With the election for the District 5 representative on the Dane County Board of Supervisors Tuesday, Ashok Kumar, who has held the position for the past two years, said he would miss being in the action.
I think the ability to push policy is something I'm going to miss,"" Kumar said. ""It's really tough to navigate through the system when you're 21, but it was so helpful to have a large constituency of young people supporting you.""
Kumar said he believes his time in office was spent effectively, but he wants to go back to his first passion - working in his community.
""I would rather extend my energy to community organizing instead of legislation. I'm going to shift my energy to what I worked on for years before I took office,"" he said.
Before Kumar was an elected representative on the Board of Supervisors, he helped organize groups on issues such as labor, anti-war activism and combatting drug use in the community.
Paul Rusk, District 12 supervisor and chair of the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee, said he worked with Kumar on numerous successful projects.
""We have substantially enhanced mental health treatment in the Dane County Jail,"" Rusk said. ""We added cameras in the jail to make it safer for employees and to prevent inmate suicides.""
Rusk said that he worked with Kumar to develop programs to help keep offenders out of jail through other types of treatment.
According to Rusk, the new Dane County Court House did not previously provide space for child support enforcement. But that changed with Kumar's help.
Rusk said he is interested to see what the election will bring. ""I don't think age should factor into it. You need somebody who will pay attention to the details and who can bring the student perspective as best they can,"" Rusk said.
""They have to be able to pull together all the views that students have and articulate their vision.""
David Worzala, District 10 supervisor, said Kumar is very energetic, passionate and good at organizing groups.
Worzala worked with Kumar on issues concerning the Sheriffs office and said he will best remember Kumar for his work on making affordable housing for low-income residents and eliminating profiteering off of prisoners.
Kumar highlighted affordable housing and profiteering as two of the most important things he has done while in office.
He helped end housing discrimination against low-income families and made houses more affordable. According to a press release announcing Kumar's decision not to run for re-election, the ordinance he passed more than doubled the housing options for low-income families.
Kumar also authored two ordinances that ended profiteering in prisons. The ordinances eliminated the high costs of phone calls and laundry services for the prisoners as well as many other services.
Kumar said he would like to see progressiveness surge forward after his term is over.
""I hope I took that [progressiveness] to a new level and I hope whoever takes over from here will do the same,"" Kumar said.
