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State Rep. Luther Olsen told a group of WEAC members Wednesday night (February 20, 2002) that he was misquoted in newspapers earlier this week, and that he in fact knows of no "deal" between WEAC and Governor McCallum regarding education funding.
 Rep. Luther Olsen (left), with WEAC President Stan Johnson, tells a group of WEAC members, "There was no deal" between WEAC and the governor. |
Olsen said he attended a well-publicized meeting last fall in northern Wisconsin to discuss education issues. The meeting, arranged by Governor McCallum, included representatives of the governor's office, WEAC, school districts, the business community, certain legislators, and others.
"There is no deal. There was no deal made. There was no deal talked about," Olsen emphatically stated Wednesday at a meeting of south-central and southwest Wisconsin local association and UniServ negotiators and presidents in Madison.
Olsen, who is chair of the Assembly Education Committee, was attending another conference at Madison's Concourse Hotel, and agreed to briefly address the WEAC meeting to set the record straight.
Olsen was quoted, initially in the Appleton Post-Crescent, as suggesting that K-12 education funding was protected from cuts in the governor's budget adjustment plan "so that WEAC will either endorse the governor or stay out of the race." The article was based on comments Olsen made to a group of Fox Valley educators.
Olsen said Wednesday that the quotes were "totally out of context."
"Whatever the paper said, don't believe it," he said.
WEAC President Stan Johnson and McCallum have repeatedly denied suggestions that any deal was made. Johnson has pointed out that WEAC has a strict member-driven procedure for determining which candidates it recommends. That procedure involves interviews by the WEAC Political Action Committee, a vote of the WEAC Board of Directors, and direct balloting of all WEAC members who contribute to the Political Action Committee.
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Posted February 21, 2002