Petri runs into trouble in Manitowoc

Petri gets earful from Lakeshore residents
Veteran congressman addresses varied topics at his first Town Hall meeting of 2006
By Charlie Mathews Herald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC — Ron Kossik was ready with facts, figures and sources when it was his turn to vent Wednesday afternoon.

"The people I represent care about debt and the taxes they pay," said Kossik, a member of the Manitowoc Board of Education.

"We're expected to be fiscally responsible at the local level but federal spending and borrowing has just gone nuts," he told U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, R- Fond du Lac, at the congressman's first Town Hall meeting of the year.

Kossik was one of about 30 people at Manitowoc's City Hall as Petri, Sixth District representative since 1979, invited comments.

It turned into a free-for-all, with topics including the Patriot Act, immigration, Iraq, Medicare prescription drug coverage, the cost of shipping coal by train and postal service reform.

Kossik presented Petri with a sheet entitled, "Comparison of Household Debt — U.S. Government vs. Manitowoc Public School District."

He referred to various U.S. government Web sites as showing federal debt of some $8.1 trillion at the end of 2005, an increase of nearly $3.6 billion in four years and about $77,000 per American household.

"As of this morning, our district's debt is $1,300 per household ... with the hot lunch referendum (borrowing) to be paid off in five years," Kossik said.

Petri acknowledged Congress is seeking to reduce the size of future deficits, but there is no will in Washington to have a balanced budget.

"Why should we try to be fiscally responsible at the local level when we are hemorrhaging at the federal level?" wondered Kossik.