TAA Endorses Rebecca Kemble for Madison Common Council, District 18 – TAA

Statement on the TAA Endorsement of Rebecca Kemble
for Madison Common Council, District 18

Image of Rebecca Kemble, District 18 Alder

The Teaching Assistants’ Association endorsed Rebecca Kemble in her race for Madison Common Council alder during our January Membership Meeting. In her public statements and voting record, Alder Kemble has demonstrated her commitment to environmental justice, public housing and transit, and criminal justice. Over the last year, Kemble has supported efforts to remove police officers from Madison schools, has worked on resolutions for ending Madison Police Department’s use of chemical weapons, has worked to invest city funds in our bus transportation and low-income housing, and has called on UW–Madison to provide a better response to Covid-19.

In particular, we appreciate Kemble’s work in holding UW–Madison accountable to the communities of Madison. Kemble’s response to the TAA Madison Common Council questionnaire notes:

Currently most relationships between City government and university leadership are conducted behind closed doors with little to no access by Madison residents or their representatives on Council. The Joint Campus Area Committee is the only formal relationship. Since the ordinance change allowing the UW Master Plan to control building and construction projects passed, the UW doesn’t even have to come to the city’s Plan Commission for land use approvals. The UW is an island with their own police department and regulatory authority. And it wields power behind the scenes through the Mayor’s office and certain Alders. They have argued that Dane County Public Health orders don’t apply to them. This is not a healthy state of affairs, for our democracy or for public health.

Kemble’s advocacy in local government has been guided by one burning question: How are we going to take care of ourselves, one another, and the air, water, and land we depend on in the face of deepening ecological, social, and economic crises?

Rebecca Kemble is the candidate for Madison Common Council, District 18, who best supports the issues at the heart of the TAA Political Platform: economic dignity, civil rights, quality public education, environmentalism and biodiversity, voting rights, and good governance.

We encourage supporting Kemble’s campaign events. We also encourage all eligible members to vote in the Wisconsin Spring 2021 Primary Election by Tuesday, February 16.