Fitchburg, Wisc Alder Caught Red-handed in Non-profit Budgeting Scheme

In early October 2017 in Fitchburg, Wisconsin
ald Julia Arata-Fratta used her position on the
Common Council to target a non-profit
in an unprecedented attack. Now,
Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits are cashing
in on the scheme she crafted, (Madison365).

Once-promising pol drinks in toxic politics of Fitchburg, Wisconsin

In October 2017 ald Julia Arata-Fratta secretly worked for a punitive IRS audit of a popular Dane County non-profit

In 2016 and 2017 Arata-Fratta worked successfully to defund the same non-profit from Fitchburg's annual budget

Now, several Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits have applied for City-allocated money under the new Arata-Fratta funding scheme run through the City authority that Arata-Fratta now chairs

Updated - Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Alder Julia Arata-Fratta has consolidated her political relationship with Republican Party interests, and the results are fetid, stinking of corruption.

Since 2016, Arata-Fratta worked to zero out City money earmarked for the non-profit Badger Prairie Needs Network and the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County.

Now as chair of the Community Economic Development Authority (CEDA), Arata-Fratta is administering non-profit monies, including an allocation to a group on which she currently serves as a member of the board of directors, (Madison 365), and two other groups linked to Arata-Fratta.

Arata-Fratta crafted an amendment supporting the 2018 mayoral budget successfully zeroing out non-profit funding from the Fitchburg budget, and transforming the funding process of the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA), under which Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits look to benefit with $10,000s in grants.

In her reelection campaign last spring, Arata-Fratta told the Fitchburg Star in March 2017 that non-profit "funding should be given through a grant process application through a merit score, not an earmark in the city’s budget," without mentioning conflict-of-interest concerns about non-profits linked to her seeking to obtain money in the new grant process she authored. One merit point is having worked with Arata-Fratta, also known as a public integrity problem.

After cultivating and consolidating political and financial relationship with insurance, real estate and municipal police interests, Arata-Fratta has recently become more aggressive working for Republican interests, reaching out to City employees last month to target a non-profit held in disfavor by Arata-Fratta.

In early October 2017, Arata-Fratta used her position as Fitchburg alder to target the non-profit Boys and Girls Club of Dane County in a secret and unprecedented attack.

As reported in (Madison365):

On October 3 2017, Arata-Fratta 'used her private Gmail account to direct City Manager Patrick Marsh to inquire with the IRS and Fitchburg City Attorney Mark Sewell and Asst City Att Valerie Zisman to work to revoke the tax exempt status of Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. Reads the email in part: "Non for profit (sic) cannot do political activities otherwise the IRS can revoke the tax exempt status,' Arata-Fratta wrote to Marsh. Check with Valerie [Zisman] or Mark [Sewell] and send an inquiry to IRS.'

No word on the status of Arata-Fratta's audacious move to this point.

Arata-Fratta's funding scheme, if successful, will direct $10,000s in public money to non-profits linked to her professionally.

Arata-Fratta described her profession on her 2017 campaign aldermanic website as composed of "17 years of experience as a consultant and educator," ... on entities including "non-profit" operations.

The conflicts of interest surrounding Arata-Fratta have not drawn any Council criticism.

Nothing to see here

Arata-Fratta denies any knowledge of, and collusion with non-profits seeking public grants from the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA), to which she was first appointed in 2014. She told Madison365, she is "appalled" by criticism she is scamming Fitchburg.

An updated Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA) grant website is dated Aug. 18, 2017, some four weeks before Mayor Jason Gonzalez posted his proposed (Sept 22) 2018 budget, (Facebook) calling for removal of City funding from the same non-profit which Aratta-Fratta sought to effectively destroy by having its tax-deductible status decertified.

Non-profits linked to Julia Arata-Fratta seeking money from the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA) include:

Madison Region Economic Partnership - Arata-Fratta presently serves as a member of the board of directors.

Latino Chamber of Commerce - Arata-Fratta served as treasurer, president, resigning her position months before she first introduced an amendment to defund non-profits in 2016

Latino Academy of Workforce Development - Arata-Fratta hyped her partnership with the Latino Academy in a 2011 profile in the Wisconsin State Journal, saying "We are partnering with other organizations. For example, the new Latino Academy of Workforce Development tries to train Latino people in a skill."

After two years of pushing for a new grant application process for non-profits, Julia Arata-Fratta has found out new applicants for her crafted money-delivery scheme are the same groups for whom she has worked and with whom she has partnered.

This discovery may have pleased Julia Arata-Fratta.

Fitchburg, Wisc Mayor's Remarkable Public Apology Rings Hollow

Wanda Smith is a popular community activist and child-care
activist against whom Fithcburg Ald Dorothy Krause began
a character assassination project, attempting to enlist
the Fitchburg City Manager, the Fitchburg City Attorney's
office, and the Fitchburg Police Department. A subsequently
contrite Fitchburg Mayor issued an apology to Ms. Smith on
behalf of the City of Fitchburg on Nov. 17, throwing
Ald Krause under the bus, and opening the City to a
possible federal civil rights action by Smith. Smith is speaking
at the apology press conference above.

Fitchburg—the city's name is an imprecation, a curse against democratic norms and generations-long commitment of the progressive state, Wisconsin

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—The bullshit piles up so high here, you need wings to stay above it.

The Fitchburg, Wisconsin mayor issued a well-conceived PR apology for cutting off a commenting citizen in mid-sentence and then instructing the Fitchburg City Administrator to phone the police about this disturbance at a budget hearing last week, (Wisconisn State Journal, Fitchburg Star).

This mayoral apology directed at multiple citizens—Kaleem Caire, Amelia Royko Maurer, Nate Royko Maurer, and Wanda Smith for First Amendment-protected speech—fell flat last Friday, (Nov. 17).

No citizen reached was surprised the Fitchburg police were contacted as a complaint against a citizen attending a Common Council meeting, ejecting citizens from a public meeting, that a Fitchburg alder would engage in a character assassination scheme against another citizen, or that Mayor Jason Gonzalez' effort at damage control would be so transparently disingenuous.

"There was some … improper exercise of discretion by myself when I interrupted two speakers. When I ran, I ran on a platform of inclusion and bringing our city together. It appears I’ve gone astray, and I apologize for that," said Gonzalez, (Fitchburg Star, City of Fitchburg). Gone astray?

Voter obstruction will continue in Fitchburg, and as most young and minority voters in alder district one know, the polling place here is hostile to their presence on Election Day.

This is Fitchburg, and the norms prevailing in other municipalities do not apply here where retaliations by elected and appointed Fitchburg officials against whistle-blowers, black people, and assorted progressives (they're a perceived problem), are routine.

Some take-aways from the last few weeks of life in Fitchburg, Wisconsin:

• Nicholas Garton deserves recognition for his investigative reporting at the journal, Madison.365.
• Fitchburg Alder Dorothy Krause has been thrown under the bus after the mayor issued his remarkable public apology on behalf of the entire City of Fitchburg specifically citing Krause's character assassination project against citizen Wanda Smith. Krause is now an alder without a district, and resides in political no-woman's land.
• Kaleem Caire, a commenting citizen at the budget hearing who was subjected to public abuse and an outrageous police call, has been revealed as an opportunistic pol who can be expected to use this outrage for his own political benefit, against the benefit of the community. Caire isn't fooling anyone and standing up for Caire is just, is the consensus among progressives here.
• The Recall-the-bums campaign is still on, and the mayor's public dumping of Krause and his apology change nothing.
• Former mayor Steve Arnold is a keeper of valuable voting lists. 
• City officials still feel entitled to treat the Fitchburg Police Department as a political hit-squad for corrupt purposes such as defaming citizens.
• Wanda Smith is a political force to be reckoned with.
• Wisconsin State Journal columnist, Chris Rickert, who penned a racist, black parents-should-feed-their-kids piece in his coverage of Fitchburg earlier this month, is now working at a new position to improve local coverage at the daily, what used to be the life-blood of newspapers.
• Fitchburg is racist to the bone, and any young and minority person locating here should be prepared to fight for your rights, perhaps more than folks have ever had to before.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin Pols and City Officials Veer into Misconduct Against Citizens, Again

Kaleem Caire, president of One City Learning Centers,
in Madison, Wisconsin, attended the Ftichburg
Common Council hearing at which funding for non-
profits was addressed. The Mayor of Fitchburg instructed the
City Administrator to call the police on Mr. Caire,
while testifying at a public hearing on the budget last night.
The mayor, city administrator and several alders
walked out of the meeting and ordered the police
to remove Kaleem Caire from the building or they
would not return. This is Fitchburg, Wisconsin.
Via Facebook

'Never seen anything like this before'

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—There is no apparent bottom to how low the Fitchburg Common Council, City officials and Fitchburg Police can sink.

In Fitchburg, police harass and fine residents objecting to this municipal, seemingly socio-psychological experiment on how far city bureaucrats, racists, white poll workers, and cops will go to silence, (and this is in an American city in Dane County Wisconsin), citizens objecting to municipal public policy such as obstructing voters, harassing black residents, and cutting public funds for non-profits serving minorities.

The latest from Fitchburg.

At a public hearing on the proposed 2018 budget last night, Mayor Jason Gonzalez decided he did not like Kaleem Caire, CEO and founder at One City Early Learning Centers, asking a question of Gonzalez.

So, naturally Gonzalez called the police. [Note: This is Fitchburg, Wisconsin, so again this type of absurdity is SOP.]

Reports, Michael Johnson, CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Dane County and all-around scary black man on Facebook last night:

The Mayor of Fitchburg instructed the City Administrator to call the police on Kaleem Caire, President and CEO of One City Learning Centers while testifying at a public hearing on the budget tonight. The mayor, city administrator and several alders walked out of the meeting and ordered the police to remove Kaleem Caire from the building or they would not return. Kaleem was respectful, raised valid points and was the first person of color to speak to only be threatened to be arrested for speaking up for local kids.

Kudos to the Fitchburg Police Department for their professionalism and telling the city leaders they had no grounds to remove Kaleem for raising issues during the testimony session of the meeting. He then told a white community leader who spoke up for the kids to leave and to 'get out of here' or he would be arrested. I have never seen anything like this before from a city leader.

Putting aside Johnson's erroneous description of the Fitchburg Police Dept, no one contacted today is surprised by the Fitchburg Common Council which rejects democratic norms such as citizen input, unmolested attendance of public meetings, and promotes the use of the machinery of public government against citizens.

Writes Cindy Johnson, a Dane county resident in Facebook this morning "[This] is insane but not surprising. Years ago when I lived there the corrupt mayor yelled 'this is MY meeting' when a room full of us were trying to save the Green Prairie."

Another illustration: In August 2016, Mal Contends entered the voting place to cast a vote some four months after alerting state election authorities, the new, (a racist), white chief election inspector refused to place a polling place sign outside the polling place on Election Day, April 5, 2016 in voting district one, and short-staffed a polling station on the 2016 presidential primary election featuring the heaviest turn-out to date. In retaliation against me, after being obstructed at the poll on a false pretense in August 2016, the City Clerk's office phoned police and contrived with the City Attorney office in what became two bogus disorderly conduct citations, rubber-stamped by the Fitchburg Municipal Court.

It is insane, and it's Fitchburg.

Meanwhile, the Council cut funding for non-profits serving black and brown-type humans, and installed a new City funding mechanism to assist the corrupt Ald Julia Arata-Fratta's professional career in a seedy move that is the new Fitchburg Idea.

Still, as seedy as municipal policy is, the idea that Council members and City Hall bureaucrats feel it's standard and acceptable, much less Constitutional, to phone police whenever they encounter objecting citizens raises a host of public integrity, Constitutional and concerns involving ongoing public misconduct under Wisconsin statutes.

In a related story, a Ftichburg alder, Dorothy Krause, continued an outrageous smear campaign and character assassination of a black woman, Wanda Smith, whom Krause said, in ludicrous public statements, should not be allowed around children.

Writes Nicholas Garton in Madison365:

A Fitchburg alder released more than 70 pages of unredacted police reports that Fitchburg police had clearly marked as not to be re-released Monday, posting the documents in a Facebook group and emailing them to a reporter in an ongoing feud with community volunteer Wanda Smith. The documents were removed from the Facebook group by an administrator.

Smith said she has consulted a civil rights attorney but has not decided on whether to pursue any legal action. ...

Smith, who runs the Peace Network, meets three times a week to help at-risk youth with homework, meals and a safe environment. Krause told Madison365 in an interview two weeks ago that she wasn’t sure if Wanda Smith had the right temperament or educational credentials to run such a club.  Krause said she would seek police reports on Wanda Smith and hoped to draw a conclusion about Smith’s abilities from those reports. ...

In addition to several pages listing police contacts, Krause obtained more than 56 pages of officer written synopsis of police contact at Wanda Smith’s address covering 176 calls between 2015 and 2017 to the building Smith’s apartment is in.

None of those incidents involved Wanda Smith as a target of police action or intervention. At no time was she arrested or questioned by police concerning her conduct. Smith was never detained, investigated or reported as having been the target of a police response to that area. 

Ftichburg being Fitchburg, accusation, innuendo and character assassination of citizens are the norm from police, from the Common Council and from City Hall bureaucrats.

Meanwhile, the political party, Progressive Dane, has issued a press release supporting Wanda Smith against attacks on her from the city of Fitchburg.

Reads the Progressive Dane release:

In Spring 2017, Progressive Dane endorsed Wanda Smith’s candidacy for Fitchburg City Alder based on her commitment to public service and strong record of leadership within the Fitchburg community. As Founder and President of the Peace Network, a local mental health service provider, Smith serves area youth and adults through one-on-one group workshops and seminars to equip them with the skills necessary to fulfill their potential as individuals in the community. At the Peace Network, Smith runs a homework club, which meets three times per week to provide students with academic supports, meals, and a safe environment. She also works with youth in the Middleton, Cross Plains, and Monona Grove school districts as a substitute teacher, and has mentored hundreds of youth throughout her career. As a locality that harbors some of the worst racial disparities in the country, Dane County needs to support more service providers led by people of color such as the Peace Network, and support progressive leaders like Smith, to begin counteracting the systemic racism that plagues our Greater Madison community.

Progressive Dane appreciates Smith’s work in the Fitchburg community, especially her compassion for youth and ongoing commitment to their success. We also support her advocacy for the restoration of 2018 budget funds to support local non-profit organizations that provide local services to many children of color in the King James Way area and Fitchburg at large.  Progressive Dane has been working with our members in Fitchburg, including Smith, to draft a City of Fitchburg platform.  Similar to our other policy platforms, we are drafting a Fitchburg platform that strongly supports civil rights, including the rights to assemble and protest, making decisions with an equity analysis, funding safety net programs, affordable housing, and neighborhood organizations, and economic development planning that prioritizes neighborhoods most in need of investment.

Progressive Dane is committed to racial justice, equity, and inclusion throughout Madison and Dane County. Any elected official endorsed by Progressive Dane is expected to support and demonstrate these values and implement policies laid out in our platforms. Progressive Dane electeds who fail to do so should expect to be held accountable by the elections committee and membership.

Progressive Dane is an independent, progressive political party in Dane County, Wisconsin. Progressive Dane believes that ordinary citizens should control public policies at the community and national levels. We support tax justice, better social services, equality in public education, affordable housing, and public transportation. Progressive Dane helps community members organize around issues that are important to them and also works on the grassroots level to elect progressive political candidates.
#

Woman Wanted in Fitchburg, Wisconsin for Corrupting Children

Wanda Smith of Fitchburg, Wisconsin is
targeted by City officials for being
black and speaking out against racism.
Smith is pictured above at a press
conference at Fitchburg City Hall in
October at which community activists
protested the defunding of non-profits
by the Fitchburg Common Council.
The Council is attempting to create a
slush fund for non-profit interests aligned
with Ald. Julia Arata-Fratta, a major force
behind the move to defund.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Political fall-out is coming after an investigative report this weekend revealed a Fitchburg Alder engaged in a character assassination campaign against her former constituent, attempting to enlist City officials in smearing the name of a well-known community volunteer and critic of racism, one Wanda Smith.

Reports Nicolas Garton in Madison365:

Fitchburg alder Dorothy Krause wanted to use police records and licensing requirements to shut down the after-school homework club run by longtime community volunteer Wanda Smith, who she considers 'not someone who should be in charge of groups of children,' according to emails obtained by Madison365.

An open records request into internal communications between Fitchburg Common Council members revealed that Krause sought potentially damaging and explosive information about the fitness of Smith to supervise the club.

In an October 9 email to City Manager Patrick Marsh, Krause wrote,'From what I’ve witnessed firsthand at the fire station, at city hall, and online, among others, she is not someone that should be in charge of groups of children.'

Wanda Smith engaged in First Amendment-protected activity critical of Fitchburg City Hall and the Fitchburg Common Council.

Krause's move is another act of political retaliation in a City known for its toxic racism and corrupt politics.

Former Fitchburg mayors, Steve Arnold and Jay Allen, are silent about the character assassination attempt.

Arnold and Jay Allen, a former supporter of the rightwing extremist congressional candidate, Ron Greer, are attempting to discourage support for Smith on social media.

Wanda Smith remains adamant.

"I will not be silenced, and I will not be moved," said the uppity, black woman reached this morning.

Fitchburg, Wisc Alders Up Attack on Non-Profit Supporters, Launched Character Assassination Move Against Black Citizen, Report Shows

Fitchburg Wisconsin City Hall and Common Council alders
really do not like black people. Above is a press conference at
City Hall in October 2017 conducted by scary, blackish people
objecting to a scheme by the Fitchburg Common Council and
Mayor to defund non-profits too cozy with urban types. Black
people congregating in Fitchburg, Wisconsin have long caused
consternation and anxiety among whites here who see danger
and a threat to public safety when they gather.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin Officials Keep up Battle Against Citizen Critics; Includes Unprecedented Character Assassination Campaign Plot Hatched by Common Council Alders

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Ald. Julia Arata-Fratta amped-up a crusade against the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County by calling for the Fitchburg City Manager and City Attorney's office to investigate and ultimately seek revocation of the popular non-profit's 501(c)(3) status under Internal Revenue Code regulations, a news report reveals, (Garton, Madison 365).

The move by a Republican-leaning alder is part of a long effort by Fitchburg City Hall staff and the Common Council against minorities and those working for minority citizens.

Boys and Girls Club of Dane County is a non-profit, tax-exempt, non-stock entity assisting all children in Dane County and a move on the Common Council this autumn to defund Boys and Girls Club and another non-profit has highlighted the long hostility of Fitchburg City Hall against minority citizens.

Writes Nicholas Garton in Madison365:

On October 3, the same day the (proposed recall the Common Council idea) was announced, Alder Julia Arata-Fratta, a close ally of [Mayor Jason] Gonzalez, used her private Gmail account to direct City Manager Patrick Marsh to inquire with the IRS, according to emails obtained by Madison365.

Non for profit (sic) cannot do political activities otherwise the IRS can revoke the tax exempt status,' Arata-Fratta wrote to Marsh. Check with Valerie or Mark and send an inquiry to IRS.'

Marsh forwarded the question to City Attorney Mark Sewell and Assistant City Attorney Valerie Zisman, telling Arata-Fratta they would 'provide next steps.'

The City of Fitchburg with Sewell and Zisman's active participation has also worked recently against voting rights in Fitchburg aldermanic district one, as chronicled at Mal Contends.

Garton's investigative reporting in Madison365 has also uncovered a political plot by Fitchburg Alder Dorothy Krause, another Common Council member working against funding non-profits, that proposes to enlist City officials in a character assassination project against Wanda Smith, a former aldermanic candidate who works to help black families through informal homework clubs, recreational outings and community events.

Smith is a critic of the racism of the white-dominated Fitchburg City Hall and Common Council and has frequently engaged in First Amendment-protected political activity against racism in Fitchburg on social media and at her attendance at Fitchburg Common Council meetings.

Reports Garton:

Fitchburg alder Dorothy Krause wanted to use police records and licensing requirements to shut down the after-school homework club run by longtime community volunteer Wanda Smith, who she considers 'not someone who should be in charge of groups of children,' according to emails obtained by Madison365.

An open records request into internal communications between Fitchburg Common Council members revealed that Krause sought potentially damaging and explosive information about the fitness of Smith to supervise the club.

In an October 9 email to City Manager Patrick Marsh, Krause wrote,'From what I’ve witnessed firsthand at the fire station, at city hall, and online, among others, she is not someone that should be in charge of groups of children.'

Krause wrote that she had sought police records about how many times officers have responded to the residence or adjoining residences of Wanda Smith, who previously ran for a seat on the council and has publicly supported a recall of Mayor Jason Gonzalez.

Online court records indicate no criminal convictions against Smith. One charge against Smith was dismissed in 1999, court records show.

In the email, Krause also asked whether the city could require a homework club like Smith’s to obtain a daycare license. She also inquired as to whether children could be removed from a Common Council meeting 'if and when bullying and abusive language is used.'

Marsh responded that he didn’t think the City could require such a license, or ask that children be removed from the Council chamber.

Smith spoke forcefully in October at the Fitchburg Common Council’s budget hearing about Gonzalez’s decision to remove more than $100,000 in the 2018 budget to support local nonprofit organizations that provide services to Fitchburg residents, and how the removal of non-profit funds would impact children of color in the King James Way area and Fitchburg at large. Smith was rebuked by Marsh for personally attacking council members Dorothy Krause and Anne Scott by name during the hearing. 

As a long-time Fitchburg resident, Mal Contends can confirm the toxic, racist climate in Fitchburg, and the past efforts of City Hall officials to use the municipal government as a legal tool against political opponents, including Alder Dorothy Krause in 2011-12.

Said Smith:

'For them, (the Common Council and City Hall staff] to try to lower my reputation is a total disgrace. All I’m trying to do is serve these kids. I didn’t even know that they could go this low. I’m appalled right now. My track record when it comes to kids is proven. They went this low over 50 grand?' she said, referring to the amount cut from the budget that would fund the Boys and Girls Club. 'They don’t like the fact that I came to City Hall and I stood up to them to their faces. I cannot believe this. Dorothy Krause is supposed to be supporting the children in this community.'

Fitchburg resident Monica Howard has worked with Wanda Smith for many years and is described by supporters of Smith as "deeply offended" by Fitchburg officials' work against this Smith.

Writes Howard on Facebook:

I have worked with Wanda for over 10 years. She has been amazing not only with my own daughter but several other children. She is passionate about children’s rights and advocacy for advancement. Her passion is mistaken for hostility and that’s not the case. She is dedicated to the success of youth and this is highly unnecessary. Why all of the sudden is a homework club a problem. It hasn’t been all this time. This is where the City needs to separate their personal feelings and allow a great program to continue.

Contacted this weekend by phone, Smith said she is contemplating legal action against the City of Fitchburg for defamation.

Neighborhood Activists Fight Fitchburg, Wisconsin Mayor

Update: Mandatory sidewalks are a central issue in the spring 2017 mayoral election as a pro-let-neighborhoods-deide alder has declared his campaign for Mayor.
 ---
Fitchburg, Wisconsin  — Used to be Fitchburg, Wisconsin pols would gloat to reporters over holding the line on taxes, opening up city government, and abiding by simple platforms of safe-and-clean streets to maintain this rustic paradise less than ten miles out from the capitol.

Now, the city of Fitchburg is under assault by the Mayor's office whose vision includes higher property taxes, higher rents, grand urban designs, and mayor-knows-better-than-neighborhoods twaddle, and an off-putting arrogance that should offend households of most every political stripe.

None of the above characterizations are even controversial, so insular has become the Fitchburg mayor. 

What's the matter with Mayor Steve Arnold? At base Arnold is officious and malignant, treating residents showing an interest in City affairs as interlopers, (Thomas, Wisconsin State Journal).

Those beautiful, rustic Fitchburg roads where families have lived for decades? Arnold has decided they need sidewalks and major retrofits, and objecting residents just don't see the big picture that Arnold has divined and laid down in Arnold's Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.

Fortunately, a motley coalition has grown in opposition to Arnold, and residents appear to be fishing around for an opponent for the mayoral election next April.

Alders Carol Poole, Julia Arata-Fratta, Jason C. Gonzalez, and Dan Carpenter are responding to the voice of the people, and deserve plaudits.

The four alders have drafted a resolution, (Resolution R-185-16), calling for the residents in existing neighborhoods to be the deciders on the question of whether bucolic roads and neighborhoods need to be retrofitted by Steve Arnold, and whether neighborhood residents should be socked with the unwanted bill.

Mayor Steve Arnold opposes the democratic citizens' resolution of course. Residents just don't realize Arnold will develop policy and their concerns are being addressed, says Arnold.

Arnold couches his opposition to neighborhood sentiment by assuring residents that he too opposes elements of his own mandatory-sidewalks push and that Resolution R-185-16 really is just going to bring more unwanted sidewalks, and "actually weaken ... prohibitions on installing sidewalks in existing subdivisions." Alice in Wonderland.

Mostly, Arnold declares that he knows what's best, hopes residents will come to see this, and that democratic, anti-mandatory sidewalk resolutions are not required. I hope you will see that I am right, says Arnold.

Seriously, and with no hyperbole.

In an email dated November 28, 2016 12:38:02 AM CST to numerous Fitchburg residents, Arnold writes in part, "no resolution is needed," and Arnold hopes residents should "not see a need for a separate resolution."

For a dose of reality, below is a reproductions of Resolution R-185-16, and part of an email chain to Arnold stating in unequivocal words that mandatory sidewalks are a terrible idea, and that Resolution R-185-16 is the mechanism to protect neighborhoods from Arnold. Arnold's repulsive reply is reproduced.

Fitchburg Resolution R-185-16

Email dated November 28, 2016 12:38:02 AM CST

From: Steve Arnold
Date: November 28, 2016 12:38:02 AM CST
To: Jay Hochmuth Cc: , Ahnaray Bizjak , Thomas Hovel , Wade Thompson , Patrick Marsh
Subject: Re: Sidewalk Resolution, R-185-16

... Thank you for your input on the bike and ped plan update and on resolution R-185-16. I think I understand your goals, and believe they are better served by the updated ped policies in the draft bike and ped plan, which were sent to all interested parties on 11/23. Adopting the resolution will actually weaken the plan's prohibitions on installing sidewalks in existing subdivisions. 

In any event, I oppose the concurrent passage of a resolution, [Resolution R-185-16], addressing the same subject matter as the bike and ped plan. Upon adoption, the plan will be Council policy, and no additional resolution is needed. Anything that the Council, as a body, wants for pedestrian policy should be in the plan. 

It is my hope that your concerns will be addressed by the plan itself, and that after review of the next draft, you will not see a need for a separate resolution. 

Feel free to share this with interested neighbors.
 -- Steve Arnold, Mayor ...

Dane Co Assembly Race Has Two Great Candidates

Three candidates—Julia Arata-Fratta, Tony Hartmann, and Jimmy Anderson running to fill an open seat in Dane County's progressive 47th assembly district—lead the Fall 2016 Wisconsin Partisan Primary, now held in summer after legislative Republicans engineered election changes, (Wisconsin Legislative Council).

The 47th assembly district comprises neighborhoods on Madison's east side and a Democratic-progressive mix of several small municipalities in Dane County.

The August 9 Democratic primary winner will succeed outgoing State Rep. Robb Kahl  (D-Monona).

The three candidacies—Tony Hartmann, Jimmy Anderson, Julia Arata-Fratta—feature in a wide-open race as perceptions of the strongest opponent to Republican governor Scott Walker will likely decide the winner, (pp. 29-30, Wisconsin Elections Commission).

The winner of the Democratic Party primary will face no Republican opposition in November

Julia Arata-Fratta is a long-time public critic of Scott Walker, and along with Tony Hartmann, signed the 2011-12 Recall Scott Walker petition. In Dane County this visible support of a progressive agenda against Walker is political ambrosia. Jimmy Anderson did not sign the Recall-Scott Walker petition.

Two of the candidates—Arata-Fratta and Hartmann—have proven track records, and long histories of community involvement.  One candidate, Anderson, does not.

Both Arata-Fratta and Hartmann serve as city of Fitchburg alders, and have long advocated for public education and the environment against the hostile Walker administration and its donors (DeFour, Wisconsin State Journal).

Analysis of District 47 Assembly Race

Anderson Not Qualified for State Assembly

Jimmy Anderson has a compelling life story and would make an effective candidate for municipal or county office in the future.

A compelling life story is not sufficient to merit an endorsement from this site.

Anderson has scant public policy experience, no history of effective progressive advocacy, and has never held elected office in Wisconsin. But he does have $10,000, $50,000, $25,000, $2,000, and $500 donations to his Wisconsin assembly primary campaign.

Who wants this guy in office? Jimmy Anderson does, and the above donations are Anderson's personal loans to his campaign comprising over $87,000, according to Anderson's Campaign Finance Report (July Continuing - covering all activity from Jan. 1, 2016-June 30, 2016).

A newcomer to district 47, Anderson moved into the district from the neighboring assembly district, the result of an apparent assembly seat-shopping excursion.

Anderson was reportedly urged by local activists to wait or get experience before running for assembly district 47. Anderson ignored the advice and instead loaned his campaign the large infusions in an effort to win the seat this August 9.

Anderson has missed numerous important votes as a citizen, including statewide Supreme Court races and a statewide race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, according to data obtained from the Wisconsin Elections Commission site, comparing Anderson's voting activity, (BD - 08-26-1986), with elections held the past four years.

Jimmy Anderson's candidacy appears more for the benefit of Anderson, and less for the residents of the 47th assembly district.

This is not to question Anderson's ethics or decency, rather to state public service is for the benefit of the public and not for the prospective public servant.

It would be an insult for an assembly candidate to parachute into a district, attempt to buy the seat, and criticize the outgoing state representative in campaign literature while the candidate expects to gain the loyalty of would-be constituents for whom their local state representative is the most intimate connection to state government.

This is precisely what Jimmy Anderson is attempting to pull off. Such an effort should be discouraged.

Tony Hartmann Qualified Now to Serve

Tony Hartmann is qualified now to serve as a state rep. for Assembly District 47.

Born in Dane County, a longtime resident of the district, current Fitchburg alder, small business owner and MATC instructor, Hartmann would hit the ground running in the Capitol. He handles difficult policy and politics questions with apparent ease and obvious candor.

Residents may have noticed Hartmann fairly haunting doors this spring and summer, as Hartmann invites and fields an array of policy questions.

Brilliant, decent and hardworking, Hartmann would make an excellent state rep. against a sociopathic and doctrinaire Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Julia Arata-Fratta Qualified Now to Serve

"Outraged" at Scott Walker, reads Julia Arata-Fratta's latest campaign literature, repeating a central theme of her candidacy supporting the UW System, public education and a restoration of funding for technical colleges.

Julia Arata-Fratta is an outstanding candidate and is qualified now to serve as a state rep. for Assembly District 47.

Arata-Fratta moved to Fitchburg over 12 years ago and this policy wonk would be Wisconsin's second Latino serving in the state assembly, (Julia for Assembly), (Madison.365).

Nearly every Fitchburg resident contacted has either met or heard of the rising star who, if elected, has the policy acumen, intellect and dynamic personality to become a U.S. senator in the next 10 years.

As Arata-Fratta's campaign biography indicates, it's difficult to find a sector of society that this proud mother, successful professional service woman and Fitchburg alder is not involved.

Whether District 47 voters elect Tony Hartmann or Julia Arata-Fratta, the future of this progressive, growing, and hyper-educated district looks bright.