Seat 3: Referendum is an issue
11:40 PM 3/08/04
Doug Erickson Wisconsin State Journal

A few months ago, Sam Johnson found himself complaining to friends about the lack of competition for seats on the Madison School Board. <

So when an anti-referendum group put out a call for candidates, Johnson decided he should step up or shut up. <

"I want there to be choices," said Johnson, 41, a self-employed landscaper. <

Johnson is challenging first-term incumbent Shwaw Vang for Seat 3 in the April 6 general election. Madison board members are elected by a districtwide vote but must run for specific seats. <

The soft-spoken Vang, 36, found himself thrust into the national spotlight early in his first term. A board majority ordered schools to use an instrumental version of the national anthem, not the Pledge of Allegiance, to fulfill a new state law requiring one or the other every day. The vote, coming a month after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, triggered an intense national backlash. <

Vang, the first Hmong elected to public office in Madison and a refugee of the Vietnam War, did not vote for the motion but became the target of racist e-mails and phone calls. "The feeling among some people was that I was not a patriot," said Vang, who works at a Hmong community center. "I totally disagree with that. My family has given both blood and sweat to the American cause." <

Vang's passionate defense of his patriotism led to him being quoted at length in an article in The New Yorker magazine. <

Vang found himself in the headlines the same year for a much different reason. Just a month after being sworn in, he was arrested for drunken driving, his first offense. He issued an immediate public apology and paid a $743 fine. <

"I made a stupid mistake, one that could have hurt people," Vang said. The arrest was particularly embarrassing because he sought to be a role model for Hmong youth, he said. <

Vang believes he has reclaimed that role for many Hmong parents and students, based on the number of requests he gets for assistance. One of his priorities if re-elected will be to strengthen the academic component of the district's English-as-a-second-language program so Southeast Asian students not only learn English, but are prepared for college. <

Johnson said he has been disappointed with Vang's lack of assertiveness in questioning administration decisions. "I'm going to question things," Johnson said. "I think everything needs to be examined." <

The School Board has not taken a leadership position on issues such as the persistent racial achievement gap and a budget shortfall, he said. While he doesn't want to cut services to children, he thinks the board must be more frugal, even if that means administrative layoffs or smaller teacher raises, he said. <

"I think they've eliminated choices down the line, and now they don't have many choices left," he said. <

Johnson said he opposed last spring's successful referendum for more operating money, calling it "the trigger issue" that got him into the race. He would oppose a referendum this year for more operating money, he said. <

Vang supported last year's referendum and views the district as operating at a bare-bones level. Trying to pass another referendum this year would be difficult, Vang said. But he said he cannot preclude the need for one until the budget picture is more clear. <

Vang rejects Johnson's assertion that he is too passive and said he has voted against administration proposals many times. <

Overall, Johnson said the board seems unwilling to acknowledge the district is failing many low-income and minority children. He would support more options for parents, including charter schools and a private-school voucher program, he said. <

"At some point you have to say, 'Let's let some other school try to educate these children until we can fix our problems,'" he said. <

Vang opposes voucher programs. <

Johnson said while he shares the fiscal conservatism of Get Real, the anti-referendum group that encouraged him to run, he is not a social conservative. Still, he doesn't like that conservative and religious viewpoints seem excluded from district debates. <

"Conservatives do not feel very welcomed into our schools, and that's not right," he said. "I think everybody deserves a place at the table." Contact Doug Erickson at derickson@madison.com or 252-6149. <

Sam Johnson Age: 41 Personal: Wife, Mary, a social worker; two children, both students at Lowell Elementary School. Address: 3234 Atwood Ave. Job: Self-employed landscaper and carpenter. Political experience: None Other public service: Member of Wisconsin Hosta Society. Education: Bachelor's degree in political science from UW-Madison. Top priorities: Provide more educational value for the dollar; oppose future referendums that pertain to budget shortfalls; close ethnic and poverty achievement gaps. Little known fact: Participates in the master's swim team at the Madison East Side YMCA. Web address: www.samjohnson.info. Shwaw Vang Age: 36 Personal: Wife, Mee, a cosmetology student; four children, including a sixth-grader at Whitehorse Middle School and a fourth-grader at Kennedy Elementary. Address: 5108 Milwaukee St. Job: A case manager and fund development coordinator for Kajsiab House, a Hmong community center in Madison. Political experience: Completing first three-year term on Madison School Board. Other public service: Founded the tutoring program at Bayview Community Center; former president of United Refugee Services. Education: Bachelor's degree in political science from UW-Madison. Top priorities: Improve student access to technology; strengthen English-as-a-Second-Language program; ensure due process for students accused of wrongdoing. Little known fact: Plays electric bass in Saubcua, a Hmong band. Web address: www.shwaw4schoolboard.com.