Dear Editor,

I write this letter to strongly endorse Chad Kemp, who is running in the 80th Assembly seat that is being vacated by Sondy Pope.

For those that don’t know me I am a lifelong resident of this area, having been elected to the Verona City Council, the State Assembly and the State Senate. I also served as chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party for four years.

When I was first elected in the state legislature in 1982, my old assembly district looked much like the 80th assembly district does today. I represented the same communities with rich histories like Verona, Mt. Horeb, Belleville and New Glarus, and towns like Springdale, Montrose, Primrose and Perry. In all, I served 10 years in the Assembly and another six in the State Senate, representing all of these areas and much more.

While this area has certainly grown over the years with new housing and families moving to the area, there have also been things that remain constant. One thing has withstood the test of time even with all of the changes around us, is that people want high integrity people to run for office and they want those people to have the values that drew them to our communities in the first place.

Chad Kemp has those values. He is a lifelong resident of the area, having gone to Verona schools. He has three kids that are educated here. He is not extreme in this thinking like too many candidates are today. He supports common sense ideas on supporting public education, the environment, affordable health care and programs that help our seniors.

I have known Chad Kemp for many years. I strongly urge you to cast a vote on Tuesday, August 9th, in the Democratic primary for Chad Kemp who will be an assembly person we can be proud of!

Joe Wineke,

Madison