Winter 1995
Making A Difference
WHEN CITIZENS ASK THE QUESTIONS, THEY GET ANSWERS — SOMETIMES BETTER ANSWERS THAN JOURNALISTS GET. DAVE IVERSON, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF PUBLIC TELEVISION STATION WHA-TV, A PARTNER WITH THE WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL AND WISC-TV IN THE “WE THE PEOPLE” PROJECT, RECALLS HOW ONE CITIZEN MADE A DIFFERENCE — AND EVEN MADE FRONT-PAGE NEWS — AT THEIR OCT. 7 GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE.
“A couple of interesting things happened during the debate. We had audiences of citizens asking questions from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay campus and from satellite locations.
One person from Eau Claire got up and asked probably the best question of the night. He was wearing an American flag shirt and when I saw that I thought, “Oh, geez, what’s going to happen now?”
In Wisconsin, the be-all, end-all question of the campaign was the question of property taxes. The state legislature has required that two-thirds of the cost of schools has to be removed from personal property taxes by 1996. None of the candidates was specifically addressing this.
So this guy stands up and says, ‘We’re just not satisfied with what you’ve said about this issue. We want those tax plans delivered by Oct. 25.’
Well, by setting the deadline, the candidates couldn’t get out of it. What were they going to say? We won’t do it?
Both candidates promised to deliver their plans and that became the Page One story around the state.
It showed the value of a citizen asking the question: You can’t kiss-off a citizen in that circumstance.
It was a significant moment in the debate and one of the best, if not the best, example I know of showing how citizens can make a difference.”
