Virgil Van Asten, a member of Appleton Concerned Taxpayers, is running for alderman in Appleton’s 4th Common Council District. The election is Tuesday, April 2.
The League of Women Voters of Appleton-Fox Cities submitted questions to Van Asten and his opponent, Martyn Smith. Thomas’s unedited responses appear below. Smith and other candidates are welcome to submit their responses to appletonwi.org as well.
Appleton council questionnaire
Name: Virgil Van Asten
Address: Kernan Avenue, Appleton
Age: 54
Occupation: President of Integrated Solutions Inc., a business & technology company.
Highest level of education (specify degree and college, if applicable):
Relevant experience: 35 years of helping businesses and municipalities streamline their operation with technology for accounting, personal, communication, and manufacturing systems.
Link to campaign website or Facebook page: http://www.vvanasten.com; Vvappleton@outlook.com
Questions
1. Why are you running for office? (no more than 50 words)
I’ve been self-employed in the I.T. industry since 1997. That’s 27 years of getting paid only when we come up with solutions to solve complex problems. Appleton’s debt keeps growing. Projects that should take months are taking years. Appleton should have a council that solves problems rather than creates them.
2. What makes you the better candidate in this race? (no more than 50 words)
My opponent said, “we need strong, progressive candidates in local government.” That means defund the police. That hasn’t worked for other cities.
Appleton spends 34.6% of our tax dollars just repaying debt. We need someone responsible, not someone who is going to hand cash to social special interest groups.
3. What are residents telling you are their most important issues, and how would you address them? (no more than 100 words)
Accountability: In 2024 Appleton budgeted 12.7 million dollars over city revenue. In 2023 that number was 24.8 million. The council approved tens of thousands of dollars for a new website, while we have homeless sleeping in the walkway over College Ave.
The politicians in Chicago are cutting city operations and programs because of illegal immigration. Chicago, New York, and California are shipping immigrants out, and we’re only three hours from Chicago. The people of Appleton are saying we better have a plan, so we don’t have to turn schools into shelters like New York did. We must have responsibility.
Van Asten email in response to one of his opponents:
During the League of Women Voters Q&A event one of the candidates yelled, “[Van Asten doesn’t] know what [he is] talking about!”
I wanted [to] source my information for you, along with 14 years of his data, in case there was any more commentary after the article like last time.
This information was given to by a man named Walter Blank. His numbers come from the city budgets and are verified by the city finance office.
Walter is a retired math teacher who meets often with Mayor Woodford and others in city government. Mayor Woodford even gave Walter an award for his efforts with the Revenue Sharing Measure.
