In the past few days, my neighbors in District 12 have shared some of the reasons their voting for me. Letters from Sarah Shatz and Lydia Maurer ran in the papers. The following letters haven’t run yet, but I thought I’d share them with you here.

A resident of District 12 submitted the following as a letter to the editor and cc'd me. He raises some good points, so I'm posting his letter here.

Dear Editors,

Mark Deadman, a conservative candidate running for Alder in District 12 on the north and east side of Madison, eagerly describes himself as an independent. This claim is getting harder and harder to believe. To wit:

There are a lot of ways to describe me, but no single thing defines who I am and no one label fits neatly next to my name. One thing does sum up all that I am—that is "committed to us, the residents of District 12."

This last week or so, the number one thing on my neighbor's and my mind has been the proposal to close North and East side schools. I have to say that when I first heard about the proposal to close Sherman, I was very upset. And the more I think about it, the more I believe that closing any neighborhood school is the wrong thing to do.

Our neighborhood schools are important to us - they’re part of our community, they help shape the character of our neighborhoods. Beyond their primary mission of educating our children, they provide a community gathering place, something to bring us together.

Closing our neighborhood schools will mean that more kids have to take the bus instead of walking to school, taking more time out of their day and exposing them to more harmful diesel exhaust. It will make it that much harder for parents to be involved in their children’s schools. And yes, it will impact our property values. I know it's easy to criticize and hard to find money in the school budget, but it's hard not to feel like the North and East sides of Madison are bearing the brunt of these cuts, especially when we just supported a referendum to build a new school in another part of town. Everyone I talk to about this is incredibly frustrated with the idea of closing any schools, especially ours. So what can we do?

First, it's clear that the school funding system is broken at the state level. I encourage you to join me in calling upon Governor Doyle and our state legislators to fix this broken system that every year forces school boards around the state to cut budgets. The School Board is hosting a special meeting to talk about state funding and how to effectively communicate with legislators Thursday March 29th at 6:30 pm in the Auditorium of the Doyle Administration Building.

Governor Doyle can be contacted at 608-266-1212 or http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/contact.asp?locid=19 .
If you live on the North or East side, chances are your legislators are two of the following. To find out for sure, see http://waml.legis.state.wi.us/.

Sen. Erpenbach - (608) 266-6670 Or (888) 549-0027, Sen.erpenbach@legis.wisconsin.gov
Sen. Risser - (608) 266-1627, Sen.risser@legis.wisconsin.gov
Rep. Travis - (608) 266-5340, Rep.Travis@legis.wisconsin.gov
Rep. Pocan - (608) 266-8570, Rep.Pocan@legis.wisconsin.gov

Second, the School Board needs to hear that we don't want any neighborhood schools closed. You can email them at comments@madison.k12.wi.us or find individual emails and phone numbers here: http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/boe/. You can also attend one of the following meetings:

Sun 3/25 4-6pm - Warner Park Rec Center

• Proposal to close Lindbergh and Blackhawk

Mon 3/26 Memorial High, Special BOE Meeting-Workshop, 5:00pm, Wisconsin Room

• Proposal to hold a Referendum
• Referendum to Cover the Costs of 2007-08 Proposed Budget Cuts
• Impact of 2007-08 Proposed Budget on MMSD Long Range Plan re: Options to Address Overcrowded and Under-enrolled Schools in East Attendance Area and Budget Deficits

Tues 3/27 6:30pm – Blackhawk Middle School

• Proposal to close Lindbergh and Blackhawk

Wed 3/28 Doyle Admin Bldg, Special BOE Meeting, 6:30pm, Auditorium

• Public Hearing re: Ideas A, B, C & G to Consolidate and Close Schools and Move Students

Third, join me in signing an online petition sponsored by the East Isthmus Planning Council at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/879512194.

Fourth, the city needs to work much more closely with the school district to support our schools. We need to think about the impact of land use planning and development on schools, and vice versa. We need to coordinate community service programming with the schools. And the city needs to take leadership by saying, loud and clear, that schools and the young people they serve are a top priority in our community.

Fifth, if you're not already, get involved in your neighborhood school. They'd love to have your help.

Thank you for an amazing primary campaign, for all your hard work and support, and thank you for your vote. Thank you for making it possible for me to get my message out, for helping me run a grassroots, door to door campaign. Thank you for believing in our neighborhoods and our district, and believing that I will serve them well as an Alder.

There’s been some interesting discussion and theories floated on Madison’s AM radio and a local online political forum filled with anonymous self-anointed political pundits about the success I’ve had attracting funding for my campaign from the many people I’ve met over the years.

Campaign finance reports – an essential piece of the open and accountable government puzzle – were due yesterday, showing the funds raised and spent by candidates for local office through the end of 2006.

I've had some great conversations with folks in neighborhoods throughout the district about their ideas for the city and our district. I'm struck by the common theme across the many issues we've discussed: we all care deeply about our community.

I love my neighborhood. And I'm not alone. Everywhere I go in our district, everyone I talk to – there's one thing I hear consistently. "This is a great neighborhood." Sometimes that's followed by a reason, sometimes by a way it could be better, but the sentiment is the same. It reaffirms for me the importance of the work I've done in our neighborhoods to make them stronger and safer.

One of the first political campaigns I worked on was Tammy Baldwin's. I signed up at least in part because Tammy went to Smith - Class of 1984, just ten years earlier than me. I had very little previous experience with campaigning, so I didn't know what I was signing up for. I did some phone calls and office work, and I did a lot of walking from door to door, delivering fliers about Tammy.