During the Holiday Season there are many visitors to the Capitol including many school groups. This past week I had the opportunity to meet with high school students from Sparta who are competing in the Project Polar Bear Contest.

The students are partnering with the elementary schools in Sparta and community members to encourage recycling and to plant trees. They journeyed to Madison to share with their work with me as part of their student project.

The students are part of the Earth Club at the Sparta High School. They started a recycling project that spread across the Sparta School District. If you walk through the schools you may see big white bins decorated like polar bears.

The students also took their ideas to the community working at City Hall on Election Day to encourage recycling and sign up volunteers for spring tree planting.

The students amazed me with their ability to look forward and think of actions they could take to improve their community and our world.

At the close of the year, I also take time to look back and look forward; to think of the work accomplished and look forward to the coming year. My job as servant to the people of the 31^st Senate District involves helping and responding to concerns from people over our nine Western Wisconsin counties.

During the past year over twenty-seven hundred people had contact with my office.

Almost half of those contacting me did so by email; about a quarter called and another quarter sent a letter or card. Two hundred and fifty people met with me, either near home or came to visit in Madison. I met with people from every walk of life you can imagine from artists to zucchini farmers!

Sometimes people contacted me in favor or opposed to a specific bill; sometimes they called because they need help navigating the state bureaucracy and sometimes they called about problems in their lives or their communities.

Many people expressed an opinion about specific legislation. The top bills people cared about enough to call or write were related to licensing dietitians (455 people), environmental issues (355 people), labor issues (143 people) and elections (118 people).

In the first four months of this year several environmental bills were discussed by the Legislature. The Clean Energy Jobs Act and the Ground Water Protection bill were two initiatives that generated many calls and letters. Both bills failed to muster enough votes to become law but the people who contacted me overwhelmingly favored the two bills.

Sometimes people expressed concerns about issues that were not related to a specific bill. Often these issues related directly to problems in people’s lives. Over the past four years, the top issue has consistently been health care. People have trouble finding affordable care or are struggling without health insurance. Almost two hundred people expressed similar concerns the past year. But, for the first time, education dominated health concerns; by nearly double the number.

Schools, like all of us, have had to do more with less. The problems schools face were intensified by the state’s budget problems. Remember almost half of our state tax dollars go to public education. As the largest part of the state’s general fund, financial problems with the state inevitably ends up in problems funding local schools.

People are concerned about cuts in public education and the shift of money from the state to property tax payers as schools raise their levy or as referendums pass.

Education is sure to be on the top of the state’s ‘to do’ list in the coming year. There is talk of privatizing public education and more cuts to local schools. Earlier this fall the state superintendent of schools offered a proposal to change the way the state pays for schools. I expect his suggestions to receive much discussion among my colleagues.

The first major item of business for a New Year is the state budget. By mid-February the new Governor should unveil his plans. Although the budget covers a two year period, many of the decisions made will have a much longer impact.

When I met with the Earth Club students from Sparta we discussed the long term importance of their work teaching youngsters to recycle and planting trees. 

“It’s really important that we think about how what we do will affect our great grandchildren,” one of the students told me.

She reminded me that ‘looking forward’ needs to be much longer than just a year.

Something all of us would be wise to remember.

Imagine: an unmarried pregnant teen; far from home, of an oppressed minority, born on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’. Folks talk ill of her home saying “nothing good ever comes from there”.

She is homeless; and very pregnant. Her fiancé (but not the father of the baby) cannot find a place to stay. Finally he finds a barn; or more likely, a cave used as a barn.

A baby boy is born. Itinerant farm workers hear of the news and come to visit. They leave rejoicing; lives changed.

Life is hard. Before the baby is three, his parents find themselves running from the law; they cross the border and become aliens in a strange land. Eventually they return home.

The boy grows to be a man. He wanders a small, occupied country. No more than the rough outpost of a large empire. He probably never wanders more than forty miles from the home of his adopted father.

The son challenges the local authorities; is arrested, convicted and unjustly executed.

Two thousand years after His death we remember His Life, His Teachings, and His Words. Today we celebrate His birth.

Seem like an unlikely story? Join with me today to remember miracles and unlikely stories. Dispel the darkness and help me celebrate the Season of Light. Renew your sense of hope.

Imagine a world where every one has enough. And never forget the smallest of people can make the greatest of change.

May the Blessings of the Season be with you today and throughout the coming year!

“I thought you as State Senator would get an answer right away,” said the man who needed information from one of our state agencies. I called him to say after two weeks of phone calls I still didn’t have an answer.

With the change of power in Madison comes change in many state agencies. People come and go. But the mass exodus of public employees this month seems unusually great; and with it the state’s ability to continue efficient operations.

Talk swirling around the Capitol is among those leaving state service were ten top employees from the Department of Revenue.

Our state Department of Revenue has superb staff. Their expertise makes us one of only eleven states able to conduct our own economic forecasting. And the accuracy of those forecasters in predicting a fickle economy benefits all of us.

Let me explain. While the Legislatures of surrounding states returned mid-year to “repair” the budget or pass new cuts in spending and tax increases, Wisconsin’s predictions of revenue remained on track. With over half of the state budget going back to local communities this accuracy kept funding stable for every city, town and village in the state.

This type of expertise is found in many of our state agencies – and it is at risk.

Governor-Elect Walker has made it clear public workers are in the cross hairs of his new administration. He admonished Legislators who wanted to finish up old business by approving union contracts that were already 18 months late. Last week the Legislature met to consider the contracts but failed to muster enough votes to pass them.

Under the contracts public employees would get no pay increases, would be required to take unpaid furloughs and would make increased contributions to health care premiums and pensions.  According to the Office of State Employee Relations, the lean contracts provided a savings to taxpayers of $103.2 million dollars. 

Tough times require austerity.  Every public employee is doing more with less. Some have taken on jobs previously done by 2 or 3 people. Others have seen colleagues hired off to private industry at nearly twice the salary.

As the new Chief Executive of an approximately 60,000 worker firm devoted to public service, Governor-Elect Walker has an obligation to lead and should encourage an attitude of excellence and high quality service for all public servants.

We have been through one tough budget and are facing another. Now is the time to reach out to every pubic worker and engage them in a discussion of how to streamline government and where to invest in resources.  The solution for many of the thorny problems facing our great state is in the collective wisdom of those who have labored so long in public service. Our workers have the knowledge and experience to identify what programs need to be fixed and how to get the job done.

Business leaders learned decades ago to create a responsive and profitable company, managers must unleash the creative potential in their workforce. Having spent a decade teaching leadership and two decades in various management roles, I have seen companies succeed and fail because of the perceived value of employee service by their Chief Executive.

Our state’s most precious resources are our people. Governor-Elect Walker must not squander an opportunity to work together for the public good of all in this great state. Instead he has an opportunity to rally public employees and engage them in real problem solving.  Workers respond to a leader who values their expertise and service.

In the words of the late former State Representative Harvey Stower, “We are here to serve and not be served.”  Public employees provide for our safety, care for our seniors and disabled, teach our children, plow our streets and provide other vital services to citizens across the state.

When times are difficult and cut backs are required, collaboration and cooperation between our public workforce and our new Governor in meeting the needs of citizens will be critical to our success of our state and our ability to rise from the ashes of the Great Recession.

In the time honored tradition, to the victor go the spoils of war. In the Senate, the spoils of war are committee leadership, staff and Capitol real estate.

Last week a highly complex dance occurred as Senators moved to “better” real estate. By seniority rank and majority/minority party, Senators choose office space in the Capitol’s South Wing.

Senate offices come in different shapes, sizes and number of windows.  Some Senate offices are decorated with period stenciling and pieces of original furniture from around 1912 – the year the current Capitol Building was built.  All offices include reproduction carpeting and furniture and wall colors in the tradition of the original Capitol. 

In Legislative bodies, tradition runs deep. The migration of Senators and staff is a custom following each election in which partisan control of the Chamber changes. Based on seniority, those in majority party choose office space first followed by the minority party members.

The man responsible for executing the moves of 33 Senators, their staff and belongings is Ted Blazel, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.

In a Legislative body, the Sergeant-at-Arms keeps order and executes the commands of the presiding officer. The role dates back to Twelfth Century England when Kings had a Corps of Sergeants-at-Arms.

By the mid Fifteenth Century, the British House of Parliament had its first Sergeant-at-Arms. In Britain and many other counties, the Sergeant is responsible for the mace – a decorative staff dating back to the Medieval weapon. The mace symbolized the power of the Legislative body. The mace was sometimes displayed by the Sergeant-at-Arms to rowdy members as a reminder to properly conduct themselves.

In Wisconsin, the Sergeant-at-Arms has many duties that help the day-to-day efficient functioning of the Senate. Scheduling and setting up hearing rooms, maintaining and delivering audio visual equipment, delivering mail, providing assistance to Senators and their staff and organizing the moves of Senate offices.

Moving 33 Senators and their staffs with minimal disruption of public business is no small task. But with the logistical precision of the military roots of his office, our Sergeant completed the task in two weeks.

As a freshman Senator four years ago, I was shocked to find out I would be bumping Senator Kapanke out of his office – a senior member but then in the minority party.  I felt a sense of irony when I discovered a freshman Republican would be bumping me out of my office as I became a member of the minority party. I ended up in Senator Kapanke’s ground floor office as he moved to the more “desirable” real estate of the third floor.

As we waited for the Sergeant’s orders to “move” Friday morning I changed the message on our office answering machine directing people to call my home number. We would be without phone service and I wanted to make sure people who called had a real person on the other end of the line.

The whole move lasted a few hours, but unpacking boxes took much longer.

Late afternoon the office phone rang. I dove through eight boxes on my desk to find my phone and came up with a live person on the other end. He didn’t say hello just “the problem with government is that no one answers their phone.”

The poor fellow spent the entire afternoon on the phone trying to get a real person at the Social Security office to help him. He was so frustrated I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was lucky at that moment to even find my phone in the sea of boxes.  But I assured him, come Monday morning, we would find someone to answer his question.

We are back in business in our office at 3 South.  Same phone number, same P.O. box address and, if you call, a real person will answer the phone. And it might be me.

You are welcome to visit my new office. I encourage all visitors to tour our beautiful State Capitol.  Tours are offered daily, year round (except for certain holidays) every hour but the noon hour from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Sunday tours run from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  The tours provide an excellent history of the Capitol and close-up look at its grandeur.  And the tours are free.

“Why can’t you Democrats and Republicans get along?” the woman asked me. “All of this fighting is tearing our country apart.”

When I asked her what it was that disturbed her most the answer was loud and clear – “Take those nasty campaign ads off TV and get them out of my mail box.”

What people remember most about the election of 2010 is the very negative nature of ads – most of which were written and paid for by independent groups.

Finding out who pays for these negative ads is something the Government Accountability Board (GAB) wants to make public. The state agency that regulates elections, campaigns and lobbying spent nearly two years crafting independent group disclosure rules requiring them to register with the state and limiting donations to $10,000.

In August, various independent groups filed suit to have the Wisconsin Supreme Court block the new disclosure rules. In a rare action, the State Supreme Court agreed to take up lawsuits filed by these groups against the Government Accountability Board instead of sending it through the lower courts.

This action paves the way for formal arguments against the GAB’s efforts to require disclosure of money flowing into independent groups that use the money to influence elections.

The influence of independent groups was a topic of discussion last week at the Legislative Breakfast sponsored by the Sparta Chamber of Commerce. A local man concerned about all the money spent in my race asked me to explain.

I told the group I am forbidden by law from coordinating or communicating with any independent group. I cannot tell them what to say, nor can I stop them from what they are doing.

Estimates are that approximately one million dollars was spent in each of the four top State Senate races. The campaigns raised and spent less than 20% of that money – or about $200,000. This amount does not come close to the money spent by independent groups. 

These groups with positive sounding names like “Americans for Prosperity” or “All Children Matter” spend millions in elections but are not required to disclose their donors or follow the rules candidates must follow.

Contributions from individuals to a State Senate candidate are limited to no more than $1,000 in a four year period. And the candidate who receives the donation must disclose who donates.

Political action committees are also limited to a $1,000 donation over a four year period. Candidates cannot accept more than about $15,000 in total from political action committees and can accept only a little less than $7,000 from a political party. 

While Wisconsin law does not require independent groups to report who contributes to them nor limits who donates how much to them, state law does forbid donations from corporations and has since Bob La Follette’s work in 1912.

But the recent Federal Supreme Court Citizen’s United decision opened the doors for corporations to contribute to independent groups. This tipped the scale away from candidates and towards independent groups in controlling the airways and the message in the campaigns. It has also added to the negative nature of campaigns.

And from a candidate’s perspective that is a problem. Candidates have certain issues they want to talk about in a campaign but when they only control 20% of what is being spent for or against them, often their message is not the one the voters hear.

This presents a problem from the voter’s perspective. We want to know who is saying what and why. All too often the message is a distortion of facts or complete fiction and is always politically motivated.

In March, the State Supreme Court will hear arguments on the lawsuits filed by independent groups against the Government Accountability Board. The legal issue to be debated is the first amendment – the right of free speech. Does money equal free speech? Did the framers of our constitution ever imagine cash could control the airways and the minds of many?

It is essential to our democracy that we have the right to know who is behind the message about any candidate. Then as well informed, watchful citizens we can exercise our right to vote.

Last Sunday, a woman asked if I would make sure United States trade agreements were negotiated in fairness to every Wisconsin worker. She said, “If you can get this done you will be elected every year for life!”

I support fair treatment for Wisconsin workers; but I had to tell her negotiating trade agreements with other countries involves her U.S. Senator – not her State Senator.

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in discussions that were as close as any State Senator would come to negotiating with other countries.

I am the newest member of the Legislative Council’s Special Committee on State Tribal Relations. The committee was established by Wisconsin law to maintain a permanent vehicle for resolving issues between Wisconsin and the sovereign tribes that live within Wisconsin’s borders.

As independent nations, the tribes have rights established by long ago treaties. But many modern day problems arise that require action by both the tribes and the state. The State Tribal Relations Committee consists of both Legislators and members of Wisconsin’s tribes appointed by the tribal leaders. The Committee meets on a regular basis to take up issues of concern to the state and the tribes.  I joined senior members of the committee – many of whom have worked on tribal issues for over two decades.

In recent years legislation written by the Committee resolved issues related to adoption and treatment of Indian foster children through the Wisconsin codification of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

The relationship between county, city and tribal law enforcement was clarified in the recent passage of a “mutual assistance” bill allowing local government to enter into agreements with tribes for the protection of citizens on and near tribal lands.

When the Committee convened last week our agenda focused on the increasing achievement gap between Native children and white children.

Members were astonished to learn typically fifty percent of Native children do not complete high school. Suspension and expulsion rates are higher than white students and many Native students leave high school without adequate preparation. An unusually high number of Native children are tagged as special education students – costing the school district more and leaving the child with a label that may not accurately reflect the child’s needs.  One school administrator said, “Special ed should not be the only game in town to support students.”

Another school administrator explained, in tears, her struggle to instill a love of learning within her teen-age Native students. One student with a chronic behavior problem told her that he didn’t need a job because he was Native. “The school cannot be held solely accountable for these problems,” she said. “The parents have an out for being poor parents; the community has an out for being discriminatory; the teachers have an out for being poor teachers. Change can’t happen without courageous leaders and a commitment by all.”

Part of the problem is teacher training, part is related to parental involvement, part is related to a system that provided resources only when the student is labeled special education and part is related to historic discrimination that still affects families.

A school social worker from Green Bay shared her childhood experience of being removed from her tribe and isolated from her parents. After the hearing I spoke with a man who shared the woman’s experience.

“In the ‘Indian Boarding Schools’ we were forced to cut our hair. We could not speak our Native language. We were required to wear different clothes and act in a certain way. Our heritage was demeaned and our culture was ripped from us,” he told me.

Several remedies for helping Native children succeed were discussed with the committee. One new idea, “Response to Intervention”, provides interventions before the student is labeled “Special Education”.

One of the administrators summarized the solution. “Intense instruction with high expectations will have positive outcomes,” he said. “This is not about what’s wrong with the child. It is about where the child is and what to do next.”

“I went to Wal-Mart to get my hunting license and they told me I could not have a doe permit,” said the man from Jackson County. “Since when are we not supposed to shoot does?”

Hunters heading to the woods this week are promised a better hunt than last year.

“I am feeling pretty positive,” said Kris Belling, a regional wildlife manager, in an interview with the Eau Claire Leader Telegram. “Hunters are going to have a better year than last year.”

But my caller from rural Jackson County wasn’t so sure. “My kids are really counting on hunting this year. I really would like to shoot the does. We have all kinds of deer on our land.”

After several calls to the Department of Natural Resources, I discovered that Deer Management Unit (DMU) 55 – in eastern Jackson and southern Clark counties as well as areas in Dunn and Pierce Counties- had limited antlerless deer tags.

Most of our Senate District is blessed (or cursed if you are a farmer with deer eating your crops) to be designated a deer herd control unit. This means the area has deer populations that need to be thinned.  If you are in DMU 61, 59D, & 72 (Buffalo, Trempealeau, Eastern Jackson, most of Pepin, La Crosse and Monroe counties) you can get unlimited antlerless tags.

But this is not so for the Central Forests including DMU 55; these are low population areas. Hunters will receive one buck tag but no antlerless tags.

The DNR is working to balance the number of bucks and does. Although the system is imperfect, hunters can help.  Shooting does in herd control areas is part of the answer. Accurate modeling to predict population changes is also part of the mix.

Over the years the approach taken by the DNR to assess the deer population has come under fire. This was especially true last year when hunters saw 29% drop in the kill rate from 2008.

“We going to start to make progress this winter,” a member of the Conservation Congress Large Game Committee told me Friday.  “Sportsmen said the population was way down and the DNR listened. Beginning this winter new studies will look at buck and fawn mortality. There will be a tagging study. The DNR will set out large box traps, catching and tagging deer, radio collaring some deer and putting a chip in the ear of other deer.

“Some pregnant does will have a radio chip in their uterus. When fawn drops, the radio chip drops. DNR staff will track the fawns and study fawn mortality. Between bears, bobcats, fishers and wolves, predators are eating the fawns.”

“The study on the Clam Lake Elk herd showed newborn calf mortality was almost 60% due to predation. Soon we will be able to know more about mortality rates for newborn fawns.”

I told him the story of my constituent in Jackson County and he said, “People are upset about areas not in ‘herd control’. The Northeast part of the state can shoot absolutely no does at all. Even in bow season.”

The new research on the deer population was funded with money from the federal government. A federal excise tax is collected on guns, ammo and hunting equipment. Those dollars, known as the federal Pittman-Robertson funds are given back to the state. Wisconsin received over $2 million of the research funds.

DNR Secretary Matt Frank, when announcing the new deer population initiative said, “While this is a significant sum, we believe that this is a worthwhile investment to improve the long-term management of a sustainable and healthy deer herd for generations to come.”

Deer hunting is a Wisconsin tradition.  Working together we can ensure that future generations of hunters will have hunting tales to share around the Thanksgiving table. To all this year’s hunters – be safe out there.

The election was over and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. No more nasty mail and campaign commercials. The county clerks who are responsible for administering the election, and so much more, relaxed a bit and prepared for the onslaught of deer hunters seeking a hunting license.

But the much needed rest from elections was not to happen; at least not now. Two close elections required a recount. And in a third election the losing candidate sought a recount.

The Government Accountability Board oversees elections and recounts in Wisconsin. The recount is governed by state law and spelled out in a 50 page manual that begins with the sentence “Elections are often decided by a few votes.”

In 2008, a candidate for the 47^th Assembly District was defeated by just 28 votes.  After the recount was completed the losing candidate picked up five votes and her opponent was declared the winner.

Several elections across Wisconsin this year were decided by close margins.

In the case of two local elections – the two Assembly Districts in the Eau Claire area – the difference between the winning and losing candidates was less than 100 votes. Both losing candidates requested a recount.

In elections with more than 1,000 votes cast, if the winner wins by a half a percentage point or less there is no charge for the recount.

In 31^st Senate District the margin of victory was 439 votes. State law provides for a candidate to request a recount if the margin of victory is greater than a half a percentage point.

In my race the margin was about seven tenths of a percentage point. To request a recount, my opponent paid $5 a ward or about $1,500. Since the district is very large – covering all or part of nine counties – this fee is parceled out across many counties.

The fee comes nowhere close to covering the cost of the recount election. For example, Buffalo County will receive about $150 for the recount. The county clerk told me last week the cost of recalibrating the voting machine in Mondovi to do the recount costs $200 alone.

In 2006, Vernon County was involved in a recount for the 96^th Assembly District.  According to a December 3, 2006 interview printed in the Wisconsin State Journal, the Vernon County Clerk stated the recount did not significantly change the election results but it cost the county more than $4500.

The recount for the two Assembly races in Eau Claire will happen separately and will be completed first. In all other counties in our Senate District the recount for the Senate seat began last Friday.

The recounting is a slow and serious procedure. Every voting machine is tested. Every ballot is recounted. All paper records from electronic voting machines are recounted; all logs and poll lists are reviewed; every absentee ballot application, every rejected absentee ballot and every provisional ballot is reviewed. All actions and decisions are recorded.

The process must be completed within thirteen days after the recount is authorized. It is likely to take that much time. When I spoke with the county clerk from Trempealeau County, he reminded me Trempealeau County had a recount in the recent primary for sheriff. Counting 3,000 votes took three days. In the Senate race there are about 10,000 votes to count in Trempealeau County – likely to take a week or more.

 The recount process is part of Wisconsin law to assure the will of the voters is followed and the proper procedure for counting votes is followed by election officials. Late Friday night, after the first day of recounting, I spoke with a gentleman involved in the recount.

“The clerk was very professional,” he told me. “She knew exactly what to do and helped us understand the process. It was all quite a lesson in democracy for all of us.”

“What changes can we expect as a result of last Tuesday’s election?” the reporter asked me. He was one of several who asked my opinion on how things will change under the new leadership in the Capitol. 

The state saw a surge of successes among Republican candidates which resulted in a switch in the majority party in both houses of the Legislature. The Senate has 19 Republican members and 14 Democrats; the Assembly has 60 Republicans, 38 Democrats and one Independent.

Since the election people have asked me what this change means to their lives. Some people called with concerns about specific legislation they support or oppose and wondered about the prospects for the coming Legislative Session.

Farmers asked me if the change in partisan control of the Legislature and the Governor will help or hurt chances of passing the raw milk bill. I worked with my colleagues to pass a raw milk bill last spring.  Despite the strong support from both parties the bill was vetoed by Governor Doyle.  The possibility of passing a bill permitting the limited on-farm sale of raw milk by dairy farmers is greatly improved under Governor-Elect Walker.

A few ag reporters asked me whether farmers might lose the property tax break provided by the Use Value Assessment. Protecting this valuable program that helps farmers will likely be much easier as those calling for a change are either no longer in the Legislature or no longer in the majority.

But fixing school funding is likely to be much more difficult. Every newly elected legislator faces a daunting task in balancing the state budget. Governor- Elect Walker has made it clear that he wants to cut taxes. Making tax cuts now makes balancing the budget even more difficult.

The largest share of the state taxes we pay goes to fund public education.  So cuts are likely to be felt in our schools, making it very difficult for school budgets already stretched thin.

A dairy farmer called a few days ago worried about the future of BadgerCare. Many of our friends and neighbors – especially farm families and small business owners- rely on BadgerCare for their family’s health care needs.

BadgerCare is part of the state Medicaid program. Medicaid takes up the largest part of the “All Funds” budget or the budget that includes federal dollars. BadgerCare has grown quickly in the past few years and budget hawks will take a hard look at the program.

Federal Medicaid rules prohibiting changes in eligibility and benefits may make it difficult to kick large numbers of people off the program. But, clearly, we must work towards an alternative to BadgerCare that provides affordable, adequate health insurance to farmers and small businesses.

Another frequent question I’ve been asked is about getting work done as a member of the minority party.  Some things will be different; I won’t chair a committee as only majority party members hold committee chair positions. I will have one less staff member in my Senate office to help constituents.

But one thing that will not change is my effort to work with Republicans. As a committee chair, I reached out to all committee members, regardless of party, and made sure they were a part of the decision-making process. Good bills were passed out of my committees without regard to partisan politics.

This must continue. People are tired of partisan wrangling and just want to see the work get done. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues of both parties and I thank the voters for sending me back to the State Senate.

My office remains your office. Please do not hesitate to call us toll free at 877-763-6636. We will all miss the pleasant voice that greeted us on the other end of the phone line.  Thank you much to our staffer Kathie Colbert. We wish her the best in her new endeavors.

Two men took a motorcycle trip to the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King. Their conversations on that trip were the start of an organization that had its official birth last Saturday.

Both men were Marines. Both men recognized the strong bond among those who serve. Both men realized strengthening that bond among Marine veterans, including those returning to civilian life, could help ease the transition for the returning warriors.  For one man this mission was very personal. His three sons were all active duty Marines.

“The bond between Marines is some times stronger than blood,” he told me.

Saturday night the Andrew Blackhawk American Legion Post 129 hosted a ceremony chartering the new detachment of the Marine Corp League. I was honored to attend and to speak at the ceremony at the Legion hall. 

The Legion hall is a special place for the Ho-Chunk Nation. The walls are covered with pictures of the many tribal members who have served.  Each picture has many stories.

As I looked at each photo I was joined by a non-Native man who said, “These stories need to be told.”

One story told during the ceremony was that of the man for whom the new Detachment of the Marine Corp League is named.

Mitchell Red Cloud was born in Hatfield. He attended the Indian School in Neillsville and Black River Falls High School.  At age sixteen he asked his father if he could join the Army. The year was 1941. Mitchell joined Carlson’s Raiders, a select group of highly trained young Marines that served many missions including the defense of Henderson Field in Guadalcanal.

Like many whose relatives served in Guadalcanal, I was fascinated by the story of extreme hardship and difficult conditions faced by those who served to secure this South Pacific Island which helped turn the course of World War II.

Like so many that served and survived, Mitchell was ordered home with malaria in 1943. But he refused medical discharge and returned to the South Pacific to serve until the end of the war. Red Cloud saw many cherished comrades die in combat. Dan Marsh’s Marine Raider Website records Red Cloud’s words remembering his Raider buddies  “… may their spirit ever inspiring courage strengthen me to carry on to finish the task for which they gave their all…”’

In November of 1945, Mitchell was given an honorable discharge after a bullet pierced his shoulder. But by 1948 the 23 year old Marine reenlisted, this time in the Army and he was sent to Japan. By1950 he was serving in Korea. In late fall of that year the Chinese entered the war on behalf of the North Koreans. 

In the bitter cold Cpl. Mitchell Red Cloud was keeping watch.  According to the Medal of Honor Citation presented to his mother and younger brother… “from his position on the point of a ridge immediately in front of the company command post he was the first to detect the approach of the Chinese Communist forces and give the alarm as the enemy charged from a brush-covered area less than 100 feet from him. Springing up, he delivered devastating pointblank automatic rifle fire into the advancing enemy. His accurate and intense fire checked this assault and gained time for the company to consolidate its defense. With utter fearlessness he maintained his firing position until severely wounded by enemy fire. Refusing assistance he pulled himself to his feet and, wrapping his arm around a tree, continued his deadly fire again, until he was fatally wounded. This heroic act stopped the enemy from overrunning his company’s position and gained time for reorganization and evacuation of the wounded. Cpl. Red Cloud’s dauntless courage and gallant self-sacrifice reflects the highest credit upon himself and upholds the esteemed traditions of the U.S. Army.”

This Friday, November 5th marks the sixtieth anniversary of Mitchell Red Cloud’s death. It is fitting and honorable that we mark this anniversary with the formation of a new Detachment of the Marine Corp League which will strengthen the bond of those who served by gathering and telling their stories.   

Stories help us to remember the gallantry of all the heroes; those whose photos line the walls of the Andrew Blackhawk American Legion Post 129; those who took the Marine Corp League oath to form the new Detachment and that of Mitchell Red Cloud.

Thank you to all the brave warriors who have served and are now serving for the courage that gives us the blessings of freedom.