Another election, another two years . . . but what does it all mean?
The answer is, no matter what anyone says, is that it is too early to tell what this new council will be like. I didn’t listen, but I’m sure AM radio and the conservative spinmeisters will be falling all over themselves because Progressive Dane lost a seat on the council. A seat on campus, where everyone was on spring break. Hardly the sea change they were looking for, I’m sure. Progressive Dane has held 6 – 8 seats on the council for the last 10 years and not much has really changed. No one group has a majority and it will still be hard to get to the 11 votes necessary to pass anything.
I think the one thing that is certain is that it is hard to beat an incumbent. The ones that had challengers Jed Sanborn, Robbie Webber, Paul Skidmore, Tim Gruber and Larry Palm all won.
Another thing that remains true is that money alone doesn’t win, but it sure does help. These campaigns saw record amounts of money, which we won’t know the full picture of until the July reports are in.
Finally, it will be interesting to find out if the Realtors and Chamber of Commerce have an agenda. By that, I mean, their only agenda seems to be to vote against Progressive Dane. Do they have a positive agenda of how to improve the city? Or are they just naysayers to everyone else’s ideas?
Like I said, its hard to tell much yet, but theoretically, the Realtors have 10 seats on the council, the Chamber of Commerce has 9 and Progressive Dane has 6. For fun (I know, I’m a geek), I figured out the success rates of some of the groups that endorsed. Here’s how they did.
The Chamber of Commerce 9 out of 11 or 82%
Won : Jed Sanborn, Lauren Cnare, Zach Brandon, Paul Skidmore, Tim Bruer, Judy Compton, Joe Clausius, Michael Schumacher, Thuy Pham-Remmele
Lost: Troy Theil, Mark Deadman
Green Party 4 out of 5 or 80%
Won: Konkel, Rummel, Rhodes-Conway, Webber
Lost: Woods
Progressive Dane 6 out of 8 or 75%
Won: Brenda Konkel, Mike Verveer, Robbie Webber, Marsha Rummel, Tim Gruber, Satya Rhodes-Conway
Lost: Lauren Woods, Vicky Selkowe
Wisconsin State Journal 10 out of 14 or 71%
Won: Schumacher, Clear, Kerr, Rummel, Pham-Remmele, Judge, Clausius, Sanborn, Palm, Skimore
Lost: Deadman, Ogden, Schmidt, Theil
Capital Times 10 out of 14 or 71%
Won: Webber, Rummel, Skidmore, Solomon, Gruber, Phodes-Conway, Kerr, Clausius, Schumacher, Clear
Lost: Backer, Woods, Selkowe, Poulson
Affordable Housing Action Alliance 7 out of 10 or 70%
Won: Konkel, Verveer, Webber, Rummel, Solomon, Gruber, Rhodes-Conway
Lost: Woods, Pasha, Selkowe
The Realtors 10 out of 15 or 66%
Won: Jed Sanborn, Lauren Cnare, Zach Brandon, Paul Skidmore, Brian Solomon, Tim Bruer, Larry Palm, Joe Clausius, Michael Schumacher, Thuy Pham-Remmelle
Lost: Troy Theil, Carl DuRocher, Mark Deadman, Duane Steinhauer, Curt Brink
Downtown Madison Inc. 7 out or 11 or 63%
Won: Sanborn, Skidmore, Solomon, Gruber, Kerr, Clausius, Schmumacher
Lost: Theil, Woods, Deadman, Poulson
Democrats 6 out of 10 or 60%
Won: Verveer, Solomon, Rhodes-Conway, Kerr, Clausius, Clear
Lost: Backer, Pasha, Becker, Poulson
Paul Soglin 6 out of 11 or 54%
Won: Judge, Skidmore, Schumacher, Rummel, Solomon, Kerr
Lost: Theil, Schmidt, Selkowe, Backer, Poulson
TAA 6 out of 13 or 46%
Won: Webber, Rummel, Solomon, Gruber, Rhodes-Conway, Kerr
Lost: Backer, Woods, Pasha, Selkowe, Florino, Becker, Poulson
Sorry, I missed a few groups, but I ran out of time this morning . . .
So, what does it all mean? Ask me again in 6 months . . . these endorsements are all over the place and we won’t really know until some of these folks take their first controversial votes.
