ProDane Endorsement Questions for 2021 County Board Candidates
Thank you for having a conversation with Progressive Dane about your candidacy for the Dane County Board. 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:
What top three priorities will you work on if elected?
What strategies would you support to advance transportation equity and eliminate transportation barriers? What should the county be spending its wheel tax money on?
Do you think there are options not being considered that should be pursued to reduce the jail population by diverting people from jail, reducing length of jail stays, and advancing criminal justice reform recommendations provided by the 2014 Res 556 work groups?
What are your concerns with the current jail reconstruction project?
What strategies would you use to design, construct and operate the Mental Health Crisis and Triage center? How would this relate to the current jail project? If elected, how will you effectively prioritize the implementation of the Mental Health Crisis and Triage Center?
How can Dane County advance handling mental health crises outside a law enforcement context? Do you support Dane County committing to a funding partnership with the City of Madison’s Mental Health Ambulance Pilot to ensure 24/7 coverage?
Which of the Lake Levels Task Force Recommendations should be prioritized? Do you support petitioning the DNR to further lower the lake levels?
What role do you think the County has in monitoring and remediating PFAS contamination in urban and rural areas?
What other ideas do you have for raising revenues or reducing spending? Would you support going to referendum to raise the levy? If yes, what conditions do you place on your support, if any?
Evaluate the issue of transparency in the way the County Board currently operates. What problem areas do you believe need to be addressed and how will you work to address them? Do you think the county board is responsive to public input and values the role of resident and non-standing committees?
Have you carefully read the Progressive Dane County Platform? Do you have any questions or concerns about the platform? Are there issues that we should add or that you particularly want to work on?
The County has made investments in housing and homelessness yet we still have some of the worst racial disparities in housing and homelessness. What would you do to address this?
Why are you interested in the Progressive Dane endorsement? What role do you see yourself playing in Progressive Dane and do you agree with Progressive Dane’s Accountability Policy?
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In what ways are you currently active in your district and the community at large?