Newman grad runs for Assembly seat
By Robert Mentzer • Wausau Daily Herald • May 26, 2010
As a standout basketball player at Newman Catholic High School and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Dana Schultz was accustomed to hard work and competition.
Schultz, 25, now is taking on a new challenge: She's running for state Assembly.
Schultz, who grew up on her family's dairy farm north of Athens, is running as a Democrat in the 87th Assembly District, which includes all of Taylor, Priceand Rusk counties and the northwest corner of Marathon County. She'll challenge Rep. Mary Williams, R-Medford, who has held the seat since 2002.
Schultz said her roots in the area are what motivate her to run. Her campaign headquarters, for now, is her brother's farm, and she said it's important to her that she "invest in making sure the community we grew up in is still a great place to grow up."
"We really need to address the future of small towns in Wisconsin head-on, and make sure we have family-supporting jobs," she said. Those will include jobs in manufacturing, she said, and agriculture.
"We need good jobs in agriculture, and we need more farmers to be able to make a dignified living," she said.
While at UWM on a basketball scholarship, she received a master's degree in political science. Schultz has since worked on issue campaigns with an advocacy group for working women and the Wisconsin Farmers Union.
"Dana is a go-getter," said Brad Tipple, girls basketball assistant coach at Newman, who worked with Schultz through her graduation in 2003. "She works so hard that everybody else has to do that (too) if they want to keep up with her."
Tipple said Schultz, who also was a class salutatorian, was a natural leader on and off the court.
Schultz, meanwhile, said she's been frustrated by what she called incumbent Rep. Mary Williams' "lack of leadership."
"Frankly, I think we need a stronger voice up here," Schultz said.
In 2008, Williams won re-election by a margin of less than 1 percent. She garnered 12,913 votes to challenger Judy Reas' 12,686.
Williams did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment for this story.