Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s first interaction with Gov. Scott Walker wasn’t a pleasant one. When Walker denied federal funding for a rail between this city and Milwaukee, even after Cieslewicz and Dane County officials offered to pay for any resultant deficits themselves, Cieslewicz threw a middle-aged, Caucasian equivalent of a fit, declaring the day when Walker could be referred to as a former governor “couldn’t come soon enough.”
He isn’t the only one. Scott McDonell, one of the leading candidates for Dane County executive, declared a bulwark of his campaign would be his juxtaposition against a legislature whose fascination with cutting taxes is predicted to border on the fetishistic. The same is true of Joe Wineke, a former deputy commerce secretary and leading Democrat also vying for the position, who rather ludicrously called it message “numero uno.”
In this rush to make themselves appear more relevant than they really are, Dane County’s would-be defenders have been gearing up for an illusory battle with a bogeyman far beyond their jurisdiction. Take the question of embryonic stem-cell research – which Walker vaguely referenced as a target during his campaign. City officials have little ability to influence a governor’s posture on science, nor should they. But Cieslewicz, both in an interview with the Herald Editorial Board and on his campaign website, has declared himself a firm opponent of so-far theoretical attacks on Madison’s legacy as a research hub.
Such overreach conjures memories of the campaign waged several years ago by leftist city council members to create a sister-city relationship with Rafah, Palestine. The motion failed, going down as yet another testament to the extreme nature of the city’s political leanings.
But in the case of more relevant officials, county executive included, blatant hostility towards state government can – and will – be met with the same. City and county leaders were right to blast Walker for his rejection of a rail line between Milwaukee and Madison, but trains, like it or not, make a poor standard for progressivism’s disaffected faithful to rally behind.
In the meantime, local government has a host of unanswered questions, many without the specter of a Barry Goldwater reincarnate to lend them sexiness. Despite the self-congratulatory environmentalism of the County Board and Common Council, Madison’s lakes remain phenomenally dirty.
Sheriff Dave Mahoney has been deporting undocumented immigrants in a fashion that has lost him the support of even his center-right constituents, this writer included. On a larger scale, planning the city’s architectural future will involve all the verbal warmongering local candidates are hankering for, without any electoral gloss. These fundamentals – not culture wars – are what distinguish candidacies.
Cieslewicz, the most visible manifestation of local government’s new found combativeness, is far from the self-aggrandizing monster his leftist detractors allege him to be. Like McDonell, he’s done a remarkable job playing a limited but essential role in Madison’s emergence as a Mecca for educated thirtysomethings with cash to burn and businesses to create.
But county and municipal governments, even at their best, can do little more than ease economic transitions Otherwise, they risk getting caught in rhetorical wars as detrimental as they are absurd. The most relevant protagonists in any fight for the city’s future will always sit at either end of State Street. Whoever gets elected this spring would be well-advised to keep it that way.
Sam Clegg ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in economics.
