One week ago, Eli Judge announced that he would not run for re-election as alderman of District 8. Last Wednesday, Madison Area Technical College student Michael Johnson announced his run to replace Judge only to withdraw his candidacy less than a week later, leaving District 8 without a candidate committed to running. There is, of course, rampant speculation regarding who will declare their candidacy before the Jan. 6 filing deadline. Thus, for those who are thinking about running or in the midst of preparing their candidacy, I offer my advice on shaping your policy as a candidate, and later as an alder, should you win.

The first thing you should keep in mind is that Judge did an outstanding job as alder. He was not perfect, and you are not him, so don’t attempt to emulate him in every way or take every single position or support every ordinance that he did. However, one aspect you would be wise to emulate was his enthusiasm for the job. You don’t need to hold daily office hours as one former student candidate for local office said he would, but being prepared to be up late finding places to stay for members of a fraternity who had their house burn down would be a good idea.

Most importantly, remember that you are running for an office that represents students. Don’t act as an activist with a mandate to change the world. Your district will be roughly 98 percent students, and you should act accordingly. Given the constraints of your time, influence as a new member of City Council and limited political capital, there is no way that you will be able to get passed or even considered every piece of legislation that you might wish.

As a result, your first priority ought to be the students that you represent. Looking to the three major successes of Judge’s short time on council — the textbook ordinance, photo ordinance and Downtown Residential Lighting Initiative — all three were aimed at the students that Judge represented. While they may be potentially classified under a larger designation, such as tenant’s rights, social justice or crime prevention, the motivation behind them was fundamentally about students and their concerns. Though these pieces of legislation authored by Judge may have enjoyed overwhelming support, they just go to prove that not every common sense policy designed to benefit students has already been passed. Focus your efforts on similar issues.

This is not to say that you can’t be an advocate of other issues, but those issues ought to be secondary to the concerns of students. No matter how passionately you might feel about an issue, such as immigration or domestic partnership benefits for city workers, keep in mind that even though the majority of your constituents might agree with you, that doesn’t mean that they want you attempting to push fixes through council at the expense of issues more relevant to them. Just don’t waste your limited resources pushing a proposal like that defeated by the Dane County Board to cut funding for Sheriff Dave Mahoney because of his policy of reporting the immigration status of those he arrests to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Go ahead and vote for it if you support the issue, but make sure that peripheral concerns don’t impede your ability to advocate for the students of your district.

Activism on such issues should not, however, be discounted from an experience perspective. Experience in activism leading a movement on an issue, or for a candidate, can be translated into success as an alder. Judge’s leadership and involvement with Students for a Fair Wisconsin provide ample evidence of this point. So tout your experience in various forms of political involvement, but don’t let the issues you support consume your campaign at the expense of issues closer to the lives of most students.

You are not superman. You can’t accomplish everything you would like to. It’s just not possible given your limited time, resources and learning curve that you face as a new member of City Council. It will serve you best during the campaign and allow you to serve the residents of District 8 most effectively while in office if you place your highest priority on advocating for their needs and place a secondary focus on the issues that — while they may be important to students — have lesser direct relevance to their lives.

Patrick McEwen ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in nuclear engineering.