I was hoping months ago for much more from challenger Scott Resnick. Madison is certainly needing an infusion of new ideas and bold plans for the future. I wanted Resnick to be the vehicle to ramp up those discussions. Instead Resnick played down the importance of a large and much needed development project for Judge Doyle Square. A project that is vitally important for the city. I was frustrated when Resnick doubled down on why his support years ago for the Edgewater was the correct decision to take. Picking old scabs in public is never a route to take. Once it was clear Resnick was going to use a certain tone in the race about issues of concern to me I lost interest in him.
Resnick is a very nice young man who entered a race for mayor at least four years too early. His message never lifted up above the flatness of a race that seemed not sure how to engage the electorate. Part of that has to do with Resnick’s style, but the other part is that much of the city is not demanding new leadership. Voters were not adequately alerted as to why they should even consider a change in the mayors office.
I also could not abide Resnick’s lack of having stats and data that could instantly be recalled and used in discussions during the forums. As I have noted before on this blog Paul Soglin has been in government and around politics for decades and therefore is steeped in knowledge but that does not allow for a challenger not to be equally engaged and able. As a consequence Madison got far less of a campaign than voters deserved, or the city needed.
So that leaves me voting for Paul Soglin.
There are obviously issues I much disagree with him about such as when it comes to Overture funding or ways to better dialogue with those he has varying points of view with on the council.
But at the end of the day Soglin has a steady hand on local government and also carries with him institutional memory which I always count as a major plus for any office.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
I can’t vote for Grouchy Grandpa Get Off My Lawn!!! Smuglin. I contacted his office on March 9 on a constituent matter and have heard nothing. I guess attention to constituents is reserved for those who block traffic and shout threats into megaphones (with city police escort). I also won’t vote for Scott “what do the young professionals want” Resnick. Um, the city is a lot more than the “young professionals” that want to live downtown and have subsidized buses every 15 minutes to Epic and a frickin’ subsidized parking ramp built in the middle of nothing on the near-east side paid for by the city outside their TIF subsidized apartments so that when their friends come to visit for dinner at the newest trendy sushi/fusion/Uzbek/Cajun restaurant in their building they don’t have to park their BMWs on the street. Perhaps the young professionals would also like valet service at the city parking ramps. No, I am voting for a man of vision, a man who came up with the museum mile idea for downtown Madison, a man who knows what the homeless are facing firsthand………I am writing-in Dennis Amadeus DeNure! Do you hear the people sing?………………