In recent years, as recession and unemployment racked our nation, my colleagues and I have worked to revive our economy by investing in local businesses and creating family-supporting jobs.  We’ve tightened our belts in Madison, but always fought to protect critical community services like police, fire protection, and quality health care.  And, we’ve never ceased working to make our schools the best in the nation.

In spite of the recession, we stood strong against the GOP forces that wanted to slash and burn local government and the basic services it provides.  We know that real folks are hurting and we refuse to abandon them in the name of political expediency, as my opponent and his special interest allies propose.  

I’m proud of our record – and of the results we’ve achieved.  Over the last two years the Wisconsin legislature closed a $6 billion dollar deficit without raising sales taxes, payroll taxes or income taxes on all but the wealthiest 1% of earners.  And thanks to our sound fiscal decisions, Wisconsin’s tax ranking has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in decades.

A donation today of $250, $100, $50, or whatever you can afford will help me continue my work in the State Senate, and ensure that we stay on the right path to economic recovery.

With our economy finally turning around, now is NOT the time to take Wisconsin backwards  to the failed policies that created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Sadly, that’s exactly what Van Wanggaard and his radical right wing friends want to do.  He’s repeatedly called for an income tax cut for the wealthiest 1% of state taxpayers, re-opening the “Las Vegas loophole” that allowed big corporations to evade state taxes by doing as little as renting a post office box in states like Delaware or Nevada, and a capital gains tax break that mostly benefits those earning over $200,000 a year.

Add that to his opposition to importing less-expensive prescription drugs from Canada, and his belief that a woman shouldn’t have the right to terminate a pregnancy, even in the case of rape or incest, and we see a man who wants to take us back to the Bush era policies that got us into this mess!

With your support and by working together we can tell Van Wanggaard and his special interest allies that we won’t allow them to turn the clock back with these misguided George W. Bush style policies.  

A generous donation today of $250, $100, $50, or whatever you can afford will send the message to Van Wangaard that you want Wisconsin to move forward, not backwards!

In 2006, in my first run for the 21st Senate seat I raised and spent $218,000.  Sitting County Executive Bill McReynolds spent $400,000 in what turned out to be the most expensive Wisconsin legislative race that year.  Now the GOP and their allies have tapped Wanggaard and there’s no doubt that the big special interest money will follow.  

That’s why I need your help today.  We’ll never be the big money party, but with your help we can again run a strong, effective campaign that focuses on my record of creating jobs, protecting services, and moving Wisconsin’s economy forward.  

Only you have the power to decide whether we keep moving forward and rebuild our economy, or whether we allow Van Wanggaard and his allies to capture the state government, and return us to the days when the hardworking families of Racine became a mere afterthought.

Your generous donation today of $250, $100, $50 or whatever you can afford will go a long way towards keeping this state on the right track, and ensuring that the working families of Racine County are ALWAYS a priority in the State Senate.

Sincerely,



Senator John Lehman
State Senator
21st District