Monday, January 7, 2013
3:58 PM
Barca asks new Assembly members for a fresh start and "real bipartisanship"
Assembly Minority Leader Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, told the members of the 2013-14 session that he hopes the new members of the Assembly will be able to put old disputes behind them to tackle issues like job training and education.
Barca compared members of the Assembly to characters in Charles Dicken's "Great Expectations," sayings "we're all sort of like Pip" and that "our benefactors are the constituents." He also said that the voters of Wisconsin are looking for lawmakers to finally work together on issues they campaign on.
"We recognized that people really wanted us to truly work together and reach across the aisle," Barca said. "Bipartisanship means you start from the beginning and erase the past."
He said that he hoped the freshmen legislators brought new ideas and a "new culture" to the Assembly in hopes of putting the contentious debates of the past behind the body. As for members who came in for the first time last session, he had a slightly different wish.
"I hope you have amnesia," Barca said.
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