By Staff
Van Leeuwen, Vannoy first to enter city campaign
Mayor Ann van Leeuwen heads the list of residents whose names will appear on Madison's Aug. 25 election ballot. She was the first to sign up when qualifying opened June 18.
Larry Vannoy, who hopes to unseat van Leeuwen, arrived at 2:25 p.m. the same day to fill out the paperwork. Chuck Yancura, the only other declared mayoral candidate, had not made his race official by the time City Hall closed Tuesday afternoon.
Can Leeuwen said "continuing" would be the key word in her campaign: continuing to work on roads and drainage improvements; continuing to promote Madison as a new home for businesses and to improve the community's tax base; continuing to work with the Education Committee to improve schools; continuing to improve public safety services; and continuing the customer-oriented Total Quality Management philosophy adopted by the city's workers. She also promised to work on providing new recreation facilities for both children and adults.
The two main points in Vannoy's platform are planning and leadership.
"Without planning and leadership, a community can only react to the problems it faces. I want to lead Madison into a future based on planning and leadership," Vannoy said in a campaign letter. Other points listed include an improved educational system, accessible "customer-oriented city services," safe roads and additional recreation facilities.
Incumbent Councilman Kurt Keene signed his form Friday at 9:55 a.m. He will run be running in the Council District 7 race.
Keene said he plans to make "quality of life" issues the basis of his campaign platform. Education, recreation and improvement of city properties are topics he wants addressed.
"Obviously, the major issue to me, and one that's every bit as important as the water issue four years ago, is education," Keene said.
He added that he will continue to push for a city school system because he feels it is the only way to ensure a quality education for children here.
Two candidates entered the Council District 3 race Friday: Nelson Papucci III and Ravland Zone "Ray" Stubblefield.
"I plan on keying on education," Stubblefield said. "It's too early to tell whether we need a city school system. "It's something that we need to look deeper into. With the projected increases, we're going to have to do something."
Papucci was unavailable for comment.
According to City Clerk Betty Benson, qualifying is the first step in a detailed procedure. Candidates must go to the General Services window at the Madison Municipal Complex, where their names are checked against the current list of registered voters. They must sign an affidavit affirming that they have been a resident for at least 90 days and pay a $50 fee.
If someone wants to challenge a candidate's qualification to be on the ballot, that matter will be heard by "a higher court than myself," Benson said. One of Councilman Mike Price's challengers threatened to do that four years ago, but Price had had beaten the residence deadline by three days.