Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk declared victory in Tuesday's election, defeating opponent Nancy Mistele and securing a fourth term in office.
Falk won by an ample margin, taking cities of Madison, Middleton, Fitchburg and Monona, among other areas, while Mistele won the majority of rural villages and towns. The results from the polls showed 57 percent to 43 percent in Falk's favor.
Falk's campaign revolved around community safety, balanced budgets, services for seniors and those with disabilities, and protecting natural resources.
Public safety was Mistele's top priority, and she also focused on economic development, transportation and controlling property taxes.
Throughout the campaign, Mistele was highly critical of Falk's oversight of the 911 Center and its involvement with Brittany Zimmermann, the UW-Madison student killed in her downtown apartment last year. County officials said a call from Zimmermann around the time of her death was disconnected, and the dispatcher failed to call back. Zimmermann's family filed a federal lawsuit against the county and the 911 operator who handled the call.
In what turned into a bitter campaign, Mistele used radio ads to highlight Falk's involvement with the center. In the ads, a sinister male voice described Zimmermann's killing and said, it was the negligence of Kathleen Falk that led to the death of Brittany Zimmermann.""
Falk also used radio ads, but stressed that hers were self-promoting and positive, rather than hits at Mistele. Her Web site though, was harsher, and featured Mistele enthusiast Dave Blaska's words of, ""She is, like my Sarah Palin, a force of nature."" Falk's campaign used this to their advantage, saying, ""Finally, something Dave Blaska and the rest of us can agree on: Nancy Mistele is Dane County's Sarah Palin.""
Falk told the Wisconsin State Journal, ""I'm really energized to continue to move us forward on good jobs, and clean energy and clean lakes and to reduce the public safety problems from the misuse of alcohol.""
