Wisconsin
WATCH: Four candidates for mayor of La Crosse tackle city issues in debate at UW-L steamed by WIZM
Over 130 people attended Thursday’s La Crosse Mayor forum hosted by WIZM and held at the UW-L Student Union.
From water to homelessness, and annexation to road plans, the four primary candidates covered plenty of ground during an hour-long event.
Ellie McLoone, Chris Kahlow, Shaundel Washington-Spivey and Vicki Markussen are competing in the primary, in which voting began Monday and ends Feb. 18. After that, candidates get cut from four to two for the spring election cycle which ends April 1.
The four opened the forum discussing a variety of expertise, which could qualify them to be in charge at City Hall, and more of which you can read more about here.
The candidates were questioned by local reporters from WIZM, the Tribune, WPR, WKBT and WXOW on an array of topics, while Lee Rasch, executive director of LeaderEthics, served as moderator.
That included police cooperating with ICE on immigration, a city administrator, local water quality, housing, homeless and annexation of neighboring communities.
All of the candidates touted their levels of experience in business, management, and community involvement before the live audience.
Bob N.
February 7, 2025 at 10:01 am
Notice that this time around, the organizers are calling the event a “Forum”, not a “Debate”? Candidates had begun skipping these media events, feeling that they were media set-ups, full of “Gotcha” questions.
Not so in this episode. The candidates seemed a bit uneasy, not willing to state positions that separate them from the others.
Interesting that all 4 seemed to be in favor of radically changing the City Charter to allow hiring of a City Administrator, which is a not a small move. It affects all City workers, the role of voters, the responsibilities of the Mayor, the responsibilities of the Council, and they way the City does the business of the people.
Remember that the initial idea of hiring a City Administrator came last year from outgoing Mayor Mitch Reynolds, who, by most measures, did not succeed in his 4 years.
Is the sudden interest in converting to a City Administrator form of municipal government spurred on by dissatisfaction with the job the past few Mayors have done? That would not be a responsible impetus.
Erin E
February 7, 2025 at 3:01 pm
I think what La Crosse needs to ask themselves is what do you want the City to be? What can the City afford to be. You hear a lot of words about what they will do, and what “should” be done. When it comes down to taking action,which of there candidates are ready to step up and make the tough decisions. This isn’t a popularity contest. It is the candidate who can move La Crosse forward. It is the candidate who can stand up to the non profit ring in La Crosse. It is the candidate who understands that you can’t just say a bunch of words to get elected and then not have the backbone to do the heavy lift when La Crosse has to make hard choices. Let’s all be honest, we have a lot of people wanting La Crosse to do more. We don’t have enough taxpayers to bear the burden.