Candidate questions: Dane County Executive
These questions were written by the Northside Antiracism Group to reflect issues that impact Northsiders, that have been the focus of local organizing and that the county has power to act on.
Question 1: F-35s
The Air Force announced its decision to base a squadron of F-35 fighter jets at Truax Field Air National Guard Base last April. If the F-35s are placed at Truax, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released by the Air National Guard concluded “there would be significant disproportionate impacts to low-income and minority populations as well as children.” While the jets will directly impact all residents near the base, the EIS also confirmed that more than 1,000 homes would be considered “incompatible” with residential use due to noise exposure from the F-35s.
Members of Eken Park Resistance (EPR), a neighborhood under the flight path of the F-35s, pushed back against this designation in a letter published in The Cap Times and available at bit.ly/EPRLetter: “It isn’t our small homes, backyards, swing sets, neighbors, or kids that are incompatible for residential use.” EPR and Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin have opposed responses focused on funding noise mitigation as inadequate, calling on bodies like the County Board to pressure the Air Force to reverse their decision.
What specific actions will you take through the County to respond to community concerns about F-35 fighter jets at Truax Field?
Question 2: PFAS
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been found in water, soil and fish on the east and north sides of Madison, including in city wells and in fish caught in Starkweather Creek and Lake Monona. Dane County Regional Airport and Truax Field Air National Guard Base, both on County land, are two known sources of PFAS contamination.
As soon as this winter, the Air National Guard is expected to begin construction to accommodate the F-35s at Truax Field. A letter sent to the Air Force by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in October 2019 stated that “all planned construction projects will require a site investigation to determine whether PFAS contamination is present prior to construction.” Construction prior to a complete site investigation risks releasing more PFAS into the soil and groundwater.
Will you take action to stop construction at Truax Field until there is a complete investigation and approved clean-up plan for PFAS contamination? Given that Dane County is one of multiple entities liable for PFAS contamination originating on County property, what specific actions should the County Board and County Executive take to address PFAS investigation and mitigation?
Question 3: Incarceration
Community pressure to halt plans to build a $148 million new Dane County jail grew this summer amid racial justice uprisings, with demands for decarceration and abolition echoing calls across the country to stop building new jails and end mass incarceration. This has included demands, both from groups opposing and supporting a new jail, to significantly reduce the number of people incarcerated and to address racial disparities. In a Dec. 23 letter to The Cap Times, MOSES president Rachel Kincade wrote, “If Black people were incarcerated at the same percentage as white people, there would be about 16 Black people in the jail rather than the approximately 290 currently in the jail.” Although the number of people incarcerated in the jail has been reduced in response to COVID-19, those changes in practices have not addressed racial disparities. Updated plans for the new jail in November showed that the Sheriff’s Office and those designing the jail do not expect those reductions to continue after the pandemic.
Will you take action to stop work on a new jail? How do you explain that we are targeting Black people for incarceration at such extreme and disproportionate rates? How will you respond to community demands to decrease the jail population and to divest from incarceration?
Joe Parisi
Question 1: When the Department of Defense (DOD) put Truax Field at the top of their list for F-35 placement, I sent numerous letters to the Secretary of the Air Force asking for more information about their plans for flight hours, noise, and how they will handle PFAs mitigation if they have construction projects at the airport. Our community deserves better communication from the Air Force on this project and I am hopeful that the new administration will do a better job than the Trump administration has done on this.
I will also continue to work with Congressman Pocan to secure federal funding for sound mitigation before the F-35s arrive. F-35s have been in Vermont for a year now and the Department of Defense can clearly learn from that experience that they should bring sound mitigation funds to communities before they bring new jets. Congressman Pocan is working to secure funding in the Office of Economic Adjustment in the DOD for grants to communities impacted by military aviation noise and I will work with him to bring those funds to Madison.
Question 2: The county is working to address the PFAs contamination at Truax Field as quickly as possible and we are committed to continuing our work with the Department of Natural Resources, the Air National Guard, and the City of Madison on a comprehensive mitigation plan. We hired a national expert on PFAs at airports to lead the investigation and we are hiring a mitigation team. But we didn’t wait for the full plan to be completed before taking action. We have already deployed a new technology that has been successful in Michigan to reduce the level of PFAs in surface waters leaving the area while we are planning further mitigation.
As the question notes, the state Department of Natural Resources is the entity monitoring the construction at Truax Field and they will require the Air National Guard to work with them before those projects begin. The County does not approve construction projects at Truax Field and does not have the authority to stop them; however, I am confident that the Department of Natural Resources will be monitoring the entire project.
Question 3: The Criminal Justice (CJ) system has numerous points of contact: the person who initially calls the police, law enforcement, the courts and more. This necessitates a comprehensive approach to reducing jail populations.
I remain committed to reducing disproportionate minority confinement by building on our work to divert people from the CJ system and provide opportunities for people who are in need of a second chance.
I’ve created and partnered to build numerous jail diversion and re-entry initiatives including re-entry housing and supportive services, the community restorative court, mentoring and job training, and mental health support in schools and community centers. I remain committed to building on these efforts.
We must also continue working to create access to opportunity for underserved populations, to create opportunities to build Black wealth, and to create a more inclusive community. Systemic racism has deprived African Americans of opportunity since the inception of our nation. That’s why I’ve spearheaded the investment of millions of dollars into community building efforts like the Black Business & Entrepreneurial Center and the Center for Black Excellence.
I will continue working to further investments in initiatives that address the root causes of the challenges we face.
Mary Ann Nicholson
Question 1: The role the of Dane County Executive in this situation will be to bring together our Wisconsin Washington Delegation, the City of Madison Mayor, the District Alderperson(s), the United States Air Force and the neighborhood citizens. According to an article published in the Wisconsin State Journal, April 16, 2020 by Chris Hubbuch, Tammy Baldwin “hailed the economic impact and said she would continue working with the Air Force and Dane County “to make sure this positive development works for our community”. Unfortunately, it seems the ball was dropped in terms of working with the community. The Dane County Executive role should be to make sure the meeting is run in an orderly manner where all neighborhood concerns are heard. Once the concerns are heard, all the principles need to work out a plan which addresses the concerns of the neighborhood with measurable agreed upon solutions.
Question 2: PFAS contamination is a concern for all citizens of Dane County. These chemicals are found in everything from food packaging to fluorinated firefighter foam. Because PFAS do not breakdown naturally in the environment, they have been found in our soils and drinking water. PFAS contamination was addressed by Governor Evers in Executive Order #40, where he directed the WI DNR to lead a group of state agencies to address this problem. Before any construction begins at Traux Field, a comprehensive soil contamination remediation plan needs to be spelled out. This plan should be reviewed by the WI DNR and Dane County Board to make sure it meets the State of Wisconsin standards. As a county we need to make sure we are following the protocols developed by Wisconsin PFAS Action Council (WisPAC) to ensure we are keeping our Dane County citizens safe from PFAS contamination.
Question 3: I do not feel building a $148 million jail is the answer to bridge the racial divide in our community. It is time we start the hard work of addressing the issues of racial inequities in Dane County. I would ask Black community Leaders, police and the City of Madison mayor to come together to build a foundation of lasting change in our County to end the racial inequities. We as a people need to talk about the racial divide in our County to come up with solid changes.
I cannot explain why Black people are targeted, but I think it is time we start the education process to end it. In order to come up with a lasting change we need to look at the criminal justice system. I feel we need to look at the correlation between economic inequalities and the incarceration rates. We need to lift people up by making sure everyone has the same opportunities in education and getting good paying jobs. Police Sensitivity training along with neighborhood Policing is another way which may stop the targeting of Black people.
I am not in favor of defunding police. Defunding in my opinion doesn’t issues the issue.