Well, I’m going to stand up for Soglin. Did he help create the current situation? Well, yes, I suppose if you consider his activist days decades ago, but actually Soglin is a good guy. Is he a misguided liberal? No question about it. But he is a lot less liberal and a lot more reasonable than the old caricature of him would lead you to believe.
The Marxists really don’t like Soglin, just look at the fact that he’s almost always at odds with those buffoons on the city council and county board. The reason Soglin is mayor-for-life in Madison is very simple. All the business types know Soglin and trust him. He is, in fact, a very reasonable and practical guy.
To wit, his now ongoing crusade to get the bums off the municipal building is direct evidence of how far he is from his caricature. And, Soglin is right on this.
These guys don’t want housing, they are brain-addled anarchists and bums. Soglin knows that if this is not fixed - soon - the city will become a mecca for all Midwestern bums. He saw what happened when Madison opened its doors to all the dregs of Chicago and he isn’t going to have an even worse repeat act.
I don’t disagree with what you’ve said, but it’s the hard-core leftist-stacked Madistan City Council that make him look ‘moderate.’
He is who he’s always been. He’s 70 now, though. Maybe he’s been mugged enough times by now to come around a little? ;)