The 11th Assembly District Needs an Upgrade

Over the last few weeks I've repeatedly written about the fact that I am voting for Mandela Barnes in the August 14th primary for the 11th Assembly District seat.  He is an outstanding candidate that shares many of my views and I believe that he is much more in touch with the district.  I am also voting for Barnes because I am not happy with my current Rep. Jason Fields' performance on a number of levels. Below I am providing one last listing of those various issues.

• Fields is far too cozy with the right wing group American Federation for Children and he has not said one word about the fact that they are essentially running his entire direct mail campaign for this primary.  We recently learned that they also are making lame attempts at digging up last minute dirt on Fields primary opponent. They have been extremely deceptive in their mailings and have thus shown their low view of Mr. Fields' constituents. Yet as far as I can tell he has accepted their help and not said a word.
• Jason Fields has accepted a direct contribution from disgraced former Republican Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen.  Jensen is busy scheming behind the scenes these days and on most issues he is busy scheming against the best interests of the average person in the 11th Assembly District. 
• At a round table discussion about education in Milwaukee Fields admitted that he thought that breaking up MPS was "probably the best idea". That might be a popular view among conservatives and their interests but it is not a popular view amount Fields' 11th Assembly District constituents.  [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7/30/07]
• I'm not sure if Scott Walker could be any less popular in this district than he already is right now.  Yet when in came time to join with the vast majority of his constituents, Jason Fields couldn't even be bothered to sign a Walker recall petition.  His stated reasons for not doing so have been embarrassingly lame.  
• Maybe Fields didn't sign the recall petition because he has an unusually close relationship with Walker.  During Walker's State of the State speech earlier this year the only Democrat that he specifically and individually commended was Jason Fields.  
• A September 2011 analysis found that of the 376 amendments that had been offered by Democrats that year Republicans only allowed one to proceed.  That one amendment was authored by Jason Fields and it was an amendment totally in keeping with the radical agenda promoted at the American Federation of Children. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/11/11]
• While Fields was more than willing to offer an American Federation for Children-approved amendment he couldn't be bothered to offer a single amendment during the battle for workers' rights in early 2011.
• When Scott Walker announced his 3rd Grade Reading Taskforce, he publicly announced only one Democratic member.  Guess who it was? Jason Fields. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/31/11]
• Fields refused to take a strong stand against the Payday Loan industry that preys on people in his district every single day. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/3/09]

I am not comfortable with any of these things and that discomfort level is the reason that I will vote tomorrow to replace Jason Fields with Mandela Barnes.  I believe that Barnes will better represent the interests of his district instead of catering to right wing special interests.  Rather than angling for new ways to to curry favor with abusive Republicans, Mandela Barnes will fight for the interests of the people actually living in his district.