Meet the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in Green Bay’s 90th Assembly District – Green Bay Press Gazette

GREEN BAY - Two Democrats are fighting for the chance to represent Green Bay voters in Madison in a contentious primary contest.

State Rep. Staush Gruszynski, who is seeking a second term in office, will face Green Bay School Board member Kristina Shelton in the Aug. 11 primary for the 90th Assembly District. The winner will runagainst RepublicanDrew Kirsteatter in November.

The 90th encompasses a large portion of thecity of Green Bay, including downtown.

Gruszynski came under fire last year afteran internal investigationrevealed he sexually harassed a female staff member at a Madison bar. He has since been barred from caucusing with Assembly Democrats and serving on committees.

The Green Bay Press-Gazette sent each candidate a questionnaire and asked them to limit their responses to approximately 100 words. Here's what they had to say.

Gruszynski(Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Age:35

Occupation and highest education level:State representative, 90th Assembly District; Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Relevant experience:I worked for a conservation nonprofit for nearly a decade on issues directly facing Wisconsins environment. I also served as a Brown County supervisor for six years representing the east side of Green Bay.

Kristina Shelton(Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Age: 40

Occupation and highest education level: Vice president, Board of Education, Green Bay Area Public School District. M.S., Health Promotion Management, Marymount University.

Relevant experience: Ive been an educator and community health activist all my life, first as a classroom teacher, then with a national nonprofit, and as a program director with the YWCA of Greater Green Bay. I was appointed to serve on the Green Bay School Board in August 2018, and I retained my seat in a very competitive spring 2019 election. In April 2020, I was elected by my colleagues to serve as vice president. More recently, Ive worked with leading organizations, educators and community members on issues around racial, economic, gender and environmental justice.

RELATED:State Rep. Amanda Stuck suggests Staush Gruszynski stop seeking reelection for 90th Assembly District

RELATED:Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich, Sen. Dave Hansen endorse Kristina Shelton for 90th Assembly District

Gruszynski:I am running for reelection because in these uncertain times Green Bay has big problems to solve, and they need someone with legislative experience and a proven track record of results. Democrats are deep in the minority, and Green Bay voters need an elected official that will reach across the aisle to work toward solutions for our community. As a county supervisor in a non-partisan role, I worked together with other local electedsacross the political spectrum to get results. Thats the experience Ive taken to Madison and used to cut through the partisan bickering in my first term.

Shelton: Im running to restore representation to our Assembly district and to tackle the monumental problems we face. Unfortunately, because of my opponents actions, he can no longer caucus with the Assembly Democrats or serve on any committees. The problems we face are too pressing for Green Bay not to be fully represented. We face a significant public health challenge, a diminished budget that could threaten valuable services like public education and growing environmental challenges. Im going to fight for the working families in the 90th Assembly District so that our state makes it through this crisis stronger, more democratic and more equitable.

Gruszynski:I have a strong track record of getting results for the residents of Green Bay passing bipartisan legislation to start the process of moving the coal piles, passing legislation that lifted Medicaid restrictions during the pandemic, fighting for road funding to fix Green Bays failing infrastructure, and introducing bipartisan legislation after the disastrous April election to increase absentee ballot applications, ballot tracking and voting locations. My first vote, AB1, to expand preexisting conditions protections, was legislation that a majority of Democrats did not support and a great example of my ability to put Green Bays constituents first.

Shelton: Im the only Democrat in this race that can fully represent our district, and Im also the candidate who knows how to build coalitions with other organizations to demand the change we need in the Capitol. Im proud to say that I have earned the endorsements of the most important progressive organizations in the state on every issue: Wisconsin Conservation Voters (environment), Citizen Action of Wisconsin (health care), SEIU (labor), American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin (public education) and Planned Parenthood (gender equality and reproductive rights). I am running because I want to help build a movement to ensure all Wisconsinites can thrive.

Gruszynski:The three issues I hear from the voters of Green Bay are the states COVID-19 response, help to fix Green Bays failing infrastructure and expanding health care opportunities for working families. Even though we passed a bipartisan response plan in April, Ive continually called for a stronger response to help address unemployment benefits and support for our small-business community. During this years budget, we were able to increase road funding and transit to our municipalities, but we need to do more. Wisconsin should accept the federal Medicaid expansion dollars to increase coverage and lower health care costs for Green Bay residents.

Shelton: Right now, residents are worried about the public health crisis due to COVID-19 and the resulting economic fallout. Dozens of residents, some without unemployment benefits for months, have contacted me to help them. Unfortunately, our current representative has not been able to fully advocate for them, perhaps because he has missed valuable information after being excluded from the caucus. As a representative, I will have a direct line of communication with my constituents, and I will work to pass legislation so that in the future, we have the infrastructure to help our states citizens in future emergencies like this one.

Gruszynski:We have a patchwork of regulations because Republicans have refused to act since April. We passed legislation to lift Medicaid restrictions and lift the one-week waiting period for unemployment benefits, but that cant be the end of the conversation. People are struggling to get back to work, to keep their homes, feed their kids and decide whether or not school will be safe this fall. The state needs to take decisive action to give Green Bay residents the security and safety they deserve. That means overhauling the unemployment system and making sure state agencies have the tools to help.

Shelton:As someone with a public health background, I believe we must use an evidence-based approach to deal with the pandemic. The court decision to end the safer-at-home order with no plan in place was highly unfortunate. Moving forward, we must reduce the spread of COVID. We should consider a number of public health interventions, for instance, to highly encourage the use of masks, and if we cannot do it at the state level, local units of government should do it. We must also ensure everyone has access to high-quality, affordable health care moving forward.

Gruszynski:We have stood by for too long without action since the horrific death of George Floyd. I strongly support a special session to address police brutality and our criminal justice system as a whole. I also support Governor Evers legislative package that would ban chokeholds, create a bad cop registry and end no-knock warrants in Wisconsin. We need to continue to invest in public school funding, better transit systems and jobs programs that lift people up, especially communities of color. I also authored a crisis intervention training bill to give local law enforcement more tools to de-escalate dangerous situations.

Shelton: Many of Wisconsins inequities are caused by institutional racism manifested in policies and laws. I applaud the plan put forward by Governor Evers to create statewide standards on issues such as the use of force, banning the use of chokeholds and prohibiting no-knock search warrants. Its important to remember that violence and crime are closely associated to poverty and high levels of unemployment. Traditional policing programs do not typically get to the root of these problems. Therefore, we should be thinking more broadly about how we invest in communities and services to support mental health, addiction, homelessness and good-paying jobs.

Contact Haley BeMiller at hbemiller@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @haleybemiller.

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Meet the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in Green Bay's 90th Assembly District - Green Bay Press Gazette