League of Women Voters Survey Answers
/Big thanks to the League of Women Voters for providing a forum to answer Candidate Questions. Here are my answers:
What do you see as the next right steps for the county to take in addressing mental illness and substance use disorders to divert people from the criminal justice system?
Dane County needs to continue to address public and mental health issues outside of a law enforcement context. After years of advocacy, progressive supervisors were able to secure a countywide commitment to invest in the planning and design of Dane County’s Crisis Triage Center. This facility will help to divert those in a Mental Health Crisis from incarceration. We must prioritize fully funding and constructing this facility.
We must also invest in the CARES model so those in a mental health crisis receive a trained crisis worker rather than just a law enforcement response.
2. Do you think the county has the right priorities in addressing the environmental issues we face? Would you recommend any changes in approach?
As chair of the Environmental Committee, I have emphasized resilience to climate change by investing in land purchases to keep rain where it falls and dredging of our watershed to move water through our system faster to prevent calamitous flooding.
The Administration has however reacted to dangerous PFAS chemicals with a public relations rather than public health response. We must emphasize cleanup of existing pollution and mitigate future contamination while holding those who caused this damage accountable. We must prioritize public health and clean drinking water over military operations.
3. How would you evaluate the county’s current efforts to increase the amount of affordable housing? Are there any additional steps you believe the county should take to address this issue?
The Dane County Board has made historic investments in affordable housing in the 2023 budget. 10 million was put into the Affordable Housing Development fund while $8 million into a new fund targeted towards farmworker housing. This was in response to the tragedy where an 8 year old died in a farming accident while living in a barn above a milking parlor.
We must continue to invest in affordable housing and partner with the cities and municipalities in Dane County to combat rising rents and build new affordable housing while preserving our existing affordable housing stock.
4. Tell us your priorities for your term in office and your specific qualifications to address those issues.
2024 is a critical election year and it is my priority to support our clerks and election workers. We have seen an organized effort to discredit our elections for political gain and we won’t allow those extremists to gain any more traction. I added $4 million dollars to the 2022 budget for a secure elections facility that has secure parking and access for staff, and the infrastructure to support recounts among many other features.
Although a massive amount is being spent on a new jail that has already seen cost overruns, we must continue to prioritize criminal justice reform to reduce the number of people in that facility. This includes the transfer of Huber services to the Human Services Department.
Most importantly, I will continue to be your progressive voice on the County Board.