Soglin: Three Things That Would be Different If I Were Mayor

Brenda Konkel asked the mayoral candidates this question over at Forward Lookout: “If you’re elected Mayor, name three things that will be different about Madison this time next year as a result?”

Paul Soglin's response:

1. EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE. Working for jobs and an economy that serves all of Madison. When I was mayor in the 1990’s, two things were different. Madison had the lowest unemployment rate in the United States, or was sometimes second to Lincoln Nebraska, and over 130 city employees were organized in Neighborhood Resource Teams (NRT).

The economy is tough but we can take significant steps on the local level if we coordinate our efforts with Dane County as we did twenty years ago in creating teams that focused on our neighborhoods. We can combine public health nurses and police officers, firefighters and employment specialists, librarians and building inspectors in workgroups that serve communities and strengthen neighborhoods.

Last year, Mary Berryman Agard and I finished a report, "The Park Street T," an examination of the employment and training system within the Park Street/West Beltline Corridor.

Much of what we learned on the south side, after three years of study, can be applied to Madison and Dane County. We examined the service providers, the non-profits, government agencies, and the private sector to see what could be done better. We examined the relationship between transportation, financial literacy, health care, quality child care, job training and education, as well as housing, in leading to sustainable employment.

Little did I know at the time that I might have the responsibility to implement the recommendations included for local government. With your support, I will.

An electronic version of the report is attached.

2. The City Committees. The make up of city boards, committees, and commissions will be significantly different. The appointments will be made only after each member of the city council has full input as to their own committee appointments and the appointment of citizens. The committee system is the very backbone of your government. While the Common Council makes final decisions of all matters of policy and the budget, the deliberate process of our committees proves over and over again that it results in more democratic, more transparent, and better decisions.

In addition, there will be no special executive committees based on ‘mayoral prerogative.’ I will not create any alternative or special committees for undermining or reversing the recommendations of standing city committees.

Finally, the committees will reflect the diversity of Madison. We will do our best to not only ensure that our committees reflect all of the protected classes of our equal opportunities ordinances, but also geographic, political, and cultural interests.

3.The City Budget. There will be significant changes in the city budget. A community cannot undertake special projects or effectively work for economic and social justice if the city budget is unstable. Unprecedented levels of borrowing and unsound budget practices jeopardize our community.

Presently the city of Madison budget violates some of the very basic tenets set forth by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). We are borrowing for basic items that should be funded through the operating budget. I know the incumbent likes to point out that interest rates are at historic lows. The problem is that we have to repay not just the interest, but the millions of dollars that we are borrowing. That borrowing is pushing our debt service towards 14% of the operating budget. There is no city in the United States that can maintain a AAA bond rating with debt service that is 14% of the operating budget.

There will be changes in the mayor’s office portion of the operating budget. There will be cuts of over $120,000 which represents close to 10% of that budget. The present mayor has six administrative aides. Assistance in working with state government is contracted out at $30,000 annually. The workload is not significantly different since I was last in office. However, I never spent money on a press person or a fiscal expert to review the comptroller’s work. In addition one of the five needed administrators worked on state legislation and collaborating with other communities and governments.

With the money saved, that will be close to $150,000, total, we can hire an additional public works employee and additional building inspector to work on minimum housing standards.

Brenda was asked if Mayor Cieslewicz has responded to her question: "Heh. No. I’m contacting his campaign to find out if it was an oversight (tho I did send reminders) or purposeful. I suspect the later, hope the former."

- Barry Orton

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 is now able to take online contributions, but please feel free to go old school via the US Postal Service.

Comments

[john]

Interestingly, Mayor Cieslewicz commented on The Cleveland Model. How would this work with the Park T Plan?

My larger comments: http://www.cooperativeconsult.com/blog/?p=482

[antpoppa]

Megalomaniacs’ beating their employees doesn’t work anymore.
The Cleveland Model provides a new and heroic definition of co-operative human spirit. With a strong leadership the co-operative business can meld with a social democratic society to achieve more than profit for investment.
On to a better world john.

[john]

Well, the Cleveland Model has yet to prove that it is little more than a kinder and friendlier plantation. I have a lot of hope for it and admire the work of John Logue; however, as long as the workers don't control the company that they own, it really shouldn't be called a worker co-operative (at least not under the definition of CICOPA World Declaration on Worker Co-operatives). I hope that this model (and how it would need to change to address the differences between Madison and Cleveland) become a great talking point for the campaign.

[kierstin]

One thing that wouldn't be different if you were mayor is the reckless way drivers treat cyclists. Every bike commuter still remembers your remark three winters ago about shooting people that bike in the winter and if they don't, I'll make sure and remind them.

[Barry Orton]

Kierstin, it was a joke! It's called hyperbole. Probably over the top, and certainly not appropriate in today's political climate, but NOT A SERIOUS ASSERTION.

To be clear, Waxing America hereby officially apologizes for the post (again).

[Hieronymous Knickerbocker]

Slightly off-topic observation follows:

The once and future mayor's remark about his deliberate lack of a press aide caught my attention. As I recall, Gov. Lee "The Vest" Dreyfus used to bedevil the press corps by refusing to hand out press releases or advance copies of his speeches. It still makes me smile.

But times have changed (did you know?) and the tools of politics have, too. The hustings are everywhere, and the business of staying in touch with the neighborhoods is much finer grained than it used to be.

A while back, in this space, hizzoner waxed adamant about not having a Twitter account - now or ever. I encourage him to revisit that position.

It is true that at first blush, Twitter seems silly; it is unfortunately named and perplexingly limited. But like any tool ever created, nobody knows all the things it can build.

Another mayor, Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., has worked nothing short of a turnaround in that gritty city. His brand of my-city-comes-first, hands-on hyperlocal politics is worth studying.

One of his methods toward that end has been effective use of Twitter messages. They are (of necessity) quick and direct. He frequently goes one-on-one with constituents, and they seem to love it.

I have never met Mayor Booker, I do not live in New Jersey and have no affiliation with him, or any other political operation whatsoever. I mention this only because, as an expatriate Wisconsin denizen, I think Paul would instantly grasp the possibilities and Madison would benefit. Fire up your Twitter account, go to @corybooker and see what I mean.

[Will Hogoboom]

Umm.....how many times do we have to hear this:

1. I am going to increase employment
2. I am going to involve the citizens in our government
3. I am going cut spending (P.S. by $150,000? That's the most pitiful promise yet.)

Show me a politician who has ever done any of this.

[Will Hogoboom]

Oh wait, we are not saving $150,000. We are cutting spending only to spend it somewhere else. Wow, thank you, thank you, thank you.