NEWS
Mayor candidate gets booted out
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by Courtney Johnson
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Mayoral candidate Will Sandstrom was not welcome at a debate hosted by the Northside Business Association Tuesday.
Sandstrom, who was the only of the four candidates not to be invited, showed up the night of the event but was repeatedly asked to leave by the debate's hosts. According to Sandstrom, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz also asked him to exit the debate.
"I'd bet this is the only time in the history of the United States when a mayor running against candidates asks one of the candidates to leave," Sandstrom said.
When he tried to give his opening remarks, Sandstrom said event organizers and the mayor both said they would call the police if he did not agree to leave on his own.
But George Twigg, communications director for Cieslewicz, said the mayor had nothing to do with the event's guest list.
"It was the organizers that made those decisions about who to invite, who not to invite," Twigg said, adding Cieslewicz has been to many debates with Sandstrom and is always happy to have him.
Sandstrom, a retired biochemist, said the reason he was not invited to this debate was his religion — he said the event organizers were Catholic, while he is Protestant.
"It is obvious Catholics do not want any Protestants elected to public office," Sandstrom said.
Cieslewicz and Sandstrom are also facing Ray Allen, owner of Madison Times and former member of the Madison School Board, and Peter Muñoz, executive director of the non-profit Centro Hispano, in this February's mayoral primary.
Allen, who was at Tuesday's debate, questioned the fairness of excluding Sandstrom from the event.
"Let the guy speak," Allen said. "He got on the ballot — he has a right to say what he's going to say."
Robert Drechsel, professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin, said there would likely be no legal issues with excluding Sandstrom from the debate, as the Northside Business Association is a private organization.
"Obviously, the organization can invite whoever it pleases," Drechsel said. "My view is always that — unless it's some unwieldy, large number that makes debate virtually impossible just because of the logistics — you would want to have all of the candidates present."
Sandstrom, who also ran for mayor four years ago, said this is not the first time he has been excluded from a debate. Sandstrom was not invited to a debate at a Madison Catholic church the last time he ran for mayor.
Following the Feb. 20 primary, two mayoral candidates will move on to face each other in the general election April 3.
Anonymous (February 15, 2007 @ 3:39am):
Wow, what is wrong with our city? Voters can't make informed decisions between people on the ballot without information!
Though Mr. Sandstrom certainly is not as mainstream as the others, it's a disgrace that he was excluded from the debate.
Shame on the Northside Business Association.
Anonymous (February 15, 2007 @ 9:02am):
let the Northside Business Association how you feel and contact them here.
www.madisonnba.com
Anonymous (February 15, 2007 @ 9:50am):
What is wrong with our city? Maybe we're too tolerant of nuts, wackos and people who receive messages from outer space in their bridgework.
As blogger Dennis York asked in a recent posting, "How do you cover candidates that are completely crazy?
"Take the mayoral race here in Madison as a prime example. Will Sandstrom is once again running for mayor, and he is completely nuts," York wrote. "Seriously - somewhere there is an empty bed at a mental health facility crying out for him. During mayoral candidate debates, he is prone to long diatribes about his mother contracting gangrene, his father cooking moonshine, kids calling him 'China Boy' growing up, his time dodging bullets in a Russian prison, and how he coined the term 'Fish and Wildlife.'
A 2003 State Journal piece on Sandstrom that York cited observed that
"...he tried to run for governor, insisting the Mafia had stolen the nation and was prolonging the Vietnam War to protect its drug trade. But when he tried to deliver nominating petitions, he said, he was arrested at the state Capitol for an outstanding parking ticket. He was disqualified over questions about nominating petitions, news accounts say."
The list of Sandstrom's bizarre behavior goes on and on. What is the responsibility of civic groups to give a guy like him a forum? What is the responsibility of the news media to print his drivel?
The Northside Business Association is to be commended for excluding him from its debate.
Anonymous (February 15, 2007 @ 10:28am):
Anti-protestant bigots!
Anonymous (February 15, 2007 @ 11:53am):
On principle, I agree that Sandstrom should be able to speak, but to call him "not as mainstream" is a serious understatment. This guy is an absolute lunatic who believes that Madison's biggest problem is the vast proliferation of unchecked russian prostitution.
He's not crazy in the way that liberals think Santorum was crazy or in the way that conservatives think PETA is crazy...he is just plain NUTS.
Anonymous (February 15, 2007 @ 12:34pm):
he's also a raging anti-semite and finnish nationalist... two unforgivable traits.
Anonymous (February 15, 2007 @ 2:51pm):
All the other guys are boring. Vote Will Sandstrom for mayor!
http://wisc.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2233277713
Anonymous (February 15, 2007 @ 10:59pm):
I'm voting for him. this will liven things up a bit in the city
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