Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk chatted with 15 students in the Memorial Union about a wide range of issues, from her gubernatorial campaign to civil unions between homosexuals at Monday’s installment of the Cookies and Milk series.
Students had the chance to ask Falk her views on a number of issues, including welfare legislation, budget cuts, the Iraq conflict and county social-service programs.
Falk began Monday’s session with a personal anecdote about why she decided to get involved in politics.
Her 23-year-old son, University of Wisconsin alumnus Erik Falk, asked her why she was considering a position in politics, because of the negative traits many people associate with elected government officials.
“I want to make politics solve our problems,” Falk replied.
She also shared her experiences prior to holding the County Executive position. For 25 years Falk was an environmental attorney, or as she describes it, a “public intervener” with her work for an environmental watchdog group.
People approached Falk, then working as a lawyer, and encouraged her to run for County Executive for land-use reasons. She ultimately decided to run for County Executive for a reason closer to her heart: welfare. Living on Williamson Street with her son, surrounded by people less fortunate, inspired her to run. She described her frustrations with the system and how she could not make a difference for poor families before she entered politics.
“I wanted to be a part of reforming welfare — it is the reason why I ran for County Executive,” Falk said.
Falk talked about the fundamentals of county government and the services it provides.
“[County government] covers A to Z — airports to zoos,” Falk said. She also explained it is her duty to listen to Dane County residents. Moreover, she made it clear that she does not have all the solutions and often turns to residents for ideas and comments.
Falk also shared the advantages of REPLAY, an intensive supervision and education program for middle-school students with behavioral problems. She said the program has been a successful alternative to sending problem students to correctional facilities, such as the one in Wales. Because of recent budget cuts, Falk cut her own salary and 40 county positions, but she did not “cut a penny” on REPLAY.
When asked about her thoughts on the Iraqi conflict, Falk emphasized that she supports the troops but believes the reasons for going to war should have been better communicated to the public.
Students had various reasons for attending Monday’s Cookies and Milk session.
“I wanted to learn more about county government,” UW junior Kim Lampereur said. “I think it’s really important to learn more about county politics and be involved.”
While Lampereur went to receive a County Government 101 education, freshman Nathan Fuller and junior Colleen Condon went for an entirely different reason. Fuller and Condon are representatives of the Madison Warming Center Campaign and wanted to seek Falk’s opinions on homelessness and changing the system in Dane County.
“[It] was inspirational for [Falk] to say, ‘You can make a change, and tell me ways to better the situation,'” Condon said.