Republican Rep. Oldenburg on inheriting La Crosse, homelessness, taxes, budget surplus, weed

Oldenburg is the incumbent representative in the 96th District, which will change from being mostly rural to taking in the South Side of La Crosse next year. And that’s where we started the show, just the philosophy of having mixed urban and rural districts, whether Oldenburg will legislate differently and how he differentiates himself from his Democratic opponents.

Oldenburg will face the winner of the August 13 primary: Democrats Tara Johnson and Steven Campbell.

Since he could potentially represent La Crosse, we discussed what the state legislature has done about homelessness as the city has dealt with the growing problem since the pandemic, and what ideas he might have to solve it.

The show also discusses the $500 million in government funding for the renovation of Brewers Stadium and whether Oldenburg would be willing to sell the stadium to the team for $1.

We also talked about taxes and what to do with Wisconsin’s $3.5 million budget surplus, which has been at or above that level for 2.5 years. Plus, where he stands on legalizing marijuana.

Oldenburg brought up vaccinations in relation to COVID, but also other issues and the question of whether they should be made mandatory.

The show is over about the vetoes the Wisconsin Senate overrode a few weeks ago and why the Assembly didn’t even meet to discuss the bills its counterpart passed.