city commission

I was pleasantly surprised that moderator Bob Sahr kept the floor open for questions as long as he did. I didn't want to hog the floor, but I also didn't want my friends at KJAM facing too much dead air.

City police officer Heath Abraham (Nick's brother) takes the opportunity to ask two of his future bosses a question: how do we get more people involved in community activities?

Jon Hess rises with the following well-framed question: "When Madison has 7.2% unemployment while Brookings has 3% unemployment and is turning away new businesses, is the LAIC doing an adequate job?" The responses:

I brought along my list of questions. After discussing the list with my wife, I decided the question that most needed answering was this one:

The Chamber of Commerce served democracy well by preparing only two questions for the candidates and then opening the floor for questions from the audience. That's always the exciting part, and the citizens assembled didn't disappoint.

In their second question, even the Chamber acknowledges that not everything may be "great" in our fair city. "What infrastructure issues would you make a priority and what needs to be done to fix them?" ask our leading lights. The candidates' responses:

The Chamber of Commerce hosts these candidate fora. As the Chamber relies on a subsidy from the Madison City Commission, we can usually rely on them to ask puffball questions like this one.

Here's my wholly subjective rating of the candidates' performances at the city commission candidates' forum here in Madison Tuesday, April 7. The breakdown question by question (click on each question for details):

KJAM breaks the news that County Commissioner Dan Bohl is recovering from a stroke he suffered while visiting San Diego. I wish Dan a speedy, quick, and full recovery.