By: Tiffany Crouse
Tia Torhorst
The primary for State Assembly is fast approaching. Current incumbent, Sandy Pasch, is not running for re-election.
Tia Torhorst is one of the four candidates for district ten.
The other three candidates are: David Bowen, Bria Grant, Sara Lee Johann. Torhorst plans, if elected, to reinstate a number of programs that have taken monetary cutbacks from the state.
She hopes to give more state money to schools, the Milwaukee County Transit system, public safety and the criminal justice system. “Milwaukee is the economic heart of our state. We need to support it to move forward,” Torhorst said.
In hopes to create a better education system in Milwaukee Torhorst wants to restore collective bargaining to teachers in Wisconsin.
“Teaching is an incredibly honorable profession, and it’s a craft that people spend many years leaning how to do.
Collective bargaining allows them to have a voice about their salary, benefits, and working conditions,” said Torhorst.
She believes that reinstating this will ultimately make for better public schools in Milwaukee. Torhorst wants to make strides to eliminate the school voucher system.
She believes that the voucher system takes money that would be better spent going into Milwaukee Public Schools.
By doing this she hopes to endorse kids programs and give them a better chance to learn in hopes that they get a higher paying job once done with school.
Torhorst would like to have more tax breaks for technical schools and universities.
“We need to make sure that college is affordable for every kid,” said Torhorst.
Ultimately she hopes this would encourage more people to get a higher education, allowing them to get higher paying jobs. She believes that this would also lower the crime rate.
“I think the crime rate in Milwaukee is a multiple tiered issue, but I think ultimately it gets back to poverty and education,” said Torhorst. She would like to see more funding for schools and the raising of minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in order to help people have family sustaining jobs. She believes this would give people another option for income that doesn’t involve crime.
Raising minimum wage would allow lower income people to purchase more things within the community, Torhost said, there for helping the local economy.
“Pay a wage that lets people be respected for the work that they do” said Torhost.
She would like to tie the minimum wage to an inflation rate in order to keep a family sustaining minimum wage.
She says that this will not hurt business bottom line.
Torhorst would like to fund these programs through “fair tax code” changes and the cutting of ineffective programs in Milwaukee.
“We need to make sure that people who are able to contribute to the tax base are doing so in a way that is proportionate to their income,” said Torhorst.
Torhorst did not know of any programs that she would cut at this time, but said she would like to create a system to judge a program’s successfulness.
According to Torhorst’s website she has worked with the Milwaukee Bar Association, Office of Milwaukee County Executives, and was the political director for “Chris Able for County Executive.”
She is a mother of two and a proud Milwaukeean. The Partisan Primary election is on August 12th.