Dane County Board candidates (clockwise from top left) Jacob Luginbuhl, Jason Knoll, Anna Gouker and Tanya Buckingham
Verona voters will have a true ideological choice for county board on April 3. Supv. Mike Willett — one of the few conservatives on the 37-member board — is retiring after six terms. Two political newcomers are vying for his seat: Small business owner Jacob Luginbuhl and Verona high school social studies teacher Jason Knoll.
Knoll says he’s running because of a sense of duty to serve the public, and he has the backing of prominent liberals. Meanwhile, Luginbuhl says he’s running, in part, to carry on the a fiscal watchdog role of Willett, who urged him to run.
“The board just keeps spending and borrowing and spending. Someone has to stand up and say, ‘Hey. Let’s take a look at what we really need here and now,’” says Luginbuhl, who owns Hometown Painting Services. “A lot of people are concerned about being taxed out of their home that they’ve been in for generations. People are escaping to other counties because of the high cost of living.”
Despite his call for reining in spending, Luginbuhl supports the most expensive project in county history: the $76-million proposal the board passed last year to renovate and consolidate the county jail.
“I toured the [City County Building] jail with Sheriff Dave Mahoney and saw what the deputies and those who are incarnated have to deal with every day,” Luginbuhl says. “We don’t have enough mental health services [in the jail]. The jail proposal will have an entire floor dedicated to improving the situation.”
Luginbuhl also calls for expanding access to mental health care services.
Knoll is more tepid than his opponent about supporting the jail proposal.
“That decision has already been made. But, of course, any person who is incarcerated needs to be housed in humane conditions,” Knoll says. “That said, I think we need to focus more on keeping people out of jail, especially young people.”
Knoll says that he’s devoted his adult life to public service. “I’m running for county board for the same reason I became a teacher: To help people and make a positive difference in their lives,” Knoll says. “As a teacher, I’ve seen how poverty impacts children. I want to make sure that we provide the services that allow families to live their life in dignity so kids can fulfill their potential.”
Knoll has the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-town of Vernon), Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Dane County Board chair Sharon Corrigan. Before becoming an educator, he served in the military for 11 years.
Monona and part of Madison’s east side will also elect a rookie to the board this spring. Supv. Robin Schmidt, who has represented the district for the past decade, isn’t running again. Tanya Buckingham and Anna Gouker are competing to succeed her.
Buckingham is the creative director for UW-Madison’s Cartography Laboratory and serves as a board member for the organization that oversees the Vera Court and Bridge Lake Point Waunona neighborhood centers.
“I’ve seen and helped these centers build community and provide services. They play an important role in creating stronger neighborhoods,” Buckingham says. “I realized that I could take the best practices that I’ve seen — that kind of grassroots work — and expand those principles to the county level.”
Buckingham believes if more county services are provided at the neighborhood level, it would alleviate problems like inadequate access to affordable transportation. While knocking on doors for the campaign, she says district residents have told her they’re concerned about the rising cost of housing.
“I have heard from people who have lived in a district for a long time and are concerned about affordable housing. Some people are having to make really hard choices between buying healthy food and paying for medicine because their rent is so high,” Buckingham says. “There’s a generational transition happening in Monona, too, which is exciting. But I want to make sure people can still afford to buy their first home, too.”
Gouker is a writer, speaker and disability activist. She also worked for several years as an employment counselor for Employment Resources Inc., which helps connect people with disabilities to potential employers. A former member of the Madison Disability Rights Commission, she has spinal muscular atrophy and uses a wheelchair.
Gouker says she’s interested in working on transportation issues if elected to the board because it affects a number of other issues.
“Throughout Dane County, including my district, we need to be exploring options on how to make sure that people have sufficient transportation that allows them to get back and forth from downtown [Madison],” Gouker says. “I’d like to work on the Bus Rapid Transit program in the works in Madison and we need to continue to put pressure on the state to allow us to establish a regional transit authority.”
Gouker also says she’ll be an advocate for combating racial and class disparities in Dane County. She says local government needs to “think outside-the-box” more often and that starts with electing a board that truly reflects the county.
“Nearly half the county’s budget is spent on human services. I’m in the unique position of having been both a recipient and coordinator of county services in the past,” Gouker says. “I applaud the county board for taking steps to improve their equity lens. But I also feel like my perspective is not just something you can invent within yourself. It’s really important to have background experience to understand how decisions impact people’s lives.”