If elected, will be the city's first
African American mayor
Ray Allen formally announced
his mayoral candidacy May 4 at a press conference at the Genesis
Enterprise Center. He made his announcement surrounded by his
wife, Linda; his daughter, Joy; and police, fire, and
construction union leaders.
Allen, 55, a deputy
administrator in the state Department of Financial Institutions
and publisher and owner of The Madison Times, is a well-known
Madison-area community leader, small business owner, social
activist, and former member of the Madison School Board.
"I am running because I have a
deep concern about the direction our city is heading," Allen
said. "It is now unmistakably clear [that] the only way we can
change that direction is by changing the people who are taking
us down this path." If elected, Allen would be Madison's first
African American mayor.
At the press conference, Allen
fielded questions about how people would perceive him as too
conservative in liberal Madison. Allen contended that he really
wasn't that conservative.
"I don't think anyone who is in
the mainstream of politics can support George Bush. I didn't
vote for him,” Allen said. “George Bush and I differ on every
issue from No Child Left Behind to the war in Iraq.
"Let me tell you what Ray Allen
thinks," he added. "Ray Allen is pro-choice. He's
pro-environment. He's pro-education, and he's in the mainstream
of Madison's political values. My values are mainstream. I've
been elected three times by the voters of this city. And I think
I can win. I have won, and I think I'll win this one."
Allen has a strong history of
political involvement in Madison and was first elected to a city
wide seat on the Madison School Board in 1995. He was re-elected
twice before retiring in 2004.
"This will be a campaign about
families and people that don't have a voice in the city," Allen
said.
The Madison mayoral election
won't take place until April of 2007.
