Thank god for Will Sandstrom.
Without his entry into the race for Dist. 12 for the County Board, there wouldn't be much to say about the elections this spring. Sandstrom, of course, is the entertaining fellow who was a mayoral challenger last spring and whose presence at the debates ensured a lively, if sometimes rambling, conversation. (My favorite Sandstrom moments were the numerous times he called Mayor Dave Cieslewicz -- to his face -- a crook, while Cieslewicz smiled gamely through it all.)
As for the other County Board races -- ho hum. Chair Scott McDonell faces a primary on Feb. 19, but one of his challengers, perennial candidate Dennis deNure, listed the homeless shelter at Grace Episcopal Church as his residence. Not sure how serious a campaign that will be.
Only four supervisors decided to step down this year: Mike Hanson, Ashok Kumar, Dale Suslick and Vern Wendt. There will be a primary for Wendt's seat, with four candidates. But only Robin Schmidt filed to run for Suslick's seat representing Monona, meaning she snags the spot uncontested.
For a full list of who's running for the Dane County Board, see below or the document at right.
District 1
Dennis deNure
J.P. Heyn
(i) Scott McDonell
District 2
(i) Barbara Vedder
District 3
(i) Elaine H. DeSmidt
District 4
Greg Hull
(i) Brett Hulsey
District 5
Wyndham Manning
Conor M. O'Hagan
District 6
(i) John Hendrick
Mark Schmitt
District 7
Dave Glomp
(i) Matt Veldran
District 8
(i) Carousel Andrea Bayrd
District 9
Dianne H. Hesselbein
(i) Ruth Ann Schoer
District 10
(i) David Worzala
District 11
Steve Ingham
(i) Al Matano
District 12
Ted Krez
(i) Paul Rusk
Will Sandstrom
District 13
(i) Chuck Erickson
District 14
Vic Bankston
Melanie Hampton
District 15
(i) Richard V. Brown, Sr.
Ronn Ferrell
Lisa Subeck
District 16
(i) Dave de Felice
District 17
(i) Tom Stoebig
District 18
Sal Al-Ashkar
(i) Dorothy Wheeler
District 19
(i) Jeff Kostelic
District 20
(i) Duane Gau
District 21
(i) David E. Wiganowski
District 22
(i) Dennis J. O'Loughlin
District 23
(i) Sheila Stubbs
District 24
Robin R. Schmidt
District 25
(i) Eileen Bruskewitz
District 26
Adrian Augustine
(i) Mark Optiz
District 27
(i) Kyle Richmond
District 28
Susan Beil
Tom Kavanaugh
Jeanne Poast
Kurt Schlicht
District 29
(i) Dave J. Ripp
District 30
John Brixy
(i) Patrick Downing
District 31
(i) Gerald Jensen
District 32
(i) Mike Willett
District 33
Nancy Hylbert
(i) Jack Martz
District 34
Gordon Kensgaard
(i) Patrick Miles
District 35
(i) Donna Vogel
District 36
Karen Kessenich
(i) Richard Pertzborn
Cynda K. Solberg
District 37
(i) Bob Salov
All in all, there will be a total of just 17 races for the County Board this spring. Only 14 incumbents face challengers. That means roughly half the 37-member board will be elected without a fight.
But hey, that's better than the Madison school board races. Both open seats -- being vacated by Carol Carstensen and Lawrie Kobza -- are uncontested. Marj Passman will replace Kobza, while Ed Hughes takes Carstensen's seat.
