madwonk-blog

[madwonk-blog]

Factual error of the day

Well, three of the four ASM appointees this year are ASM Chair (Allie Gardner) and ASM Reps (Matt Manes, Sam Seering).

Not true. Seering never has been an elected ASM rep despite his active involvement in ASM issues. Manes also hasn't been on ASM since he did not win re-election last year. Read the newspaper, Anonymous. 

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One year later, a reasoned take on flexibility

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a right-on-the-money editorial about the ongoing debate about flexibilities for the UW System almost one year after the height of the New Badger Partnership debate.

We're about to re-enter this entire debate on Wednesday. I think the JS editorial misses one important nuance of the political implications of the renewal. 

In the past, Gov. Scott Walker has supported such reform; we urge him and the Department of Administration to do so now.

I doubt this will happen. Why would Walker rehash a year-old political third rail that was a rare point of division within his own party — especially when he's in the midst of possible scandal and a recall election? 

Yes, the flexibility needs to happen, but it's highly unlikely it will happen anytime soon. If Walker wins the recall, he'll have the political capital to coax Rep. Steve Nass to embrace proposed changes to the System. The changes will need to differ from the 2011 proposals, too. If a Democrat (still crossing my fingers for a Peter Barca candidacy) wins, the debate over NBP-esque reform might change from the "make UW run like a business" conversation we've been having to a campaign to give higher education the power it deserves.

[madwonk-blog]

The new ASM constitution and The Badger Herald

At the beginning of this academic year, I was a vocal minority on The Badger Herald's Editorial Board because of my defense of this year's session. I thought, and still think, that Allie Gardner's government had not been given enough of a chance to succeed early in their tenure. This was mostly the result of sharp and automatic criticisms from outgoing ASM leaders or trolls on the Herald, Cardinal, and North Park Street comment forums. My first column, which seems like it was written ages ago, focused on many of these automatic critiques and tacitly pledged to give Gardner & Co. a chance. So I did.

Since the year began, I've been disappointed not necessarily by this year's leadership but instead by ASM's institutional failure to handle disagreement and partisanship. This has been a recurring theme throughout my time at UW, even under the influence of the ideological opposites of the current governing ASM slate. I do not, and never have, supported this kind of dialogue about ASM, but I support the new constitution largely because I believe it's the beginning of a path not just to a more effective government, but also a less controversial one. 

With all of that said, I just want to break down a few questions about the process we plan to use and what got The Badger Herald, and thus me personally, interested in the constitution.

How the Herald got involved

The Herald (with the Cardinal following close behind) began its involvement in the ACC near the height of the Beth Huang/Niko Magallon service hours controversy. After receiving a tip to the board that a constitution was in the works, we decided to jump on board and invite the Cardinal to join us, similar to earlier initiatives past boards have accomplished, such as the successful boycott of the Nitty Gritty in 2009. 

Both boards sent two representatives to the drafting committee to represent the voice of the board. Some members, me included, dissented and disagreed with some of the processes and language included in the current document. The committee wrapped up changes to the document near the beginning of final exams after about (this is my estimate) 8 weeks of deliberation. Of course, this probably will not be the final document, since we're still seeking final input from interested parties.

My thoughts on the matter

I have few reservations about the constitution or the board's involvement in the campaign to adopt it. I was one of the folks who supported releasing the document earlier for a more open revision process, but I was overruled. Such is life, I guess.

Some people have suggested to me that this constitution is, essentially, a carbon copy of the 2009 proposal that has now become infamous in ASM circles for its fiery tailspin to failure. This is not accurate for these reasons:

The constitution as it stands today significantly curbs the power of the president compared to the 2009 version. We can thank the (thankful) lack of veto power for this.

The creation of an Appropriations Branch allows the SUFAC to remain largely independent of the politicking that has distracted SSFC for the last couple of years. SSFC and its peer committees are the most important and least-political of all ASM bodies, and their separation from much of the politics that makes it to the front page of the Herald (aka Student Council) is crucial.

With this document, we are trying to improve on the mistakes of the last constitutional process and be more open to changes, criticism and revisions. I hope these efforts are successful. 

Kurt Gosselin & Co. are not involved in this process. I don't know Kurt personally, and from what I understand he's a nice fellow, but that doesn't stop me from disagreeing with his tactics or politics. I would consider any sort of involvement from Gosselin or the last constitutional committee aside from attendance at listening sessions counterproductive to our cause. It would be enough for me to reevaluate my support. 

Also, we've heard some questions about the ethics of the Herald and Cardinal being involved in this process. Every editorial the Herald has published for as long as I can remember contains an important disclaimer: "Editorial Board opinions are crafted independently of news coverage." Both papers have made it clear that what we do in the conference is completely separate from what happens in the newsroom. 

The Herald has been considered an experiment since its founding more than 40 years ago. I've suggested before that ASM take a similar approach, and some on 'the campus left' (I hate that term) applauded me for it.

All of us on the editorial board enter our meetings keeping this in mind, and in some cases — such as this one — it motivates us to step out of our journalistic comfort zone and test what a student newspaper can actually do. This might sound too idealistic, but people who work at the Herald actually forge deep connections with this idea and try to practice it as faithfully as possible. 

I don't think this project is much different than a larger and mostly effective venture I was involved in during my internship at WHYY in Philadelphia. Not long before I returned to Madison, I (very minimally) helped WHYY with their collaboration with Azavea, a well-known mapping firm, to help Philadelphians draw their own City Council districts. I was enthusiastic about the project because it was separate from news coverage, but I also was proud to be part of something that fulfilled some of my most idealistic beliefs about journalism's civic power. The venture seemed to strike a chord with a council known nationwide for gerrymandering. 

Those are my personal reasons for endorsing the venture.

But remember: Part of testing our skill as journalists involves maintaining the highest level of ethics possible. Our news department has nothing to do with this, and if the ACC screws up, it will be news. When we go into editing mode, we remain objective and considerate of any opposition. 

If you have further questions about the process, I'd be happy to answer them. Shoot me an email at rainey.ryan09@gmail.com or tweet to @ryan_rainey. 

[madwonk-blog]

Back for now

After an unplanned hiatus because of a variety of Herald-related commitments, I've decided to bring the MadWonk Tumblr back for the time being. In the future, you can expect to see MadWonk rolled into badgerherald.com with new contributors as part of our in-house blogging platform, but for now it will be just me maintaining this Tumblr. 

I've decided to change the direction a little bit to focus on or expand on things I cannot cover in a 700-to-800 word weekly column. Also expect to see more short posts with brief analysis. 

If you're reading this, thanks! I hopefully won't flake out this time. And no, this isn't a New Year's Resolution. (Instead, that's the archetypical losing 20 pounds.) 

[madwonk-blog]

Earth to GOP: Don't ruin Chris Christie

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is, without question, the only Republican worth voting for in the next presidential election. He's not a wingnut like Rick Perry, not weak-appearing like John Huntsman, not reactionary like Michele Bachmann and not an quasi-oligarch like Mitt Romney.

Christie is blunt. He's middle class. He has young kids, just like President Obama. He cares about his state, not his agenda. Unlike Scott Walker, to whom Christie is often compared, Christie doesn't sugarcoat what he's doing to his state or why he's doing it. 

I hate admitting that I think these things considering I rarely agree with anything Christie says. But compared to the Republicans' current candidates, Christie is the only candidate I'd be comfortable with as a leader. Lack of leadership has, until recently, become a recurring theme in the Obama presidency, and I'm actually convinced that even if Christie implemented policies I disagreed with, he'd still find some way to make me think it's not as bad as my liberal friends would make me believe.

Just imagine a Christie-Obama debate. The affair would be dramatic, thoughtful and therapeutic...as long as Christie doesn't change.

But as we've seen in the last several months, Christie will likely feel heavy pressure to run to the extreme right along with his fellow candidates. If that happens, consider this post null-and-void.

[madwonk-blog]

Why I feel sorry for ASM and Beth Huang

Unsurprisingly, the Associated Students of Madison have already found themselves in the closest equivalents to scandal that's possible in student government. But despite the furor over the Multicultural Student Coalition's huge budget, I'm more worried about the implications of Vice Chair Beth Huang's removal from Student Council.

Huang will likely appeal SJ's decision, as she should. But I'm worried about the implications this could have so early in ASM's session.

Say what you will about the current ASM leadership, but Huang is arguably the most positively vocal and student-oriented member of this ASM session. While many other ASM leaders live in the SAC, Huang has been active in communicating ASM's positions and initiatives to students, something other current and former student government leaders haven't executed as deftly.

But I'm most worried about this statement from Kurt Gosselin, one of the founding bloggers on popular ASM blog North Park Street:

This is a scandal of near-epic proportion for ASM! [...] The new ASM which claimed to be transparent and fighting for students seems to be imploding in upon itself.

This was, from what I can tell, an innocent procedural mistake Huang made. That shouldn't mean she should get off the hook -- MCSC made an innocent procedural mistake, too, and they need to pay the price for that.

But I don't think this has anything to do with transparency; instead, it's a matter of poor organization on Huang's part and poor notification on SJ's part. How was Huang supposed to know that the extra hours she put in for the Textbook Swap and Recruitment Drive wouldn't be enough? 

SJ's ruling doesn't change Huang's respectable advocacy for students, and to call this a "scandal of near-epic proportion" simply sensationalizes an already-unfortunate circumstance.

Sometimes I wish it were easier to sit down, reflect on incidents like this one and realize something important: we're just students. It's upsetting to see people who work together talk about each other like this. Call me an idealist, but that's not how we should operate. 

[madwonk-blog]

CEO and the War Against Minorities

I've never heard of the Center for Equal Opportunity before tonight. I'm a little taken aback they would use such a misleading term to promote such an unequal agenda. But with all of the tweets and Facebook posts I've seen, this quote is the most disturbing higher education-related statement I've seen in my time at UW.

The latest census figures have dramatically underscored that America is increasingly multiethnic and multiracial. In such country, is simply untenable for our institutions—including public universities—to engage in politically correct but divisive and unfair discrimination.

CEO President Roger Clegg

I'm constantly amazed by how buzzwords like "politically correct" and "divisive" can still hold so much water after a decade where so much has been done to discredit the critics of affirmative action. 

But as many people have mentioned, Madison isn't like Ann Arbor or even Austin. Students here have rekindled their love for activism, and this is a more worthy cause for student activism than any other, possibly even more important than the budget repair bill. I won't be surprised if UW-Madison is the location of the endgame between those supporting and opposing increased diversity efforts on public university campuses. 

The good guys will win this one. 

[madwonk-blog]

Growing up with 9-11

Many news outlets, some of them out of touch with young people, will try to tell you college students barely remember September 11, that the event was a relatively inconsequential moment in our lives that the media must recreate for us in some sort of sensory experience every year. These people are full of shit. 

Even the youngest college students were in third grade when September 11 happened, which I remember being the age at which I began to understand the significance of world events. When I was in third grade, people all across the world were paranoid about the Y2K bug. When clocks hit midnight in Sydney to mark the beginning of the 21st Century, a reporter went to an ATM to make a cash withdrawal. The machine worked, and I then understood that the world wasn't ending. 

Young college students do not, and will never, need to be reminded of what happened on 9-11, we remember it perfectly well. And unlike the adults in our life who sometimes flirt with nostalgia for the feelings of post-9-11 national unity, we never really want to return to the way we felt as terrified children living in seemingly terrifying world.

Some kids like me, who grew up thousands of miles away from New York or Washington, say they're members of the "9-11 generation." I prefer avoiding that moniker. For my entire childhood, 9-11 felt like a nagging presence in my life, something I grew up hating and wishing had never happened. It wasn't a generation-defining moment, but instead, at least for my peers and me, it was a force we constantly tried to eliminate from our lives. 

"If you're afraid, then the terrorists win," was an extremely difficult concept for a 10-year-old to buy into at the time. Boarding an airplane after 9-11 seemed like a death sentence to me, and I did it more than I would've liked when I was younger. The sound of construction in a major city was enough to make my heart stop and want to turn around and go back. But there was nothing I could do, and eventually my paranoia folded into anger. As a middle schooler, I naïvely hated Democrats because I legitimately believed the country would fall to its knees if John Kerry were president. 

Of course, the world isn't like that anymore. But despite the polarized political climate we live in, and in light of all the lost jobs and the lost bargaining rights and lost opportunity, I'd still rather live as a young child in this decade than deal with the genuine terror that tainted my generation's childhood. 

I never want my kids to have to grow up with anything like 9-11 tarnishing the memories of their childhoods. I'll never be nostalgic for the years between 2001 and 2004. Neither will anyone else who grew up in fear after 9-11. 

[UPDATE 9-12-11 4:05 p.m.] This piece was not a reaction to today's Daily Cardinal feature about the "9-11 Generation." I didn't realize they would title their piece thus. But I still don't like the term. 

[madwonk-blog]

The worst tweet ever written

Those two senators will go back to their districts and go back to their affluent jobs. The 40 percent of WEAC workers will likely be out of work for several months, if not a year or more, because of the complete disregard for real employment and quality education Wisconsin's Republican Party has shown.

Families depending on WEAC for income will now likely have to face selling their homes and giving their children a less-promising childhood because of people who think like this. If all Republicans in Wisconsin consider the WEAC layoffs a victory (ASM Rep and College Republicans big-whig Johnny Koremenos re-tweeted this, so this has been endorsed by some form of GOP leadership), we have problems in our state that go beyond unemployment. 

Disgusting. 

UPDATE 8-15-11 10:19:00 EST The original author of the tweet, @wicalvin, is pissed amused.

I don't know how expensive the WEAC headquarters is worth. I think the money spent on the recalls was somewhat misguided but, since WEAC employees obviously endorsed the recalls, they probably don't mind it.

But this goes beyond the "taxpayer" or any conservative or liberal talking point. If we've reached a point in our civil discourse where we will be dancing on the graves of a Wisconsinite's paid, middle-class job, we have a lot to worry about.

My grandfather paid his bills and raised my mother working for a union in Maryland. My mother has worked as an educator for more than a decade and works hard to support my school-aged sister. My father has been failed by the private sector and has been unemployed for years. 

I'm not a member of a union, I don't really want to join a union, and I have no personal stake in the union crisis. But there's one thing I know: I wouldn't be living the life I'm living today, fulfilling my childhood dream of being a journalist at a top-tier university, if unions didn't help bring me to the point I'm at today.

Millions of Americans and their children across the country feel this way, and to de-legitimize the sacrifices working families have made for their children as cause for celebration is a serious problem. This isn't about the Koch Brothers or Scott Walker or "Fitzwalkerstan," it's about fixing a crucial hole in the way we think about political change. 

For the record, I'd have some sympathy for Planned Parenthood Pro-Life Wisconsin or NRA employees if they lost their jobs, regardless of how I feel about their organizations. 

UPDATE 8-15-2011 10:45:00 EST

John Koremenos, the College Republicans chair mentioned earlier, has responded to this post. Some highlights, with my thoughts (mostly just left-wing talking points) in bold:

[...]I understand what I re-tweeted might be a little insensitive, but let me quickly run down a few thoughts that ran through my head when I read the article about the WEAC layoffs and re-tweeted @WICalvin...

1) WEAC and collective bargaining have been responsible for thousands of layoffs over the years. (Debatable and the central issue of this crisis) 2) WEAC has spent millions lobbying and trying to elect Democratic politicians. Granted, it is their right to do so, but that's money that could have been put towards staff salaries and benefits. (The same could be said about corporations that donate to Democrats and Republicans, but point taken, unions do--or did--have power in Democratic politics)  3) WEAC's president, Mary Bell makes a great salary; somewhere in the ballpark of $200,000. Again, another possible source for saving staff members from layoffs. 4) Layoffs are a fact of life, something my family has experienced in recent years too. These individuals can enter the tough job market and try to find new work, like many Americans have been forced to do over the past few years.  5) WEAC has forced teachers to pay union dues, my mother, a former kindergarten assistant, included. This union did not represent my mother's point of view and my mother had thousands of dollars over the years forcefully taken from her and put towards a cause she did not believe in. It is unfortunate that the lack of union membership renewals due to changes in collective bargaining are responsible for these job losses, but it is this liberation that is the cause of celebration for thousands of teachers across the state. (I don't know if thousands of teachers really feel this way.) 6) WEAC's insurance company cheated Wisconsin taxpayers out of millions of dollars over the years so it's hard for me to have much compassion for such a dishonest group of individuals with a clear and overt bias.  7) If the union is so great and its members feel so strongly about it then why haven't they all renewed their memberships? The only reason these folks are losing their jobs is because of individual choice of teachers, not because of the Governor, Republicans, or any legislator or piece of legislation. Certainly Act 10 enabled the teachers, but I believe if the union had been doing its job for all those years they wouldn't be facing staff layoffs and low numbers of renewals.

[...] I try not to take myself or my hobby too seriously and at the end of the day my politics are not placed above my humanity. (This is the kind of attitude more Republicans and Democrats need to have.)

My biggest hope: that Koremenos doesn't endorse the anti-teacher rhetoric his party has used throughout this crisis. That's what fuels people like @wicalvin to spew that kind of incendiary bullshit. 

[madwonk-blog]

Some of the most unfair headlines and tweets about the Milwaukee fair beatings. 

[madwonk-blog]

Flashmobs and the inevitable media hype come to Wisconsin

The news of randomized beatings of Fair-goers in West Allis is nothing new to me since I've spent my summer in Philadelphia, the birthplace of violent flashmobs. Get ready, Wisconsin. The media hype that's coming our way is the media's perfect antidote to the slow news days that will follow the recall elections.

The language in this WTMJ story is most troubling.

  "It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ.  He left the State Fair Entrance near the corner of South 84th Street and West Schlinger Avenue in West Allis."They were attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever."

"It was 100% racial," claimed Eric, an Iraq war veteran from St. Francis who says young people beat on his car. 

"I had a black couple on my right side, and these black kids were running in between all the cars, and they were pounding on my doors and trying to open up doors on my car, and they didn't do one thing to this black couple that was in this car next to us.  They just kept walking right past their car.  They were looking in everybody's windshield as they were running by, seeing who was white and who was black.  Guarantee it."

  I've spent today mulling over the coverage of this story, trying to avoid jumping down WTMJ's throat. I'm only a student, and I keep telling myself that I'm not an expert on journalistic ethics even though I'm deeply interested in the subject. But this kind of behavior goes against what I've learned in my short two years of news reporting. Journalism is a public service. This kind of fear-mongering (I hate that term) only worsens racial tensions, especially because of the lack of significant comment from a member of the black community in the initial story. 

I've observed that one of Wisconsin's biggest problems is its hidden and constantly-denied strain of racial disparity and fear which mostly stems from not being able to come to terms with the changes of a city like Milwaukee. Chicago and Philadelphia are lucky to have suburbs with large middle-class black populations (my current city, Downingtown, Penn., is one) but Milwaukee has almost none. It earns its title of "most segregated city in the country." In Philly, suburbanites reacting to the series of flash mob incidents know the city faces a class problem brought on by crumbling infrastructure in North Philadelphia, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country. But some members of Milwaukee's suburban class, completely insulated from black culture, can only point to a "race riot" (Vicki McKenna actually used this term in a Tweet) as a motive for the flash mob that happened the other night. 

There's a reason Milwaukee's suburbs are counted as some of the most socially conservative areas of the country--many area residents are terrified of further urbanization. The WTMJ story is absurd, irresponsible sensationalism aimed directly at that audience. Where's the "we're not jumping to conclusions" line? Where was the rational other side to this story explaining the "black on black" crime Milwaukee Council President William Hynes described to the Journal-Sentinal? 

The State Fair incident, with help from talk radio and incindiary rhetoric, will only turn a class issue into a race issue and further divide the most divided state in the country.

In Philadelphia, flashmobs have been a problem for almost two years. In 2010, a large pack of teenagers, most of them from minorities (Philly is a majority-minority city), started a large brawl on South Street, the city's main entertainment thoroughfare. Last year more youths attacked shoppers at a Macy's store in Center City. This year has seen the most disturbing violent mob incidents--a local journalist had her leg broken after a mob attack on Broad Street and an 11-year-old boy participating in a large mob was arrested for trying to mug a man in a safe, busy commercial area last week. 

Rarely, except in online comments, have local media in Philadelphia reported these crimes as racially motivated. No witnesses have come forward to say they feel like their attackers were racists--in fact, the young journalist I mentioned earlier this week disputed claims the attack was racially motivated.

Guendelsberger disputes claims that the attack was racially-motivated.  She notes that her boyfriend, who was attacked, is Indian-American.   "I didn't get the feeling that this was black kids beating up white kids...It was just kids breaking stuff and we happened to be the stuff that they ran across so."

Too many people will say the attacks at the fair were racially motivated, but that's a naïve and useless approach to a much larger social problem. In historically segregated cities like Milwaukee or Philadelphia, there's an issue with class just as much as there is with racism. The teenagers involved in these incidents are the archetypically alienated young adults we're used to seeing channel their anger and angst into things like grunge music or, when violence takes over, school shootings. Social media has only made organizing "fuck shit up" events like this easier, and race means nothing. The point of these mobs is to have no point, to cause chaos, to follow roughly the same mentality of Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. It will continue to spread in poor communities--don't expect this to be the only incident of its kind in Milwaukee or even in Wisconsin. 

Media outlets--especially TV and talk radio personalities, will try to convince Wisconsinites these are race riots. Don't let the irresponsible journalism get to you. These are not hate crimes, they're senseless acts of violence from children who have grown up in violent communities. 

Plus, is two years too long to remember a white guy beating the mayor of Milwaukee outside the State Fair?

UPDATE [7:45 EST 8-5-11] I suggest reading this piece from the Madison Onion A.V. club to compliment this blog post.

[madwonk-blog]

Paul Soglin: Not a politician

I've got one advantage Obama didn't have. He has a significant group that wants to obstruct everything. I've got a legislative body that is very realistic and can balance the competing values in terms of wanting to deliver immediate services along with the need for long-term stability.

Paul Soglin in the Cap Times on the difficulties he's faced as mayor. 

It's interesting to see Soglin take such a hard line against Dave Cieslewicz in this interview. I can't tell if Soglin thinks Cieslewicz screwed up only on Overture and the last budget, or if Madison's skyrocketing poverty rate is Dave's doing.  The interview ends with Soglin sighing about Madison's resources to combat poverty. Fitting, I think. 

One curious aspect of Soglin's political persona is how he's more of a self-described public servant than a politician. During the Cieslewicz administration, we'd be having a conversation about 'political message' similar to the discussion surrounding President Obama's handling of the debt ceiling negotiations or health care debate. Did Mayor Dave drop the ball on Overture? What about Edgewater?

But Soglin is a rare elected official who knows his legacy in Madison was sealed the moment he won the District 8 council seat in the 1960s. The comments about Overture, the GOP-esque budget-slashing rhetoric, the anti-Mifflin tirade are all things you would never expect from a polished politician like Dave Cieslewicz.

But Soglin doesn't really seem to give a shit about what people think of his Overture comments.

It was a very well-thought-out comment. I'm very concerned about Overture. We've had four specific financial crises. We've had CTM bailed out once and the Rep go under. The performing arts in this community are facing some very serious challenges. The (council and the Overture committee) have gone forward, and what have we got? They were going to save money by privatizing, and they go out and the lowest of five bids is $100,000 a year higher than the city was charging them!

I still don't know which mayor I prefer. I miss Dave's earnest coolness, not the kind you'd expect from a corrupt politician but the personality fitting for a mayor of a Midwestern city. But Soglin's brashness conflicts well with the City Council and livens debate in the city. 

  Maybe the different temperaments explain why Soglin could never win a Congressional seat but Cieslewicz stands a great chance of taking Tammy Baldwin's seat in 2012--if he decides to run, of course. 

[madwonk-blog]

A guy from Wispurg (sic) came to my door the other day and said low-income families don't have access to healthy foods "Twinkies cost less than carrots" was his catch phrase. If I signed my name and wrote a check we could get lobbyists to fix this. I told him I was more of a Ho-ho's girl and shut the door. I know of other studies where low income persons generally "had enough to eat."I also know nutrition education is popular and people can choose priorities. Now I also know Wispurgers (sic) are still annoying!

A commenter on Vicki McKenna's Facebook page. It should speak for itself. 

Just remember, Michelle Obama shouldn't teach us nutritional values, but low-income families also should keep eating awful, unhealthy food and avoid the good, more expensive food they don't have access to because they're poor. Makes no sense. 

[madwonk-blog]

Why Soglin should rethink his open-keg proposal

Well, Mayor Paul Soglin wasn't lying when he said he wanted to make the Mifflin Street Block Party as unattractive as possible to student partygoers. I was most struck by this part of the legislation:

The law would give police more options to disperse a big party with enforcement depending on the cooperation of offenders and the gravity of the offense, the mayor said.

Soglin's desire to regulate Mifflin isn't a bad idea. Students will hate him for it, call him a sourpuss and deride his mustache as much as they want, but Mifflin is a huge problem for the city financially--not to mention the huge public safety problems it causes. Those of us who decide to live in Madison post-graduation will probably start to hate Mifflin at around age 30, but the novelty has already worn off for me. 

But I am surprised, and confused, by Soglin's insistance that Freakfest is a "first amendment issue," but restricting Mifflin is not. His plan to restrict outdoor keg use at house parties, which he said is not the result of Mifflin, can be seen just as equally as a first amendment violation. The provision I mentioned earlier could also lead to riots at Mifflin, which are the only thing that would be worse than a stabbing at the party. 

The State Journal's story says Mayor Dave's proposal would have been more draconian. That's fine, but he's the same guy who initiated Freakfest, so there really isn't much of a double standard.

Soglin needs to show some consistency here--he's drawn himself into a corner where he can open up State Street on Halloween so it could, theoretically, be a free-for-all to the out-of-towners that have made both Mifflin and Halloween infamous.

But he also wants to keep Mifflin's more severely intoxicated crowd under the watchful eye of a tired police force who could search private property with less cause than they are given for most run-of-the-mill house parties.

Mifflin has become an impossible problem for most public officials to handle. Madison Police hate it, and I imagine Chief of Police Noble Wray feels like he can spend some political capital since students currently have a friendly relationship with Madison Police. Even if he says the proposal has nothing to do with Mifflin, it's clear the policy change would greatly influence the block party. And claims that this is not a Mifflin issue are, I believe, inaccurate. When I saw him at the post-Mifflin press conference this year, Soglin made it clear he would try taking all steps necessary to change the event. This legislation would, like it or not, change the event. 

If Soglin gets his way, though, we're looking at a return to the mid-1990s, when police raided multiple campus-area housing parties and doled out fines and citations similar to the one that landed in the hands of former College Life bro Kevin Tracy. 

Just ask Madison establishment Mike Verveer about the 1996 raids and you'll feel lucky to be a socially active UW student in this era. Soglin was mayor then, and despite his history as a student activist, there's no reason to believe we won't return to that same crackdown under a new proposal. Just another good excuse for ASM to get more involved in City Hall issues. 

Note: I hope it doesn't seem self-promotional that some of the coverage linked here is my own from last year; I just spent a lot of time covering these things for the entire academic year. 

[madwonk-blog]

The post that will make the ultra far-left call me names...or something like that

Back in April, UW's Student Labor Action Coalition [Edit: I previously called the group the Student Action Labor Commission] an organization that doesn't get the credit it deserves for holding the administration accountable for labor policy, decided to hold a sit-in inside Bascom Hall to protest the New Badger Partnership. After occupying the main floor of Bascom for most of the working day, police walked in and threatened arrest if they didn't leave the building. Being reasonable people, the SLAC folks decided to head out and continue a civil debate about the Badger Partnership. 

It was my job that day to head up to Bascom every once in a while to check up on our reporters and photographers inside the building. When I ran up before the protesters left, police had locked me out of every entrance to the building; guards were standing at every door and ignored my credentials. I was pissed I couldn't get in, but my anger was nothing compared to the guy standing next to me.

"I'm just going to sit here and bang!" he yelled, without any sarcastic inflection in his voice. And he sat there, and banged. For five minutes. Isn't that just the epitome of civil disobedience?

Today I was amusingly unsurprised to see this notice from perma-protester 'Segway' Jeremy Ryan, an 'only in Madison' type of guy. Last year he ran for mayor and became the city's own Mike Gravel,  notable for statements like this:

As mayor I support full legalization of Marijuana (sic) and taxing... It would be regulated and sold much like alcohol and tobacco products, both of which are much more harmful...

Unlike Mayor Dave, I plan to let my actions do the talking and actually do something about it other than to simply make statements in support of legalization.

(Except Madison is already one of the most liberal cities in the country for marijuana use, and marijuana has been decriminalized in Madison, it's not possible to overturn a federal law at the municipal level.)

Both Ryan and the banging dude are emblematic figures in what has become a ridiculous and credibility-compromising chain of "doing stupid shit and call it civil disobedience in the name of collective bargaining." 

Student activist Kyle Szarzynski himself said the pro-collective bargaining movement has lost steam, but blamed the slogging on timid or money-hungry Democrats urging angry folks not to protest. 

But what is clear is 1) such a movement – including civil disobedience, strikes, mass protest – is our only hope for the realization of our ideals and 2) Taking back the Senate through the election of more Democrats will, in itself, do nothing to reverse the long-term, anti-worker and anti-public sector trends occurring in this state.

"This is what democracy looks like!" was, and remains, the defining phrase of the movement to prevent Republicans from removing collective bargaining rights for public employees. Democracy includes, as any 7th grade civics student has learned, an electoral process allowing citizens to hold public figures accountable for their actions. The recalls are a natural, grassroots continuation of an uprising to prevent Republicans from turning Wisconsin's democracy into the 21st Century version of 1930s Louisiana. Continuing antics at the Capitol only hurts that progression. 

In February and March, I noticed an incredibly diverse group of activists and union members standing up to Walker. They were the blue-collar families most organizers canonize as the foundations of the movement--the reason their activism at the Capitol cannot die. I'm fine with Walkerville and the rotunda sing-alongs, they make sense.But could it be possible that people like Ryan have become so enveloped in their own delusions and hatred for Republicans that they've lost touch with the salt-and-pepper-haired teachers approaching retirement?

I'm talking about the ones who resent what Scott Walker is doing but don't want to have a 'full-time job' out of sitting at the Capitol and--well--banging on doors. They're the ones who matter, and they're sitting at home, not striking, and doing work that is unfortunately disrespected in our current political climate. And even though it's a shame Jeremy Ryan is broke right now, hopefully it gives him a chance to rethink his role in the union movement. 

As my Teamsters' local president grandfather would say: "You're not as good as you think you are." At this point in #wiunion history, the movement needs more SLAC and recalls and less Jeremy Ryan and door-banging. 

[madwonk-blog]

Stories I've missed while working/vacationing

I wish I would've known earlier that Justices Prosser and Bradley would get into their little spat before I stowed my MacBook away for the entire weekend in Washington, D.C. 

Speaking of Prosser and Bradley, check out this Journal Sentinel story that gives the most fair and detailed rundown of what's happened. 

Ward selected as UW's interim chancellor. It should be interesting to see what kind of relationship students and ASM folks have with him after Biddy's departure. Former Herald EIC Jason Smathers dug up an old BH editorial criticizing Ward for his handling of a sweatshop controversy just months before he stepped down in 2000. Personally, I'm a little sad it's not Wiley, but I'm in a minority apparently. 

Has anyone else been following this story about Hilldale? 

Worrisome news today about a large fire downtown in the building that houses Underground Kitchen. 

Since I'm in Philadelphia for the summer I've seen much of economic depression, but none of the crime, that this JS piece describes. Milwaukee could face the same problems if their public education system isn't improved. Despite strong public education being the key foundation to forming any safe, flourishing city, our system is backwards right now. 

[madwonk-blog]

afajp:

Media personality and longtime champion of logic, grace, and fair award-giving Glenn Beck supports the AFAJP cause.