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Mayoral candidates speak at Humanities
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Also by Michelle Orris:
- UW band to play pre- and post-game Music City Bowl (December 11, 2003)
- UW advertising project receives national attention for study (December 4, 2003)
- UW advertising project receives national attention for study (December 4, 2003)
- Greenberg telecasts live from Madison, lectures students (November 14, 2003)
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- Schwall joins Zipperer in attempt to oust establishment (November 26, 2002)
- Wayne Bigelow no longer mayoral gigolo (October 1, 2002)
- Ray Allen drops out of mayoral race (October 24, 2002)
by Michelle Orris
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Four of the six mayoral candidates came to the Humanities building last night and talked to University of Wisconsin students about housing, State Street and alcohol.
Mayor Sue Bauman did not come until the forum was over, and candidate Bert Zipperer did not come because of his mother’s illness.
In their 10 allotted minutes, each candidate had different ideas about how to appeal to students.
Candidate Dave Cieslewicz said he would not condescend to students by pandering to them with so-called student issues.
“Politicians often patronize students because they think that all they care about is drink specials,” Cieslewicz said. “But students care about city issues. When I was a student, I cared about the bus service, the land use and State Street.”
Soglin, however, directly addressed student drinking during his speech. He said he would ask the Alcohol License and Review Committee to “take a step back and think” about its role in city drinking issues.
Mayor Sue Bauman spokesman Enis Ragland told students they had Bauman to thank for eliminating the “party patrol,” officers working overtime specifically to find house parties and penalize them.
Some of the candidates allocated part of their time to answer questions from the students.
In response to a student’s question about State Street, Cieslewicz said he would offer incentives to keep storefronts and buildings on the street small to discourage large chains from infiltrating the street and increasing property taxes.
Former Mayor Paul Soglin also said he would keep storefronts small and would discourage condominiums from cropping up around campus in order to keep property taxes low for small businesses and tenants.
In response to an audience question about large contributions by landlords to his campaign, Soglin said they contributed because he was the only candidate who does not support mandatory inclusionary zoning, which would force landlords to include affordable housing in all new developments. He said he does not support it because it would only be effective on a countywide basis.
“I’m not going to change my position just because I’m running for mayor,” Soglin said. “I have always been a strong advocate of tenant rights.”
Other candidates did not emphasize issues, however, and concentrated on conveying their personality to the audience.
UW graduate student Davy Mayer, a student for nearly a decade, said he would represent student interests because they are his own.
“But I’m not campaigning on issues, I’m campaigning on who I am,” Mayer said.
Will Sandstrom told students as much of his life story as he could fit into 10 minutes, including his childhood, his marriage, his journey toward politics and his children’s experiences in Madison.
When audience members started snickering, Sandstrom told them he was humorous because of his strong communication skills. “You’ll remember me as the guy who spoke from his heart,” Sandstrom said.
Zipperer’s wife and spokesperson, Laurie Frank, also got the crowd involved when she asked them to spin their fingers around in the air and then lower them to notice the different directions the fingers turned in, representing the different viewpoints Zipperer would bring together if elected.
“He connects with people,” she said. “He’s long-winded, but he puts actions where his mouth is.”
When Bauman arrived after the forum ended, she circulated through the remaining students and asked them about their landlords and jobs.
When a Badger Herald reporter replied that he had no opinion to any of her questions, she said, “I wish students were more forward-thinking,” and walked away.
