In this election season we need to study the issues and compare the candidates. A significant election in the Coulee Region is the one for the 3rd Congressional District Representative and an issue with many sub-plots affecting many people is education.

On his campaign webpage Derrick Van Orden, the incumbent, lists nine issues of great importance to the voters. The prologue to his “Issues” section states “Derrick stands for common sense policies that ensure our nation’s prosperity and security, represent our foundational values, and give Wisconsinites a reason to be once again proud of their leaders.” The first one of the nine issues listed is “An Education our Children Deserve”.

Van Orden pretty well sums up the big picture with “In times of crises, our leaders should revert to our founding documents: The Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. Democrats like Tony Evers have ignored our founding principles and instead imposed onerous and capricious restrictions on our families and schools.”

On her campaign webpage Rebecca Cooke, the challenger, states “This priorities page is written in my own words, not by a Washington insider-…”. Cooke has listed eleven priorities of which the ninth is “Strengthening our Education System”. The initial (thus most important) statement is “I am a proud product of Eau Claire public schools-…”. She then lists seven bullet points which she is looking to accomplish. Her first words are about Increasing funding for early childhood education as if throwing more money at a problem solves everything. Her next bullet starts “Address our teacher shortage crisis by offering pay increases and signing bonuses.” Then she advocates removing cost of living pay increases and continues something about paying for experience by an industry standard set by unions. She writes about working with state legislators, though as a potential US Representative I wonder if she meant legislatures. Some of her other bullet points are worthy of discussion (or evaluation) as well. Her concerns are many but more spending doesn’t solve every problem.

Another aspect of education and elections is the formal education of the candidates. Both Van Orden and Cooke have a Bachelor degree; but it seems the similarity stops there. Van Orden, in his 26-year active duty military career, has undoubtedly completed numerous courses on a variety of topics. You can’t complete a 26-year career in today’s military without continual training and education about management, leadership, human relations and warfighter skills. Granted Cooke has picked up skills through her experiences, but I suggest Van Orden has picked up more and then add the experiences of living in foreign countries and the cultures he had to know about there. Van Orden has also had the experience having children in the public school systems.

The education through experiences scale tips in Van Orden’s favor so much so that I think of President Reagan’s famous quip in the second presidential debate with Walter Mondale. When asked about his old age, President Reagan responded with the famous lines, “I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.”

If Van Orden and Cooke were campaigning for the Wisconsin State Legislature I would want to ask about mill rates, referendums, and state aid to education. I might even ask about the role and responsibilities of the CESAs. But, those seem to be state issues, not federal. Discussion on teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, history, science, and civics seem to be missing as well but maybe they too are state issues.

I will close where I started, that Van Orden “stands for common sense policies that ensure our nation’s prosperity and security, represent our foundational values, and give Wisconsinites a reason to once again be proud of their leaders.”

If the election were today I would vote for Van Orden for Representative for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District and for many more reasons than the issue of education.