Where they stand: County Executive candidates All cited budget issues as important to their campaigns, although they have different ideas on solving the crunch By Christopher Clough News-Chronicle A little-known Arkansas governor used the mantra "It's the economy, stupid" as the basis for what proved to be a successful 1992 presidential campaign, attempting to win voters through their pocketbooks. The three candidates facing off in Tuesday's primary election for Brown County Executive may or may not follow the political philosophies of President Bill Clinton. But all have said that controlling the county's $189 million budget is one of the key issues, if not the biggest one, they would face in office. Hobart village president Len Teresinski has said long-term budgeting, looking five or more years down the road instead of one year at a time, is needed in county government to better control expenses. He also said department heads and officials should work on budget matters throughout the year instead of giving the County Board one month to sort through and pass it. Roy Leyendecker, who has never campaigned for public office previously but is vice chairman of the Northeast Wisconsin Libertarian Party, said he is seeking a 10 percent cut in the budget from all departments. He said he feels the county should get out of operations where they compete with private business, such as the golf course, and that salaries and benefits should be in line with the private sector. He said lessening the tax burden on property owners would free up more of their money to donate to charities and certain county operations such as the Neville Public Museum and library system, instead of having them funded through the county levy. Former state Rep. Carol Kelso said she had no specific departments targeted for budget cuts. She said she would meet with county employees to see where streamlining of work effort is possible, to improve efficiencies and save money. She also said by putting county, Green Bay and school district employees into a single pool for health care benefits, the county could save about 5 percent of its nearly $16 million in health care costs. Kelso said her other important campaign issue is returning Brown County to what she called "good government" by respecting all supervisors' opinions and trying to work differences out before they get out of control and lawsuits are filed, as has happened recently. Teresinski talked of bringing a "sense of unity" to county government, saying it can move forward if supervisors, officials and citizens work toward common goals. Leyendecker said he would listen to supervisors and officials and bring more openness to the office. Leyendecker said he is generally in favor of privatizing the Mental Health Center, if studies show it would save money for the county. He said he would like to sell it to its employees and help them form a nonprofit corporation to operate it. Teresinski and Kelso said their concern is for the patients the MHC serves. Teresinski had said in a candidate forum he would not oppose construction of a proposed $32 million MHC if a moratorium on new county construction was then imposed. Kelso said she would await a study of the Bellin Health plan to privatize the MHC before deciding which option she favored. She also wants to investigate a proposal to seek help in construction of the proposed MHC from counties who are its clients, turning it into a regional center.