MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
In these days of heavy division, there may be no love lost between Democratic and Republican legislators around the country. But in Wisconsin, a Valentine's Day effort by an elementary school teacher-turned-lawmaker is a pitch for bipartisanship. Here's Maayan Silver from member station WUWM.
(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING)
DEB ANDRACA: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Hi.
MAAYAN SILVER, BYLINE: Although she wouldn't call herself that, Deb Andraca is a legislative cupid of sorts.
ANDRACA: Hi. Can I give you a valentine?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: You handing out valentines?
ANDRACA: I am.
SILVER: Andraca is a Democratic state representative from suburban Milwaukee. Sporting a hot pink blazer, she's crisscrossing the Wisconsin State Capitol.
ANDRACA: I'm handing these all out to my Republican and Democratic colleagues.
PATRICK SNYDER: Oh, that's very nice of you.
SILVER: One of those 98 lawmakers - Republican representative Patrick Snyder, who hails from a village in central Wisconsin. There's a poem rubber banded around his box of conversation hearts.
SNYDER: With our state legislature more evenly split, when we work together, we all benefit. Though one person alone can't fix all frustrations, I hope we might start with bipartisan conversations. Happy Valentine's.
SILVER: What's your take?
SNYDER: I'm all for it. Doesn't mean we always agree - but you know what? - we have to talk and listen.
SILVER: Up until recently, Wisconsin had some of the most lopsided legislative voting maps in the nation. Republicans got used to controlling the discussions. So when Andraca got to the Capitol, she thought back to a recurring tradition from her past job, student-teaching third graders.
ANDRACA: And I thought, wouldn't it be just fun to just distribute some valentines and maybe spark some conversations across the aisle? So I got out my craft scissors, made some valentines, made up a rhyme, and I just walked around and tried to make those connections.
SILVER: One year, she went with Republicans are red, Democrats are blue, but Wisconsin is purple, so I hope to work with you.
ANDRACA: Yeah, a big fan of Dr. Seuss - and if anybody ever needs a rhyme, I can, you know, pretty much - I can produce one on demand.
SILVER: After new maps went into effect last year, Democrats flipped 14 seats. But Republicans were still able to keep the majority in both houses. GOP Rep Snyder thinks of it this way.
SNYDER: You know, one day, we'll be in the minority, and I hope that they feel like - that, you know, we can go to them and work with them. So I think that's the best for Wisconsin.
SILVER: But powerful GOP assembly speaker Robin Vos doesn't seem so optimistic. Here he is after the November elections, when he was asked about working together.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROBIN VOS: If the Democrats' compromise is expanding welfare, you know, having kids play - or having boys play girls sports and all the craziness that the national Democratic Party stands for, which is echoed by the Democrats here in Madison, no. If it's saying, how do we get the money that we think should be back in the hands of the taxpayers in their hands, I'm all ears to do that.
SILVER: Andraca suggests that her Democratic colleagues stick together.
ANDRACA: Knock, knock.
ALEX JOERS: Hey.
ANDRACA: Rep Joers, are you here?
JOERS: Hey, yeah.
ANDRACA: Do you have a second?
JOERS: Sure.
ANDRACA: Can I give you a lollipop?
SILVER: For them, she's carrying a bouquet of cherry lollipops.
ANDRACA: Hello.
JOERS: What's up?
ANDRACA: Happy Valentine's Day.
JOERS: Oh, thank you.
SILVER: Fellow Democratic legislator Alex Joers chuckles at the message, which says, let's work together on some popular bills.
ANDRACA: Representative Alex Joers.
JOERS: Some popular bills.
SILVER: Andraca says, she has no illusions that a Valentine is going to suddenly break Wisconsin's divided government partisan logjam. But she says a small gesture that delivers a smile is a start. For NPR News, I'm Maayan Silver in Madison.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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