Thank You!
We did it! Thanks to your hard work, our grassroots campaign has energized the district and earned an improbable victory. Thank you to the hundreds of people who gave time, money, and good will to this inspiring effort, and thank you to the thousands of people who trusted our campaign with a vote on Tuesday.
Thank you also to Patrick Flaherty and the thousands of people who trusted his campaign with a vote. We all should reach out to Patrick and his supporters. To make this district and city better, we will need the energy, insight, and good will of everyone who lives here.
Patrick has an accomplished track record of fighting for social justice and fiscal fairness in this city. We all must continue the fight for those causes. Together we will build a better future for Milwaukee!
Nik Kovac
3 Apr 2008 | 5:31 am | 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
It was a very close race. Nik gave a great speech about humbleness in serving, and reaching out to Patrick and folks in his campaign.
Nik Kovac . . . . . . . . . . 4,292 50%
Patrick Flaherty . . . . . . . 4,221 49%
The people’s power called this one in. And every vote counted.
Thank you, everyone. Each one individually, and all of us together.
Sura
2 Apr 2008 | 2:12 am | Representation, 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
I’m endorsing Nik Kovac for Milwaukee 3rd District Alderman, along with Jennifer Morales and many of my other supporters. Here are just some of the reasons why:
- Nik Kovac is a leader, challenging Mike D’Amato when he was expected to run for re-election. Conversely, Patrick Flaherty told me he last year that he would only run if D’Amato stepped down.
- Nik is progressive. He’s thoughtful on big issues and I’m excited about his ability to bring a new way of thinking to politics in Milwaukee. We’re not going to solve our problems with the same kind of thinking that got us into trouble. Nik will bring us new solutions.
- Nik doesn’t waste money on massive mailings, and he promises the same wise use of our tax dollars.
- Nik has run a clean, positive campaign.
- Nik’s campaign is fueled by the people, not big money or political insiders
- Nik Kovac is smart, honest and trustworthy.
- Nik is educated and involved on local issues. He’s the only candidate that I’ve seen at neighborhood meetings, city planning meetings, development hearings, student groups, environmental meetings. He’s involved in Urban Agriculture, Food Policy, Milwaukee River Preservation, Historic Preservation, Riverwest Neighborhood Association, etc.
- Nik is Local. He was born and raised on the East Side, and he lives in Riverwest. Unlike his opponent, he’s involved in his neighborhood association, his block club, his church and volunteers teaching chess to high school students.
- Nik cares about all of Milwaukee. He attends Community Brainstormers meetings at St. Matthew’s Church on 9th and Chambers because he cares about all the problems in the city, including segregation, economic development and public education.
- Nik has committed to local campaign finance reform, which we desperately need to ensure that aldermanic races can’t be bought by the highest bidder. Votes should come because a candidate is participating in a broad range of community concerns, not just because they can afford to pour tens of thousands of dollars into a mail-blitz campaign.
- Nik is endorsed by the people: environmentalists, artists, teachers, business owners, bicyclists, LGBT community members, and those who believe that local power should remain in the hands of the people.
Please join me in supporting Nik Kovac for Milwaukee’s East Side, Riverwest and Brady St. Alderman, and vote on Tuesday, April 1. Find out where you vote here
30 Mar 2008 | 8:05 pm | 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
“I know and respect Nik Kovac. He is a good friend and a true progressive.” –Vel Phillips
That’s what Vel Phillips says about Nik, who calls her one of his civic heroes. She said, “A few weeks ago, Nik asked me if he could refer to me as one of his heroes in his campaign literature. I was honored by the request. I have seen the brochure in which Nik uses my name and picture. I approve.”
I am writing this because Dominique Paul Noth, the editor of the Labor Press, got a few things wrong about Nik in a recent article. No surprise, since the Labor Council is endorsing Patrick.
But let’s get a few things straight.
Noth implies that Nik didn’t get Vel’s permission to use her name. This is untrue. As you can see from the quotes above and her hand-signed letter on Nik’s website it’s clear that Vel Phillips gave her permission, and that she is one of Nik’s supporters.
Continue reading ‘Vel Phillips on Nik Kovac - setting the record straight’
28 Mar 2008 | 11:06 am | 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
I am endorsing Nik Kovac for 3rd District Alder.
I have gotten to know Nik this past year. I have seen him (and all the other candidates) in forums, I have seen him out doing doors, I have seen him in community meetings. That he and I were able to become friends during a competition speaks volumes to Nik’s ability to “play well with others.”
Nik Is a Leader
Nik Kovac has the leadership skills and the guts it takes to challenge an incumbent who negatively affects our community. He has run a clean campaign. He has not taken potshots—unsubstantiated or otherwise—at the other candidates. Nik got his votes because he did doors for 6 months, and then he did them again (and not because he had money pouring in from a political machine). He got votes because he met people, he cares about people and he educated himself on local issues. Nik got votes because he’s smart, progressive and trustworthy and people are talking about him.
Nik Is Local
In the last 7 months, I’ve seen Nik reach out to or get involved with local organizations that mean a lot to my community—the Milwaukee River Work Group, Riverwest Neighborhood Association, Milwaukee Food Policy Council, and the Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network. He’s spoken up and gotten involved in expressing concern on Milwaukee’s racial and economic segregation, on Milwaukee’s political history, on the Historic Preservation Commission. He understands and has gotten involved in a zoning battle, attended to development concerns, goes to his block club meeting and got involved in the Safety Committee of RNA.
I have not seen Patrick Flaherty one time during this campaign at any organized meeting of neighbors that wasn’t specifically related to the campaign.
Nik Is Progressive
Nik is progressive, intelligent, and his journalist training allows him to see all sides of a story. Continue reading ‘Why I Am Endorsing Nik Kovac’
26 Feb 2008 | 10:19 am | 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
Thank you! by Sura, February 20
Dear Friends, Neighbors and Community,
I am so honored to have the dedicated support of so many amazing, intelligent, creative and hopeful people.
We did not make it through the primary, but if we stay together, there is still so much for us to gain. There are many ways to get what we are looking for. I will post more about that in the upcoming days, along with my endorsement in the upcoming aldermanic race.
Again, thank you for your support, love and respect. I am so privileged to have gotten to know so many people. If you want to get involved in local community issues, I will continue to be engaged. Come with me.
Peace and local power,
Sura
20 Feb 2008 | 1:48 am | 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
The Milwaukee River has become a huge issue in this race, and almost all the candidates talk about it.
Mandel Group has been floating the idea of more dorms, retail, and hotel space on the river at the Hometown site at North Ave.
The Milwaukee River Work Group (MRWG), is pushing for protections of the river’s banks, bluffs, water quality and viewshed.
If you want a basic overview of the work of the MRWG, check out my response below to the question in the Riverwest Currents on dealing with the Hometown Site owned by Mandel.
Public Trust, Zoning and Development
Cities need development to thrive—not just housing, but economic, organizational, environmental and cultural development in balance. Too much development in one area causes taxes to skyrocket. Too little foreordains blight. Cities and local governments must foster a deeper sense of “public trust” in order to be effective. Zoning, as a public asset, is part of that trust. If we want sustainable development, then we can’t allow ourselves to be held hostage to developers or to equate development merely with fast-buck condo/dorm/hotel building. In this vein, I support development that goes hand in hand with public trust. Continue reading ‘The Milwaukee River and upcoming development (more dorms?)’
17 Feb 2008 | 9:35 am | Water, Development, Environmental Sustainability, 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
