1/18/06 Monona Gives Voters A Chance
Monona Gives Voters A Chance
Peace Group's Iraq Referendum On Ballot
The Capital Times :: METRO :: C1
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
By Samara Kalk Derby The Capital Times
MONONA
Voters here will get the chance to weigh in on a referendum to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
After weeks of setbacks for peace activists, the Monona City Council voted 5-1 Tuesday night to allow the "bring the troops home" referendum question on the city's April 4 ballot.
Earlier in the day the Monona Peace Coalition filed suit to get the City Council to reach the same conclusion.
"Now we have to do a lot of community education and work to get it to pass," said Joy First, one of three members of the coalition, which organized the petition drive and collected more than 570 signatures last month.
City Clerk Karen Eley originally denied the referendum because it was worded as a question instead of a statement. Under Wisconsin law referendum proposals cannot be phrased as questions. But the law also makes provisions for amending the language.
However, when the activists amended the referendum to read as a statement, Monona City Attorney William Cole said they had changed the meaning and that a new petition would need to be circulated. The activists declined.
In the end, the council left the original language alone.
The Monona referendum will read: "Should the United States bring all military personnel home from Iraq now?"
Cole said today that the question is legal when adopted by the council, and that the law requiring an affirmative statement only applies to direct legislation.
At least 15 Wisconsin communities, including Madison, will have anti-war referendums on their spring ballots, and more cities could follow suit.
Nine people spoke in favor of putting the referendum on the Monona ballot Tuesday. Another 16 registered in support but did not speak.
One Monona resident, Dan Long, spoke against it, encouraging supporters to contact Wisconsin's congressional delegation instead.
Long also took a shot at Ald. Doug Wood, who sponsored the resolution to put the referendum on the ballot, and Ald. Peter McKeever, who spoke in favor of the move.
"If you really do love Madison politics, you can move there," he said.
Throughout the controversy, Monona Mayor Robb Kahl stuck by the city attorney's decision. He stressed that personal politics played no role in his position.
"Believe me, this is not what I want to be spending city time on," Kahl said.
When people stop him in the supermarket, they want to talk about Monona Drive or the city's parks, he said.
"If you called (U.S. Sen.) Russ Feingold and asked him what he was going to do about the potholes on Monona Drive, he would look at you like you were crazy," Kahl said.
Monona Peace Coalition member Christine Hrenak called the war in Iraq a personal issue for her, in that it diverts money from education and social services on both a state and federal level.
Hrenak, a single mother of two, has been on food stamps and has received state assistance for health care and day care.
"This is a local issue," she said. "It affects us personally in Monona."
Ald. Lisa Nelson, the only council member not to vote with the majority, said she doesn't agree with pulling American troops out of Iraq immediately.
"If you think putting this on the ballot in Monona is going to change the world, well it won't," she said.
\ E-mail: skalk@madison.com