[stud4obama]

Open Letter to Alder Eli Judge:

As your constituents, we and many other students were delighted that your campaign in 2007 was a positive, issue-oriented contest with your opponent, Lauren Woods, in which each of you testified over and over
about your strong commitment to campus safety and women's safety.

You each published plans for campus safety, and talked about it on your website and literature. This deep commitment to our safety was reiterated so many times that people truly believed it, voted for you,
and gave you the weighty opportunity to put your words into action and fight to improve campus and community safety.

Given this background of your oft-professed passion for public safety,certainly you can understand why we are shocked and outraged at your failure to attend even one meeting of the 911 Center Oversight Board
in the entirety of your term of service. This is completely unacceptable and unprecedented. It would be unacceptable if you missed nine consecutive monthly meetings of any committee, but to
completely ignore the key issue that you made a centerpiece of your campaign smacks of an arrogance unrivaled even among the haughty club of elected officials you worked so hard to join last year.

Alder Judge, if you had a conflict in your schedule with the meetings of this committee, then you should have resigned your seat as soon as it was apparent so that the City of Madison could have been properly
represented on the Board. To hold a seat on an oversight body of such a critical part of our public safety infrastructure, knowing that you
were unable to fulfill the most basic of all duties, attendance, is to demonstrate woefully negligent indifference to the needs and safety of
your constituents and Dane County as a whole. After the tragic death of Brittany Zimmerman and the galling failure of our 911 operations, many have wondered what role proper oversight could have played in preventing Brittany's unnecessary death. We will never know whether real oversight could have prevented this or other tragedies, because
your habitual absences deprived the City of Madison of its role in oversight of the 911 Center operations, a critical inter-governmental
public safety function.

We are left comparing your public expressions of condolence and care with your record of inaction, inattention, and indifference. Especially after an election campaign in which you raised and
politicized the critical issue of public safety, as well as had surrogates criticize your opponent for missing far less important meetings, we are left with no other choice than to find your service unacceptable, and demand your immediate resignation from the 911 Center Oversight Board and the Common Council.

The students of UW-Madison deserve better in a representative, and the City of Madison
deserves better in its public safety efforts.

We understand that the Mayor is already taking long-overdue steps to remove you from the 911 Center Oversight Board, and we hope that you will do the honorable thing and resign your seat in order to allow
service from a student who will not just talk about public safety, but who will actually show up and make a difference on behalf of the UW campus. As constituents on this campus, we deserve no less.

Sincerely,

Lydia Barbash-Riley
Mingwei Huang
Karren Lawson
Kari Muldore
Kelly Rentscher
Mathew Maus
Donald Spann
Brian Febbo
John Cokins
J. Aaron Blecher
Alex Ippolito
Nicholas McCann
Zachary Hirschtritt
Jake Guyette
Josh Guyette
Katherine Baeten
Alicia Abercrombie
Darin Gaffield
Anna Hundt-Golden

[juanton]

Man, heads are rolling everywhere.

[roadkill bill]

I read the report on WKOW, and it sounds like this lands squarely in the lap of Mayor Dave. He makes appointments to committees, and he was informed that Ald. Judge couldn't make the meetings. As students, would you drop a class because of an assignment to a committee you didn't even request, and weren't aware of?

The Public Safety Review Board is the city committee that deals with... well, public safety. Ald. Judge has a perfect attendance record at those meetings. The board that you cite is a County board, and Ald. Judge has been trying to get a replacement.

Your letter sounds like a witch hunt to me. What's your beef with Ald. Judge?

[stud4obama]

Your letter sounds like a witch hunt to me. What's your beef with Ald. Judge?

Doubt it. I got this letter, so I posted it. To assume that the genuine concern of constituents/students who are active leaders on campus as "beef" is on you. The reality is that Eli Judge and his group of buddies have made "public safety" their number one issue. This came as a shock to many of us who worked on Eli's campaign and supported him as well. He has spoken on the Brittany Zimmerman issue many times and never mentioned his role, or lack therof, on the 911 Board, but only decided to respond when the media decided to cover it. I totally support students who are bringing this issue up and wouldn't belittle it by seeing it as just some kind of personalized "beef".

[revolutionary pragmatist]

I don't think anyone is posting this because of a "beef", but- heck- I could be naive. It seems that holding our elected officials accountable should be something praised and encouraged, not belittled as "beef".

He made a mistake- a pretty big mistake. Other elected officials have been shmeared across the media for missing less meetings than this by a long shot. All he needs to do is step up, apologize and make a plan for moving forward. It's not that hard, but- again- I may be naive.

[roadkill bill]

[shrug] I got no dog in this fight, but it still smells to me like a big hoo-ha over a minor issue.

He's had a 100% attendance record at the city committee that has far more influence over safety in the city, and by extension, the campus - the Public Safety Review Board. He is a city alder, after all, not a county supervisor.

I didn't even know there WAS a 911 Oversight Board, and I pay attention to local - city and county - politics. My guess is that no one was paying attention to this committee until Isthmus wrote about the botched Brittney Zimmerman call. Paul Skidmore would pay attention to anything that allowed him to hang out with the cops and fire fighters.

Many things that are minor in the big scheme don't come to light until the media suddenly decides they need a story. City alder not attending a minor county board because of a scheduling conflict with classes falls into this category, especially since he has actively been trying to get a replacement appointed.

[Transfer]

This is political trash. First of all, do not use "stud4obama" because the leadership of the organization supports Judge. Second, almost all UW students who are not members of SLAC/Progressive Dane also support him.

Your effort is pathetic and will fail.

[revolutionary pragmatist]

Yo Transfer- You can be critical of someone you may support. I've contacted elected officials I support to let them know when I'm dissapointed in them or a decision they've made.

I support Obama but I'm still critical of his stance on Palestine. This makes me no less important of a supporter.

You are out of control saying that supporters of Eli are cult-like followers too high and mighty for dissent...your comment sounds a little fascist to me.

[roadkill bill]

STUDENT CAT FIGHT!

Oh, right, no one off campus gives a shit.

[stud4obama]

This is political trash. First of all, do not use "stud4obama" because the leadership of the organization supports Judge. Second, almost all UW students who are not members of SLAC/Progressive Dane also support him.

Your effort is pathetic and will fail.

ummm... ok. Well, I never claimed to be in "leadership" and I'm sorry I won't fall in-line. I am strong supporter of Obama and a student and I didn't go to "leadership" to pre-approve my post. (I could also be a "stud" who likes obama...you didn't think about that did you transfer?). The reality is that this is no political ploy. As far as I know no on that list, including myself, are in Progressive Dane or SLAC (or even know what those are). This is a real issue. It's sad the Eli refuses to even apologize for what is a clear failure of his duties.

[Flowers]

If you are going to imply that the alderman could have somehow saved this girl's life, then please explain your reasoning.

[awestra]

I read the report on WKOW, and it sounds like this lands squarely in the lap of Mayor Dave. He makes appointments to committees, and he was informed that Ald. Judge couldn't make the meetings.

Let's see.. Alder Judge is appointed to a committee he couldn't serve on. He informs the mayor's office of this fact. The mayor is the one responsible for alder committee appointments.. Once Ald. Judge informed the mayor he had a conflict and could not serve. The ball is out of his court.

[gargantua]

I read the report on WKOW, and it sounds like this lands squarely in the lap of Mayor Dave. He makes appointments to committees, and he was informed that Ald. Judge couldn't make the meetings.

Let's see.. Alder Judge is appointed to a committee he couldn't serve on. He informs the mayor's office of this fact. The mayor is the one responsible for alder committee appointments.. Once Ald. Judge informed the mayor he had a conflict and could not serve. The ball is out of his court.

Oh, if only facts mattered!

[Transfer]

Turns out the author of this letter was none other than Ashok Kumar who opposed Eli Judge's initial run in 2007:

http://thecriticalbadger.wordpress.com/ ... t-so-much/

Of course this is a political beef. This is a non story.

[agnes smith]

I wish the authors of the letter would have done their
homework before writing this outrageous letter to Mr.
Judge. Had they done any research into the issue of
Mr. Judge's appointment to the 911 Center Oversight
Board they would have discovered there is not any
basis to suggest that Eli resign. I have known Eli
since shortly before his election and am aware that he immediately told the mayor's office that because of his class schedule he could not accept the appointment. I think the authors of the letter had better ask Mayor Cieslewicz why it took the City so long to name another alder to this post. I attend many City Council and committee meetings and know that only when Mr. Judge has been in the hospital or had a class or test has he missed any council or committee meeting - infact he has stayed in Madison during UW breaks so that he can tend to his aldermanic duties.

You who are stating that Eli's passion for public safety is not genuine certainly do not know him. On several occasions Eli and I have had conversations about the safety of the campus area and the entire
Isthmus and how it can be improved and what we (students and other residents) can do if we all work
together to make a safer environment for everyone.

If the 4:04 pm posting saying that the author of this
letter is none other than Ashok Kumar who opposed Eli
Judge's initial run in 2007 is true then the writers
have committed an egregious act and should sincerely
apologize to Mr. Judge.

As an older passionate citizen in downtown Madison this debacle has made me very sad. Sad that the letter
is incorrect and sad that so much time was spent in such an unproductive effort. Let us all spend our
time and efforts to improve our neighborhoods not to
make unwarrented accusations against a neighbor.