Dissatisfaction with current city policy has led some local business leaders to join forces with a statewide political watchdog group to begin an effort to recall Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
A joint effort between Citizens for Responsible Government and Madison locals will prove to be a formidable force, according to Chris Kliesmet, spokesperson for the Milwaukee chapter of the CRG.
\We come in and we provide consulting. We've gotten very good at it because we've done it dozens of times,"" Kliesmet said.
According to the CRG, Heather Mees, a Madison local, was instrumental in bringing a chapter of the group to Madison.
""Mayor [Cieslewicz] is very anti-small business,"" Mees said. ""That's really bad for the city of Madison. We have a lot of small businesses in Madison and that's one of the things that makes the city a good place to live.""
Mees cited ""the minimum wage hike, the smoking ban and the proposed sick pay leave"" as detrimental to the welfare of small businesses.
Mees added that even though the mayor has said that he agrees the timing is bad on these policy initiatives, he has not exercised his power to veto what passes in the City Council.
""He's not listening to his constituents,"" Mees said.
The current recall attempt elicited little concern from the Mayor's office. George Twigg, Cieslewicz's communications liaison, said he is skeptical of the recall's public support.
""I'm not sure where their support for this is going to come from,"" Twigg said. ""The leaders of the effort to repeal the smoking ban are saying they don't want anything to do with the recall.""
Despite CRG's success in Milwaukee, where they helped to recall seven board members over a pension scandal, Twigg did not see strong parallels between the two cases.
""People were understandably unhappy about [the pension scandal] but there's no equivalent issue here in Madison that seems to be galvanizing people to succeed in a recall,"" Twigg said. ""We'll see where the recall goes but it's not the top thing on his list of concerns right now.""
However, Mees is confident that this recall will be a success. She expressed assurance that her group could obtain the 35,000 signatures needed for the recall petition due to popular support throughout the UW-Madison student body as well as other angry citizens around Madison.
""I'm not worried about the signatures at all,"" she said.
Mees stressed the urgency of the proposal, noting that the recall could occur in upcoming months. She said Madison citizens cannot afford to wait until the scheduled mayoral elections in 2007.
