Mandela Barnes believes corporate greed has helped crush the path to the middle class for many Wisconsinites.
“My day one agenda includes closing those tax loopholes that will help to end corporate greed, those loopholes that allow the wealthy to get away without paying their fair share and immediately provide working class tax relief,” Barnes told members of the Shawano-Menominee Counties Democratic Party on March 18 at the Shawano Civic Center.
Barnes is one of 10 Democrats seeking to replace Tony Evers as governor in the November election.
He served in the Wisconsin Assembly from 2013-17 and was lieutenant governor from 2019-23. In 2022, he lost his U.S. Senate bid to Republican Ron Johnson.
“It feels as if working hard, playing by the rules is not the same ticket for the middle class that it used to be,” Barnes said.
He talked of his father working third shift and his mother working as a public school teacher. His grandfather worked in a factory for 35 years — the family’s entry point to the middle class.
“That was the ticket to the middle class for my family,” Barnes said. “It’s what created the foundation for me to able to stand here in front of you all here today, but unfortunately, those entry points to the middle class feel closed off. For people my age, people younger than me, it feels more and more difficult with each passing day to be able to get ahead, to make ends meet.”
Barnes described a Wisconsin where jobs have moved overseas, family farms have been consolidated and rampant corporate greed has left communities powerless and voiceless. The voids have been filled with crime and addictions.
Corporate greed has been exacerbated by the Trump presidency. Costs for housing, groceries, utilities and health care continue to rise.
Barnes said Wisconsin is 44th among states in funding for its state university system and is one of 10 states yet to expand Medicare under the Affordable Care Act. He told of a resident who recently saw their ACA monthly health premium climb from $275 to $1,600.
He blamed Congress for eliminating the ACA tax credits, and said U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the leading Republican in the race for governor, voted to end those credits.
“Tom Tiffany has to be held accountable for that vote,” Barnes said. “He has done a terrible job representing the district that he was elected to serve in Congress. He has left the people that he currently represents behind. I don’t want to think about the devastation that he would create if given the opportunity to serve as governor of Wisconsin.”
Expanding BadgerCare would be another day one priority for Barnes. He said he would not sign a state budget unless it included funds to expand BadgerCare across the state.
When asked about funding for public schools, Barnes noted that 70 districts across the state will have a referendum in April to increase local taxes for operational expenses.
“The state has a constitutional requirement to implement two-thirds funding for public schools, and we have to meet that constitutional requirement,” he said.
Several school districts have filed a lawsuit against the legislature because of this, and Barnes is in favor of it.
He also opposes the voucher system that allows public tax dollars to be directed to private schools. He said the private schools don’t have to meet the same standards of accountability and public scrutiny as the public schools, but if they did, half of them would close overnight.
“I firmly believe that public dollars should remain in public schools,” he said. “Money is being drained from our public schools. We simply can’t afford a parallel system.”
He claimed many voucher schools purge students after the official third Friday enrollment numbers are delivered to the state. Many of those students return to the public schools, but the tax dollars remain with the voucher schools.
Discussions about data centers brought Barnes back to demands for accountability and the end of corporate greed.
“We expect any business, any company that operates, to be a good neighbor,” he said. “And right now, they’re not being good neighbors.”
He said each community should decide on its own if they want a data center in their backyard. He favored a comprehensive statewide plan, community input and community buy-in, and the end of secret agreements.
“If communities reject a data center, then they just shouldn’t be there,” Barnes said. “It should be the will of the people.”
In a related matter, Barnes said the use of AI can be beneficial, but the state needs to establish guardrails to prevent the abuse of information by tech companies.
The primary election will be Aug. 11, with the general election set for Nov. 3.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
