Surrounded by dozens of supporters, faced by a scrum of local media and observers, and in the midst of a frosty wind just after noon today,
After making his formal announcement, Cieslewicz pointed to eight major issues he hopes to tackle in a second term. He focused largely on the high profile issues of crime, economic development and transportation, but said little in the way of novel proposels. He did specifically mention supporting a second pool at Warner Park, and implementing the proposed economic development and Green Capitol City plans.
Cieslewicz also briefly spoke about campaign he hopes to see over the winter and spring, urging an end to "outright lies" and "intellectual dishonesty," though he did not make any suggestions as to who needs to cease this kind of behavior. He also focused on the state ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions that passed in November, saying that his administration "will vigorously defend Madison's domestic partner benefits and our registry program against any legal challenge."
The mayor subsequently ended his remarks with predictable yet proven nods to "optimism," and asked for another 48 months in office.
After the speech, most of Cieslewicz's supporters high-tailed it for the warmth of the City-County Building as the mayor answered a few questions from media. The most significant comment Cieslewicz made was that he looks forward to debating about the city's business climate and his record on economic development. He subsequently moved indoors, and answered a couple of questions from The Daily Page. In the brief interview, Cieslewicz was asked to identify one issue in which the city is not better off than it was four years ago. His comments follow in the video below:
As Cieslewicz hasn't filed his candidate registration forms with the city clerk's office yet, this will be his campaign's first order of business. As for the rest of the campaign between Cieslewicz and his challengers (currently Ray Allen and possibly Dennis de Nure), there are 124 days until the spring election day, on Tuesday, April 3.
