Brave cold to find last-minute liberal challenger for Ferrell’s seat
You got to hand it to our liberal-progressive-socialist acquaintances. For they ARE our acquaintances.
There is a reason they rule the roost in Madison and Dane County. They are organized, they are dedicated, they have a deep bench, and they go out in zero-degree weather to come up with a candidate to succeed Ronn Ferrell in the 15th county board district.
Ferrell pulled what the county clerk called “the old switcheroo” by not filing his statement of non-candidacy by the December 22 deadline. Instead, he declared that he would be a candidate only three days earlier.
Meanwhile, Brent Renteria, who is also a Town of Middleton supervisor, filed the necessary papers to get on the county board ballot. Only when Ferrell had not filed nomination papers by the deadline this Tuesday (01-2-18) was it apparent the incumbent was not running. By state law, the filing deadline was extended another three days, until 5 this afternoon.
The Left mobilized. They were not about to allow Renteria to run unopposed. He’s not the right politics. If they take Ferrell’s old seat and that of Mike Willett in nearby Verona, the Left will have dispatched the only two consistent conservative-moderates on the county board.
An echo chamber
County Board chair Sharon Corrigan and her state rep, Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, scrambled to find a liberal candidate. This is where the deep bench comes in. Dane County’s legislative delegation is large and overwhelmingly Democrat(ic). They asked around the Capitol. A Democrat(ic) state representative from Green Bay has on his staff a resident of the 15th district, comprised of far southwest Madison and a portion of the Town of Middleton. Guy named Steven Peters, who lives on Wild Prairie Trail. That makes Peters a professional Democrat.
Then they needed signatures. Only 50. On Thursday, at least eight sitting county supervisors went canvassing for nomination signatures. Door-to-door in single-digit temperatures. “We really, really don’t want the other guy!!” (meaning Renteria) exclaimed one of them, Dorothy Krause, who represents Fitchburg. They filed 99 signatures yesterday.
Today (01-05-18), a third candidate has filed, one Joseph Ryan. He lives on West Valhalla Way and is active in that neighborhood association. That’s all I know.
Instead of a walk-in for Renteria, he’ll now have to survive a primary on February 20.
That makes five contested county board districts out of 37. (More here.)
7 responses to “Democrats look for clean sweep on Dane County Board”
dave:
Just curious about your headline; is there a D or R after the name of candidates for Dane County Board? In the rest of the state County Board is a non-partisan position.
Do the Democrat(ic) parties endorse in Spring elections in other counties? I don’t know. But they do in Dane County. County Board, city council, even school board.
Never heard any party endorsements for County or Town up here. Must be a Dane County thing. Do the R’s do it as well? What do you consider your endorsement?.
Republicans do not endorse. Spring elections are nonpartisan. The Policy Werkes considers its endorsement to be its endorsement.
Yet another example of local officials’ rabid obsession to stifle even the tiniest whisper of dissent from liberal orthodoxy. They’ll celebrate every type of diversity except political persuasion.
So now there will be a primary and the voters will choose their guy. Isn’t that the way things work in the good old USofA? What’s your point here? Oprah/Biden 2020.
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