February 2018 Ballot
Candidates that were endorsed by the TAA are denoted by our logo
February 20 Primary
In April, the state of Wisconsin will proceed to the ballot to elect both statewide and local offices. However, only two candidates can appear on the ballot for any of these races. Some races have had up to four candidates file for candidacy. The top two candidates during the February primary will proceed to the general election.
Residents of Madison will have either one or two primary races on the February ballot.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is comprised of seven justices elected statewide to ten-year terms.
Rebecca Dallet: Website | Facebook
Michael Screnock: Website | Facebook
Tim Burns: Website | Facebook
Learn more:
Candidates’ Answers at the League of Women Voters of Dane County, Inc.
Dane County Board of Supervisors
Dane County is divided into 37 supervisory districts whose members are elected to two-year terms. The board functions in many ways as a county-level legislature. In 2018, only five of the seats on the Board are contested, and only three of these races have a primary race.
Which district am I in? Maps of Dane County’s districts are available on the Dane County Board website. You can also check your voter information at My Vote Wisconsin.
District 6
Britt Cudaback: – TAA Member Statement (below) | Facebook
Pam Porter: TAA Candidate Response (below) | Website | Facebook
Yogesh Chawla: TAA Candidate Response (below) | Website | Facebook
Heather Driscoll: TAA Candidate Response (below) | Website | Facebook
Candidates’ Answers at the League of Women Voters of Dane County, Inc.
Candidate Q&A, Wisconsin State Journal
District 11
Nancy Bogue: Facebook
Kelly Danner: Website | Facebook
Al Matano — Incumbent
Candidates’ Answers at the League of Women Voters of Dane County, Inc.
District 15 — on January 18, Joseph Ryan withdrew his candidacy. Nonetheless his name will remain on the ballot and a primary election will be held on February 20.
Steven Peters: Facebook
Brent Renteria
Joseph Ryan — Withdrew candidacy
Candidates’ Answers at the League of Women Voters of Dane County, Inc.
Britt Cudaback
TAA member
Dane County Board of Supervisors district 6 candidate
Facebook: Britt Cudaback
Twitter: @brittcudaback
Britt Cudaback was endorsed by the TAA membership on February 13
Criminal Justice System
We absolutely must address racial disparities and over-incarceration in Dane County. I support alternatives to incarceration such as mental health and drug courts and fully utilizing and expanding restorative justice programming and diversion. Our criminal justice system is also creating and perpetuating cycles of poverty through failure to appear process (i.e. what happens when someone doesn’t show up for court), lack of front-end services to help people navigate court processes, cash bail bond, and lengths of stay, and my top priority as a County Board Supervisor will be to reform these processes that disproportionately affect persons of color, low-income persons, and persons experiencing homelessness.
Worker’s Rights
I do not support Act 10, so-called “Right to Work,” or any other policies that inherently limit the opportunity for workers to collectively act or bargain.
While working for State Representative Melissa Sargent in the Legislature, I’ve worked on issues like increasing the minimum wage to $15, which is something I support at the county level; fought against dangerous proposals that eliminate protected classes from employment (and housing, etc.) discrimination;
I also serve on the City of Madison’s Affirmative Action Commission, where I’ve worked to ensure the City is proactively seeking persons of color and LGBTQ-identified persons, among other minorities, for city employment opportunities. We also work to hold contractors accountable for to Madison’s affirmative action policies that seek to ensure a more diverse workforce and that we’re actually employing people in our community.
Public Transit
Investing in and facilitating public transit isn’t just good for the environment; it’s an economic equity issue. Public transit is a mechanism by which we can address poverty by making employment, job training, child care, education, social services, medical care, and other necessities more accessible. Lack of reliable, efficient transportation is a predictor of income disparity and opportunity inequity, so promoting transportation access—especially outside of urban areas—is critical. Specifically, I’m committed to pressing the Legislature to allow regional transit authorities, which foster collaboration between local governments to address, jointly govern, share costs, and plan for regional transit needs.
Housing
I’m passionate about affordable housing and providing additional funding for services for persons experiencing homelessness and homeless and unaccompanied youth. I think we need to create more permanent supportive housing for persons experiencing homelessness–Dane County’s homeless problem is chronic, so it is critical that we provide supportive housing wrap-around services in things like health care, mental health, and alcohol and substance abuse treatment.
As for housing vis-a-vis students and graduate workers, I think we have to do more to ensure housing is affordable and accessible. Especially in District 6, housing is getting increasingly expensive, which is forcing many people out of their homes. I’m committed to addressing this to the extent I am able as a county board supervisor and working with the City to ensure we have accessible, affordable housing in Madison and greater Dane County.
Other Issues
– During the 2016 election, I worked on the statewide legal team helping to raise awareness and inform voters about voter ID. I have been and continue to be troubled by UW-Madison’s unwillingness to make student IDs that are compliant and usable for students to vote. I’m committed to working with the Dane County Clerk to advocate for and pursue voter-ID-compliant student IDs at UW-Madison.
– I’m committed to promoting transparency and accountability on the County Board. Committee meetings at the county level should be televised and available for viewing if we’re going to have an engaged and educated electorate, and I’m committed to working to ensure this is a reality. I am also the only candidate to commit to hosting standing office hours and regular listening sessions in District 6 if I’m elected. It is important for elected officials to proactively seek input and engagement from constituents, and not just around election time or whenever there’s a controversial issue, but on a consistent basis.
Heather Driscoll
Dane County Board of Supervisors district 6 candidate
Website: Heather Driscoll for Dane County Board
Facebook: Heather Driscoll for Dane County Supervisor
1. Act 10
It’s hard to believe that this week marks the 7-year anniversary of when TAA led the march to the Capitol that started the Act 10 protests. It was the year before I moved to Madison. I followed along with the news and was moved by the people standing up together. I heard stories of supporters from around the world ordering pizzas for protesters so I called Ian’s and supported the cause as well.
Act 10 has weakened the unions and from my understanding has temporarily weakened the power of the people. It is critical for union members to be able to come together and collectively bargain and it is sad that public workers who are already underpaid have had their benefits cut.
When I lived in Washington DC, I actively volunteered to help create green jobs through LIUNA, WeatherizeDC, and Washington Interfaith Network. I saw firsthand the power of people coming together when I participated in actions including a mayoral candidate forum.
I would love to chat more with TAA to hear your thoughts or wishes on what could be done to counteract the negative impacts of Act 10.
2. Funding for the Dane County Jail
I supported Sup. Heidi Wegleitner’s amendment that would have taken the jail proposal out of the County Budget. I attended the Public Protection and Judiciary meeting on October 24 and personally registered my position on this issue. (You can see my name included in the list on page 3, “Public Members who registered in support of PP&J-C-03” at https://dane.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=M&ID=571089&GUID=487A1BB3-7AF0-41DC-85B8-4C76ADA0BE88 ).
We are at a critical crossroads where we can choose to commit ourselves to the status quo (with marginal improvements) or we can choose to positively change the direction we are headed in a transformative way. I support expanded funding for our Community Restorative Court to hold more 17 to 25-year-olds accountable without giving them a record that destroys their future paths.
Investing $76 million into the continued system of incarceration is not a good investment. I would have preferred to see a scaled back retrofit of the public safety building jail in order to close the 6th and 7th floor jail in the City County building. I support investments in prevention and diversion programs, mental health services, and healthcare. Let’s build up people rather than continue to build up jails.
3. Other important issues you plan to address as Supervisor:
I care deeply about many issues critical to the County: cleaning up our lakes, restorative justice, affordable housing, switching to 100% renewable energy, mental health services, public transportation, and public health.
I’ve had life experiences that have helped me see the importance of access to health and human services. When I was two years old depression took my dad’s life, and in my twenties I personally experienced what it’s like to be sick while uninsured. Looking back on these experiences, they are the moments that have shaped my path and are driving me to fight for change through elected office.
Pam Porter
Dane County Board of Supervisors district 6 candidate
Website: Pam Porter
Facebook: Pam Porter
1. Act 10
I am a strong supporter of union rights. I have worked for and with unions, including Unite HERE, the hotel and food workers union, organizing primarily with latina workers in laundries across the Midwest.
I strongly oppose Act 10 which was an assault on collective bargaining for public sector workers. It has dealt a particularly devastating blow to education. Research has shown that post Act 10, salaries and benefits paid to Wisconsin teachers have been significantly cut and exit rates are on the rise. State and municipal employees provide critical services to our community, and I strongly support the County’s position of negotiating employee handbooks that include negotiated positions on salary, benefits and working conditions.
2. Funding for the Dane County Jail
Although expanded diversion and alternative sentencing efforts and a declining crime rate have reduced our jail population significantly, Dane County’s racial disparities in incarceration are among the worst in the country.
The progressives on the county board recently approved $76 million for a jail consolidation that will reduce the number of jail beds by 91 (aprox a 9% decrease) and supposedly make the facility safer for those with mental illness. I was not on the board, but had I been, I would likely have voted no. Before spending $76 million for a jail (the most in county history) I would have worked hard to scale back the jail to redirect funding diversion efforts that keep people out of jail who don’t need to be there, maximize treatment for AODA and mental illness outside of a jail setting and prioritize efforts addressing affordable housing and homelessness.
The county also spends $60 million each year running the jail, and I support bolder reforms of our criminal justice system to address the racial disparity, focus on non-criminal causes of incarceration including providing effective services for those 20-38% of our jail population who have mental health issues and work to people out of jail in the first place. I support collecting, analyzing and making publically available demographic data of our jail population in real time, decreasing the arrest rate for African American adults and working to ensure the hiring of criminal justice personnel, therapists and social workers reflect the demographics of the community and are culturally relevant. We need to review local ordinances and lower penalties where we can for non-violent crimes, expand treatment for people with mental illness and radically reducing the number of people in jail through deferred prosecution and diversion efforts. I will also support efforts that focus our investment early – in kids, including early childhood education. Across the country we have a crisis where kids are suspended, expelled and even arrested for relatively minor behaviors. Students of color and LGBT kids are disproportionately punished for these behaviors and we need to support teachers and schools in reforms and pilot programs to prevent this.
3. Other important issues you plan to address as Supervisor.
In addition to criminal justice reform, I will prioritize: clean lakes and sustainable agriculture, providing quality human services for those who are vulnerable, focusing on climate change and clean energy, addressing race equity and social justice (including for women and LGBTQ people who suffer from abuse, violence, discrimination and exclusion) and making housing more affordable.
I strongly oppose the state’s photo ID bill law and would work hard with Dane County, TAA and others to encourage the state legislature to overturn it. It is a cruel and unnecessary tactic that has harmed the integrity of our voting by purposefully confusing, discouraging and deterring certain voters, more frequently those who are young, poor and people of color, to vote. According to the Dane County Clerk, there are 14,000 students at UW Madison who don’t have the ID they need to vote. I would work through the County Board and County Clerk that the UW-Madison Chancellor take steps to make student ID’s compliant with the photo ID law as UW Green Bay, UW-Stout and UW-Superior have done, so all students have access to the ballot and can easily vote.
Please check out my webpage that provides more information on my issue priorities. https://www.friendsofpamporter.com/issues/
Yogesh Chawla
Dane County Board of Supervisors district 6 candidate
Website: Vote Yogesh Dane County Board
Facebook: Yogesh Chawla for Dane County Board
Twitter: @YogeshChawlaWI
1. Act 10
I am absolutely and unequivocally opposed to Act 10. My family and I participated in protests against Act 10 every weekend. We also vociferously protested against so-called “Right to Work” legislation. My wife Jodi Vander Molen was a proud union member for over 17 years in the National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW), UAW, Local 2320. She served frequently served as a union steward in negotiations with management at The Progressive magazine, as well as union treasurer.
We have seen the horrific effects of Act 10 in all facets of civil life, particularly in education. Since 2011, teachers are paid less, have fewer benefits and are less experienced1. This directly degrades the quality of education and does grave damage to our democracy. I will fight for public education, and have worked on multiple school referendum campaigns. I am proud to be endorsed by school board members Nicki Vander Meulen, Anna Mueller Moffit, and Dean Loumos, as well as former school board presidents Bill Keys and Arlene Silveira.
The effects of Act 10 were devastating to workers, as out-of-pocket expenses increased in regard to pension and health care contributions. It also hurt the health and safety of our workers, as bargaining was limited only to wages up to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Punitive measures against organized labor were also included, as employers could not collect union dues and unions were saddled with arduous re-certification requirements.
On the Dane County board, I will fight for public employees to have a fair salary, safe working conditions, and a strong voice in their workplace.
2. Funding for the Dane County Jail
I was opposed to the new Dane County Jail from day one. I testified against the jail and my testimony is available here (
). I participated in “Derail the Jail” rallies and meetings opposing the jail.
Dane County must collect and analyze criminal justice data to figure out how we can divert people who are struggling into mental health treatment and restorative justice programs, and away from jail cells. Let’s expand the use of the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) tool so we can remove implicit bias. And we can expand the use of bail-monitoring programs as an alternate to cash bail for non-violent offenses, so we can ensure that someone’s life is not completely up-ended by spending time in jail while waiting for a hearing.
We can also implement enhanced notifications to ensure that citizens show up at court appearances. When a court appearance is missed, a warrant can be issued, which wastes officer time, results in additional jail time, and perpetuates a destructive cycle. I support a modest transportation subsidy for those who need it, because it is much cheaper to pay a $25 cab fare than it is to incarcerate someone for one day or longer.
Going forward, we must look at resolution 556 passed in September 2015, and fully implement the recommendations on “Data Collection and Analysis” and “Length of Stay.” We must also build a Mental Health Crisis Center with staff appropriately trained on how to deal with individuals in crisis, and use this facility as an alternative to incarceration. If Dane County can borrow 76 million dollars for a jail, it can certainly include a mental health crisis center in the capital budget.
I am proud to be endorsed by Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner, who led the charge against the jail. She said: “On the most pressing issues facing Dane County, Yogesh has articulated principled positions and tangible reforms. He’s been the only candidate to speak out against the huge jail construction project, showing the courage to take on critical issues and the skills and experience to offer creative alternatives.”
I addressed the jail in my League of Women Voter’s candidate answers (
) as well as in my candidate interview (https://youtu.be/T31Pj5lILBQ?t=5m1s ).
3. Other important issues you plan to address as Supervisor (Please see https://www.voteyogesh.com for my detailed platform):
Clean Lakes and Renewable Energy
The quality of Dane County lakes has stagnated. We are now in an emergency situation where our lakes are ravaged by phosphorous pollution and are being overtaken by invasive species like zebra mussels and spiny water fleas. The status quo is no longer good enough, and we need to take urgent action to tackle this issue.
Our lakes are a community treasure and must be protected. I will work with farmers, scientists, activists and environmental stewards to prioritize restoring our lakes so they are safe and enjoyable for people, pets, fish and wildlife.
To clean up our lakes, we must fight locally for a clean energy future. On the Dane County Board, I will advocate for more renewable energy, particularly solar, by expanding the PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) program to include residential property owners in addition to commercial property owners, so they can also receive long-term, low-cost loans.
Solar energy is profitable both financially and environmentally. We can power our economy with solar, invest in energy efficiency, and serve as a model county that leads by example to fight climate change.
Affordable Housing
Housing is a human right. We must invest in affordable housing for all of our community, including our vulnerable populations. Dane County, specifically Madison, has a low vacancy rate and is subject to rental price surges. To keep up with an expanding population, we must create more housing units, but we must also ensure that the housing is affordable. Many of our neighbors are already housing-cost burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their income for their housing. We must take steps to ensure that our communities are vibrant, diverse and affordable.
We must also protect our most vulnerable populations. We must reduce chronic homelessness and provide permanent housing opportunities, while expanding comprehensive day centers like the Beacon.
Open Data and Open Government
Most county government work is done in committees, not on the county board floor. These committee meetings are not recorded and available to the general public, which reduces the ability of our residents to participate, and leaves a gap in accountability for these public bodies. Modern streaming technology allows sharing video at the click of a button. We must demand more from Dane County.
I will lead the charge to ensure committee meetings are recorded and publicly available to allow all our neighbors to fully participate in their own government.
The Dane County Board limits the frequency of how often a constituent can testify on an issue. Even as an issue evolves or as language in proposed legislation changes, these restrictions are still in place. We must allow constituents to testify at any county meeting on any issue that is on the agenda without unreasonable restrictions.
The Dane County Board must do better when it comes to posting meeting times and locations. There are myriad ways to reach people through social media and electronic and print platforms. We must make sure meeting schedules are readily available, and that meetings are held at times and locations that maximize public participation.
Dane County spends a large portion of its budget on Health and Human Services. The Request for Proposal (RFP) must be clean and open, where citizens can easily access RFP responses while inspecting and providing input on the evaluation process.
The Capital Times recently wrote2: “Chawla has distinguished himself by outlining an agenda for making the board’s deliberations more accessible. … Chawla’s agenda is a smart one. He’s talking about using new technology, and his own experience, to make it easier for citizens to engage with county government. We hope that other contenders for the board will embrace his proposals and come up with more of their own.”
1 “Attacks on Public-Sector Unions Harm States: How Act 10 Has Affected Education
2 Editorial: Big ideas can make county government more accessible