Pubdate: Sun, 20 Feb 2005
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Copyright: 2005 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/506
Author: Dean Mosiman

PROGRESSIVE DANE GAINING POWER IN CITY, COUNTY

Brenda Konkel, Austin King and their political buddies used to pour
their souls out - mostly in vain - for the poor and voiceless.

Now their leftist political party, Progressive Dane, is changing
Madison, recently helping pass controversial, landmark laws to raise
the city's minimum wage, force developers to build lower-cost housing,
and ban smoking in bars and restaurants.

"For all intents and purposes, they are the (city's) governing party
right now," said Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who joined Progressive Dane
when he ran for mayor three years ago and is mulling whether to
actively help shape its agenda and tactics.

The party may be gaining momentum, endorsing four candidates in
Tuesday's primary and advancing all to the general election in April.

But Progressive Dane is making some prominent enemies, too, especially
in big business.

"They're ignoring the people who pay the bills," said former Mayor
Paul Soglin. "They're creating an economic doughnut hole in Madison."

Local businesses are being challenged to match Progressive Dane's
activism, said Jennifer Alexander, president of the Greater Madison
Chamber of Commerce.

"I think Progressive Dane's agenda lacks some real serious elements -
creating jobs, attracting business, increasing the tax base," she
said. "Business people no longer have the luxury of sitting back and
not being involved."

Cieslewicz is keenly aware of tension between business and the party.
"If we're going to be the long-term governing party in Madison, you
can't ignore business," he said. "You can be progressive and
pro-business."

Party leaders are unapologetic about their progressive values and
maintain that they aren't anti-business. They say they are guided by a
broad base of members from all walks of life and they represent the
views of a large chunk of Madison and Dane County.

Still, after 12 years, Progressive Dane has reached a crossroads - act
like a feisty bane to the establishment or be a mature insider.

The party is unquestionably at the core of power in the city, a rare
achievement for an alternative party, even in hotbeds such as
Berkeley, Calif. "Progressive Dane is one of the most successful
grass-roots, left-wing movements in America," said Matt Rothschild,
editor of The Progressive magazine.

The party, dubbed "PD," includes Cieslewicz, City Council President
Konkel and eight of 20 council members. It claims four of the Madison
School Board's seven members, including President Bill Keys, and six
of 37 Dane County supervisors. The city's array of committees is
peppered with members.

And if all of the party's endorsed candidates are successful in April,
it would have true majorities for the first time on both the City
Council and School Board. .

Caring or nasty? Salvation Army Maj. Paul Moore, although not involved
in local politics, said PD has made a difference for the most needy.

"It's very difficult for people of low economic means to have a voice
in any community," Moore said. "It's nice to know that people are
interested and caring about these issues."

But the party, critics insist, can be anti-business, anti-law
enforcement, ideologically unbending, and even nasty with opponents,
friends and its own members.

"It's power-play politics," said Mark Bugher, president of University
Research Park and chairman of the city's Economic Development Commission.

Ald. Ken Golden of the near West Side's 10th District, is a founding
PD member, no longer close to the leadership, who has an independent
streak but mostly votes progressive. A PD candidate is running against
him in the spring City Council elections.

"Why are they going after me of all things?" Golden said. "It reminds
me very much of the Bolsheviks between 1905 and 1917. . . . I see this
kind of purity."

The challenge is about performance, Konkel said, claiming that Golden
doesn't always work well with colleagues or keep up with the council's
work.

The party, critics claim, also wastes time on polarizing national or
international affairs, such as endorsing Ralph Nader for president in
2000, which angered Democrats, or pushing a sister-city relationship
with the Palestinian city of Rafah on the Gaza Strip, which upset the
Jewish community.

PD members make no apologies about fighting for their beliefs and say
the big stir is mostly about their increasing effectiveness.

"Here's a group of rag-tag people who've come together with a
commitment to social change," said Ald. Brian Benford of the North
Side's 12th District, a PD member. "I think that's a very scary concept."
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