State Sen. Nikiya Harris-Dodd announced in February she wouldn’t seek re-election, leaving a rare open Senate seat for hopeful Milwaukee candidates. Three Democrats will appear on the Aug. 9 primary ballot—Michael Bonds, Thomas Harris and state Rep. LaTonya Johnson, who received Harris-Dodd’s endorsement. No Republicans have filed for this campaign, so the winning Democrat in August will become the district’s new senator in January. All three candidates spoke to the Shepherd about why they’re running for Senate.
Michael Bonds
Michael Bonds is department chair for the Educational Policy and Community Studies Department at UW-Milwaukee and a member of the Milwaukee Public Schools Board of Directors, where he served as president for seven of his nine years on the board. He said that if he is elected to the Senate he would step down from the MPS board and reduce his workload at UWM.
Bonds said he has had his eye on this district as far back as the 1980s, and said he would be a moderate, practical voice for the district in the Capitol.
“I’m not going to rule anything out because of ideology or partisan politics,” Bonds said.
Topping Bonds’ list of priorities is education policy, from K-3 to college. Bonds said that there is a role for the three systems of schools—public, charter and voucher—but that all of them needed to be held to the same performance standards. He said he supported the Abele/Means plan to take over one MPS school for the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program (OSPP), saying that it would minimize the damage that could be done to the district. He predicted that legislative Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker would respond with more punitive measures in the next session.
“You’ve got to be practical in this political climate,” Bonds said. “I would rather give Abele and Means one school than lose the whole district.”
He said he would reach across the aisle to create policies that have a real impact on student achievement, such as funding K-3 and wraparound services for students and aligning teacher education programs with the needs in the schools.
Bonds would also like to address the criminal justice system by developing a juvenile detention center in Milwaukee for youth offenders, improving sentencing practices so that African Americans aren’t treated unfairly and providing incentives to police and fire departments that promote diversity, now that Republicans and the state Supreme Court have struck down residency requirements for municipal employees.
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He would also like to create packages to make Milwaukee more attractive to business and would especially focus on small businesses.
He said he is not seeking endorsements or donations from special interest groups because he doesn’t want to commit to anyone else’s agenda. He does not have an online campaign presence.
Thomas Harris
Thomas Harris has almost 10 years of government experience, having worked in the administrations of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and state Sen. Lena Taylor. Harris just left his position in government relations at Michael Best Strategies to run for Senate. Harris grew up in the Sherman Park neighborhood and currently lives with his wife outside of the district.
Harris decried the infighting that has plagued local and state politics.
“There is a toxic environment right now with all of the infighting and personal vendettas among the legislators pushing agendas,” Harris said. “That’s preventing constituents from being the top priority.”
Harris’ top concern is reforming the criminal justice system and ending the school-to-prison pipeline. He would like to repeal the mandatory minimum sentencing provisions in state law, saying that locking up people is not the answer to crime. He would also like to reinstate the waiting period for obtaining a firearm and supports other gun control measures such as background checks.
Harris would like to improve access to health care, especially mental health care.
“There is a lot of trauma in our community that is undiagnosed and leads to other problems,” Harris said.
Harris said he would leverage his relationships with legislative and business leaders to be a good representative of Milwaukee in the Legislature.
“I have relationships with both sides and I can hit the ground running and get things done for the City of Milwaukee and the Sixth District,” Harris said.
Harris said he opposes expansion of the voucher and charter programs and wants to hold them accountable for their student performance. He said MPS should have accepted the Abele/Means offer for OSPP, saying, “they should have worked together” and predicted that Republicans would come back with something new in the next legislative session.
To learn more about Thomas Harris, go to electthomasharris.com.
LaTonya Johnson
State Rep. LaTonya Johnson’s Assembly District 17 makes up a third of Senate District 6. Johnson grew up in a very small town in Tennessee and moved to Milwaukee when she was 12, when she had running water for the first time in her life. Prior to her election to the Assembly in 2012, Johnson owned a childcare center. Despite being in the minority party in the Assembly, nine of her co-authored bills passed and became law. They include making the distribution of revenge porn a crime, requiring the state Department of Children and Families to investigate cases of minors who are victims of human trafficking, and tightening up the monitoring of adopted children who are subsequently placed in new homes.
“When I pass legislation for children I am not just affecting that child,” Johnson said. “I see that legislation as affecting future generations. If I can change the trajectory for that child now I not only change their lives but I am changing the trajectory for their children’s lives as well.”
Johnson also co-authored the only piece of gun legislation to pass in the last session, a bill adding penalty enhancers for individuals who have been convicted of certain violent felonies and are later caught possessing a gun.
If elected to the state Senate, Johnson said she would address economic development, since much of the district has not yet recovered from the Great Recession, in combination with improving public safety. She said that businesses won’t invest in neighborhoods with high crime and that residents should have opportunities to walk to work. She said just a small minority of bad actors are making the streets unsafe and harming the city’s viability.
Johnson said early childhood services and education would also be a priority so that children are ready to learn in school.
“Children in Milwaukee are dealing with a lot,” Johnson said. “If their home environment is not up to par, their success in school will be minimal.”
To learn more about LaTonya Johnson, go to voteforlatonya.com
