Between the rails: comparing Assembly District 33 candidates

By Dan Russler

Wisconsin State Assembly District 33 includes the southern half of Jefferson County and the northeastern portion of Rock County, including Milton. Now that the August primary is completed, we can observe that our two competing Assembly candidates demonstrate many similarities, but their differences are less well defined. 

Nevertheless, we are fortunate to have both men as candidates. They both have contributed a great deal to their communities over the years. 

Although Scott Johnson is now running as a Republican, his prior public service was as a Fort Atkinson School Board member, a nonpartisan office. Somewhat in contrast, Don Vruwink is a fairly conservative Democrat in the State Assembly, who has attracted both Democratic and non-Democratic voters for many years. 

Both have close ties to the Milton area. Vruwink grew up in central Wisconsin, but settled in Milton as a history teacher and coach. Johnson graduated from Milton High School, but after an agricultural education, settled as a farmer in Jefferson County. 

Both have dedicated much of their lives to education. Not only did Johnson serve on the Fort Atkinson School Board, including a period as president of the board, he provided substitute school bus driver support for his district. Not only did Don Vruwink teach and coach for his high school, he provided substitute teaching services for his district as he transitioned into his political role. 

Both point out their own conservative credentials. Vruwink received a 2021 Property Taxpayer Champion award from the Wisconsin Property Taxpayers, Inc., an organization of “18,000 small businesses, farms, and property owners across the state,” according to the organization’s website. 

In an interview, with Madison.com, Johnson was quoted as saying: “I am a fiscal conservative Republican.”

Both also emphasize conservation. 

According to a post made by Johnson on his “Scott Johnson for Fort Atkinson School Board” Facebook page, active in 2012, Johnson worked “to introduce sustainable alternative energies to our community by utilizing geo-thermal, solar hot water, photovoltaic, and wind turbine technologies, in order to reduce our energy costs and apply more tax dollars to child learning.”

Vruwink was listed as a “Conservation Champion” on its legislative scorecard by the League of Wisconsin Conservation Voters. 

These and many other similarities exist between the two. However, educated voters need some factual basis on which to decide before voting. 

Over the next few months prior to the election in November, voters will need to drill down on the differences between these two candidates. Specifically: how do these two candidates differ on matters of importance within Jefferson and Rock counties? How should we clean up the Rock River and other waters in our counties? What are our fair share of services from the state? What kind of careers should we be helping our students develop? 

All of these and other answers belong on the voter scorecards we create on our Assembly candidates. I am confident that both of these candidates will come up with answers that are nicely “between the rails.” 

Please make sure you’ve evaluated their positions before you vote in November. 

Describing himself as a writer of “commentary by a nonpartisan centrist,” Dan Russler is member of two ad hoc analytical groups: Fair Maps of Jefferson County and the Wisconsin Map Assessment Project (WIMAP), and he is one of 36 “Concerned Voters of Wisconsin,” a citizens’ group which submitted in January an amicus brief, also known as a “friends of the court” document, asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reject the Wisconsin Legislature’s proposed Assembly map. He is one of 10 Wisconsin voters who, in March, filed a civil rights lawsuit asking the federal court for a declaratory judgement disqualifying U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, and U.S. Reps. Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Tiffany as candidates for office in November. Russler is a resident of Jefferson County.