Anthony W. Phillips
Oncologist
Republican
Appleton
Elected Experience
None
Q&A with the Candidate
Why should voters elect you?
I have leadership experience as a cancer physician and in business. I've been medical director of a cancer clinic, overseeing 25 other providers of cancer care. I've successfully owned two businesses with as many as 120 employees. My conservative values fit well with the conservative nature of the 56th Assembly District. Though conservative, I do plan to work across the aisle on shared values such as first-time home ownership and improvement in reading/math/science scores in our public schools.
What is the top issue in your district? How would you address it?
Affordability is the top issue in the 56th Assembly District. Rising property taxes is a common theme, in part from serial school and municipal referendums in the area. The public schools continue to want to increase their per-student spending, despite declining enrollment and declining performance scores. Reducing property taxes is an important way to increase the affordability of living in Wisconsin. Holding the line on state and national government spending in order to limit inflationary pressures will also improve affordability. I'm personally interested in investing in our young, hard-working families, to help them afford their first home as a way of keeping them in the state.
How should Wisconsin government operate differently than in the past?
The Wisconsin government is likely to be split in the near future, meaning neither major party is going to have complete power. There will have to be areas of compromise to finish state budgets, fund schools, have oversight of school performance, create an environment in Wisconsin positive for business development, etc. I am motivated to be a part of this discussion — I believe I can represent my conservative values but still find reasonable ways to invest in a positive future for our state.
What is your favorite fun Wisconsin history fact?
The modern Republican Party was officially founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, on March 20, 1854, during an anti-slavery expansion meeting. The original GOP was on the right side of the Civil War! The lasting tenets of the Republican Party include small government, limit dependency on government, as reasonable today as they were in 1854. I've always been a Republican because of these basic values and will protect those values when I serve in Madison.