Politics Remain Local—Fitchburg Wisconsin Mayor Is Swept from Office

Political party know-it-alls were swept from office
in this progressive city of 25,000 in south-central
Wisconsin, (election results, Dane County).
Citizens elected the city's first Latino mayor,
Jason Gonzalez on a campaign message stressing
neighborhood activism and social justice.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — In the country-side regions of Fitchburg can be found majestic homes.

People live here, with real concerns and sentiment about maintaining a way of life in their homes and communities.

They voted heavily for Bernie Sanders on April 5, 2016 in the presidential party primary, and they joined a broad rejection of a first-term Wisconsin mayor, sweeping one Steve Arnold from office, and electing the city's first Latino as mayor, Jason Gonzalez.

Gonzalez assembled a coalition from across the political spectrum in calling for social justice, neighborhood empowerment and listening to the people.

Politics is local. The message from Fitchburg is: People matter more than politicians, more than political parties, and more than grand schemes to change the character of a rustic city without consent.

Jason Gonzalez chats with supporters
after being elected Fitchburg's first
Latino mayor.
Image from Gonzalez campaign volunteer.

Gonzalez congratulated his opponent last night at a celebration at Laredo's Mexican Restaurant, and vowed to seek the consent of the citizenry.

The incumbent mayor, breaking from well-observed tradition here, did not phone Gonzalez to congratulate his campaign on his electoral victory.

No matter. The victory was sweeping as all four aldermanic districts decisively voted for Gonzalez, delivering a warning shot to state Democratic Party hacks that people really should be listened to.

Those who seek the consent of the people ultimately prevail. This is a both an article of faith and a political truism.

Will Wisconsin Democratic Party commissars get the message? I know the Republican Party of Wisconsin will not.

Tax Working Families at Higher Rate, Says Wisconsin Mayor

Volunteers get ready to lit drop for Fitchburg,
Wisconsin mayoral candidates, Jason Gonzalez,
and Alder candidates Anne Scott and Rich Tate in
Fitchburg, Wisconsin the weekend of March 24.
Gonzalez would be the first Latino mayor of
Fitchburg, as residents increasingly express anxiety
about minorities living in the age of Trump, and
local working families living in the mayoral term
of Steve Arnold, (Tax working families as a stimulus).
Image by unidentified campaign volunteer.

Has any macroeconomic school, economist or policymaker other than one obscure Wisconsin mayor ever proposed taxing working families at a higher rate is stimulative to the economy

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — Alder Jason C. Gonzalez stopped by the neighborhood and pitched his mayoral campaign on a typically cold January day.

Gonzalez stressed affordable housing, saying the incumbent mayor's commitment to raise local property taxes is "regressive," and is a bizarre insult to working families.

This Wisconsin incumbent mayor is out-of-control, out-of-touch and constantly emitting public lectures pleading working-class homes should pay a nine-percent increase in local property taxes.

Fitchburg Mayor Steve Arnold pushes his grand plan to raise local taxes in this community of 25,000 residents, saying he opposes "austerity," and instead believes in a stimulus budget achieved by raising taxes on the working class in this "high-service city," (Gaines, Madison365).

In Arnold's world, families living in ranch homes, for example, would pay $100s more in property taxes every year and they would like it. Seriously, this is not hyperbole.

"Fitchburg is a high service community. Generally residents demand high services and are willing to pay for them," said Arnold at a mayoral forum hosted by the Fitchburg Chamber of Commerce, (Gaines, Madison365)

Working-class households do not want higher property taxes, and are not "willing to pay," in light of the undeniable fact Arnold's proposal that would mean some $1,000-plus in increased municipal taxes over five years for the average household, (Mal Contends).

Has any macroeconomic school or any economist or any policymaker other than Steve Arnold ever proposed taxing working families at a higher rate is stimulative to the economy? "No," said Gonzalez, when asked.

Increasing purchasing power, not degrading purchasing power is a municipal policy objective and is the aim of almost anyone in the political culture, save Steve Arnold.

Whether a politician is anti-healthcare or anti-affordable housing, the politician is anti-American.

A Small Wisconsin City Sees Democratic Party Opposition to the Grassroots, Again

Fire Fighters Local 311 endorses Jason Gonzalez
for mayor in Fitchburg, Wisconsin,
(Gonzalez for Fitchburg)

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — Jason Gonzalez is running for mayor of this progressive city, rising from the ferment of grassroots citizen action working to preserve a way of life.

Affordable housing can still be found here.

The City is guiding a sizzling real estate market as Dane County, Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison keep producing high-tech start-ups, responsible for a large chunk of economic growth in the Badger state's private sector.

"Buyers are ... struggling in cities such as ... Madison, Wisconsin," notes Prashant Gopal in Bloomberg News. Struggling as in having trouble finding listings, prompting a construction boom.

An alderman, Gonzalez would be the first Latino mayor in this city in which blotches of white supremacy stain City Hall and the polling place.

Facing these challenges of social justice and a growing economy in this liberal region, Gonzalez has amassed a broad coalition—including progressives, the AFL-CIO, and social justice activists—in a campaign to oust an incumbent mayor who literally brags he wants to raise property taxes 9 percent on local working class families.

So from the people who delivered Wisconsin to Donald Trump and inflicted Gov. Scott Walker on the country, the gang that can't shoot straight (aka the Democratic Party of Wisconsin), is supporting the incumbent mayor, Steve Arnold, and rejecting working class families and grassroots activists supporting Gonzalez.

The Party apparatus needs to listen to citizens more and worry less about kowtowing to the donor class and doling out political patronage. When there is an organic grassroots movement with sound objectives, join it; do not oppose it.

Wisconsin Democrats, specifically the Party hacks, could mess up a sunny, 70-degree Wisconsin day in April.

Early voting has begun for the election held on April 4.