Where in the world is Julie Pung Leschke, and why is she being so silent?
This morning the Oshkosh Northwestern published a story about Republican candidate for the 54th Asembly District, Julie Pung Leschke’s silence on the issues in this campaign. Leschke and her Republican opponent Larry Didlo will square off in a Sept. 12 primary; the winner will then go on to face Democrat Gordon Hintz in the Nov. 7 general election.
Indeed, so far during this campaign, Leschke has been pretty silent on the issues – the most recent incident being her non-response to a questionnaire sponsored by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Fund. According to Leschke’s own web site – which contains no positions on any issues either and hasn’t even been updated since it was first rolled out months ago – she is a member of the League of Women Voters. Yet she, like Didlo, failed to reply to the group’s questionnaire. To the best of my knowledge, she has participated in only one forum to date, sponsored by the Winnebago County Labor Council, and she participated in a 30-minute cable access program called “Meet the 54th District Candidates” which begins airing this coming Monday.
In May she was invited to appear on “Eye on Oshkosh.” She was told that because the campaign season was going to be heavy, especially with state offices also being up for grabs and because we were hoping to get some of those candidates on also, the scheduling was going to get tricky. Even though we may not have taped anything with her at that early of a date, we at least wanted to get a show with her booked, especially given the fact that she is running in a primary. But she said she didn’t want to come on until later. I took that to mean she didn’t want to appear until after the primary. And that is what will happen, if she appears at all, because now all the slots before the primary are booked. Hintz, who has been extremely active and responsive to surveys and requests for appearances, has already been on “Eye on Oshkosh” and Didlo is scheduled to appear on an upcoming episode.
As for the League's questionnaire, candidates had approximately two weeks to respond to the seven questions - six of which only asked for "yes" or "no" answers and the seventh which asked for a short essay. In the Oshkosh Northwestern article, Leschke cited her reason for not responding as being that she is a first-time candidate swamped with surveys and who has been busy knocking on doors. Is that to suggest that other candidates' time is not as valuable as hers or that other candidates are less busy than she? Is it to suggest that we're not important enough for her to find time to answer questions about issues important to us? What really does it mean? I think we can all see how it looks. Even some of those whose doors she has knocked on have told us she was not real clear in stating her position on issues to them either. So what gives?
It seems that when a candidate enters a race they ought to know where they stand on the issues – at least most of them – and be prepared to share those positions with the people they want to represent. Leschke entered this race six or seven months ago and, to date, voters still do not really know where she stands. Her silence is, frankly, inexplicable and unacceptable, especially with a primary election coming up in just one month. Leschke needs to show that she is ready, willing and able to discuss the issues facing not only our district, but our state as a whole. The fact that she hasn’t done much so far makes one wonder just how seriously she is taking this race and how badly she wants to represent the people of the 54th Assembly District. How can we be expected to vote for someone if we don’t know where she stands on issues that affect us?
It’s time for Julie Pung Leschke to either step up or step aside.
- Cheryl
Indeed, so far during this campaign, Leschke has been pretty silent on the issues – the most recent incident being her non-response to a questionnaire sponsored by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Fund. According to Leschke’s own web site – which contains no positions on any issues either and hasn’t even been updated since it was first rolled out months ago – she is a member of the League of Women Voters. Yet she, like Didlo, failed to reply to the group’s questionnaire. To the best of my knowledge, she has participated in only one forum to date, sponsored by the Winnebago County Labor Council, and she participated in a 30-minute cable access program called “Meet the 54th District Candidates” which begins airing this coming Monday.
In May she was invited to appear on “Eye on Oshkosh.” She was told that because the campaign season was going to be heavy, especially with state offices also being up for grabs and because we were hoping to get some of those candidates on also, the scheduling was going to get tricky. Even though we may not have taped anything with her at that early of a date, we at least wanted to get a show with her booked, especially given the fact that she is running in a primary. But she said she didn’t want to come on until later. I took that to mean she didn’t want to appear until after the primary. And that is what will happen, if she appears at all, because now all the slots before the primary are booked. Hintz, who has been extremely active and responsive to surveys and requests for appearances, has already been on “Eye on Oshkosh” and Didlo is scheduled to appear on an upcoming episode.
As for the League's questionnaire, candidates had approximately two weeks to respond to the seven questions - six of which only asked for "yes" or "no" answers and the seventh which asked for a short essay. In the Oshkosh Northwestern article, Leschke cited her reason for not responding as being that she is a first-time candidate swamped with surveys and who has been busy knocking on doors. Is that to suggest that other candidates' time is not as valuable as hers or that other candidates are less busy than she? Is it to suggest that we're not important enough for her to find time to answer questions about issues important to us? What really does it mean? I think we can all see how it looks. Even some of those whose doors she has knocked on have told us she was not real clear in stating her position on issues to them either. So what gives?
It seems that when a candidate enters a race they ought to know where they stand on the issues – at least most of them – and be prepared to share those positions with the people they want to represent. Leschke entered this race six or seven months ago and, to date, voters still do not really know where she stands. Her silence is, frankly, inexplicable and unacceptable, especially with a primary election coming up in just one month. Leschke needs to show that she is ready, willing and able to discuss the issues facing not only our district, but our state as a whole. The fact that she hasn’t done much so far makes one wonder just how seriously she is taking this race and how badly she wants to represent the people of the 54th Assembly District. How can we be expected to vote for someone if we don’t know where she stands on issues that affect us?
It’s time for Julie Pung Leschke to either step up or step aside.
- Cheryl
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 10:04 AM
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