Scandinavia man enters GOP primary
By Robert Cloud
Photo by Sara Griena Skadsen
A Republican candidate for state Senate believes rural interests are not adequately represented in Madison.
Kenneth Van Dyke, of Scandinavia, is seeking to replace Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, in the 14th Senate District.
Olsen announced his retirement from office on Feb. 24.
That same day, state Rep. Joan Ballweg, R-Markesan, announced she would seek the Republican nomination to the 14th District seat.
Van Dyke said he wants Republicans to be held accountable to their constituents.
“I am tired of the state Republicans dictating to our rural Republican representatives how they are going to vote and then having our own rural representatives vote against us,” Van Dyke said. “When the state Republicans are looking for money, our local governments and programs are among the first to get hit.”
Nuclear waste issue
Van Dyke first became active in local politics in the early 1980s when the Department of Energy (DOE) proposed the Wolf River Batholith, a 1,000-square-mile area of crystalline granite bedrock that included Waupaca County.
“As a citizen, I worked with county board members and department heads, first to form the County Radioactive Waste Committee, then to get appointed to it,” Van Dayke said.
He said the committee’s purpose was to educate residents about the issues of nuclear waste and to deal with the DOE.
“Through the efforts of many organized individuals, including myself, we were able to fight the DOE on their own terms, using their own studies, to point out problems and flaws in their program and problems with putting nuclear wast into granite bedrock,” Van Dyke said.
In a state referendum in 1983, 89% of the residents voted against allowing a nuclear waste disposal in Wisconsin.
Van Dyke subsequently served on the Policy Council of the Wisconsin State Radioactive Waste Review Board.
“I believe that I helped to keep the federal nuclear waste repository out of central Wisconsin,” Van Dyke said.
County supervisor
Van Dyke served on the Waupaca County Board from 1990-96.
Prior to being elected to the county board, Van Dyke was a citizen member on the Waupaca County Recycling Committee.
He would eventually serve as chair of the county’s Solid Waste Management Board, Agriculture and UW Extension Committee, and Parks and Recreation Committee. He was vice chair of the Land Conservation Committee and a member of the Iola Lake Management District.
In 1991, the UWEX Community Development Association recognized Van Dyke with its Friend of Agriculture and University of Wisconsin Extension Award.
In 1993, Van Dyke was elected by Wisconsin’s 72 county Land Conservation departments to the state Land and Water Conservation Board.
He was on the state board for five years.
While serving as chair of the Waupaca County Waste Management Board, Van Dyke helped establish the county’s recycling program.
“We conceived of, designed and then constructed the Waupaca County Processing and Transfer Facility near Manawa, and all the drop-off sites throughout the county on my watch,” Van Dyke said.
Van Dyke was also chair of the Land, Engineering and Negotiating Committee that met with Waupaca Foundry and local residents regarding the construction of the foundry’s landfill.
Education, business experience
Van Dyke has a master’s degree in animal biology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
After leaving the county board, he and his wife Pam ran Van Dyke’s restaurant for more than 20 years.
“We are now winding it down as Pam and i are retiring and selling it,” Van Dyke said about the restaurant. “This will give me more time to pursue my lifelong outdoor activities – hunting, fishing and hiking.”
Van Dyke said his family supports his decision to run for state Senate.
He plans to talk with town and village boards, city councils and county boards throughout the 14th Senate District, because he believes local governments are the building blocks of state government.
“I believe that government should work from the grassroots up, not from the top down,” Van Dyke said. “I also believe that a state senator should serve the best interests of the people and their local governments within the 14th District above all else.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article indicated that Van Dyke was appointed to the Wisconsin State Radioactive Waste Review Board. State Sen. Joe Leean and the Waupaca County Board recommended him to the position, but Gov. Tommy Thompson did not appoint him to it.