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FORMER LAWMAKER FROM NEILLSVILLE REMEMBERS DREYFUS

Friday, January 4th, 2008 -- 3:01 PM

A former Democratic state senator remembers a former Republican Governor as a man who made government understandable to the "average Joe."

Neillsville attorney Tom Harnisch served in the state senate from 1974 to 1982.

Lee Sherman Dreyfus, who passed away Wednesday night at the age of 81, served one term beginning in 1978.

"(He) was a very likeable individual. He was very easy to deal with. He had some very positive visions for the state and he carried some of those out," Harnisch recalls.

Harnisch kept in touch with Dreyfus through his position of Education Director with the Wisconsin Towns Association, even booking him for a speaking engagement a few years ago.

"He was just as good six years ago as he had been twenty years previously," Harnisch says. "He was quite and entertainer and very capable of stirring up a crowd."

Dreyfus will be remembered for his openness, his desire to cut taxes and reign in certain expenditures, including the UW system, where he worked prior to being elected.

But most of all, he was accessibility.

"He made government real to a lot of people that may see government as a little too sophisticated. He brought it back down to the average Joe."

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