STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) – Julie Lassa will make economic recovery a top priority as she runs for Congress this fall.
The Democratic state senator from Stevens Point said Tuesday that she got into the race to “begin a new chapter. I want to be a fresh new voice for the people of this district.”
Lassa dismissed Republican critics who said she caused 175,000 in Wisconsin to lose their jobs while she chaired the Senate's economic development committee.
“The national and global recession cost those jobs in the state,” Lassa said.
Lassa pointed to the CORE Jobs Act that Governor Doyle signed into law Monday as an example of legislation she's drafted to add jobs in Wisconsin. The legislation provides tuition tax credits for companies that help their workers go back to school and millions more in tax credits for angel and venture capital investments.
“It focuses on helping current businesses in Wisconsin weather this recession and put them on a track to grow and expand in the future,” Lassa said.
Lassa is the only Democrat to announce she is running for the seat Representative Dave Obey will give up after 41 years.
Lassa said she will campaign on her own from now until the November election, setting aside questions that Obey would give her a boost on the campaign trail.
“I'm comfortable being out there doing that myself,” she said. “It's important that people get a chance to know Julie Lassa the congressional candidate – what I stand for, what my background is and what I believe we need to move the congressional district, the state and the nation forward.”
