The Milwaukee Post

By MATT MASTERSON Conley News Service WAUKESHA — Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner believes Donald Trump can be a strong candidate in this year's presidential election — but only if he works to unite a divided Republican Party. During a town hall meet- ing held at the Waukesha Public Library Saturday afternoon, the Menomonee Falls Republican said the divisive billionaire candi- date may not be as far behind Democratic front- runner Hillary Clinton as it appears, but still has plenty of work left to do before the November election. "My view is, when you win a primary, it is your job to unify the party, and that's Trump's job, to unify the party," Sensenbrenner said. "I've found that the most dif- ficult thing when you're running for public office and serving in public office is giving an explanation to people who didn't vote for you or didn't see it their way, and in a respectful way explaining why you're doing what you're doing." If Trump chooses to do that, Sensenbrenner believes the presumptive GOP nominee could be a "very strong" candidate come November. The congressman stuck to a statement made at a previ- ous town hall in Oconomowoc, in which he said he would support Trump for president, but did not vote for him in the pri- mary. Trump was handed one of his largest defeats in Sensenbrenner's own dis- trict during Wisconsin's April primary, during which the billionaire was defeated by 39 points by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz went on to win the primary, but has since dropped from the race. He and House Speaker Paul Ryan — a Wisconsin congressman who has been critical of Trump's cam- paign — issued a joint state- ment in which they claimed to be "totally committed" to uniting the party. Sensenbrenner said the two men have continued working together on a plan to get House Republicans and Trump "on the same page." "If we don't do that and Trump and the House Republicans argue amongst each other, the press is going to say how divided we are and that's going to lose us votes," he said. "So timing is everything." During Saturday's town hall, Sensenbrenner also spoke about a package of opioid addiction legislation that received near-unani- mous support this month from the House of Representatives. The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016 would create a com- prehensive opioid abuse reduction program at the Department of Justice to provide training and resources for first respon- ders and law enforcement, aid in criminal investiga- tions into the unlawful dis- tribution of opioids and expand drug courts. One of the biggest perks of the program, according to Sensenbrenner, is that it would be fully funded through decreases to pro- grams of lesser priority, meaning it would have no impact on the national budg- et. "The way I look at this," he said, "when you have an emergency — and we do have an emergency with opi- oid addiction and there's a mental health part of this too — with our families, if we've got to spend some money for something that was an emergency or unex- pected, we've got to reduce our spending elsewhere on things of lower priority." Email:mmasterson@conleynet.com May 27, 2016 • Milwaukee County Post • 3 Charles Auer/Conley News Staff Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, left, and Wisconsin state Rep. Scott Allen listen to a constituent's question during a town hall meeting at the Waukesha Public Library on Saturday. Sensenbrenner: Trump must unify GOP to win election Ethan Allen: 'Not as simple as unlocking doors' the building. A full demoli- tion may very well be less expensive than remodeling at this point. "I agree that helping these troubled teens should be the priority, but the high cost associated with reno- vating the Ethan Allen site is nothing to be ignored." Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow echoed those sentiments. "You're looking at a building now that sat dor- mant for four years that was in need of significant repairs back then," he said. "To say we should reopen it, we would need to look at it and if it's decided that Lincoln HIlls needs an alter- native, then we could have a serious conversation. But it's not as simple as unlock- ing the doors and turning the lights back on." Several ideas of what to do with the vacant facility have been floated since the school's closure. Most recently, Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski in December pro- posed that the former school be repurposed as housing for sex offenders. The idea was met with back- lash, including from Duchow and the Delafield Common Council, which penned a letter to state gov- ernment officials opposing the idea. Regarding reopening the facility as a boys school, Duchow suggested Monday that Donovan find a Milwaukee location. "This way, these kids can be closest to their families, friends, and support groups in order to be best served," she said. Farrow said he's open to having a conversation about the Ethan Allen idea, but first, he said, those discus- sions should focus on broad- er juvenile justice reform. Email: landerson@conleynet.com continued from Page 1 Voting for Milwaukee flag now open M I L W A U K E E — Milwaukee is in search for a new flag design after 50 flag designs were unveiled this month at City Hall. The flags had to have a simple design, a meaning- ful symbol, two to three col- ors, no lettering or seals and a distinctive design. The top five finalists are Jon Grider, Cameron Pothier, DeChazier Stokes- Johnson, Robert Lenz and Chanya Hughes. Through Tuesday the public can vote at www.tinyurl.com/pfomrat- ing. The winner will be announced at 8 p.m. Wednesday at 88.9 Radio Milwaukee headquarters. Further details are at m i l w a u k e e f l a g . c o m , greatertogether.me, and on Facebook at facebook.com/ greatertogether. ***1/4 mile east of the 794 parkway on Layton*** 3050 E Layton Ave, 483-5550, M-F 7AM to 8PM, Sat 7AM-7PM, Sun 9AM-5PM Greg's & Start Right, Start Here Great Customer Service, Expert Product Knowledge Quality Merchandise at Competitive Prices and Quick In and Out Join at TrueValueRewards.com! 250392010 Save on your landscaping needs! Scotts .75 cu ft Premium Top Soil Scotts Nature Scapes 2 cu ft Mulch (Choose brown or red) with coupon: $ 1 99 ea 784584/Reg $2.99 Expires 6-19-16 with coupon: 3/ $ 15 168659/168658 Limit 6 Reg $5.99 Expires 6-19-16 Our greenhouse is now open! Come shop for hanging baskets, annual flowers and vegetables,rose bushes and more! Open Memorial Day 9am-5pm ✮ ✭ ✮ ✭ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮

• Cover