It’s time for longtime Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner to retire.
Sensenbrenner has little positive to show for his 30 years in office. Sensenbrenner has not only led this nation on a dangerous path after Sept. 11 with his disregard for the Bill of Rights, but he has also sowed division among Americans with his cruel immigration legislation.
Unfortunately for the Republicans, he has been instrumental in helping lead the Republican Congress back into the minority. Sensenbrenner took pettiness and partisanship to toxic levels once he attained some power in Congress as chair of the Judiciary Committee. He was willing to demonize and dehumanize illegal immigrants and threatened to turn a tolerant nation into something unrecognizable.
The Shepherd endorses Jim Burkee in the Republican primary for the 5th Congressional District. Burkee is a traditional Republican, and we don’t agree with him on many issues. But Burkee honestly wants to serve the publicand not put himself or his party first. That’s a notion that Sensenbrenner clearly doesn’t get after all of these years in Washington. Burkee would provide his constituents with a rep resentative who would seek out common ground with Democrats and independents.
Now that Republicans in Congress are back in the minority, Burkee’s willingness to work across the partisan aisle will allow him to be more effective than Sensenbrenner despite all of Sensenbrenner’s seniority. That makes Burkee a better match for the district than Sensenbrenner, and we encourage voters to support him.
