In a shift from his previous support of Mayor Sue Bauman, community leader Nino Amato announced Friday he would not be running for mayor in 2003, but declared his support for possible candidate LaMarr Billups, the special assistant to the UW-Madison chancellor.
Amato's current job as a consultant, his recent work on putting together a statewide mental health coalition and the release of his new book were all factors in his decision not to run, Amato said.
\I'm doing things for the first time ... where I'm not in a structured corporate environment,"" he said. ""I can do what I care about doing. I'm enjoying my work because I'm making an impact on social issues.""
Amato added that promoting his book, ""Today's Hidden Racism: A Polite Apartheid,"" co-written with Dave Lefkowith, would take up a lot of his time.
Amato's support for Billups comes from his personal experiences working with him on past projects, he said.
""LaMarr and I have known each other for a long time,"" he said. ""He is a very effective and enjoyable person to work with. He is also probably the only person, I think, of all the candidates who can build a broad-based coalition throughout the city, and that's very important.""
Billups said that he was still undecided about his candidacy and did not want to speculate about the race.
""I haven't made any sort of decision to run [for mayor],"" he said.
According to Amato, he has tried to persuade Billups into entering the mayoral race.
""I've strongly encouraged him to do so,"" he said.
While Amato endorsed Bauman in her successful 1997 run, he said that during her tenure in office, Bauman had showed poor managerial skills, ignored unification efforts between the city and county governments and praised a report from one of Amato's task forces on racial issues but did not budget money for its implementation.
""Sue Bauman's heart is in the right place, but she lacks the vision and leadership needed,"" Amato said. ""We need someone who has a vision, has a track record and that can bring city and county government together, and probably LaMarr has the strongest track record in coalitions and partnerships.""
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he is undecided at this point about his choice for mayor, but said that he had enjoyed working with Billups in the past.
""I think he would make a fine mayor,"" Verveer said.
However, former mayoral candidate Eugene Parks said he disagreed with Amato on many issues. Parks, who is considering a mayoral run, said all of the current candidates are indebted to special interests and are more interested in developing downtown as a ""playground for the wealthy"" than addressing issues like taxation that affect more Madison residents.
""[Amato]'s the problem,"" Parks said. ""These candidates have no issues of difference that they can cite between themselves and Mayor Bauman. ... I don't want to hear about the mayor's personality. Let's look at the issues that affect the public.""
