Rep. Robb Kahl will not seek re-election

A state representative who leads a construction group involved in ensuring prevailing wage and other employment laws are enforced has decided not to seek re-election.

Rep. Robb Kahl, D-Monona, and executive director of the Construction Business Group, issued a statement Thursday saying he would not seek a third term representing the 47th Assembly District.

“During both my time as Mayor of Monona and now as State Representative, I have never approached elective office as a career but rather as public service,” he said in the statement. “Throughout this service I have maintained my private sector employment and it is now time to once again return my focus to those endeavors.”

In addition to his work with the Construction Business Group, Kahl also sits on the state’s Building Commission.

In his statement, Kahl also gave a call to action for politicians to break free from their respective party’s ideology and focus more on their constituents.

“Instead of bipartisan action on the deficit, jobs, public education and health care,” he said in the statement, “we spend too much of our time pushing legislation catering to the extreme views of certain voices in each party, drawing legislative district lines to ensure desired results and raising unlimited donations to oust each other from office.”

Kahl’s support for politicians from across the aisle is what prompted his would-be electoral opponent to run for office.

Had he run for re-election, Kahl would have faced a primary challenge from anti drunken-driving activist and Fitchburg Democrat Jimmy Anderson.

Anderson, 29, lost his parents, his brother and his ability to move from the chest down when a drunk driver struck their car in California in 2010. After the incident, Anderson quickly approached the lifetime dollar limit on his insurance.

Then the federal health care overhaul kicked in, which banned lifetime limits on insurance. Anderson said earlier this year that Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s opposition to the overhaul prompted him to get involved in politics. Upon hearing Kahl, his representative, had voted for Walker in 2010, Anderson decided to run against him in the Democratic primary. Follow @alexzank