Paul Soglin Campaign Statement - Mayor of Madison 2011

I love the city of Madison and everything about it…its past, its people, its present and its potential.

I have seen this City from many sides: as a student at the UW and as a member of its faculty…as a City Council member, as your Mayor.

I’ve worked in the private sector as an investment advisor and as a project manager for a major Dane County corporation. I’ve worked on area-wide economic development and housing issues for the State.

I’ve seen what works in Madison and what doesn’t. I’ve been a part of moving Madison forward. I’ve never been shy about suggesting new ideas and advocating for change when I thought we could do better.

This is one of those times.

The Edgewater, the downtown library, Overture...snowplowing …taxes that are too high, a budget that is structurally unsound, the exodus of talented city managers, neighborhood groups whose input is ignored and whose participation is devalued. Good ideas that go nowhere and bad ideas that won’t go away.

Madison isn’t moving forward or working together or getting things done as it should…as it has…as it can. The next Mayor of Madison needs to have the know-how and vision to get Madison working and moving forward together during difficult, complex and challenging times.

That’s what I offer. That’s what I’ve done. And that’s why today, I am announcing my candidacy for Mayor.

Some of the news reports about my candidacy have described me as a “politician.” But let me tell you the truth: I am a lousy politician. I am too forthright. Too honest. Too interested in the nuts and bolts of leading a city. I like the exchange of ideas and the good ideas that come from open debate and discussion and collective reasoning. I like to get things done.

I’m not a politician. I am a Mayor. The inability of the current administration to get things done and to address challenges before they become crises threatens the future of our city. It undermines our ability to come together as Madisonians and focus our considerable talents and energy to collectively solve the issues – big and small – that confront us.

We can do better. During my terms as Mayor, we build the Capitol Centre and Monona Terrace, turned State Street into a bus and pedestrian mall. We laid the foundation for Madison Metro. We had a triple A bond rating recognizing our strong fiscal management. We balanced budgets.

We combined civic pride with civic responsibility. We made things happen.

Together, we can do it again. One of the first things I’ll do as Mayor will be to meet with every member of the city council to get their recommendations for their own and citizen appointments to city committees so we create a committee system that is diverse with people and ideas.

I’ll get governmental, labor, business, and educational partners together and get to work to create opportunistic programs that will expand employment, training, and workforce development for all Madisonians.

We’ll collaborate with County Government, environmentalists, urban planners and neighborhood groups to adopt a Madison Plan that comprehensively addresses our land use and transportation goals in order to create a safe and healthy environment for all Madisonians to live work, study, and play.

I’ll organize a broad based city commission, modeled on the Monona Terrace Commission, that will produce a working solution for Overture.

People from all across Madison and from across the political spectrum urged me to run for mayor. The people of this City value the services their City provides while demanding they get value for their dollars. The people of Madison want their mayor to envision and enact initiatives that ensure a positive, common future for this city, its neighborhoods, its people, its downtown, its suburbs and its parks. They want us to get things done now, for this generation without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

With all the serious challenges we face, Madison is still the best City in this country to live, work and raise a family. We are home to a world class university, great public schools, gorgeous lakes, a thriving bio-tech sector. We are situated in a County distinguished by beautiful and productive farms, miles of bike trails, innovative County government programs and hard working, caring residents.

Being Mayor of Madison is the toughest job I’ve ever loved. I am prepared to focus on nothing else but working with every one of you to make Madison work -- for all its citizens -- once again.

Thank you.

- Paul Soglin

 

Editor's Note: Campaign contributions can be made out to Soglin for Mayor and mailed to PO Box 1228, Madison WI 53701. Please include contact information and whether we can use your name as a supporter.  Let us know if you can volunteer or sponsor a fundraiser. State law requires you to supply employer information (name and address) if your contribution is over $100 in a calendar year. The campaign website at http://www.soglinformayor.com will be is now able to take online contributions very soon, but please feel free to go old school via the US Postal Service if you are old school. in the meanwhile.

 

Comments

[Emily]

Glad to have you in the race, Paul.

[sterling]

Just moved the family to Middleton. I'm really bummed, you would have my vote.

[Seth]

Make sure you actually get some transportation experts (maybe even some engineers) in your group to work on the "Madison Plan" for land use and transportation. Good luck.

[Kathy Kerst]

You've said it best in your statement that being mayor was the best job you ever loved. It's delightful you are running again. Madison is privileged to have someone with your spirit and background. I lived in Madison from 1979 until just reecently. Although I can't vote for you, I'll strongly encourage my sons to back you!

[Argette]

Paul, with you in the race it will be an exciting campaign, filled with new ideas and new challenges. It is right, the time is right for you to apply the lessons you have learned in and out of office to help Madison move in the right direction. Madison is somehow a more exciting place when you are Da Mare.

[Ty O'Mara]

Congratulations, Madison, Wisconsin.

[teresa sumnicht]

You go Mayor Soglin!

[wondering]

"We had a triple A bond rating recognizing our strong fiscal management. We balanced budgets."

This is what I'll be looking for. IMO, everything else flows from this. If I believe you'll do it again, you'll have my vote.

[Stephen Prestegard, Sr.]

Hey, Paul, I no longer live in Madison partly because of the crazy left-wing politics that have evolved over the last 20 or so years, but I truly believe that you have got to be a considerable improvement over that idiot that is currently parading around as Mayor. After spending 25+ years in the real world, you most certainly would have picked up some common sense. Good luck.

[Dan Sebald]

And no Strassburg's Mad City to document the race:

http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=30952

Well, good luck Paul, and others. Make sure the primary is about educating the public, and maybe it will get Wisconsin politics back on the rails (ahem).

[Greg Niva]

Glad that you're running Paul. The only political argument I ever had with one of my relatives ended when I said: "He's the best damn mayor this city's ever had!" That discussion occurred more than 20 years ago. Welcome back.

[Dan]

Paul --

You spent a lot of words in this post talking about positive things that occurred during your previous mayorship, but you haven't really said anything about what you'd specifically have done differently than Mayor Dave (other than the implicit dig that Dave hasn't been sufficiently deferential to the city council and you would be).

Lord knows Dave has had his problems and I'm certainly willing to be persuaded that you'll be a better Mayor than Dave -- but in order to be so persuaded, I'll need you to go beyond this kind of superficial fluff and tell me:

a. What you're going to do
b. How you're going to do it
c. Why you're going to do it that way
d. Why you believe doing it that way will be more beneficial than your opponent's alternative

Furthermore, I'm also somewhat troubled by what seems to be a vague undercurrent in this piece of pandering to the right (taxes too high, the importance of balancing budgets, etc.) in a way that threatens to reinforce harmful conservative memes about government rather than to aggressively take them on.

I think a competitive race on the Left for Mayor is potentially good for Madison, and you might very well have better policy approaches -- but as a self-proclaimed 'nuts and bolts' man, please get down to brass tacks and give us something more than shallow rhetoric.

The people of Madison are smart enough to deserve more than condescending sloganeering.

[Sharon Kane]

I am thrilled you are running for mayor again. Maybe I am feeling nostalgic, but I have always considered you to be the best mayor Madison ever had. This will be an interesting and, hopefully, an informative election. Good Luck!

[antpoppa]

Express yourself Madison. Put the love to the test.

This is bigger than snow removal. This is about defining us. Shall we become angry, fearful, old men, clutching copies of ‘Atlas Shrugged’, convinced that the golden age has passed? Shall we restrict our society to the demands of two percent moneyed elite? Or, will we return to expand those decencies defined by a new humanism. We need heroic candidates that can recognize the rapacious global problems that face our species.

[antpoppa]

We can hope to inspire.

More than any time in recent history, America's destiny is not of our own choosing. We did not seek nor did we provoke an assault on our freedom and our way of life. We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people's strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arive...The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach for the stars...

-Aaron Sorkin, West Wing (20 Hours in America: I & II; aired September 25, 2002)

[antpoppa]

Obsequy for The Silent City

Can Madison politics liquefy into tranquility while the volcano of progressive action still erupts and progressive magma flows in its’ citizens veins?
Have we become the gullible, obeisance to authority, believing that group normalcy, the achieving of ordinaries is a goal. That our safety requires us to melt into that vast vat of Ordinaries?
‘Ditto heads’, our country, our state bred in this climate of authority, climate of “Right”, focusing on the delivery of rhetoric, rather than the message politic.
I choose not to follow the subordinate function, like Dan, I hunger for accountability

P.S.
I have been out of contact for a time and upon my return I find our politics to be lazy. I'm just trying to kindle some flame.

[Mitch]

I won't live in a city with a mayor who says that bicyclists should be "taken out and shot" under any circumstances, but if you make a public apology for saying that I might consider voting for you.

I mean a real apology, not an "I'm sorry people were offended." kind of apology or an attempt to explain and justify your remarks.

I'm reminded of what you said every time I ride a bicycle or drive by someone riding a bicycle in the winter, and I've also been told "You should be shot like Soglin says!" by an angry motorist.

[Chuck]

To "Dan" (posted above) who said he needed more "nuts and bolts" of how Soglin was going to do it, I have to say, "Didn't you read his campaign statement"? That is the most comprehensive plan I've ever read from any candidate any where! What more do you want?

And as for "pandering to the right" with cutting spending and a balanced budget, I've always wondered why no one does this once they're elected. Now I know -- People like you get elected and honestly don't believe in it! So we get sky-high taxes and bad bond ratings - who cares, right? We'll go bankrupt along with the federal government. Is that how it works? NO THANK YOU!

I'll gladly vote for Paul Soglin. He makes sense, has experience, and has a plan to act. And he listens to people.

In fact, Paul, maybe you should run for Congress. I think we could use you there.

[James j McLary]

Paul, I hope you can bring back to Madison the good old days when we were #1 in transportation. I was honored to work with you in the early 70's to make Madison the winner of the then UMTA administrators award for the best medium size transit system in the country. With the current DOT emphasis on livable, green communities Madison has got to score some grants for improving an already great City. I loved my tenure in Madison (1970-1978) and wish you the best. I will be sending you a campaign donation and will support any way I can.
James j McLary

[Ray Raymond]

Mayor Dave or Mayor Soglin- Their basic mentality is all
the same. They are both gradates of Imhoff's School of management and Imhoff was a civil engineer and designed

septic tanks and the biggest chunks always
flow to the top.

Soglin is still a liberal and would like to spend other
peoples money. Except now there isn't any left because
the Teachers Union Thugs and Union City Workers got it all. And the State isn't picking the bill up anymore.

Is he going to reduce crime and deport Madison's share
of the 100,000 illegal aliens in the State. No he will
just keep ducking his head on this issue.

Maybe he is less worse than Mayor Dave

Grow up City Workers and Teachers you had a free ride
on taxpayers money for a half century and more reductions
are going to come or its layoff time for you.