According to Mike Hanson, Common Council candidate for District 8, tenant rights is the most important issue in this spring’s election.

Hanson cites his long-term Madison residence as his strongest asset as a candidate to replace Todd Jarrell, who announced earlier this week his decision not to seek re-election in this spring’s election.

“I have been a property manager, but I have also been a tenant for 10 years,” said Hanson, a bartender at the Plaza and a UW-Madison student since 1991. “I will see to it that every resident in District 8 has a voice and be their contact person. People don’t have the representation they deserve. I enjoy talking to people, working with constituents — being a representative is my goal.”

Hanson said that if elected to City Council, availability to his constituents would be his aim.

“[District 12 Ald.] Mike Verveer has built a living on letting everyone know who he is — that accessibility is something I learned from Mike,” he said. “I will make an effort to be always available and always helpful — not just by being at City Council meetings, but by being at downtown rallies, UW football games and ASM meetings, to let my district know that I am accessible at all times.”

Hanson cited his experience in the restaurant business when discussing Madison Common Council’s recent adoption of a smoking ban for restaurants and bars.

“I’m a bartender,” he said. “I’m also a smoker — if the clientele doesn’t smoke, they’re not going to go to a smoking restaurant. It depends on the business that [restaurants and bars] have, whether or not they are going to be smoking or non-smoking. [The smoking ban] is the first step in a long-talked-about whole-city ban on smoking. Where is it going to stop?”

Hanson also disagrees with Madison’s banning of drink specials.

“I don’t think the drink specials tie into what the university calls binge-drinking,” he said. “For the university or the city to regulate when you can have a drink special — that’s like not allowing shoe sales on Sunday afternoons because they’re busy shopping times. It’s just silly.”

Hanson says he is supporting former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, a Madison icon Hanson said served as an inspiration for his candidacy, in this spring’s mayoral race.

“Paul Soglin loves this city — he made Madison the No. 1 city in the country,” he said, continuing, “I’m a fan of Madison, of Wisconsin, of the university. Everyone else wants to be negative about Madison — we should be positive and promote the good things about what our city has to offer, especially the downtown.”