Madison, Wisconsin Mayor Chased from Reelection Bid—Popular Disgust over Police Killing

Who are these black people? Hours after the execution-style
killing of Corey Ruiz, 100s of mostly black people took
over the stage at the popular Concert on the Square.
They wanted justice, and a mayoral administration and 
Common Council to do something about an out-of-control
Madison Police dept, often directed at black people.
Photo by unknown

Numbing of the moral sense

Madison, Wisconsin—News on an October Friday that two-term Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway reversed course and revealed she will not seek reelection appears to met with wide popular approval.

Just three months ago in July, the execution-style police killing of Corey Ruiz in the middle of the famous Isthmus region enraged the community, resulting in mass demonstrations and multi-day street closings in Wisconsin's capitol city.
 
Amid rage, a whole lot of tears were shed on Williamson and Baldwin streets this Summer by people disgusted by disregard for human life by the police and the Rhodes-Conway administration.

Rhodes-Conway's decision not to seek reelection, a reversal of her July reelection announcement made just a week before the Ruiz killing, marks the second consecutive mayoral administration forced out over popular moral injury sustained from a police killing. 

In 2019, Satya Rhodes-Conway handily defeated Paul Soglin as Soglin faced mounting criticism over his apparent support for a string of police killings during his third administration from 2011-19.

Meeka Glass

It may have been the mayor's vindictive pursuit of Meeka Glass, Madison independent police monitor from San Diego, and the Common Council's subsequent firing of Glass on Oct 21, two days before Rhodes-Conway's Oct 23 announcement not to seek reelection, that sealed Rhodes-Conway's fate.

Not a word was spoken by Mayor Rhodes-Conway after Glass was assaulted by a Madison Police officer, who subsequently filed a restraining order against Glass for Glass' criticism of the assault, chronicled by Greg Gelembiuk, a Data Analyst in Madison's Office of the Independent Monitor, on Facebook.

Rhodes-Conway was an unremitting force against Glass, against reform and humanism, and forwarded no resolutions and ideas in favor of community control over the militarized police.

Rhodes-Conway was known as a top-down authoritarian, and she faced heavy criticism for her work against Glass with the Council, that is acknowledged by Rhodes-Conway, citing resulting personal attacks on her character as part of the reason she won't pursue reelection.

Years back, a socially minded Madison Police officer told me on background she feels like a "social outcast" for working for the police as public revulsion results in the most anti-social, hateful people to become cops where spitefulness and violence find a home.

Madison

A beautiful city with a vibrant political and cultural scene is depicted in a scene at the Capitol where a popular Concert on the Square crowd sat astonished as a large group of mostly black people took over the stage hours after the killing. 

They shouted, Black Lives Matter, "arrest that cop," to an uncomprehending crowd of mostly white people sipping wine and beer. See Facebook video.

This is Madison, Wisconsin, dominated by a Common Council and administration unaffected by death and state violence, unable to empathize with victims of the most gruesome crimes against life and liberty.

Primary election for Madison mayor will be held in Feb 2027.