Election yawner

"Madison's spring election ended not with a bang but with a bumper crop of votes for incumbency," news editor Bill Lueders writes in his wrap-up of local contests. "The turnout of registered city voters (44.9%) was higher than for any spring election since 1979, but there were no upsets and few surprises, except in the margins of victory." Mayor Joseph Sensenbrenner outpolled challenger Mary Kay Baum, 36,341 votes to 17,510. Voters also approved a referendum extending the mayoral term from two years to four, starting in 1991. "Races for the Common Council proved to be a colossal yawn," Lueders adds. "Only nine of 22 seats were contested, and in all seven contests that pitted challengers against incumbents, the incumbents won." Sensenbrenner, who was unseated two years later by Paul Soglin, now chairs the Urban Open Space Foundation and late last month was appointed by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz to serve on the new 11-member Central Park Design and Implementation Task Force. Baum went on to a distinguished tenure as executive director of Madison-area Urban Ministry, retiring in February after cultivating MUM's effectiveness as an interfaith force for social justice.