Ron Rosner, candidate for District 5 City Council, is refreshingly independent of the packaged issues students have heard year after year from ambitious, unoriginal candidates.
In comparison, Tom Powell has been, at best, an unmotivated advocate of student concerns by following in the shadow of his Progressive Dane colleagues in his four years on the County Board and more recently, his Progressive Dane peers on the council.
On the Madison City Council, every constituent deserves to be represented by an alder with stellar meeting attendance. Rosner has been seen at every City Council meeting since he announced his candidacy for the District 5 seat, and his appearance at an assortment of obscure committee meetings is a welcome change from a man who has not yet been elected. Rosner also promises to have the district's long-term concerns in mind: He's lived in the neighborhood for more than 35 years.
Rosner is not only qualified to fill the seat, but he outshines his opponent, incumbent Powell, who was appointed to fill the seat after Alder-elect Jessy Tolkan stepped down last spring.
And though Rosner has a r??sum?? that would make most Madison liberals jealous, he does not show an inclination to let only liberal interests dictate his vote. His lengthy relationship with the Sierra Club and time served with the Peace Corps show an interest and background in environmental and mass transport issues, and these have been among his favorite subjects. His passion for them leaves us interested to hear more about Rosner's plans to improve Madison Metro and promote light rail in Dane County.
Though he is a member of the campus neighborhood, we would encourage Rosner to become better acquainted with the students' perspective in day-to-day housing issues and, should he be elected, formulate a plan to advocate student concerns in Madison's bar and alcohol scene.
Unlike his opponent, Rosner demonstrates a vision for the city beyond district borders and a greater potential to work cooperatively with any of the city's representatives.
With WSUM Student Radio up and running, the quest for relevance for a Dane County Board candidate must be a tough and laborious one. The cessation of legal wrangling over our much-needed and welcomed radio station stole from county candidates the one issue that students really cared about. Student representatives were forced to regroup and find new ways to make an overwhelmingly irrelevant panel more student-oriented.
Echnaton Vedder, an incumbent seeking to represent newly drawn District 5, has met that challenge. As a result, The Daily Cardinal endorses his candidacy over that of challenger Ion Skillrud. While Skillrud, a UW-Madison sophomore, is clearly intelligent and motivated, his knowledge of how to accomplish things within Dane County's governmental structure pales in comparison to his opponent's.
Vedder, also a student, was successful in securing much-needed money for campus sexual assault awareness, some of which went to a Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment anti-assault poster campaign. He has also been a strong advocate for full funding of the Tenant Resource Center, as well as promoting smart growth in a county dominated by deep-pocketed developers. Vedder is unabashedly liberal, but surprisingly well-respected on a panel dominated by conservative, rural interests. We would simply request that he break the Progressive Dane mold and take more independent stances on some issues.
Skillrud's candidacy is as student oriented as Vedder's. He says he would like to make landlords more accountable to student tenant needs. Wouldn't we all? To create another level of government to force landlords to make repairs, however, is both impossible and unnecessary on the County Board. His heart is in the right place on most, if not all, student issues, but many of his solutions are unattainable. To be an advocate for lower tuition is all well and good, but as a member of the County Board, one's energies would be more likely spent dealing with zoning in the town of Dunn.
This District 5 campaign has been the best and most issue-oriented in at least the past three election cycles. Vedder's experience, however, gives him the clear edge over Skillrud, a candidate we hope remains active in civic affairs.
