Last Tuesday, the Madison City Council passed the Alcohol Density Plan, which will effectively prohibit any new bars or liquor stores from opening in the downtown area.

Seeing as we have consistently opposed this counterproductive, anti-business ordinance from the start, we were disappointed. It is worth noting, however, that something good did come out of the hours of debate at last Tuesday's City-County Building. Six of Madison's 20 alders voted against the ordinance, and not surprisingly, one of them was Ald. Eli Judge, District 8.

Now is as good a time as any to announce how pleased we are with Mr. Judge's first few months on the City Council. As you may recall, our endorsement of Mr. Judge prior to last spring's election was hesitant, even tempered by a question mark in the headline, "Judge for District 8?" We saw little difference between Mr. Judge and his opponent, both of whom seemed problematic candidates for any number of reasons.

But since then, Mr. Judge has inspired us with his zealous opposition to this ordinance, which 13 of his peers elected to support, including fellow campus-area alderman Mike Verveer, District 4. Mr. Judge showed up last Tuesday willing and able to fight to the end against an ordinance he, and the vast majority of his constituents, correctly identified as remarkably poor public policy. He surely deserves not even a fraction of the blame for the City Council's poor choice.

The current contrast between Messrs. Judge and Verveer is worth noting. Quite frankly, Mr. Judge has been the far more impressive alderman over the past few months. In addition to their differences on the Alcohol Density Plan, Mr. Judge and Mr. Verveer also parted ways on two other City Council issues that drew our attention — the so-called "anti-oath" in opposition to the state Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and the wholly inappropriate vote to support the impeachment of President Bush.

While Mr. Verveer threw his support behind both asinine measures, Mr. Judge abstained on each count. Although he was extremely vocal in his opposition to last November's amendment, he acted responsibly in taking the oath to uphold the state Constitution without throwing a choreographed temper tantrum immediately thereafter. Likewise, on the impeachment vote, we have little doubt Mr. Judge won't be voting Republican in 2008, but again he chose not to stoop down to the Progressive Dane Bush-bashing bonanza and demand impeachment.

Our hesitance in endorsing Mr. Judge last spring has been alleviated by his sagacious performance in office thus far. After just a few months in office, Mr. Judge has made a strong name for himself not just in District 8, but across the city of Madison. We have little reservation in saying Mr. Judge, a University of Wisconsin junior, is one of the most promising student leaders this campus has to offer.