Editor’s note: This is the last of the four gubernatorial candidate stories for Tuesday’s election. The four main candidates appeared alphabetically.

Without the monetary advantages that major political parties have at their disposal, Green Party gubernatorial candidate Jim Young has pushed his ideas through a grassroots campaign.

Part of those ideas involve plans to fix the state’s problems with small farming and education, said senior Andrei Strizek, vice president of the Campus Greens.

“He’s the only gubernatorial candidate who’s been a teacher and knows about the educational system,” he said.

Young, currently an assessor for the city of Sun Prairie, is a licensed educator for grades 7-12 in social studies.

In his opening statement at the Oct. 16 gubernatorial debate in Zorn Arena, Young outlined his ideas for changes in the operation and direction of the state’s government.

“We have to create a state of balance,” he said. “Fiscally, socially and ecologically.”

To get this balance, Young said he advocates respectful relationships with other politicians, protection of water resources, renewable energy sources, affordable education and democratic reforms to make changes.

In regards to the state’s higher education, Young said he would create a tuition cap for the UW System and affordable education for all.

“What we need do in Wisconsin, is to give people opportunities in education, give them control over their educational destiny,” Young said at the Eau Claire debate. “Tuition hikes aren’t going to help more people afford college.”

He promotes a cap on tuition increases that would not allow them to rise more than the rate of inflation. He also wants more student representation on the System’s Board of Regents.

His other major platform issues center on Green Party initiatives – the environment and corporate responsibility.

“The technology to clean up our water and renew that resource – that would be my first priority in establishing a better economy,” he said at the Oct. 16 debate.

As well as the environmental initiative, he said corporations that treat their employees well, in regards to benefits, deserve rewards.

He supports taxation principles that reward businesses for having family-supporting jobs and wages that support a livable wage.

The Green Party ideals of individual rights over corporate rights are evident in Young’s stance on tax reform.

“We need to have tax fairness in this system, and we don’t have that right now,” Young said at the Eau Claire debate. “Corporate taxes have been reduced. Individuals are taking on that burden. That isn’t fair in our state here.”

Fairness in election coverage of the candidates has been absent, Strizek said, citing a media blackoutÿaround Young.

This blackout is due in part to the affiliation Young has with a third party, Strizek said.

The stigma that the Green Party got after the 2000 election as an ultra-liberal party worked against its acceptance, he said.

However, Strizek said that he feels the voting public is more open-minded this election, and everybody should give the Green Party the same attention as the other major parties.