57th Assembly District candidates Beach and Snodgrass differ on redistricting, health care during virtual forum

Eric Beach, Lee Snodgrass

 (Photo: Submitted photos)

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories about the race for the 57th Assembly District.

APPLETON – Republican Eric Beach and Democrat Lee Snodgrass participated in a virtual forum Tuesday to distinguish themselves as the best candidate for the 57th Assembly District ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Beach said his primary focus as a legislator would be to ensure responsible fiscal spending and to improve the efficiency and agility of government agencies.

“Money makes the world go round,” he said. “Money makes the state go around, too.”

Snodgrass said she first and foremost would concentrate on reducing the spread of COVID-19.

“It impacts so many areas of our state,” she said. “It impacts our economy. It impacts the health of our citizens. It impacts our school district and getting our students into schools.”

The forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Appleton and was held virtually to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Moderator Jacqui Klimaszewski asked questions that were submitted by residents, and the candidates had two minutes to answer the first and last questions and 1½ minutes for all other questions.

The format highlighted differences between the candidates on several issues confronting the state and precluded anything like the hot mess of the first presidential debate.

Beach said he wasn’t in favor of creating a nonpartisan commission to redraw legislative maps to eliminate gerrymandering in Wisconsin. That’s the job of the Legislature, he said.

Snodgrass disagreed. “The last time the maps were drawn,” she said, “they were drawn literally behind closed doors at a lawyer’s office with input from lobbyists, and they did not involve the Democrats in the process at all.”

She supported the People’s Maps Commission, which is designed to gather input from residents around the state to draw and submit maps to the Legislature for a vote.

“The district that Eric and I are running for is gerrymandered to favor a Democrat,” Snodgrass said. “Frankly, I have everything to lose if we have maps that are more competitive, but I’m not afraid of fighting for votes, picking them up, earning those votes rather than being at the advantage of the maps.”

RELATED: Beach, Snodgrass hold different views of top legislative issues

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Beach was critical of the state’s haphazard response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“People are frustrated,” he said. “Churches are closed; bars are open. Big-box stores are open; small stores are closed. It doesn’t seem like we’ve had much rhyme or reason to our reaction to COVID. We close the state down; we open it back up. The mask mandate is being challenged — not even sure it’s constitutional and the extension as well.”

Snodgrass said there was a reason for Wisconsin’s disjointed approach to the pandemic. “The Republican majority sued to overturn the state’s safer-at-home order,” she said. “There was a plan in place that would have enabled us to open gradually as our numbers went down.”

Regarding health care, Beach praised Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus as “a great program” and said it was sufficient to meet the needs of residents without the expansion of Medicaid as allowed under the Affordable Care Act.

“I understand that accepting the (Medicaid) expansion kind of puts Wisconsin on the hook,” Beach said. “It makes them more responsible for increases in uncovered fees.”

Snodgrass said Wisconsin needs to take the full Medicaid expansion.

“We could cover 80,000 more Wisconsinites a year, and in the middle of a health pandemic, I think that’s a really good thing, that we provide health care,” she said. “It would save us $160 million a year. … It’s money that already exists that we are simply not bringing into our state.”

Beach and Snodgrass also differed on taxpayer-funded vouchers that help students attend private schools. Beach favored the school vouchers; Snodgrass wanted to see them phased out. 

The hour-long forum is available for replay on the League of Women Voter’s Facebook page.

The winner of the Nov. 3 election will succeed Rep. Amanda Stuck, D-Appleton. Stuck is running for Congress and didn’t seek re-election to the Legislature.

The 57th Assembly District includes parts of Appleton, Menasha and Fox Crossing.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

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