David Michael Miller
At the end of a mayoral forum last week, one of the four people attempting to unseat Mayor Paul Soglin wondered aloud which challenger was best suited to beat him in the general election.
"We're going to presume Mayor Soglin makes it through the [Feb. 17] primary," said former Ald. Bridget Maniaci at the Jan. 29 forum hosted by Downtown Madison Inc. "So if you're not going to vote for Mayor Soglin, who up here should earn your vote?"
It's a good question. But a better one might be: Can any of them beat this guy? Mayor Soglin has dominated Madison politics for more than 40 years and is running for what would be his eighth term in office. Although he has vulnerabilities and enemies, it would be an upset if any of these challengers knock him out of office.
Three of the candidates — Maniaci, former Dane County Supv. Richard Brown and Ald. Scott Resnick — have some experience, but they're hardly political powerhouses. A fourth, Christopher Daly, has no political experience and scant money. Maniaci is 31 and Daly and Resnick are both in their 20s — young to be mayor of any city, although Soglin was first elected just weeks before turning 28.
Soglin's allies are confident he will cruise to victory, while his adversaries are crossing their fingers for an upset.
"Any incumbent is beatable," says Ald. Mark Clear, who has frequently sparred with the mayor. "Paul is beatable. His support is very broad, but not necessarily very deep. By that I mean I don't think it's strongly loyal to him."
Making enemies
First elected to mayor in 1973, Soglin's seventh term in office has been marked by acrimony with the Common Council and frequent budget battles.
He's also picked fights with the Overture Center, an institution supported by many of the city's elites. He's angered some on the left by opposing an Occupy Madison encampment and championing an expensive hotel development at Judge Doyle Square.
Ald. David Ahrens, one regular critic, notes that Soglin signs his emails with an epigram from baseball legend Casey Stengel: "The secret to managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the ones who are undecided."
"It's pretty harsh," Ahrens says of Soglin's style. "I don't know how you work with that."
But while council members may be fed up with Soglin's combativeness, voters might not care or even notice, says Ald. Lisa Subeck, who is supporting Soglin.
"When folks talk about style, it's really an insider issue," Subeck says.
"When I'm talking to my average neighbor, they're generally happy with Paul," adds Subeck, who was recently elected to the state Assembly and is not running for reelection on the council. "They like how he's invested in neighborhoods, they like what he's done with the budget."
Ahrens, who is supporting Resnick, hears a different story. "I ask the question all the time: What do you think he's done in the last four years? People can't think of anything. The library opened. That really wasn't Soglin. New police chief. Well, that wasn't Soglin either," Ahrens says, adding, "Soglin's problem is he can't really point to any accomplishment over the last four years."
Scott McDonell, Dane County clerk and former county board chair, agrees. "He's vulnerable. There's fatigue there," McDonell says. "He's running on the same things he did four years ago. That's never a good sign."
McDonell supports Resnick because "There's just so much bickering going on."
Other notable progressives are standing by the mayor, albeit tepidly. "Nobody else has given me a reason to support them," says former Ald. Brenda Konkel. "I'm not publicly supporting [Soglin], but I can't see voting for anybody else."
"The city is probably in the best hands it can be in," she adds. "His depth of knowledge and experience make it hard to run against him."
Nevertheless, four people are giving it a shot.
Here come the underdogs
All four of Soglin's challengers offer up provocative ideas.
Daly suggests some of the most ambitious ones, calling for the establishment of a public bank that would insulate the city from manipulations of the national financial system and invest in local businesses and residents. He says the city would make money from the bank's interest, paying down its own debt.
"We can lead a social and economic revolution in America," he said at the debate last week. "I know it sounds ambitious, but I hope you will admire me for that, at least."
Brown champions partnerships with the county government and churches to address both homelessness and affordable housing. He says he'd hold the line on taxes by combining some services with the county. And he notes that his business struggles show he's overcome many challenges. At last week's forum, he told the crowd: "I struggled and I fought and I got knocked down and I was discriminated against, and I got back up and I kept going."
Main rival?
The mayor is crushing all of his rivals in the money race as of the latest campaign finance reports, which were due Feb. 2. He's raised more than $60,000 and has roughly $42,000 in the bank.
Meanwhile, Resnick and Maniaci are neck-and-neck. Resnick has raised $14,494, of which he had $11,056 left. Maniaci raised $14,503, with $8,658 on hand. Brown and Daly are way behind, having raised $300 and $130, respectively.
Maniaci calls for a comprehensive homeless shelter on the 600 block of East Washington and a variety of economic development initiatives, among other things. She points to her family roots — she's a fifth-generation Madisonian — and her youth as assets. "I'm in a very unique position to understand both the past of the city and the future," says Maniaci, who is prone to long, rambling statements. "Why are we the way we are? And what can we do moving forward?"
Resnick co-founded the tech company Hardin Design & Development. He calls for addressing the digital divide and building a new homeless shelter. And he would focus economic development efforts on supporting tech and healthcare IT. He also argues his style is better than Soglin's for the city.
"I just enjoy listening, I enjoy talking through problems and looking for solutions," he said at last week's forum. "There's a lot to love about Madison.... But we have some major challenges ahead of us.
He added: "Instead of trying to combat one another, or pitting neighbors against one another, it's time to work together to tackle these issues.
The mayor didn't attend the forum because he was at a conference in Baltimore.
Subeck doesn't think he should worry about the race. "I would be really surprised if Paul loses. Paul comes into the race as a really strong incumbent. In general, it's hard to defeat incumbents," she says. "Paul in particular has a long history of popularity. And runs the city well. When you see an incumbent lose, it's usually because they're doing a bad job."
Her take: "He's not doing a bad job."
This article was edited to correct the age of Maniaci. She is 31.
