How does it happen that when Ray Allen and Mayor Dave, the Common Sense Coalition and Progressive Dane, Brenda Konkel and Russ Frank (Madison Top Company), Vicky Selkowe and Larry Palm agree on something . . . it still takes a year to get it passed through the council?
Take a look at the few events you might have seen in the news.
March 17, 2006 – Common Sense Coalition continues their call for a “buy local” initiative and I decide to draft a resolution to get the discussion started.
October 7, 2006 – “Buy local” is now the Mayor’s initiative.
Ald. Jed Sanborn said that it would be “kind of absurd” if every municipality focused on buying services within its borders, and Ald. Zach Brandon questioned the ability of the city to define what’s local and what’s not, as well as the costs of doing so.
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“It sounds good, and it feels good,” Brandon said. “But we have to have a much larger discussion about what it means.”
October 16, 2006 – WSJ slams the proposal.
It also could lead to retaliatory measures in other cities, hurting the many businesses in Madison that sell elsewhere.
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There is no problem, just an opportunity to pass a law that sounds good to Madison’s liberal constituency leading up to an election. And along the way, the proposal is likely to increase the city’s tax burden and red tape.
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A careful look at the consequences should show that “buying local,” when mandated at the local level, won’t change much and might even hurt.
October 25, 2006 – Opinion piece from Progressive Dane.
Meanwhile, in City Hall . . .
March 21, 2006 – Resolution introduced to study local purchasing. Resolution was sponsored by Brenda K. Konkel, Tim Gruber, Brian Benford, Robbie Webber, Austin W. King, Michael E. Verveer, Judy K. Olson, Zachariah Brandon, Paul E. Skidmore, Noel T. Radomski, Paul J. Van Rooy, Judy Compton, Larry Palm, Tim Bruer, Lauren Cnare and yet it takes until August 8, 2006 for the resolution to pass.
October – We get reports from the City Attorney and Comptroller’s office.
November 7, 2006 – Larry Palm introduces his own ordinance, which is later “placed on file” – i.e. tossed in the garbage.
December 2006 – The committee fininshes their work.
April 17, 2007 – A policy finally passes! Unanimously.
Why and how does this happen? It was a great idea. Nearly everyone agreed it was a good idea – except the WSJ who has a knee-jerk reaction to anything Progressive Dane supports. We had the information we needed 7 months ago. A committee was formed, they met, they made recommendations that were widely accepted and finished their work last December.
Was it the wrangling by Mayor Dave and Alder Palm to take the credit? Was it petty politics to make sure that nothing the Common Sense Coalition supported passed the council? Was it election year politics?
Whatever the answer is, we shouldn’t let this happen again. There is no reason for something that is good for the community and widely supported to take so long to pass.
And finally, when something that is good for local businesses passes the council, where is the media coverage?
