Photo courtesy of Jacob Malinowski for Wisconsin
Jacob Malinowski is committed to working as hard as he can to improve the lives of the people in the 82nd state assembly district and the people in the entire state of Wisconsin. Malinowski was born and raised in Greendale, served on the Greendale School Board and hasn’t spent more than a week outside of his hometown area other than his years in college at Yale University. After college he came back to Greendale with a new appreciation for his hometown and the State of Wisconsin, and he wanted to serve its people.
“I learned a lot (in college) but learned to appreciate where I was from more,” says Malinowski. “I came back because I’m passionate about my hometown.”
Malinowski was inspired to join the race for the State Assembly after a few suicides in the area in the fall of 2019, including a good friend’s younger brother. It was a serious matter and the legislature responded by introducing and debating bi-partisan suicide prevention legislation. Malinowski was stunned to learn that his state representative, now Malinowski’s opponent, choose to not come to work for this and did not vote on an issue that is literally a life and death issue for many families.
“I was disappointed to learn that we had an absent leader who doesn’t answer to his constituents and isn’t there when you need him the most,” says Malinowski. That was not the work ethic that Malinowski was raised with. His came from a hard-working middle-class family where his father was a carpenter. Malinowski worked three jobs to help pay for his college and is quick to point out that the state legislature hasn’t shown up to work in the last 180 days. His opponent has never requested or pushed the assembly leadership to meet and do its job in our current difficult time when we are in a pandemic and a serious recession.
“It’s been over 180 days since the state legislature has done anything,” says Malinowski. “They have not shown up to pass a bill or even debate a bill about COVID-19, they have not debated anything or passed any bill on racial unrest in our state, nothing about re-opening schools. We’re still paying them.”
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Even if people don’t agree with him on every issue, Malinowski believes the people in the 82nd district would rather have somebody representing them who will listen, work hard and will actually respond to their questions and concerns.
Difficult Campaign Climate
Campaigning in the time of COVID-19 for a new candidate is very difficult since you can’t go door to door and meet voters face to face. Malinowski spends a lot of time on the phone, making calls and taking questions from potential voters. During these conversations, he’s made it a point to listen, to honestly tell people his positions and not try to agree with everyone on every issue just to get their vote. He feels it’s OK to agree to disagree on some issues.
Before the interview for this article, Malinowski was on the phone with a Republican couple from Franklin, first the husband, then the wife wanted to get on the phone to talk. She explained how she would not be voting for the Republican incumbent and would instead vote for Malinowski because she feels that the current representative isn’t for the people and only representing the will of Robin Voss, the Assembly Speaker.
Malinowski is running against Republican incumbent Ken Skowronski, who has been the representative for the 82nd District since 2014. Skowronski was actually a good friend of Malinowski’s grandfather, and Malinowski’s father stood up in the wedding of one of Skowronski’s children.
From talking with random voters in the 82nd district, they felt that this has been a civil type of campaign. Malinowski was very respectful. They saw it more as a question of having an energetic state representative who will listen to all opinions and devote 110% of his energy to doing the job
People Over Politics
Malinowski’s campaign was one of the first to have a COVID-19 section on their website. The section contains tips to keep people safe, as well as campaign plans for during and after the pandemic
“We need a plan so when we re-open, we can stay open,” says Malinowski. “We’re already seeing exactly what I said would happen in April, which is: we would close, we would re-open too quickly because folks get anxious, and then we would close again. I’ve been saying this for six months. If we want to re-open and stay open, we have to have a good plan.”
Malinowski sees the cyclical problems the state is coming up against because there is no real plan in place. The consequences on the economic, educational and mental health sides are all showing themselves now.
Although COVID-19 is the defining story of Malinowski’s political-life so far, there are other plans he has moving forward, if he wins the election in November. Ending gerrymandered districts is one of Malinowski’s heftiest goals if elected. He believes that politicians shouldn’t be choosing their voters, it should be the other way around. Next year Wisconsin and the country redraws the legislative district lines using the new Census data, Malinowski sees 2020 as possibly a year where we can begin to negotiate fair and representative legislative districts so we can have competitive elections and every vote will really matter.
Going Forward If Elected
Malinowski has made the following promises:
• Be on-call especially in a crisis. • Read every bill and discuss every decision. • Explain every one of his votes. • Cooperate with Republicans, Democrats and Independents. • Increase transparency. • Host regular coffee chats and town halls. • Knock on your door-even after the campaign. • Create informal working groups of interested community members. • Do more to honor those who have made important accomplishments. • Expand constituent services. • Speak with kids and engage high school students with legislative affairs. • Reject harmful special interests. • Show up and put a face to the job.
