Mayor Dave's Larger Agenda

The Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) has a new website design but the same old progressive liberal political agenda. COWS is part of the UW Madison Sociology Department, and its members are actively promoting a political agenda through various alliances. Joel Rogers, the Director of COWS has a close working relationship with Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, and together they are using Madison’s municipal government as an experimental testing ground and as a launching point for a greater national agenda.

New Cities Project: The New Cities Project was launched in February 2005 by Madison, Wisconsin Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and the Madison based Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS). ...Leadership:

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, City of Madison, Wisconsin
Mayor Peter Clavelle, City of Burlington, Vermont
Mayor Rocky Anderson, Salt Lake City, Utah
Mayor Tom Bates, City of Berkeley, California
Randy Primas, Chief Operating Officer of Camden, New Jersey
Joel Rogers, Director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy

Their Policy Brief is a PDF file and it outlines the goals of this nascent progressive municipal alliance. One primary goal is the eco-socialist desire to limit the use of cars by the public.

Engage your governor in a conversation about how transportation funds are used in you state. … 60% of states restrict how transportation funds can be spent, so that highway construction is prioritized. But, under federal rules, 70% of transportation funds can be used for anything, so if mayors can bring good ideas to the Governor around the time that the transportation bill passes, it’s likely that this money could be used more creatively and for better public purpose.

Encourage the growth of car sharing companies, through development policies and partnerships to reduce the capital costs of starting a car sharing service. … Car sharing is the only public transportation strategy which has successfully gotten people to give up their cars or postpone buying them.

The Democratic Party as a whole is lacking clear and defined policies for the future, but there are intelligent members of the Democratic Party that have a clear vision and are actively working to expand their base of power, and their scope of influence within the party. Joel Rogers and Dave Cieslewicz have a vision which can be simply stated: “Perfecting the places we live and Protecting the places we don’t”. It is a catchy slogan but it fronts a belief that the proper role of government is to plan and control every aspect of land and life.