The Four Lakes Green Party has announced a slate of candidate endorsements for Madison Common Council in April 2021 elections. The Four Lakes Greens chose Patrick Heck and Benji Ramirez in District 2 (dual endorsement), Charly Rowe (D3), Brian Benford (D6), Juliana Bennett and Ayomi Obuseh (D8, dual endorsement), Nikki Conklin (D9), Tessa Echeverria (D12), Brandi Grayson (D14), Grant Foster (D15), and Rebecca Kemble (D18) as the best candidates to advance Green values of grassroots democracy, social justice, nonviolence, and ecological sustainability on the Madison Common Council.
While the slate of candidates endorsed by the Green Party is diverse, they all share a background in community activism and a commitment to run grassroots campaigns free of corporate money. They also align with the Greens’ values and vision on critical issues such as affordable housing as a human right, police and criminal justice reform, environmental justice, sustainable development, racial justice, transportation alternatives, and more.
The rapid development of Madison has brought housing and development issues to the fore, especially amid the pandemic and economic crisis. Green-endorsed candidates share a commitment to affordable housing as a human right, and to preventing gentrification from pushing working-class people out of their homes. They support real solutions to homelessness, including a housing first approach and comprehensive resources for people experiencing homelessness. They align with the Greens’ vision of development that is environmentally and socially sustainable, human-centered, and supports small businesses, cooperatives, and transportation alternatives.
Police and criminal justice reform, and the larger issue of racial justice, can no longer be put on the back burner or simply given lip service in one of the most segregated cities of the most segregated state in the country. Green-endorsed candidates share a commitment to taking tangible steps to ending systemic racism. This includes expanding community control of the police, reinvesting resources from policing and incarceration into mental health and other community needs, and addressing the roots of crime such as poverty and inequality.
Environmental justice issues are as critical as ever, with climate crisis accelerating and Madison already facing impacts such as the recent floods. The planned siting of F-35 fighter jets in Madison threatens our city with deafening noise, cancer-causing pollution, and the looming danger of a catastrophe like the recent F-16 crash in northern Wisconsin. Green-endorsed candidates are ready to resist this disastrous top-down decision, and insist that our community not be turned into a sacrifice zone for the war machine that already robs so many resources from our communities. PFAS contamination of our water further goes to show why we need Green elected officials to stand up against powerful interests that put corporate profits and the military over public health, human life, and the life of the ecosystems that sustain us.
Local elections in Madison are among the few elections in the United States where community organizers running grassroots campaigns can compete with candidates backed by big money corporate interests and political bosses. Local residents can make a difference by volunteering, donating, and getting involved with local campaigns and local democracy. The Four Lakes Greens encourage all Madison voters to support Green-endorsed candidates for a local government that puts people and planet over profit.
The Wisconsin Green Party has a decades-long track record of helping elect some of the most progressive local officials in the country. All our candidates pledge not to take a cent of corporate campaign money. Together we've shown that people-powered campaigns can take on big money and win.
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