Rob Dz will face incumbent Mary Kolar and challenger Adam Brabender in the only primary race for the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 16.
Madison hip-hop artist Rob Dz admits he’s no politician.
“I’m a dude that believes in the truth,” Dz, legally known as Rob Franklin, told supporters when announcing his candidacy for the Dane County Board. “I’m a dude that speaks the truth. I’m a dude that stands up for the truth.”
The local music producer and performer is challenging incumbent Mary Kolar to represent downtown Madison on the board. Dz and fellow challenger Adam Brabender will face Kolar in the Feb. 16 primary. The two top vote getters will then advance to the general election on April 5 (which is also the date of the Wisconsin presidential primary).
Dz is is focusing on three core issues in his bid for county board: crafting a solution for homelessness, increasing living wage jobs and addressing Dane County’s troubling racial disparities with a cultural inclusion plan.
In addition to his music career, Dz has worked with local nonprofits, including the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, and Dane County’s Joining Forces for Families program. He is also working for the Madison Public Library’s Bubbler program and teaching audio production and personal branding to young people at the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center.
The rookie candidate almost didn’t make the ballot after problems with several signatures on his nomination papers. On Friday, though, he successfully secured his name on the ballot, joining one of only four competitive races for the 37-seat board. The candidate’s rocky path to getting on the ballot reflects some common pitfalls often faced by political neophytes.
To run as an official candidate for the Dane County Board of Supervisors a candidate must collect 50 signatures from people living within the district. The day before the filing deadline, Dz turned in almost 100 signatures, but 56 were ruled invalid by Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell. The vast majority were stricken because the signers did not live in the district.
Kolar had no trouble collecting her signatures, turning in 196 valid ones. Brabender turned in 51 valid signatures.
With 24 hours to find eight valid signatures, Dz’s campaign turned in another 13, but only six of these were ruled valid, leaving the local emcee two short of making it onto the ballot.
McDonell says it’s common for a few signatures to be invalid on nomination papers. But he typically doesn’t encounter dozens. “Usually candidates struggle with voter lists and knocking on doors,” he says. “Nomination papers are not usually the hard part.“
Candidates have three days after the filing deadline to challenge the clerk’s determination on nomination signatures. Typically, challenges are made by opponents to have signatures thrown out, but in this case, Dz’s campaign had to persuade McDonell to reverse his decision on at least two of the signatures.
With the help of longtime Supv. John Hendrick, Dz provided McDonell with affidavits correcting two of the signatures. McDonell also said after further review, “a third signature was deemed compliant, bringing Mr. Franklin’s total to 51, one more than needed to qualify for the ballot.”
A fixture on the local music scene, Dz is a familiar face in downtown Madison. That name recognition worked against him in collecting signatures, Dz says, as he got “overwhelming” support from voters outside his district eager to support his campaign.
Local activist Rowan Viva, who is a consultant for Dz’s campaign and Hendrick’s daughter, complained on social media about the difficulty of identifying voters in the downtown county board district.
She wrote on Facebook: “If the problem is seriously that there were *too many* nomination signatures from outside the district, as I’ve been informed by a source in the County Clerk’s office, someone needs to fix the fucking Dane County website so that people have some way to figure out what County Board district they live in — because right now that’s impossible.”
Now that he has cleared this first campaign hurdle, Dz chalks up the experience to trial by fire.
“Okay, what did we learn from this? Let’s make some adjustments and go forward,” he says. “Evidently it was meant to be because it happened. We got it done.”
Successfully challenging an incumbent politician is no small feat even in local government races. Former Madison council member and political blogger Brenda Konkel says the process can be overwhelming for newcomers.
“You need to rely on others who know how to do this, and if you’re not connected to them, by the time organizations get around to endorsing candidates and lending their support, it’s too late,” she says. “It can be daunting thinking about knocking on thousands of doors in the Wisconsin winter and raising thousands of dollars.”
Now that he is on the ballot, Dz says he’s excited about engaging with downtown voters who may also be new to local politics.
“If we’re going to be a truly progressive community, there needs to be progression for everyone. Not just some,” says Dz.
Kolar says if she’s given another term on the board, she’ll continue to push the county to do better on human services issues. “There is a lot of room for improvement in our human services,” says Kolar. “We are constantly asked what are you doing about the homeless, as we should be.”
Kolar also sees expanding transportation options in the county as a means of combating economic and racial disparities.
“I’ve had outstanding feedback from those that live in the district,” says Kolar, who declined to comment on her opponents’ campaigns. “[Voters] are appreciative of what I have done on the County Board and the expectations of what I will continue to do assuming I’m reelected.”
Thirty-one incumbent supervisors on the 37-member board are running unopposed for another two-year term. Two open seats have only one candidate.
Richard Kilmer is the only candidate on the ballot for the near-west side district currently represented by Kyle Richmond, who is not running for reelection. In Cottage Grove, Danielle Williams is the only candidate running for the seat now held by Cynda K. Solberg, who is also not running.
Although there will only be one primary for the board, there are three other competitive races this year.
Leland Pan, who represents the heavily student populated district including much of the UW-Madison campus, is also stepping down from his seat. Recent UW grad Hayley Young and UW student Angelito Tenorio are both running for it.
Two incumbents face challenges. On Madison’s north side, incumbent Michele Ritt is being challenged by Adam Tobias, formerly of the Wisconsin Reporter, a statewide conservative media outlet.
In the Cross Plains area, incumbent Nikole Jones will square off against challenger John Brixy of Mount Horeb. Even though Jones is the incumbent in the race, she’s never been elected to the board. Last year, she was appointed to the seat following the early retirement of Abigail Wuest.
