Check out this article in The Badger Herald today: County Board debate plans underway
Debate between the two student candidates for the County Board District 5 race? Awesome.
Debate planned and led by ASM? Maybe not so much…..
While Legislative Affairs committee members said at their March 1 meeting they are sure a planned County Board debate will go as planned, a date for the debate remains tentative.
The debate is planned to take place March 16 and will be between Analiese Eicher and Michael Johnson. Both are running for positions on the County Board of Supervisors, for which an election is set for April 6.
Vice Chair Kyle Woolwich said Legislative Affairs has not yet been able to contact the campaign managers of the candidates who would come to debate, which is why the date for the debate remains tentative.
While I am all for ASM getting involved in local elections (since they really haven’t done so in the past), I just have to ask: What the heck is going on over there?
How can they release to the press that they are planning to have a debate for the District 5 race, and further that they have indeed set a specific date for it, without actually confirming it with the candidates? That is no minor detail to be sure. It just seems to me to be another sloppy plan hatched by our inefficient student government.
Side Note: At 6:05 pm today, ASM still has NOT contacted anyone in Analiese’s campaign.
As far as I know (and I could be wrong) this is the first time since I have been a student here that ASM paid this much attention to a County Board election. I applaud ASM’s effort to become involved in something (for once) that actually affects our student body, but I do believe they need to become better organized before doing so.
So I say to ASM: If you would like some tips on how to organize a political event (or any event for that matter), shoot me an e-mail. I would be happy to advise you.
ASM Leg Affairs has been waaaaay more active than the College Dems this year as it relates to local politics. ALRC, Mendota Court, and now the tenant sub-ordinance have been huge undertakings. They are discussing the repeal of the alcohol density plan and actual care about campus politics. There relationship with other local leaders is phenomenal – leaders that the College Dems have managed to thwart during the last few election cycles (*cough city council*). Maybe instead of calling them out publicly for not contacting someone one your e-board maybe someone from the campaign should try CONTACTING them.
Your post makes you look very stuck up.
“There relationship with other local leaders is phenomenal – leaders that the College Dems have managed to thwart during the last few election cycles (*cough city council*).”
I am really not sure to what you are referring. We have an incredibly close relationship with many local leaders, including city council. Further, we led the campaign for Bryon Eagon last spring and still remain in direct contact with him regarding local issues. We were also largely involved in the ALRC as well.
Moreover, it is not the job of the Executive Board to contact ASM to ask them if we can participate in the debate they have apparently already planned. It is their event and their responsibility.
Finally, in the above quoted sentence, you should have used the form of the word “their.” Your post makes you look irrationally angry with poor grammar skills.
Okay, I feel like we all need to calm down a little bit.
I think this is an issue of the Herald reporting on things before they’re finalized. Herald reporters just sit in on the meetings of different ASM committees and then report on what they hear. I doubt this was a press release or whether they knew this was even going to be published. If they did then it is great to call them out on it, but I feel like this is probably more of the Herald’s fault.
At any rate, I also applaud ASM for getting involved. I’m sure once it is fully organized it will be a great event!
What is most surprising to me is that ASM thinks it is the responsibility of the campaign to contact them. Analiese’s campaign had no idea that this event was being planned–why should they be expected to get in touch with ASM?
Moreover, contact information has been available for months, so there is no reason that ASM should have any trouble getting in touch with her campaign.
Sounds like another case of poor planning and organization on the part of ASM.
“It is not the job of the Executive Board to contact ASM to ask them if we can participate in the debate they have apparently already planned. It is their event and their responsibility.”
“So I say to ASM: If you would like some tips on how to organize a political event (or any event for that matter), shoot me an e-mail. I would be happy to advise you.”
I don’t get why you made your post? Is it to encourage ASM to contact the Analiese? Is it to make ASM look bad? I’m just saying: Molly you could have very easily called someone rather than posting a public response to an event that doesn’t involve the College Democrats.
And I’m glad that the chair of the CDems needed to call out my grammar. Classy.
100% – I agree with you Sondra. The Herald pieced together the article from an hour and a half meeting. But once the event is planned, I bet it will be a success.
First of all, I just cannot get over the fact that “really?” thinks that it is a campaign’s job to contact ASM for an even that ASM is planning. Thats like saying that someone who is hosting a birthday party should be called by the party-goers rather than having to endure the arduous burden of sending out invitations.
Secondly, I just cannot get of the fact that “really?” is engaging in an argument while using “really?” as his/her name. Way to be confident in your assertions.
Joshua, you misunderstand the intentions of my post. I am not saying it is the campaign’s reponsibility to contact anyone. I was offering it as a suggestion rather than blasting ASM on your public blog. It doesn’t help your relationship with ASM, your outreach or your ability to moderate politics on campus.
Does Molly have Analiese’s cell number? Does she have Adam’s phone number? Wouldn’t it be more effective/less confrontational to call/txt/email/facebook each other?
Secondly, have you considered removing the comments section from your blog? How about no anonymous comments. That’s a great precedent to set for a democratic organization.
So perhaps things got uglier than they needed to be. I don’t really care to dive into that issue, we are all adults.
But the idea that it is somehow inappropriate for the College Democrats of Madison to comment on ASM is absurd. ASM is a government entity that represents UW students, which make up College Dems. Taken directly off the ASM home page…
“ASM (the Associated Students of Madison) is the official student government of UW-Madison, representing the needs of 40,000+ students… All students are automatically members!”
ASM is a representative government that is supposed to look out for the needs of students. I would think they would take criticism and opinions from students seriously. I don’t believe (my opinion) that Molly’s post was meant to be an all-out war on ASM at all, but rather a commentary on one small thing that seemed strange, just as the College Democrats might offer opinions on other leaders that represent them at the local, state and national levels.
Just to make sure that this is brought to a close, and as friend to both ASM and the CDems, I wanted to update everyone on where things are at.
First, ASM has been in contact with both campaigns, and it sounds like we’ve very nearly hammered down the date with both candidates. Final confirmation should happen soon.
Second, as some commentors alluded to, some of this is premature reporting. I’ve also got allegiances to the Herald, so I’m not going to throw them under the bus, so I’ll just say that ASM would have preferred that dates or really anything about debate plans had not been published until we had been in contact with the candidates/campaigns, and that “not yet been able to contact” didn’t mean there was confusion about how to contact the campaigns. However, price of doing business in open meetings means that anything can be reported, and from taking with some ASMers, the Herald did accurately convey what was discussed in the Legislative Affairs committee.
Finally, ASM whole-heartedly welcomes commentary and involvement by the College Dems (or any student or student group, of course!) Please – keep letting us know what we’re doing well, and what we’re not doing well. ASM is better off when more people are paying attention and getting involved. No one in ASM is taking this as an all-out war.
ASM can take a bit of pointed criticism, and there’s no harm done, at least from the ASM side, with any relationship between ASM and the CDems. Trust me, we’ve taken far worse
ps Election forms for the spring ASM elections are available as of Monday morning.