Some strange part of me is pleased to see Jason Bjorklund has recovered from his fourth-place finish and called a meeting of the local Glenn Beck club.
Now would be an ideal time for the Madison 9-12 Project to direct its anti-government attentions to practical local issues. We have a school bond election on February 1 that would raise their local taxes and increase the local public debt by $16.98 million. We have a school district engaged in abuses of the sanctity of the ballot box arguably as shady as anything the Glenn Beckers think ACORN did. We have petitions circulating to put to public vote a revised zoning ordinance that raises interesting questions of property rights and access of government officials to private land. And by the end of the month, individuals will be able to take out petitions for two seats on the Madison City Commission and the Madison Central School Board.
I appreciated the public service the Madison 9-12 Project performed last year, bringing more candidates for statewide office to Madison for public discussions than did either of the local political parties. Unfortunately, the group fell back into its usual abstract discussions of "legislation, taxation, and regulation" without digging into the practical application of those issues to state and local politics.
Bjorklund gained valuable campaign experience in the District 8 House race. Will he learn from his mistakes and help his group translate its energy into practical local action that could directly benefit the loal community and rein in possible overreach by local government? Or will the 9-12 Project remain a mostly harmless pitchfork Toastmasters, making speeches but not having much impact on politics?
Mr. Bjorklund has yet to take me up on my offer to come lead a discussion with the 9-12ers about the application of their principles to local politics. Nonetheless, I offer a dream list of outcomes for Friday's meeting:
- The group nominates at least two candidates for city commission and two for school board and plans signature-gathering and door-knocking teams for both races.
- The group gets petitions from Charlie Scholl and organizes a signature drive on the zoning ordinance comparable to the push they made in April on health reform repeal.
- The group issues press releases on both the school bond election and the possible zoning ordinance referendum.
- The group resolves to write a formal complaint to Secretary of State Gant (who attended their May 2010 meeting) about irregularities in the conduct of early voting the school bond election.
A Twitter friend sighs that the 9-12ers will probably just keep talking "tyranny." I hope the Glenn Beck club will not let hyperbolic fantasies about "tyranny" in Washington distract them from real political needs here in our own community.