David Michael Miller
When you think of Paul Soglin, bland isn't the first thing you think of.
You think of his grumpy tone with the council, his harsh words for Lyft and Uber. If your memory goes back far enough, you might think of the duck suit, the Monona Terrace controversy or the transformation of State Street into a quasi-pedestrian mall.
But looking over Soglin's most recent term as mayor, his stewardship has actually been pretty boring. That's exactly what will make it so hard for Scott Resnick to defeat him.
The previous mayor, Dave Cieslewicz, was bold. He pushed for big projects -- streetcars and a downtown public market. Often, that boldness paid off, particularly in the field of active transportation. The B-Cycles are a ubiquitous sight in the warmer months, Ride the Drive was such a success it brought Lance Armstrong to town back when it was still a good thing to bring Lance Armstrong to town.
But boldness has its drawbacks. Big projects become lightning rods for voter dissatisfaction, an easy way for the opposition to say, "Look at who is getting all of the attention, look at where your tax dollars are going. It's not to you." The Edgewater TIF project rankled many voters, particularly on the high-turnout near-east side.
Cieslewicz attempted to be visionary; modern Soglin has been more of a caretaker. He has some solid accomplishments, and the quality of city services has remained high in a challenging economic time. That's a huge achievement but not one that gets voters fired up. But even some of Soglin's major efforts are just tweaks on Dave's ideas -- Soglin renegotiated the B-Cycle contract and took the public market idea and moved it out of downtown.
Our current state government has made it easier for Soglin to engage in quiet leadership. The state-imposed tax levy limits make it difficult to fund new projects. And the city's attention is focused on whatever horrific bill is being heard in the Capitol, not the ordinances being discussed in the City-County Building.
Soglin's quiet leadership makes it difficult to attack him -- there's no single project to use as a rallying cry to work up voters. Soglin certainly has some weaknesses. His policies towards the homeless in the City-County Building seem somewhat heartless. He seems determined to hold on to a vision of State Street that might not exist anymore. And his slow pace makes it seem to some like he isn't working urgently enough to address Madison's disparity problems. All of these generate some enmity -- but Soglin cleared 53% in a low turnout primary that should have represented the voters most eager for change. There's a lack of widespread dissatisfaction with the incumbent among the people who care about city politics, making it Soglin's race to lose.
None of Soglin's weaknesses are big-money projects. He's moved slowly, but he hasn't lost a major opportunity, like former Mayor Sue Bauman's tragic loss of Epic. Even hippies vote based on their pocketbooks. Neither Soglin nor Resnick want to talk much about the potential boondoggle of the Judge Doyle Square project. Soglin acts like he has never supported the project and presents Resnick as the mastermind. Meanwhile, Resnick avoids taking a hard stand, which is the same problem he has in relation to so many of Madison's major issues.
Resnick could attack Soglin for a lack of vision, but that would require Resnick to get some boldness of his own. As I've said, boldness is dangerous. Bridget Maniaci had some really great ideas -- her suggestions for how to improve Madison Metro Transit were the best I've heard from any mayoral candidate in several elections. But many immediately wrote her off because of her role in Edgewater.
Resnick's policy proposals in the primary race were more vague. That got him through a primary but I'm not sure it will motivate enough voters to replace the incumbent. If Resnick wants to win, he has to show a majority of voting Madisonians that he has a better vision for the city going forward. He'll need to present a bold idea or two, knowing it will piss some people off.
Trading out a baby boomer caretaker for a millennial caretaker isn't enough of a motivation for voters.
Unless Resnick changes the narrative, it's likely Soglin's bland yet surly leadership leads him to another four years as Madison's perennial mayor.
