News
College Dems endorse Eagon, Arendsen, wait on Dist. 2
Former Students For Obama officer gets nod in District 8 race
Looking for a print version?
Simply use your browser’s ‘Print’ command and a printer-friendly document will be generated automatically.
Also by Matt Weingarten:
- UW eases up on parking tickets (March 24, 2009)
- Identity scams challenge DoIT (March 12, 2009)
- WISPIRG, state colleges lobby for lower emissions (March 8, 2009)
- Rising population a big concern (February 25, 2009)
- School of Ed begins rebuild (February 20, 2009)
Sharing tools:
E-mail this article:
The University of Wisconsin College Democrats voted to endorse District 8 Aldermanic candidate Bryon Eagon and District 5 Aldermanic candidate Hamilton Arendsen Tuesday night.
Eagon, a UW junior majoring in political science, said he was enthusiastic about the announcement.
“I think the endorsement of political groups on campus is vital, but also reaching out to student groups is an essential part of my platform because almost all students are involved in at least one student group,” Eagon said.
Before the vote, Eagon and UW junior Mark Woulf, another District 8 candidate, spoke briefly at the College Democrats’ meeting concerning their proposed policies regarding campus and downtown safety and tenants’ rights.
UW junior Jacob Schmidt and UW graduate student Katrina Flores, also contenders for Ald. Eli Judge’s District 8 seat, were not present at the meeting.
“This wasn’t a shock,” Woulf said regarding Eagon’s endorsement. “I knew Bryon has been involved with College Democrats for some time now, but I think that my presence here echoes the core values of my campaign, which is to stay apolitical and reach out to all students in my district.”
District 5 candidates Hamilton Arendsen and Shiva Bidar-Sielaff also informed students about their respective platforms at the meeting.
Arendsen, a local lawyer, and Bidar-Sielaff, director of community partnerships at UW Hospital, spoke about the lack of communication between students and previous District 5 alders.
“I think being visible on the UW campus and working directly with UW students every day is one way I will be open to student concerns in my district,” Bidar-Sielaff said.
To increase communication with the UW campus, Arendsen proposes to create an e-mail address specifically dedicated to UW students. He also wants to pick a night to meet with student leaders.
Bidar-Sielaff and Arendsen are competing for the seat being vacated by Ald. Robbie Webber.
The College Democrats voted to table the endorsement of a candidate for District 2, another heavily student-populated area, until after the primary elections.
When asked why the College Democrats decided to wait to formally endorse a District 2 candidate, UW junior and Executive Board Chair Claire Rydell said the board wanted face-to-face interviews with some of the contenders. Ald. Brenda Konkel currently holds the seat.
“These elections are a time for students to show that Nov. 4 was only the beginning of a political movement,” Rydell said.
“Campus safety and tenants’ rights, real issues for students, affect our daily lives much more than what is happening in Washington,” she continued.
UW senior Sara Mikolajczak, chair of the UW College Republicans, had no comment regarding the College Democrats endorsement.
“We are not planning on endorsing a candidate before the primary election, but we may be endorsing a candidate before the general election in April,” Mikolajczak said.
Mikolajczak did say College Republicans will be e-mailing members of the organization encouraging voter turnout for the election.
The College Democrats endorsement comes one week before the Feb. 17 primary election. The general election will be held April 7.
10 Comments | Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Top Classified Ads (view all)
HOUSES FOR Fall 2010. All houses are on W Dayton or N Bassett. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 bedrooms. All have parking. madisoncampusrentals.com
Eagon is like butter cause he’s on a roll.
For all of the future trolls that come on this story and say “SEE, EAGON’S A POLITICAN” just remember that Katrina Flores went and actively pursued this endorsement with the executive board of the College Democrats but failed. She WANTED this endorsement. She also went to the Dane County Democrats meeting looking for their endorsement and failed. So when you see the inevitable comments tomorrow morning slandering a great guy like Bryon Eagon, remember that Katrina would have taken this endorsement in a heart beat but realized after so many consecutive losses, she wasn’t going to win tonight.
the college dems are a waste space
Wow, you guys take this stuff WAYYY too seriously. This is ALDER seat filled by a UW student because its a student district. None of these people are politicians, they are all just kids…
Uh See how know one actually said anything?
Why is 1:51am so defensive? Sounds to me he/she has some security/ self esteem issues. Maybe he should just congratulate instead of hate.
“For all of the future trolls”
Ironic coming from a present troll.
katrina is happy to get the endorsement of anyone, just not from pompous pointless organizations like the college dems
Hacks.
oh shhhh johnson we know you were just waiting to pounce
What Matt Weingarten forgot to mention on his article was the fact that District 5 candidate Hamilton Arendsen, when answering one of the questions regarding football Saturdays and how members of the Regent neighborhood have reacted to the mayhem and rowdy behavior of some football fans, shouted (well, emphasized actually!) that… “the neighbors need to SUCK IT UP A LITTLE!” And he added, “come on… it is just, what? eight Saturdays a year? I think that they should suck it up.. really!
I do not think that the RNA will be happy with those comments….