Kaukauna’s Ribble ready to challenge Kagen for Congress
By Tim Ryan, Leader Reporter
It was a conversation with his son at Christmas of last year that made up his mind to run for Congress, said Reid Ribble.
“Instead of complaining, go do something and change it,” he said.
Today, the Kaukauna businessman is one of seven Republicans each hoping to be the one who will challenge U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen in the 8th District race next year.
The other Republicans are Howard physician Marc Trager, Door County Board Supervisor Marc Savard, Brown County Board Supervisor Andy Williams, former state Rep. Terri McCormick of Greenville, Kerry Thomas of Sayner in Vilas County and state Rep. Roger Roth.
Ribble stopped in at the Shawano Leader Friday to talk about his campaign.
He said his business background — 35 years in the roofing business — will let him bring practical economic experience to the table.
“Americans are unsettled about a $12 trillion national debt and a government that appears to them to be out of control on spending,” he said. “At some point this money has to be paid back. I don’t believe it ought to be my grandchildren paying it back.”
Ribble espouses a smaller, more cost efficient government and a less regulatory atmosphere aimed at letting business create jobs.
“Corporate tax levels in the U.S. are very high,” he said. “The taxes they pay are passed onto consumers in higher costs for products and services. If we can begin to reduce the tax burden on American business they will be able to have money to expand and provide more jobs.”
Ribble said he would not have supported the stimulus bill passed early this year.
“There was a lot of money directed to places that didn’t provide stimulus,” he said.
Ribble said the U.S. economy is too big for a stimulus package to do any good.
“It wasn’t big enough in its scale and scope and it never can be,” he said. “A better approach for that same money would have been to reduce taxes to those same businesses to help them train and hire and equip employees.”
Ribble is a believer in letting the free market economy work on its own.
“That means less intrusion, less regulation, less taxation, and a smaller government that requires less funding,” he said.
Ribble is opposed to the current crop of health care reform proposals, calling health care legislation “a jobs killer” that won’t do anything to reform health care.
He said what’s needed is tort reform, allowing consumers to shop for health care across state lines and taking health insurance out of the workplace.
“With more freedom and liberality in choices, you would see prices go down,” he said.
Ribble considers himself a “right of center Republican” and also a somewhat reluctant Republican given the performance of his party when they had control earlier in the decade.
“They didn’t do what we as conservatives claim they should do and that is make government smaller and less intrusive in our lives,” he said.
Ribble said he is also pragmatic and would not be against supporting President Obama on some issues.
“I think it’s just foolishness to say there are no good ideas coming from the left,” he said. “I’m willing to talk to anybody about solutions.”
Ribble supports the President’s buildup in Afghanistan, for example, though he disagrees with the timeline imposed on the commitment there.
Among the seven candidates for the Republican primary, Ribble sees himself as the only one who is not a politician.
“I’m the only one without political experience and a year ago no desire to be in politics,” he said.
But he is getting in now because he feels it is his calling to speak for the next generation and work toward “reducing our government to a place where we can balance budgets and have some type of surplus,” he said.
