangiomatosis that took the life of my 11 year old daughter Dyan on July 11,2007. More information on Dyan is at www.dyanmarieorr.com or Google her name Dyan Orr.

I have been a plant manager of multi-million dollar companies that required me to create and work within million dollar budgets both created and managed. I also have negotiated with insurance companies on cost effective health care benefits that suited all the employees’ needs.

My mission is to find a workable health care plan for the state of Wisconsin, support our great university and educators in all schools.

PUBLIC SAFETY
County police don’t share the same benefits as city and state police do. We need to structure there retirement packages and compensation with equal vigor.
We need to ensure public safety by investing in our police, fire services, and National Guard. This starts by adequate funding of municipalities, instead of passing the tax increase burden onto counties, cities, and towns.
The Legislature needs to do its’ job instead of forcing local government to take the blame for increased taxes. We also need to look for alternatives to the prison system. An ever-increasing portion of our budget goes toward housing inmates, and the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

HEALTH CARE
I believe all citizens of Wisconsin deserve health care as great as we provide for legislators. We need a healthy Wisconsin. And need to support this legislation. It will save our employers millions of dollars. It is not socialized medicine, but run by the Wisconsin people. Thursday in the Kenosha news it was reported that Universal Health care may not be passed this year. We need someone who can rally people for the support for a healthy Wisconsin.
My wife Tonya was born with a hole in her heart. At 2 in 1972 the doctors repaired this hole, but in doing so they gave her Hep C during the blood transfusion. Now you can’t blame anyone but in 1998 it reared its ugly head and ate away at her liver. The meds cost us $600.00 per week because it was considered experimental. It worked but insurance will not cover her because preexisting and she can’t get life insurance.
My daughter Dyan suffered through the worst pain a body can go through. She was taking 200mg of morphine, 200mg of methadone and 200mg of oxycodone every hour the last 2 weeks of her life. Her terminal illness cost me everything I had worked for and put me deep in a hole. Was the state and US there to help no. Because I was self employed at the time there was no insurance. A little girl in Northern Wisconsin has the same disease as my daughter did. She is fighting for her life. Her mom wanted to change insurance to her husbands so she could be seen at UW like my daughter and get the best care but they denied it because of preexisting so instead of getting the best care and maybe hope since my daughter gave her body to UW for research she is left with little hope and mounting costs, We are Treatment Foster parents. One of the things that we found is the dental coverage of title 19 gives very little option for dental coverage. So these kids suffer and get lower self-esteem with bad smile. You see the dentist is only paid $5.00 for every $100 spent. This doesn’t even cover the paper work. I purpose increasing the percentage and giving tax incentive to dentist taking title 19 patients. We I did my tax return. I found that after spending over $40,000 to bury my child all I get is to claim her for the year. This needs to be changed. Things like this happen all the sudden and you need to be able to offset these costs somehow or the suffering will continue but in other ways. I know as a parent of 7 (3 adopted) and loving them all. I would do nothing to change my daughters last 2.5 years no matter what it cost me to make her happy and comfortable.

Budget
Ask your-self why was the budget not done in time. It cost the tax payers $200,000 per day due to the Republicans failure in the Assembly to get the job done. And what did we get for this delay? No healthcare, increases in property tax, and a reduction to UW for research and now a $350 million dollar budget shortfall. The answer out of Madison is cutting jobs. Tax payers will be paying for this through hirer unemployment. Ask your-self are you better off today with Mrs. Kerkman as your rep since 2000?

EDUCATION
I support education and educators in Wisconsin. We need to ensure that all graduates of High School are afforded the opportunity to go to Technical College or University, and that ability to pay doesn’t outweigh their drive to learn. This will make them better citizens in our communities. We need to recruit and maintain quality educators; we cannot succeed if we continue to limit fair collective bargaining. We rank 45th in the nation for teacher compensation, we must and can do better. Let’s end the QEO.

SUPPORT FOR FAMILY FARMS
we need to support Wisconsin’s Family Farms through tax incentives, through affordable health care programs, and low cost loans for programs to help them be more profitable. Let’s help our family farmers stay in business so they can continue to feed Wisconsin and America.

SENIOR CITIZENS
It is a shame that there property taxes went up a average of 10% and Social Security cost of living was only awarded a 2.9% increase. The cost of medicine is predicted to raise 400% from today’s cost by the year 2012. I purpose when elected submitting a bill that if you are collecting Social Security retirement benefits the cost of property taxes may not rise any hire that the cost of living increase. Our senior citizens built this country for our generation and they should be able to retire with grace and dignity without caring more burden. They have done there part.


Unemployment and China

Now I will talk about two companies in Wisconsin that have shifted production in China. One is from Madison and they just announced a new deal increasing production in China as reported in the Plastics News. These jobs should and could be here! Another is a company I visited in Kenosha by the Jelly Bean factory to look at some equipment for a friend of mine. This is a huge facility. What struck me as odd all the prime equipment they had for sale. I asked what had happened and they told me in January of 2007 they were bought and all the production was shipped to China. Over 200 jobs lost. Unemployment currently in our area is Racine 9.9 %, Mount Pleasant 6.1% and Kenosha is at 6.4% and all are on the rise. We need someone who understands the manufacturing end, can relate and talk with potential companies on the benefits of building here.

Corporate Tax Structure
State auditors contend Wal-Mart owes $17.7 million in back taxes and penalties for 1998, 1999 and 2000. The Department of Revenue said the retailer abused a real estate tax shelter to avoid paying state taxes and might owe more for other years. Two out of three of the 54,644 corporate filers in Wisconsin paid no income tax in 2003, the most recent year available, according to data presented by Jack Norman, research director of the Milwaukee-based Institute for Wisconsin's Future.
Some of the companies that paid no income tax, according to Norman, were 26 of the 35 largest based in the state, as well as national businesses such as Kraft Foods, McDonald's, Microsoft and Pepsi Co.
Some of the Wisconsin companies that didn't pay, the data showed, were Johnson Controls, Manpower, Kohl's, Harley-Davidson, Rockwell Automation, and Marshall & Ilsley.
Is this right I ask you? The answer is NO. This as happened during Mrs. Kerkman’s watch as an Assembly rep. Yet I know of one company in our community that pays 29% of there income to the state which is close to one million dollars per year. They can’t grow and add new jobs. Can’t come close to affording health benefits for there employees. We need a fair equitable tax structure across the board. The small to moderate companies have the burden and do most of the employment. Will the big companies get off tax free!



We need the change that our Presidential candidates have been endorsing. This must happen at the local levels also. Representative Kerkman has not delivered the change to Wisconsin since being elected in 2000. We need someone that shares our values and can deliver. I have the message to get a Healthy Wisconsin passed through personal experience, not just rhetoric. I have been a plant manager of multi-million dollar companies that required me to create and work within million dollar budgets both created and managed. I also have negotiated with insurance companies on cost effective health care benefits that suited all the employees’ needs. We need level heads representing our district. I will be more than a ribbon cutter. I will be a change agent for a better Wisconsin. I will be the right Democrat to beat Mrs. Kerkman in November!

I leave you with a quote from our late President Kennedy.
“A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.”


Thank You

For helping me take back Wisconsin!