Few issues have aroused the chattering classes more than the Transportation Security Administration's latest airport security measures: full-body scans and, for those who don't want their junk eyed by strangers, full-body pat-downs. David Blaska, Isthmus' lovable right-wing blogger, calls these new screenings "the TSA's campaign to grope granny."
But even though the new methods will eventually come to the Dane County Regional Airport, there's little sense this will be a hot-button issue in next spring's race for county exec. A sampling of candidate opinion suggests broad agreement: The new policies are unfortunate, but ensuring airline safety is a paramount.
"I don't know that there's any good solution to this problem," says County Board chair Scott McDonell, the first candidate to declare. He suggests the United States should perhaps learn from other nations, like Israel, that have much more experience in this area, and says Dane County "would volunteer to try different ways of doing it."
But he acknowledges the limits of his authority in this regard: "The TSA is in charge of this, and they don't care what Dane County says."
Eileen Bruskewitz, a conservative County Board member who's "on the verge" of deciding whether to enter the race, doesn't like the "very intrusive" new measures, and wonders if they're necessary.
"At the same time," she adds, "I want to get where I'm going safely. If there's security that will actually make us safer, I think we have to do that."
State Rep. Joe Parisi, another announced candidate, doesn't feel he has enough information on all possible options ("I've heard other locales have threatened to replace TSA with local law enforcement") but feels there are ways to minimize abuses: "It would be very reasonable for the county executive to say 'We want the ultimate sensitivity employed'" by those doing checks here.
TSA spokesman Jim Fotenos says the plan is to install the new scanners at all of the nation's airports, but there's no clear timeline for when that will happen in Dane County. The cost of the new screening equipment will be borne by TSA, not Dane County.
