SUE BAUMAN ON DRUGS

The Mayor Plans Dialogue, Activists Want Action

A year after Mayor Sue Bauman declared the War on Drugs to be a failure in
her State of the City speech, Progressive Dane activists are pushing the
city to get off its butt and do something about it. "Things have been
moving glacially slow, and it's time to light a fire," says Gary Storck,
founder of Drug Policy Forum for Wisconsin, and a member of the local
political party. "Last year the mayor announced with great flourish that
she was going to end the War on Drugs, and in this year's [State of the
City] speech it got a brief mention in about paragraph 20."

Guess what? Bauman agrees that the drug policy discussion has been
"stalled," lost in the aftermath of Sept. 11. But she hopes to have a
committee working on it soon.

"We want to look at the continuum of what services currently exist, what
policies and programs are in place," says Bauman. "And once we find out
what we have we can then decide what we mean to have."

While she's glad Progressive Dane is pushing the issue, Bauman believes
it's out too far ahead: "They haven't looked at the big picture. Tweaking
things piecemeal will not really get us anywhere long term." She wants to
approach illegal drug use as a "public health issue."

"That comprehensive approach is what we're offering," counters PD drug
task-force chair Stephanie Rearick, who will give the group's "State of the
City Drug Policy Address" on Aug. 20 at 5 pm in the Madison Municipal
Building. (The public is welcome.)

The meeting will also include talks by experts and informal discussions
with elected officials who show up. "Our whole point is to recognize the
positive things happening in Madison and why those make us an ideal place
to develop a policy and be a model city," says Rearick.

Her group will stress such measures as charging people for possession of
small amounts of pot as a city-ordinance rather than state-statute
violation. The city ordinance has no penalty for "casual possession" in
one's home and just a $100 fine if caught on public property, she notes.
(Look for a blown up poster of that ordinance next Tuesday.) In contrast,
conviction under the state statute, including penalty enhancers, lands
people in jail.

Another change PD is urging: Not prosecuting people who call 911 to report
a drug overdose.

Ald. Judy Olson, who is loosely involved in the PD group, agrees with its
findings. But as the instigator of the city setting up its own study
committee, she wants more diverse voices to be heard. "It won't work if
it's all likeminded people," says Olson.

The city committee was never appointed because the county subsequently
asked to join the deliberations. This would bring the district attorney,
jail administrators and the drug court representatives to the table. Supv.
Andy Olsen, the county sponsor, hopes that new drug policy initiatives
reduce pressure for another expensive jail addition.

"I think it's a shame spending so many resources locking people up for
victimless crimes," says Olsen. "It is apparent to people that the war on
drugs isn't working, but it's not clear yet what will."

Off The Beaten Track

At its meeting last Wednesday, the Transport 2020 committee gave thumbs up
to a commuter rail line from Greenway Center in Middleton to East Towne.
Two TV stations attended the event, but committee co-chair Supv. Scott
McDonell says no radio or newspaper reporters showed up: "I've never seen
anything like it happen before."

The plan includes bus routes, park-and-rides and trolleys-although two
members from the state Department of Transportation stressed that trolley
costs have yet to be pinpointed. The committee vote was unanimous. "That's
pretty amazing," says McDonell.

Now the Common Council, County Board and Metropolitan Planning Organization
must sign off on the recommendations, then the plans would move into the
preliminary engineering stage, where such details as station design and
placement are worked out. To see the current map visit transport2020.net.

Krok Calls

The same day that WTDY talk show host Chris Krok told his listeners that
state Rep. Terese Berceau should be "bitch-slapped" because of her work on
annexing the town of Madison, Berceau attended a press conference at the
Capitol with gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk. The topic? Falk's
"Keeping Wisconsin Families Safe" agenda to end domestic violence.

Later, station reps, including top dog Sly, tried to downplay Krok's
comments, saying they were meant figuratively and not as a call for Berceau
to be assaulted. When the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence
called Krok's comments "outrageous" and asked its members to contact the
station, Krok dubbed them Berceau's "goon squad."

WTDY has since banned the use of the terms "bitch" and "bitch slap" at the
station, but Berceau says her office is still fielding nasty calls,
including "scary" threats. (Read the advocates' letter that incited Krok on
Document Feed at thedailypage.com.)

Bonus Bob

Recently, the Common Council decided to put State-Street and Capitol mall
maintenance back into the Parks Department budget, reversing a 1998 policy
change that moved it under the aegis of facilities manager Bob D'Angelo.
The change prompted Alds. Jean MacCubbin and Dorothy Borchardt to ask if
the $3,000 boost D'Angelo got in his salary could be shifted to parks, too.

Nope.

In D'Angelo's 2000 contract, the bonus became part of his $98,487 base
salary, and another $10,000 bonus was tacked on for his work on the
Overture project as well. (Overall, D'Angelo's salary has risen $24,000
since 1996.) And the issue of his salary cost is now moot, because the
Overture Foundation reimburses the city for the entire $108,000.

D'Angelo, who plans to continue collecting the $3,000 salary bump, has his
eyes on Overture: "I'm committed to getting this job done and it's going to
take several more years."

High Flying Bet

State Rep. Mark Pocan is again chastising Gov. Scott McCallum for allegedly
using state airplanes to make short trips, something McCallum denies.
According to documents given to Pocan from McCallum's office, it appears
the governor took 43 trips of less than 40 miles last year. But McCallum
spokesman Tim Roby told Mitch Henck's WIBA radio show that the governor
wasn't even on the plane.

That prompted the ever-puckish Pocan, also on the show, to make a wager. He
said if he was wrong about the flights, he would go over to the governor's
mansion and mow the lawn with a push mower while wearing a McCallum
T-shirt. If he's right, he wants the governor to say that he "likes to fly
and sometimes lie."

According to Henck, Roby chuckled and ignored the suggestion. But Pocan
says he'd keep his end of the deal: "They can even spray me with hoses if
they want." (To read Pocan's accusations, the logs and an e-mail from the
governor's office to a citizen that blames the media for the plane story,
visit Document Feed at thedailypage.com.)

Oh, Shoot!

Readers: The message came loud and clear via numerous e-mails and letters
that 'out of the chute' (Politics as Usual 8/2/02) is indeed spelled like
that. Mea culpa! Hey, thanks for attentively reading.

Melanie Conklin is Isthmus' local government reporter.