Two for one
Marisue Horton wrote a letter to the editor that was published by the Wisconsin State Journal on an issue I've been thinking about with the Madison School Board race. Why are Maya Cole and Lucy Mathiak running a joint campaign and is it a good strategy?
A couple of weekends ago there were two campaign cards in my door. One was from Cole and one was from Mathiak. I thought it was interesting but probably just two folks sharing volunteers to get more done. But this week I received a piece of mail from the campaigns of the candidates with both of them on it so they have definitely linked themselves.
But is this a good strategy? Campaigns often link themselves with other candidates on literature, but it is usually an unknown candidate linking themselves to a well-known popular incumbent. Not only are both of the school board candidates trying to make names for themselves yet, they are running in two completely different kinds of races. One is running in an open seat and one is running against an incumbent so they might have been better off on their own using different strategies to fit their own race.
Horton, the letter to the editor writer, brings up another good question in her letter. Cole and Mathiak are trying to give the impression that one of the problems of the school board is that it is split into alliances. If that is true, why should voters vote to send another alliance?
4 Comments:
Hi Carrie:
An astute observation, Carrie. Perhaps the most recent fundraising numbers tell the story:
election portal
Arlene raised $13K via the most recent reports while Maya raised 5,806 and Lucy 5,768.
I've endorsed both Lucy and Maya in this race.
What Maya and Lucy share is a commitment to accessible and transparent governance. If both are elected, there will be a new majority on the board which shares those principles, even if they won't always vote the same on substantive issues.
Face it: many in the community feel shut out of the process by the current board majority and turned off by the incivility of some toward the minority. With Lucy and Maya on the board, at least there will be a respectful public debate about issues of great concern--heterogeneous classrooms, boundary changes, school closures and construction, budget cuts, oversight of the superintendent, insurance for teachers.
Moreover, Arlene makes no secret of her endorsement by Lopez as well as four other members of the board. Does this not also suggest a coalition?
Finally, I find it interesting that the same individual was jointly leafletting my neighborhood for the Yes vote on the Iraq referendum question along with Arlene's literature.
What Maya and Lucy share is a commitment to accessible and transparent governance. If both are elected, there will be a new majority on the board which shares those principles, even if they won't always vote the same on substantive issues.
Face it: many in the community feel shut out of the process by the current board majority and turned off by the incivility of some toward the minority. With Lucy and Maya on the board, at least there will be a respectful public debate about issues of great concern--heterogeneous classrooms, boundary changes, school closures and construction, budget cuts, oversight of the superintendent, insurance for teachers.
Moreover, Arlene makes no secret of her endorsement by Lopez as well as four other members of the board. Does this not also suggest a coalition?
Finally, I find it interesting that the same individual was jointly leafletting my neighborhood for the Yes vote on the Iraq referendum question along with Arlene's literature.
I'm really just wondering if this is a good strategy, particularly for Lucy Mathiak. Her fundraising is level with Juan Lopez, she is a strong candidate and I think may have been better off on her own.
I get wanting to share resources because I think it's tough to run for school board city wide. But I also think it's strange to run a campaign saying you are an independent but then almost running a joint campaign.
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