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| Turner Elected Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair |
| Will an African American run for county exec? |
| Lumpkin declares for 2003 mayoral election |
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| Annual "Empty Bowls" event! |
RACINE -- Racine's mayoral election became a race on Friday
when Ken Lumpkin, owner of the Insider News, said he would seek
the city's highest elected office.In a press release Lumpkin said
it is the economic health of the city that motivated him to seek
office. And it is a lack of vision and leadership which have affected
the city adversely, the press release said.Incumbent Mayor Jim
Smith has a long list of people involved with his campaign, which
was announced on Thursday night.
"I have no problem with that," Lumpkin said. "The
only thing I ask anybody is let me lay my program out before you,
and make a decision on that."If citizens believe they are
better off now than they were eight years ago when Smith took
office, Lumpkin said, "then they need to support him. They
need to vote for him."He said he feels the opposite way because
he sees companies leaving town. This isn't mud-slinging, he added.
"It's just looking at what's before us."As mayor, Lumpkin
said, he would focus on job opportunities and related problems
such as transportation. There are job opportunities, but they're
in suburban industrial parks, and transportation for second- and
third-shift workers is difficult, he said. Likewise, he said,
there are plans for a State Street grocery store, but are people
expected to haul their purchases onto a bus afterward?"We
don't have a simple taxi service here, and that should be something
the city itself, the planners, should work hard to create."As
mayor, he said, one of his first acts would be to restore the
"dollar-house'' program which let people to pay $1 for government-owned
homes provided they lived in them for a period of years and invested
money in rehabilitation.
Turner Elected Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair
MADISON, WI - State Representative Robert Turner (D-Racine)
was unanimously elected to the post of Assembly Democratic Caucus
Chair today. Turner, who is beginning his seventh term in the
Legislature, will preside over all meetings of the 41 -member
Democratic caucus.
"I am honored to receive this vote of confidence from my
colleagues," said Turner. "I feel I can work effectively
to keep the Assembly Democrats focused on the challenges that
lie ahead during the many discussions we will have during the
2003 Session of the Legislature."
Turner, who has served as the Assistant Caucus Chair for the 1999
and 2001 sessions of the Legislature, has added responsibilities
in his new position. As Caucus Chair, he will moderate all the
caucus discussions that take place each day before the Assembly
begins its agenda, and will be a part of the Assembly Democratic
Leadership team.
"Besides keeping the Assembly Democratic Caucus running smoothly,
and keeping our members working.
In productively, I hope to reach across the aisle and work cooperatively
with the Assembly Republicans on issues, especially the state
budget, that will be for the good of all the citizens of our state,"
Turner added.
Turner, a Vietnam veteran, noted that his experiences as a military
policeman in the Air Force, and as Chair of the Racine Common
Council's Finance Committee, have prepared him for this role.
"I'm greatly looking forward to this challenge. I will give
my best effort to this new and exciting job," Turner concluded.
RACINE COUNTY -- The announcement
by Jean Jacobson her decision not to seek another term as county
executive on Wednesday has taken people living in Racine County
by surprise.
Her quick decision has caught polical job seekers by surprise.
"It's going to take someone who has a vision for the whole
county," said Supervisor Q.A. Shakoor in the Racine Journal
Time. He said he intends to talk with his family and gauge his
support. "I'm definitely holding my options open," he
said.
However it was less than a week after he viewed his options he
made the announcement that he was indeed a candidate for the county's
top spot.
Shakoor said he's running because he believes he will be a strong
candidate. "I have a great love and concern for all of Racine
County, and I want to be able to deliver that through the office
of county executive."
The next executive must have a strong vision for the county and
must be able to work with all municipalities, he said.
Shakoor told the daily newspaper that his extensive volunteer
work has taught him how to cooperate with others.
He sees a great saving to the county if it's able to increase
its tax base, and one way to do that is to develop the old, urban
industrial lands known as brownfields, he said.
Hew favors establishing a countywide dispatch system for police
and fire agencies. He also wants to see other types of joint government
services, and examine all its operations to find more efficient
and effective ways to deliver services.
Shakoor, 49, works for Twin Disc Inc. as a buyer-planner. He has
been with the company for almost 30 years, 25 of those in management.
When the new County Board convened in the spring of this year,
Shakoor ran for the positions of chairman and vice chairman. He
lost each contest by one vote of the 23-member board.
Racine County Sheriff Bill McReynolds has already announced that
he will be a candidate.
Others on the potential successors list are: Susan Greenfield,
Caledonia town chairwoman. Sen. Kim Plache, D-Racine, Mark Ladd,
the county's register of deeds, Harry Garnette, former member
of the Racine Unified School District board, and David Hazen,
also a former School Board member.
Black papers promote Black press
By Maryclaire Dale
PHILADELPHIA -- Six Black newspapers have launched a campaign
to promote the region's Black press as one of the city's main
dailies, the Philadelphia Daily News, faces an ongoing boycott
over perceived racial insensitivity.
The coalition's advertising campaign, so far limited to the six
non-daily papers, carries the tag line: "More than 1.2 million
readers every week get the truth about our community from the
Black Press." The coalition also has been distributing fliers
asking retailers in Black neighborhoods to stop selling the Daily
News, which relies heavily on street sales.
Some local Black activists, church leaders and others have been
boycotting the Daily News since late summer, prompted by an Aug.
22 cover story about 41 at-large murder suspects - all of them
Black, Hispanic or Asian.
The Daily News later apologized in the newspaper for the front
page, which featured more than a dozen mug shots of the minority
suspects, and said that there were no at-large white murder suspects
being sought by Philadelphia police at the time.
Editor Zack Stalberg denies the paper is racially divisive.
But coalition founder A. Bruce Crawley, who runs a city advertising
and public relations firm, said that cover was only the latest
in a long line of racially charged stories under Stalberg's watch.
"Apparently they're setting up some kind of a racial divisiveness,
with 'us' being separated from 'them,'" Crawley said.
The boycott has not had a measurable impact on advertising, circulation
or reporters' access in the Black community, Stalberg said.
"It's a little bit of noise off to the side and hasn't really
affected us," Stalberg said Monday. "To me, it looks
like they're using this opportunity to see if they can get some
commercial advantage out of it."
About half of the Daily News' approximately 150,000 daily readers
are Black, he said.