ProDane Endorsement Questions for 2021 Madison Common Council Candidates
Thank you for having a conversation with Progressive Dane about your candidacy for the Madison Common Council. We appreciate the opportunity to learn about your priorities and campaign. To prepare for the interview, we ask that you respond to the following questions in writing. Please email your responses to office@prodane.org by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, January 13, 2021.
These questions and your responses will serve as the basis of the interview with the Progressive Dane Elections Committee. Our Elections Committee will be scheduling interviews for Saturday, January 16, 2021 starting at 10 AM. The Committee will make endorsement and funding recommendations at our General Membership Meeting on January 27th. At that meeting our General Membership will make final decisions on endorsements. You are welcome to attend and provide literature and introduce yourself but there is very little time for comments by candidates.
Please email your responses to office@prodane.org:
Why are you running for elected office? What are your priority issues?
There will be many new alders on the 2021 Council, possibly ones who are from backgrounds and perspectives of our most marginalized residents. If you are an incumbent, what challenges does that present and how will you respond? If you are not an incumbent, please describe the strategies that you will employ to hit the ground running as an alder.
How do you understand the responsibilities of the Common Council, and how do you see the Council’s role in relation to the mayor and city staff in general and during a major emergency?
What does community control of the police in Madison mean to you? What should the role of the Common Council be so that the Civilian Oversight Board can be successful, and for the intent of the 2019 Ad Hoc Committee Recommendations to be implemented?
a. A demand to “Defund the Police” has been made by many members of our community. How do you understand this call and what is your response?
The City’s strategy for increasing affordable housing has relied upon Low Income Housing Tax Credit project developments. This approach is not creating enough units to meet the need. What alternative approaches would you pursue to increase low income housing to meet the need? Describe a model housing project, including location, design, unit sizes, rents, shared spaces, and funding sources.
Please review the Progressive Dane City Platform and explain how you would prioritize and implement our platform positions. Is there any proposal you would not support? Are we missing something?
What is the role of the City and the Common council in the pandemic response? What challenges do you anticipate at the local scale with continued pandemic management in 2021 and vaccination rollout?
Progressive Dane Involvement
What interests you in seeking the endorsement of Progressive Dane? If you get the endorsement are you willing to commit to using it in your campaign materials?
Have you reviewed Progressive Dane’s Accountability Policy. Are you comfortable establishing this partnership with Progressive Dane?
If endorsed, will you assign a liaison from your campaign team to the elections committee to help inform our members about how they can support your campaign.
Are you currently a member of Progressive Dane? If yes, for how long? If not, are you willing to be?