City of Madison faces lawsuit over police oversight board
Now, it’s the subject of a federal lawsuit against the City of Madison.
The lawsuit is brought by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), a conservative legal firm. WILL is bringing the lawsuit on behalf of David Blaska, a local conservative blogger, former Dane County Board Supervisor, and former mayoral and school board candidate. Blaska, who is white, was not appointed to the oversight board but was one of about sixty applicants. He says certain rules establishing the membership of the board amounted to a racial quota.
“I can think of no other governmental body that bases membership based on race. And there’s a good reason for that. Even the city of Madison prohibits discrimination based on race. So the city is in violation of its own ordinance,” Blaska tells WORT.
Eric Hovde behind âSave Madisonâ billboards
Progressive Dane alders targeted for stance on police funding
Eric Hovde owns several commercial and residential properties in downtown Madison.
Former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde says he saw âcrime escalatingâ in Madison and decided to do something about it. Just not publicly.
This summer the downtown Madison property owner quietly spearheaded an effort, dubbed âSave Madison,â aimed at alders who, he claims, want to âdefund the police.âÂ
âIn the last few years, public safety has really declined. Particularly in this last year, rather meaningfully so,â Hovde tells
Isthmus. âThe council has done nothing but attack the police. I mean, how many oversight boards do we need? And at the same time this is happening, weâve had an 80 percent increase in shootings.â (This is a reference to police data on incidents of âshots fired,â not individuals who