Listening to Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and some of the candidates for Dane County executive it might seem their opponents for the area?s top elected posts are new Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-led Legislature. With the possibility of cuts in local government aid, public employees facing job losses and pay cuts and the possible reversal of policies backed by liberal Madison and Dane County residents, the anti-Republican rhetoric already is a theme in local races. Cieslewicz called potential cuts to civil service workers, whose wages help fuel the city?s economy, ?particularly troubling.? He said restrictions on stem cell research would slow medical breakthroughs and undermine a critical piece of the region?s economy. And he said efforts to cut education funding, whether 4-year-old kindergarten or UW-Madison, a ?tremendous mistake.?
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.
Office of Strategic Communication