The environment, sexual assault and campaign finance reform were just a few of the issues a number of gubernatorial candidates had to tackle in front of over a hundred UW-Madison students at a forum held at the Memorial Union Theater Wednesday night.
The debate was attended by Democratic nominee hopefuls state Sen. Gary George, D-Milwaukee and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, while U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, D-Wis., who was unable to attend, sent Dane County Clerk Joe Parisi to represent him. The final Democrat, Attorney General Jim Doyle, was not represented due to an emergency involving his surrogate prior to the event. The forum also included Libertarian candidate Ed Thompson, along with Green Party nominee Jim Young. Though Republican Gov. Scott McCallum turned down the opportunity to speak, his primary challenger Marc Gumz was present.
Moderated by UW-Madison law Professor Joel Rodgers and UW-Madison senior Patricia Kim, the debate centered around the three prepared questions, addressing the state budget crisis, the environment, and the large department of corrections budget.
The lack of a campaign finance reform proposal was cited as one of the primary causes of the current budget crisis, though candidates expressed differing views on how to handle the situation.
\I think there is a disease going around our capitol and it's called career politician syndrome,"" Thompson said, adding that without special interest influence, lawmakers would be free to make more fair budget cuts. ""Term limits are the only campaign finance reform I believe in.""
Students later questioned whether each candidate would support a bill requiring members of the UW System Board of Regents be elected instead of appointed by the governor.
The majority of candidates were reserved on the idea of directly electing the entire Board of Regents, though most agreed that the student regents should have a broader base of university support.
""Barrett's open to electing a board if that's what it takes to represent the diversity of the state,"" Parisi said.
Electing the Regents would not be enough to make the board more effective, according to George.
""My experience with the Board of Regents has been that it is a drinking and eating society, and I don't think electing them will make any difference,"" he said.
UW-Madison freshman Jackie Helmrick, campaign coordinator for Vote 2002 Coalition, the the student group which sponsored the event, said she wished the candidates had separated themselves from each other a little more clearly.
""It would have been nice to see a little more variation in their answers,"" she said. ""But I think the student turnout was good for April.\
