The Executive Committee of the Dane County Board meets at 6:00 p.m. in Room 310 of the City-County Building on July 8, 2010. Here’s the agenda with accompanying resolutions: http://danedocs.countyofdane.com/webdocs/pdf/coclerk/agendas/EX20100708attach.pdf
The Committee agenda has three items of interest for local progressives: Resolutions on medical marijuana, curbing federal military spending, and creating a citizens’ advisory panel to study the ethics of UW-Madison research involving non-human primates (monkeys).
• Resolution 70 (primary sponsor, Supervisor John Hendrick) calls for a county-wide referendum on the use of medical marijuana in Dane County for the November 2 election. As the Wisconsin Legislature declined to proceed with legalization of medical marijuana this year, it’s time for local entities to take action. This one has 12 co-sponsors and is likely to pass.
• Resolution 69 (primary sponsor, Supervisor Kyle Richmond…me) asks the Board to support the federal “The War is Making Me Poor Act,” introduced by Florida Congressman Alan Grayson, and to call for a public, federal audit of war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. This one’s a bit of a “no-brainer.” The National Priorities Project estimates war costs to local communities across the U.S. Want to guess how much for Dane County…? Since the invasion of Iraq: $1.5 billion. Military spending is currently 57% of discretionary spending in the U.S. budget – 57%! – and additional spending on the “wars” (read occupations of sovereign nations) makes it even worse. Grayson’s bill would require these “wars” to be funded through the normal Pentagon budget, and the savings would be used to pay-down the national debt and make income tax deductions for Americans. This one had only 6 co-sponsors but we’re hoping for more support as it moves to the Board floor.
• Resolution 35 (primary sponsor, Supervisor Al Matano) requests that the County Board Chairman appoint a panel to study the ethics of experimenting on non-human primates at the University. A concentrated campaign by the local Alliance for Animals, with considerable lobbying of the County Board, resulted in a letter to the Chancellor this spring from 20 supervisors, and the resolution by Matano, which has 12 cosponsors (including me, for full disclosure). A substitute resolution, which made minor changes to Matano’s original and offered by Supervisor Melissa Sargent, passed the Board’s Health and Human Needs Committee, 5-2, on Tuesday, June 29. If the resolution makes it through the Executive Committee, it will face opposition from the University on the Board floor. So far, however, the Alliance for Animals’ campaign has been resolute and unflinching. Full-court press time….!
