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For Congress: Marge Krupp in 1st District

An editorial  —  10/25/2008 7:51 am

No member of the Wisconsin congressional delegation is more completely in the pocket of the Washington establishment -- and its Wall Street overseers -- than Janesville Republican Paul Ryan.

At a time when the largest manufacturing facility in his district -- the Janesville General Motors plant -- was under threat of closure, he continued to vote for free-trade agreements that encourage U.S. corporations to shutter facilities in this country and move jobs overseas. Even as smaller factories were closing and the GM plant's prospects began to dim, Ryan had his eye off the prize. Over the summer, as he coveted consideration as a possible running mate for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, Ryan was running around the country preaching about the importance of privatizing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- moves that would have destroyed the retirement security of tens of millions of Americans by gambling those futures on Wall Street. Worse yet, when his friends in the financial services industry wrecked their industry, Ryan abandoned his supposed fiscal conservatism and voted with the Bush White House to allocate more that $850 billion to bail out bad bankers.

Ryan's record is atrocious. Worse yet, it is entirely at odds with the interests of his hard-pressed district.

In contrast, Ryan's Democratic challenger, Marge Krupp, is running a campaign that is all about defending the interests of southeastern Wisconsin. A native of Racine who has worked as a chemical engineer and manager for some of the region's largest employers, Krupp has her finger on the pulse of the economic issues facing the district. She's a critic of no-strings-attached Wall Street bailouts and an advocate for renewing the main streets of Racine, Kenosha, Burlington and Milton. She's a smart critic of free-trade deals that harm workers in the U.S. and abroad. And she wants to defend Social Security, rather than engage in the Wall Street gambles that so inspire Ryan.

Paul Ryan does not understand or represent the 1st District.

Marge Krupp will change that. She has our enthusiastic endorsement.

An editorial  —  10/25/2008 7:51 am