With the aldermanic primary for District 8 three weeks away, Ald. Austin King, District 8, officially kicked off his re-election campaign yesterday night at the Old Madison room in Memorial Union.
King outlined the cabaret licensing issue, tenants' rights issue and the locks ordinance as the successes of his first term and said he planned to focus on the safety of security deposits in his second.
\I think a better process would be enshrining tenants security deposits somehow in the city government so that there is a safe watchdog for them and they can't be swapped so easily by unscrupulous landlords,"" King said.
King added security deposits are leagally the property of the tenants, but landlords control security deposits and the real problem becomes tenants not controlling what they own.
Dane County Supervisor Echnaton Vedder, District 5, and Jeff Erlanger, president of the State Langdon Neighborhood Association, were also present and endorsed King.
Vedder described King as a ""phenomenal resource"" for city issues, and was ""very honored"" to give his support during King's election.
""I've gotten to know Austin quite well and found him to be incredibly passionate for things he is fighting for,"" said Erlanger, who was also King's aldermanic opponent last election.
King said his opponents this election, Kami Eshragi and Ryan Corcoran, are both older and more conservative than he is.
""This is obviously a very young, very progressive and very active district,"" King said. ""And I think we'll find as the campaign progresses that I have been a good fit for it and will be for the next two years.""
-Luke Behnke
