Dane county board of Supervisors district 37 lies in the southeast corner of the county. It includes the town of Cambridge, Deerfield, and the Village of Brooklyn.
The race is between incumbent Kate McGinnity and challenger Steven Shulz. McGinnity has served one two-year term as Supervisor so far. In her term she has focused on expanding rural broadband access.
Schulz is more difficult to learn about. He has no internet presence and has not given any interviews to news outlets.
The Cambridge News & Deerfield Independent reports that Schulz served as Medina town Chainman for about 10 years starting in 2003. Before that he was a town supervisor.
Because of district boundary changes, this would be the first year that Schulz would live in district 37. He did not appear at a recent candidate forum held by the same newspaper. In the past week, Schulz did not respond to multiple requests for comment from W-O-R-T.
In February, the State Journal reported that Schulz had donated small amounts to republican candidates in years past. Last June he donated Two hundred and fifty dollars to State Representative Barbera Dittrich, a republican from Oconomowoc.
Supervisor McGinnity is more public with her views. In the same forum with the Cambridge News & Deerfield Independent, she emphasized the need for more rural broadband access and economic development in recovering from COVID.
McGinnity told W-O-R-T on Monday about her number-one issues.
“Broadband. Accessible, affordable, reliable, broadband. It affects everything! Right? It affects telehealth, education, it affects economic development. As we get out towns, our downtowns thriving again in Dane County, we’re gonna need it. And we’re finding that what our data is showing is exactly what we were learning at the [constituents’] doors. What our Dane County rural people are experiencing is different than what is being reported by the PSC and the FCC.
McGinnity also spoke about her desire to expand and enhance Dane County’s parks and natural spaces.
“That’s another big priority of the people that I represent: our natural spaces. In the last few years we have seen record numbers of use of our Dane County Parks and our other Dane County natural spaces. I think continuing to protect and expand those spaces is also very important to the people I represent.”
The spring election is next Tuesday. If you’re voting via absentee ballot, return it soon so that it is received in time to be counted by election day. Some municipalities have early voting, check with your local clerk’s office about early voting hours and locations.
The district 37 race is one of 10 contested races for Supervisor positions.
