Early last year the Council passed the “Welcoming Resolution”. 
Two people now running for Council reacted to this resolution in a way that makes it easy for me to vote for their opponents. In case you don’t recall, this resolution was passed when the climate for immigrants was becoming unfriendly. The Council, in approving the resolution, made it clear that the intent was to ensure our foreign-born residents that we continued to welcome them as important members of our community.

The Council’s attorney and our police chief reviewed the resolution and concluded there was no violation of law nor did the resolution pose any possibility that Madison could be identified as a sanctuary city. Those judgments from senior officials were reassuring, but apparently not to a group of our residents who claimed both the police chief and attorney were wrong and we were about to become a town that violates national laws and is a haven for undesirables who would put significant pressure on the Borough’s resources.

At the forefront of this opposition group was Kathy Dailey, currently candidate for a Council seat. Although none of the predicted dire consequences from the Resolution materialized, this group and in particular Ms. Dailey, continued to criticize the resolution at Council meetings, in letters to the editor and in many public statements. This went on for an unreasonably long period of time. Her running mate Mark Chiarolanza did not participate in these ongoing harangues; however, when given the opportunity to distance himself from Ms. Dailey he felt it more prudent to characterize the resolution as “an example of Government overreach.” Really?

These examples of poor judgment, capacity to stick with a wrong-headed position well past its due date, and total disregard for public officials is enough to convince me I am making the correct decision in voting for Astri Baillie and Debra Coen. I encourage you to do the same.

Charles Courtney
Morris Place
Madison