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Tommy Thompson, presidential candidate, discusses his stances on the issues, on his campaign Web site.

Thompson, City Council member clash on diversity

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            Campaigners for former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson believe that the Governor’s record on diversity will play well in his Presidential campaign.  However, an Eau Claire city council member is not sure, and District 5 City Council Representative Berlye Middleton believes Thompson’s touting of his record conflicts with the experience in his district.

In his tenure as Governor, Thompson championed the Wisconsin Works Program to bring lower-income families into the workforce and the School Choice program that allowed families to select schools for their children. Wisconsin Works, or W-2, focused particularly on economically disadvantaged families.

“He is telling people about Wisconsin Works, and he tells the story about how mothers on welfare helped him draft the program, and they served as the spokesmen,” National Senior Advisor to the Thompson campaign Steve Grubbs said. “He tells how they told him the challenges that they faced and what they needed to succeed off of welfare, and he created the program around their needs.”

“A lot of what Governor Thompson is about is solutions to problems. Wisconsin Works and school choice are two ways that he has demonstrated his problem-solving abilities. “

Eau Claire District 5 City Council Representative Beryle Middleton credits Thompson with enacting the programs, but says his experience in the diverse district paints a mixed picture.

            “Eau Claire County, from the 2000 census that we conducted , found that our population is heavy Hmong, in terms of ethnicity, we have less than one-half of one percent African Americans in our community, we do have about a two-percent population of Hispanics, and about 13 percent Hmong. Within my district itself it is a little bit more dramatic than that. I represent some of the most wealthy districts and some of the poorest districts in the city,” Middleton said.

“Tommy Thompson is a master of all kinds of new programs. His W-2 program, Welfare to Work, back in the 1980’s was a smashing hit; in fact, a lot of other states emulated that type of program, and it did get a lot of people off of welfare as a strategic plan to eliminate or at least to reduce poverty in Wisconsin. “

            Issues revolving around budget cuts and school closures colored the initiatives proposed under school choice, Middleton said.

“We have had a number of school closings in the last few years, and some have been in my district. For instance, Lincoln Elementary School was closed about three years ago to make room for a Montessori  school. Lincoln had a capacity for 440-some pupils; it was down to about 170 and, operationally, the school board said they couldn’t function at that level,” he said. “They closed the school, moved those kids out and dispersed them to other elementary schools, and moved in 75 students to the Montessori school. So school choice has been a big problem. These students and these people had no choice.”

“With respect to the school voucher program, moving from one school to the other, I think that does have some merit. I’m from Milwaukee, and one of the things I did to accelerate my education in Milwaukee was to actually move from district to district. I didn’t actually move; I simply enrolled at the school that had the college prep courses, and that was the district I lived in. In effect, I was making my own choice,” the councilman added.

“I don’t think Governor Thompson can run his campaign just on those issues alone. Our country is in much greater need of things other than school choice and those types of programs. I do think that it could work piecemeal in some places, and Tommy Thompson is a master of various types of programs. I think he could definitely get those types of programs implemented. “

            Thompson’s staff is confident that the Governor’s record as Governor and Secretary of Health and Human Services will support his candidacy as one who can address issues of diversity on a national scale.

            “He has a lot of programs he is recommending on a national scale, among those are medical diplomacy, a plan to stop the illegal immigration issue, and he offers solutions to our health care problems,” Grubbs said.

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