OPINION & EDITORIAL
Critics ignore Kumar’s progressive strides
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Also by Kyle Szarzynski:
- John Edwards may prove best option (December 4, 2007)
- America, stop kneeling at altar of religious insanity (November 27, 2007)
- Critics ignore Kumar's progressive strides (November 26, 2007)
- Islam no defense for extremist action (November 20, 2007)
Related Stories:
- 'I feel disengaged' (November 19, 2007)
- Herald unleashed childish attack on Kumar (December 8, 2005)
- Kumar brings true student voice (March 30, 2006)
- Kumar discovers sensible politics (April 11, 2007)
- Lapidus for County Board (March 30, 2006)
by Kyle Szarzynski
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Badger Herald
Editorial Board's vicious attack last week on Dane County Supervisor Ashok
Kumar, District 5, is at least useful in one respect: It serves as a prime
example of the smug, complacent politics endemic to much of Madison's
mainstream liberal establishment. Because I was sure Mr. Kumar felt the same
way, I sat down and talked with him about what he feels is the real nature of
his brief public service record.
Since the board began its
critique with a discussion of Mr. Kumar's record of activism prior to his
election in 2006, I'll start there, too. Far from being "akin to a high school
student council president," as the board wrote, Mr. Kumar served the UW student
body with seriousness and determination — though, as the Facebook profile of
John "Sweatshop Chancellor" Wiley demonstrated, there was plenty of
lightheartedness as well.
Aside from the
anti-sweatshop activity associated with the Student Labor Action Coalition, Mr.
Kumar spent two years pushing back against the avalanche of rising tuition at
UW. He was also the author of the living wage referendum that the student body
overwhelmingly passed three times.
These accomplishments
were likely what led to Mr. Kumar's election with nearly 70 percent of the
vote. A victory with this margin should have made the board think twice about
claiming that Madison needs new "proper representation," though it does,
perhaps, enlighten us as to why their only concrete criticism of his county supervisor
record was his votes on campus safety.
As Mr. Kumar points out,
the crime scare that has hovered over the UW community recently is essentially
nonsense. "If you look at the statistics, crime is down," he explained. He
adamantly opposes putting more cops on the street, likening recent proposals to
the farcical troop surge in Iraq. According to him, an increased police
presence would do nothing to prevent the occasional mugging anyway, and would
have an adverse affect on poor people and communities of color.
Mr. Kumar is more concerned
with addressing systematic racism and inequality than just bringing down the
hammer on its effects. It is for this reason that he voted against a variety of
so-called crime enforcement measures, including funding for the Department of
Homeland Security, which he describes as a colossal waste of money. He also
voted against increased crowd control protection for mounted police, citing the
Halloween 2005 "police riot" as proof that more cops at the event is
counterproductive. His opposition to all the ruinous Halloween measures,
undoubtedly popular with most students, deserves mention as well.
Rather than clamping
down on the victims of American capitalism, as the board wanted Mr. Kumar to
have done, he instead focused his efforts on alternatives to incarceration — an
accomplishment for which he has every right to be proud. Starting from the
notion that "most people are in prison because they're poor," he successfully
fought for more electronic monitoring and rehabilitation for nonviolent drug
offenders. And his successful fight to end millions of dollars of prison
profiteering, an egregiously exploitative practice, should give comfort to
humanitarians everywhere.
Mr. Kumar is also
particularly passionate about his fight for immigrant rights. He was the author
of a bill that outlawed housing discrimination against undocumented immigrants,
as well as ex-felons and transgender people, and increased the penalties for
landlords who broke the law. While County Executive Kathleen Falk (the type of
tepid liberal the board undoubtedly adores) later vetoed the package, the bill
remains exemplary in the struggle for immigrant and housing rights.
Currently, Mr. Kumar is
working on the creation of a Real ID program that confronts discriminatory
federal law and essentially legalizes the status of undocumented immigrants.
His desire to see Madison as a sanctuary city is likely scandalous to law-and-order
Democrats, but raises the expectation that Madison really should live up to its
progressive reputation.
Authoring a measure that
ended Section 8 housing discrimination is another highlight of Mr. Kumar's
term. The low-income, mostly black families that constitute the voucher
recipients now have greatly expanded access to housing throughout the county, a
success that has taken years to realize. Mr. Kumar also authored a proposal
that empowers workers and prohibits companies that violate labor laws from
receiving county contracts.
Because Mr. Kumar's
accomplishments are many, the board also decided to criticize his so-called
disengagement from the student body. Nothing could be more misleading. Mr.
Kumar acknowledges that, unlike other local politicians, he doesn't communicate
with his constituency through a blog ("Social change isn't made through the
blogosphere"), instead meeting with students and nonstudents personally, via
telephone and through Facebook. (All of this information is listed on his
website.)
Mr. Kumar is deeply
rooted in UW's progressive community, attending the meetings of the Campus Antiwar
Network, SLAC and many other organizations. Here, we get to the core of his
philosophy as a politician: He sees himself as an extension of Dane County's
social movements, the real agent of progressive change. This explains why he
has worked with and included countless student and nonstudent groups in his
efforts as county supervisor, ranging from the ACLU to the Madison-area Urban
Ministry to the South Central Federation of Labor.
Mr. Kumar's understanding
of progressive politics is what ultimately led to his decision to retire from
public office. He feels "disengaged" from the real political struggle, and now
wants to return to grassroots work and fight the good fight from the meeting
rooms and streets of Madison, rather than the Dane County Council.
The board's criticism of Mr. Kumar ultimately stems from an inability to understand a politics to the left of the Democratic Party. Such an alternative demands radical change. It is an alternative that involves the fight against racism and homophobia and inequality, an alternative that champions the rights of the dispossessed in American society. Mr. Kumar is such an alternative, and in my estimation, he has done a fine job in representing it.
Kyle Szarzynski
(kszarzynski@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in Spanish and history.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 12:45am):
Excellent piece Kyle! It will be hard to replace Kumar.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 1:07am):
Obviously this is an amazing article and sets the record straight to an editorial board that is wedded to the Democrats. My question is: Which line do you think the right-wing (read: Democrats) blogs will take advantage of, exploit, and spin into a yarn about how Kumar is satan? I'm gonna start taking bets.. let's see... there is the quote about Kumar communicating with the student body... oh I got a title: "KUMAR FEELS "CONNECTED" TO STUDENTS THROUGH "FACEBOOK"". If you can think of any start listing em, cuz once Steven Lawrence (he's already up) and Danny Spirn get up they will be busy producing those anonymous quotes as various "student constituents hurt by Kumar's Far-left agenda".
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 1:37am):
How can you claim a "mandate" in an election no one understood, where a few hundred out of 10,000+ voted? It would be rather funny to see you defend this as that it is the same argument your nemisis, GWBush took after '04. Tyranny of the majority, me thinks?
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 1:45am):
You Kumar hacks need to read this: http://somethingverbose.blogspot.com/2007/11/confusion.html
It's not baseless. He's just a bad leader.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 1:52am):
Did you write this Kyle, or did Ashok come up from behind you and put his hands over your hands and begin typing - like a much more perverse and disturbing version of the Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore scene from "Ghost?"
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 1:56am):
I think they might also take issue with the "social change isn't made through the blogosphere" comment. We all no that it's not. But for those lonely people who spend their days behind the giant glow of thier comps, this is a slap in the face to their self-percieved good works. Undoubtedly, they will tear that quote limb by limb, then conjoin it back together to fit their highly moderated, highly hackish, politics.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 2:15am):
Here is a good one: "He compares more cops to the surge in Iraq! This crazy commie, moonbat, tree-hugging, left-wing nut is CRAZY and hates students!"
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 2:43am):
"smug" politics is Ashok Kumar calling a fellow progressive Indian student racist last year
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 9:41am):
austin king: you've already graduated, and you don't live here anymore. stop posting on blogs and the BH!
remember that time you played dirty and got your hand-selected candidate elected to the city council?
oh, wait. that's right. you didn't. you got your ass kicked by those "right-wing" Democrats. hahaha.
you are pathetic.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 10:13am):
cant wait to see the critical badger response to this one...
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 10:31am):
2:43,
Who did he say that about?
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 11:09am):
This is a great peice! In regards to the last comment... how is it smug to call a fellow Indian person racist "smug". Just because someone happens to be from your same ethnic heritage doesn't mean their in the "club" and offlimits or something. An Indian can still be racist against black people or other people of color, and it is good that Ashok and others hold them accountable. Just as it is good for Ashok to be held accountable (by other Indians if that's what it takes).
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 11:12am):
Clearly 1:37 was written by David Lapidas. Dude stop crying about it. He was with similar numbers as Eli Judge with much higher margins, but you don't deligitimize his election. "No one understood"? What does that even mean? By the way, stop comparing everything to Bush (you supported him remember).
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 11:16am):
Steven (1:45): Please stop plugging your blog the a. no one gives a shit about and b. its full of lies and you know it, thats why you take down and comment that's critical of it.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 11:25am):
This editorial speaks truth to power!
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 11:35am):
kumar is nothing more than a political demagogue, and this article is a cheap attempt at some clever spin of his record.
Jackson Bravo (November 26, 2007 @ 11:58am):
Reading over this editorial reminds me of two years ago when Ashok Kumar first announced as a Socialist running for office. Leftist students supported him hard, but most of us didn't think he had a chance. Reading over his/our accomplishments and knowing how hard he works makes me think that Dane County had its own little socialist revolution in Madison. It makes me proud to know that I was part of getting Kumar elected, which opened up the spaces for Dane County's historically marginilized communities to finally have a voice in the halls of power. Viva Kumar!
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 12:37pm):
"Clearly 1:37 was written by David Lapidas. Dude stop crying about it. He was with similar numbers as Eli Judge with much higher margins, but you don't deligitimize his election. "No one understood"? What does that even mean? By the way, stop comparing everything to Bush (you supported him remember)."
Hey, Dumbass? LapidUs was asleep. Not in Wisconsin.
Be quiet.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 12:38pm):
"2:43,
Who did he say that about?"
Sooooooch.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 12:48pm):
Hard-line Liberals selling out anyone to the left of them? Gasp! That has never happened in the last 200+ years in this country!
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 12:58pm):
Socialists have never done anything for minorities except kill them.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 1:18pm):
Thanks Kyle, you make me smile. "Victims of American capitalism." Really? Right here in Dane County? Do you mean it?
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 1:46pm):
"Demogogue" usually implies a certain populist nature. Please explain to me how Ashok is a "Political Demogogue" when his district is 3/4ths white and affluent but he addresses issues almost exclusively addresses the concerns of working-class people, people of color, and the LGBT community?
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 1:55pm):
Steven, your blog is a cheap man's Critical Badger. Nothing is original!
Jackson Bravo (November 26, 2007 @ 1:59pm):
Funny thing, there are so many policies and issues that the badger herald failed to report, the ironic thing is that the Badger Herald Editorial Board then claim that few students know him. Even the clownishly simple pamphlet that is the Daily Cardinal reported more of these policies. The Wisconsin State Journal and the Capital Times consistently report on Kumar's successes, but his own district fails to because they politically disagree with him. Even right-wing radio host Mitch Henk and Sly interviews and talks of Kumar, as does Vicky McKenna. On the day Ashok announced he was leaving office Vicky McKenna called him "satan" on the radio and said "god was shining down on Madison" because Kumar said he might be moving out of the state. Also, Kyle so rightly points out that the "I feel disengaged" quote which the BH Editorial board exploited and misconstrued was actually about Ashok's own "disengagement" from real social change. Like I said previously, Ashok has always been an grassroots activist, and this was a way for him to say he his returning to his organizing roots.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 2:11pm):
Finally! Some truth from the Badger Herald. At least when Mac Verstandig was running the place, they consistently invited response pieces like this. This is a much-welcomed editorial, which hits the nail on the head.
And Stephen Lawrence, Eli Lewein, and fatty Richard, please stop posting.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 2:45pm):
wait...did you just say Austin King is pathetic? Correction: Dude, the kid was city council prez at age 25 and now is the nation campaign coordinator for ACORN.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 3:44pm):
the degree to which the kumar goon squad hacks sit here all day and mutually masturbate one another is sickening.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 4:03pm):
To the earlier post: although, Kumar did run with the Socialist Party and Green Party and his politics have strong socialist tendencies, I think his politics lean more anarcho-syndicalist.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 4:49pm):
"the degree to which the kumar goon squad hacks sit here all day and mutually masturbate one another is sickening."
Or, there's actually a large population on this campus that, despite minimal press coverage, supports Kumar. Just look at the self-promotional masturbation that follows any article that includes the words "Eli" and/or "Judge," it's 30x worse--except those comments are all posted by the same three friends, who all want to climb the party ladder.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 5:34pm):
Or ... Eli Judge is a lot more popular and respected than Kumar. You know, could be that too (and is)!
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 5:58pm):
"Or, there's actually a large population on this campus that, despite minimal press coverage, supports Kumar."
Large population eh? Would that be the 465 votes he received in the election? I wouldn't exactly call that large.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 6:22pm):
"Mr. Kumar acknowledges that, unlike other local politicians, he doesn't communicate with his constituency through a blog ("Social change isn't made through the blogosphere"), instead meeting with students and nonstudents personally, via telephone and through Facebook. (All of this information is listed on his website.)"
Definitely love the back-handed insult to critical badger and something verbose, two poser Democrat blogs that are obsessed with Kumar, and Kyle too. Good work and nice article.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 7:17pm):
or, there's no support for him. lay off the marijuana, buddy!
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 7:19pm):
and despite him being the national campaign coordinator for something no one's ever heard of, he's too busy commenting on the BH and local blogs instead of doing his job.
"pathetic" seems quite fitting.
Anonymous (November 26, 2007 @ 10:47pm):
You know how you can tell Kumar's days were numbered here? All of his friends graduated.
There used to be a time when King Austin and Prince Kumar ran UW-Madison politics. Key word "USED" to be a time. Back in the good ol' days, these comment boards were nearly 75-90% pro-Kumar, anti-GOP, anti-Lapidus, anti-whatever opposed Kumar. It has totally flipped. There isn't an argument against it. Go look through the posts. The proof is in the pudding.
Who runs the show now? Sadly for Prince Kumar, it looks like the College Democrats.
Anonymous (November 27, 2007 @ 12:26am):
hmmm.... 465 vs. Eli's 550. Explain this.
Anonymous (November 27, 2007 @ 1:18am):
"and despite him being the national campaign coordinator for something no one's ever heard of, he's too busy commenting on the BH and local blogs instead of doing his job."
Obviously every comment that defends Ashok (and this one) was posted by Austin. Riiight. And ACORN is a large organization nationally, possibly the largest and best known community organizing group. They've done some work in Allied Drive and with the sick leave ordinance, but haven't really picked up in Madison. In most big cities they're quite active.
Anonymous (November 27, 2007 @ 3:35pm):
I wasn't comparing Ashok to Eli, I was just saying 465 is not "a large population." 550 isn't either, but considering that election was over spring break you have to admit that at least those 550 were dedicated haha.
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