Although all 37 seats on the Dane County Board are up for election, only four races are being contested.
Even two open seats — Districts 4 and 36, which are being vacated by Kyle Richmond and Cynda Solberg — face no challenges. Newcomers Richard Kilmer, District 4, and Danielle Williams, District 36, run unopposed.
But in the four contested races, candidates have been pounding the pavement and knocking on doors.
Incumbents in three districts face challengers in the April 5 election: District 1 (a downtown seat, including Capitol Square and east toward Brittingham Park), District 18 (Madison’s north side) and District 28 (Cross Plains and Mount Horeb).
District 5, the heavily student populated area around UW-Madison, is the lone open seat that is being contested.
There isn’t much variation in terms of where the candidates stand on issues, or even the issues the candidates have identified as priorities. Those hoping to unseat incumbents say the board needs fresh blood and members with experiences that better reflect the county as a whole.
District 1
Madison hip-hop musician and educator Rob Dz Franklin hopes to unseat Mary Kolar for the District 1 seat Kolar has held since winning a special election in April 2013.
“I got 71% of the vote in my first election, and I wasn’t an incumbent,” she says. “This year, in a three-way primary, I received 66% of the vote. That’s a very strong signal from District 1 voters.”
Kolar has more money, more endorsements and more experience than Franklin, but so does everyone else on the board, Franklin says.
“If we’re going to have a representative board we need a board that reflects the community,” he says. “There are 37 board members, and only one is a person of color.”
Franklin, 42, comes from a nonprofit background, earning between $8 and $10 an hour most of his adult life. He now works at Madison’s Central Library.
“When I started working for the city at $15 an hour, I saw what a difference a living wage makes,” he says. “It’s one thing to survive, but people need to live.”
Kolar, a Navy veteran who now works at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, is concerned about the environment, especially lakes Mendota and Monona, and reducing government spending while improving services.
Franklin says if elected he’ll tackle racial disparities in the criminal justice system and homelessness.
“I’m black,” he says. “I have seen the effects of the disparities.”
Kolar says she’ll tackle these same issues.
“I represent all of District 1,” she says, “even Rob Dz.”
District 5
The two candidates vying for the District 5 seat Leland Pan is vacating are Milwaukee natives who would bring different perspectives to the board.
Hayley Young, 23, is following in the footsteps of her current boss, state Rep. Melissa Sargent, while her opponent, Angelito Tenorio, 19, entered the race out of the same sense of duty that compelled him to enlist.
“It takes a lot of courage to enlist to protect your country,” he says. “I’d like to bring that same sense of purpose to the county board.”
Both count environmental issues among their top priorities. “The biggest thing in District 5 is Lake Mendota,” Young says.
Young, who graduated from UW-Madison last May, is a former chair of the College Democrats. She says the leadership skills she’s honed in that role make her a good candidate.
“Over the last four years I have educated and engaged students in electoral politics,” she says. “I’ve focused on bringing players to the table to make changes on the margins.”
Tenorio is a private first class in the Wisconsin National Guard and an Army ROTC cadet. He says it was the only way he could pay for college.
As a Filipino-American, he says he brings a cultural competency the board currently lacks. “I do bring a unique perspective to the board,” he says.
Both say racial disparities in the criminal justice system and tenants’ rights are issues they would rally behind if elected.
Tenorio says low vacancy rates give landlords too much power over the tenants, especially students. “I want to teach students about the rights they have as tenants.”
District 18
Adam Tobias is hoping to appeal to independent voters on Madison’s north side in his attempt to unseat Michele Ritt, a one-term incumbent.
“My opponent has labeled me a hardcore conservative,” says the 36-year-old father of two who works for state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-New Berlin). He has also written a handful of articles for Isthmus. “Actually, I’m an independent. I don’t see the point of being married to one side or the other.”
Ritt has a long list of endorsements and has held seats on many boards and committees. And with 20 years as a special education teacher for the Madison school district, Ritt says she’s got the right chops for the job.
“I’m good at listening and bringing people to the table to discuss creative solutions,” she says.
Addressing racial disparities is among Ritt’s priorities, as well as protecting the county’s natural resources. “If we don’t protect the environment, not much else matters,” she says.
Tobias, however, says Ritt’s focus on quality-of-life issues shows she is out of touch at a time when 1,000 people will soon be out of work when Oscar Mayer closes.
“We might not have a walking path in every park, or enough fish in Cherokee Marsh, but I think bringing jobs is the most important issue.”
Tobias says job creation and economic development will be his primary focus. Madison’s north side, he says, has fallen behind other areas of the city, which in recent years have seen vast economic development projects break ground.
Ritt calls Oscar Mayer’s leaving town a “tragedy for us all.”
“One thing we’re doing at the county level is funding a program called Big Step, which will connect these employees with living wage jobs,” she says.
Big Step was launched by County Executive Joe Parisi prior to Ritt’s 2014 election and aims to pair unemployed workers with employers in the trades.
“Of course, it’s not an end-all program,” she says. “We definitely need to do more.”
District 28
Incumbent Nikki Jones is campaigning for the first time. Jones was appointed to District 28 last October to replace Abigail Wuest when she moved out of the district.
“I’m truly working for the people in my district,” she says. “I’m working on their agenda, not my own.”
Representing an area known as the Gateway to the Driftless Area, Jones says preservation of the county’s natural resources is one of her priorities.
“It is a pretty unique area,” she says.
Her opponent, John Brixy, didn’t return calls from Isthmus. But according to his campaign literature and website, he currently sits on the Blue Mounds town board and has municipal experience from when he lived in Indiana.
Brixy, who sought the county board appointment following Wuest’s departure, lists road maintenance among his priorities.
“The county board majority tells us our current priorities should be criminal justice reform, racial equality, gender identity inclusion, mass transit and climate action planning,” according to his website.
Brixy argues on his website that residents in his district are more concerned about government spending.
Editor's note: This article was updated to note Adam Tobias' job and that he has freelanced for Isthmus.
