Doyle being challenged by Johnston in county board race

Johnston calls Doyle
a “professional spender”

One of the higher-profile La Crosse county board races on Tuesday’s ballot will be between State Legislator Steve Doyle and challenger Steve Johnston. 

Johnston says it’s time for Doyle to go.

“Somebody who’s been in politics for 30 years like Steve Doyle, they become a professional spender,” Johnston said.. “And Steve Doyle is really good about spending other people’s money.”

Spending, says Doyle, who has been on the La Crosse County board since the mid-1980s, hasn’t been a problem in La Crosse County.

“One thing that I would note is that La Crosse County is still the lowest taxing county, per capita, in the state, out of the 72 counties,” Doyle said. “When we are holding the line, we are extremely conservative.”

Johnston says the $20-plus million the county is spending to move into an old bank building is proof of a propensity for overspending.  

“The money that was spent on the new county building has just been expensive,” Johnston said. “There’s spending that’s just going on in so many different areas, it has a great impact on the outlying communities.”

Doyle says Johnston isn’t seeing the issue fully.

“I don’t think that it should be a major issue because it’s part of an overall package that is going to result in $100 million of new development and 500 family-supporting jobs,” Doyle said.

Johnston doesn’t disagree. He just doesn’t like who’s paying.

“I’m not against the idea of revitalizing neighborhoods, but when you’re doing it for the city of La Crosse, La Crosse should be paying fof that,” Johnston said.

The Doyle-Johnston race is one of less than half of county board races that are contested on Tuesday’s ballot.