At the State Capitol in Madison, the back-and-forth continues over Wisconsin’s legislative maps. In December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Wisconsin’s legislative maps are unconstitutional. They must be redrawn before the 2024 election.
Wisconsin Farmers Union is asking the Legislature to work together on fair maps. WFU member Hans Breitenmoser is passionate about the issue. Breitenmoser operates Golden Dawn Farm in Lincoln County, milking 450 dairy cows and farming 1,300 acres.
Bretienmoser says his involvement in the fair maps discussion started while he was serving on the county board. He noticed a disconnect between state policy and what rural, small communities were asking for.
“It became clear… we were not getting maps that were necessarily representing our constituents,” he says. “To me that was problematic. If we want to get the kind of public policy that people are asking for, the only way to do that is to make sure that we do in fact have a representative government.”
In Wisconsin Farmers Union’s policy priorities, the organization encourages the legislature to put politics aside for the court-ordered 2024 redistricting. In the future, WFU insists upon the creation of an objective procedure for the preparation of redistricting plans.
