Scott Gordon
In front of a packed crowd at the Barrymore on Jan. 9, The Capital Times hosted a 90-minute forum featuring the six mayoral candidates competing in the Feb. 19 primary. It was the first forum of the campaign and the candidates aimed to distinguish themselves in the crowded field.
The top two finishers will move on to the general election on April 2. Cap Times editors Jason Joyce and Katie Dean posed questions about combating disparities and flooding, and improving transit and public input. They sprinkled in some lighter questions, including what television shows the candidates are currently bingeing on.
Not many policy differences were immediately evident, but Isthmus selected answers from the debate where the candidates seemed to stake out a clear position.
Raj Shukla, executive director of the River Alliance of Wisconsin
Your background is in environmental advocacy and your current job is executive director of a nonprofit organization. But you don’t have any experience in municipal government. What has prepared you for the demands of being a government executive?
Shukla: “That’s not true. I chair [the Sustainable Madison] committee. I think we are one of the only committees that’s actually written legislation, built coalitions and passed legislation through the Common Council. I appreciate that there are those, maybe on this stage, who believe that the only experience that is valid is experience within the system as it exists right now. I actually think I bring to this race something quite different: new ideas, bigger ideas that aren’t confined to the imagination of politicians.”
Ald. Maurice Cheeks, vice president at MIOsoft
On your campaign website, you say that as mayor you will fight for a forward, focused economy that grows and diversifies Madison’s middle class. What does forward, focused economy mean and can you outline a specific policy proposal to accomplish that?
Cheeks: “As mayor I would have a unique opportunity to be a cheerleader of growth in this new economy. But specifically, ensuring that companies that are committed to our community, are investing in our community, they are making commitments to our residents to ensure they are creating upward mobility. One of the things that we simply can’t continue to see is employees struggling to be able to survive while working one or two jobs.”
Nick Hart, comedian
What can the mayor of Madison do to address climate change?
Hart: “Pass.”
Toriana Pettaway, Madison equity coordinator
(Running as a write-in candidate)
What specific changes to Madison’s public transportation system would you pursue as mayor?
Pettaway: “One of my biggest concerns right now is that our communities facing the most challenges, absolutely don’t have the transportation they need in the city. Our city center has the most access to transportation. They don’t even have to look at bus schedules. The areas that have greatest needs — [the people] that have to take two to three transfers — are the areas that I would want to focus on the most.”
Bobbie Harte
Former Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway, managing director of Mayors Innovation Project
What should the city be doing with its parks that it isn’t doing right now?
Rhodes-Conway: “Our parks are a tremendous resource here in Madison. Just one of the things that I’d like to look at is how we can use [parks] to better manage our stormwater. We had some really serious problems with flooding earlier this year. We need to do a lot more to keep the rain where it falls. Parks are an obvious part of solution...we ought to be looking at every inch of land that the city owns to see how we can make it more permeable and talk about what the private sector can do as well.”
Mayor Paul Soglin, has served 22 years as Madison’s mayor in three separate stints beginning in the 1970s.
Is Madison a safe city and how would you address its public safety challenges?
Soglin: “To really have a great, safe community we need to focus on five areas and not a single one of them is law enforcement. It’s housing. Access to transportation. Quality childcare. Health care. And focusing on education and job development. Then we have to break out of the mold and trust the people in the community.”
