Thank You, Madison — and Naming a Dangerous Game

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Thank You!

Last week, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced in her Thank You, Madison blog that she will not seek another term. She reflected on her time as Mayor, her accomplishments, and the difficulties that come with serving as an elected official.

I want to thank Mayor Rhodes-Conway for her leadership and clear understanding of the job. As she put it: "The two biggest things a successful mayor does are hiring and managing good people and creating budgets (often with very limited resources) that allow those people to do good work."

She also understands the importance of continuity. This year, we celebrate the opening of projects that were already underway before she became Mayor: the Public Market, BRT, and the Imagination Center. In addition to these projects, she supported the implementation of CARES and dedicated funding toward the first purpose-built men's shelter in the county, which also opened this year.

These projects did not happen overnight, and they did not happen because of one person. They are the result of years of planning, decisions, investments, and the work of people across multiple administrations.

A little too serious about my timeline tracker

When preparing for the 2025 budget, I studied previous budgets to understand better the mechanisms the City had used to balance its budget over time.

I may have taken the Visio timeline template a little too seriously.

To the timeline, I added major projects and housing initiatives. I haven't updated the file since, and I should, but for now I'm sharing a glimpse of the data I collected. It shows the complexity of balancing a budget under state-imposed constraints while continuing to move projects and priorities forward.

2011-2024Vision projects

Click here for PDF copy

I am grateful to Satya for her mentorship and, more importantly, for always making space for me to be me. Arguing is second nature to me. I enjoy a good argument; one that is coherent, honest, and rooted in fact. We have had our share of disagreements, and regardless of where we landed, I always walked away having learned something new.

My sincere thanks to Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway for her service to Madison.

The toll of public service

This job takes a toll.

Over the last few months, the City has seen an influx of “lawyers" and “human resources experts" from community members lacking any legal or HR professional training. Everyone seems to have an opinion about how to interpret state law, City ordinances, or even how payroll taxation works. 

I am not a lawyer. But one of my responsibilities as an Alder is to create, update, or repeal ordinances. It is not a skill required to run for Alder, but it is a responsibility that Alders must take seriously. I take it seriously. Some ordinances are complicated. The zoning code, for example, is not something you can understand by reading one paragraph.

MGO 5.19 and 5.20, however, are not that complicated. This week, I put together a couple of blogs using the actual language of those ordinances to address the interpretations being promoted by some of the louder voices in the City who insist that the Office of the Independent Monitor and the Police Civilian Oversight Board are fully independent from the City.

I provided the language, the sources, and the links so people could read the ordinances for themselves. That should be the starting point for a discussion about how our government works.

Naming a dangerous game

In her Thank You, Madison blog, the Mayor also shared her frustration with the: "increasingly vitriolic, personal attacks from people who seem not to care about actually understanding and debating an issue."

I couldn't agree more.

I've had my share of discussions with people who don't hear what they expect to hear from me on many issues across the board, such as budget limitations, zoning changes, housing density, the unhoused community, and much more. Have I ever felt insulted or even frustrated? Sure, sometimes. Have I ever felt threatened? Never, not once.

Disagreement, even heated disagreement, is not the same thing as what I have seen unfold over the last several days and weeks. After publishing my blogs, I received numerous emails and phone calls thanking me for taking the time to share the analyses. One person wrote: "I greatly appreciate the Alder's explanations, with sources." 

This feedback captures my intent. I want people to have access to the actual sources so they can read the language, understand the context, and evaluate my assessment for themselves. Within 48 hours of posting, attempts to discredit the blogs began. It did not take long for things to escalate.

The following are all from the same source.

First step: Take a quotation and attach it to something unrelated.

Statements from my blogs were pulled out and attached to claims that were not associated with the quotations. The words were mine, but the meaning being attributed to them was not.

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Second step: Denial.

For the last five years, members of the same group have argued that the OIM and PCOB are fully independent from the Council and City staff. Suddenly yesterday, they seemed to have a short-term memory problem. According to their latest recollection, they have never said the OIM and PCOB are independent of the City. A simple google search says otherwise.

I am a little confused. Should I celebrate this new position as an acknowledgment that we agree? Because if the argument is now that the OIM and PCOB are not fully independent from the City, then we may finally be getting somewhere.

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Third step: Embrace and feed the reaction.

If you know me, you know sarcasm is my second language, and I am very fluent in it. As much as I would like to roll my eyes at this situation, what came next isn't funny, ridiculous, or something to ignore.

There is a difference between challenging someone's interpretation of an ordinance and deliberately misrepresenting what they said. There is a difference between disagreeing with an elected official and trying to discredit them by attacking their sources.

And when the discussion shifts from the substance of the ordinances to personal attacks and efforts to distort the record, we should all pay attention.

“You lying fxxxing bxxxh. I can't know whose orders she's slavishly following now.  Her soul is filthy. Yannette Figueroa Cole is a lying, manipulating, vicious bxxxh. And you know what?  They are your (and my) enemies all the way to death."

—

An excerpt from a member's comment in a Facebook group.

This type of behavior is not acceptable. It does not help the community understand how its government works. It does not strengthen civilian oversight. And it certainly doesn't build the trust these institutions need.

I will continue to explain my votes, share the sources, and speak plainly about the responsibilities and limits established in our ordinances.

You do not have to agree with me.

But if you are going to argue with me, at least argue with what I actually said and with the language in the law not with the hopes of what should have been written.

That is the least we should expect from a discussion about public accountability.

When the drama splits to those close to an Alder

Up to this point, those in my circle had been kept out of the way of this drama. That line was crossed yesterday. Hence why this blog matters.

These are people who have dedicated their lives to serving this City, decades before I became an Alder. They have built organizations and worked with nonprofits for years. They have chosen to align with organizations centered on protecting vulnerable people, survivors of domestic abuse, survivors of sexual assault including children, and rape victims.

They have built community. They have created safe spaces for countless families and individuals in Madison, Dane County and the State of Wisconsin. They dedicated their lives to providing access to arts and healing programming for the youth. 

Learning yesterday that a threatening message rattled them is disturbing. More than that, it is infuriating. This toxic and sick behavior does not change the facts. It does not change the language of the ordinances. It does not change the history of a group that continues to create and circulate false online content. That history is not limited to social media. It extends to recordings of City meetings, publicly available to anyone willing to take the time to watch them.

Reporting

PDConnect includes the category "Threats Complaint" under the Non-Criminal Report section and it defines it as "Intent to harass or intimidate another. Disruptive behavior/threats directed at an individual or a specific group verbal or written, explicit or implied, and willfully made."

It is not for me to define if charges over a social media post or an offensive or misleading statement are a crime. But threats, harassment, and repeated conduct can be documented. I can preserve and report the phone call, the online activity and source, the dates, the statements, and the connections between incidents. Law enforcement can determine whether conduct meets the legal threshold for further action.

When the matter becomes personal it is an indication of the absence of the evidence needed to negate the facts supported by the ordinances. 

To those who have spent their lives serving this community, creating safe spaces, and protecting vulnerable people: you deserve better than to be dragged into someone else's personal agendas and toxic drama. Thank you for your service!

The facts are still the facts. The ordinances are still the ordinances. And the record is still the record.

I voted today! Election Day is Tuesday! Please vote!!

Have a great weekend! 

YF-C

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