| Vic Bankston running for Dane County Supervisor Looking to the future |
By Jonathan Gramling Vic Bankston, a recently declared candidate for Dane County Supervisory District 14, takes her civic responsibilities seriously. As we sat down for our interview, Bankston pulled out a thick draft report of the Dane County Criminal Justice System Assessment. Bankston knows that public safety issues are important to her southwestern Madison constituency and that these issues disproportionately affect African Americans. While one could easily make assumptions about the subject, Bankston is studying hard as if she is about to take a prelim. Bankston has long been involved in politics and community service. “My father used to tell us this,” Bankston said. “‘You get an education to give it away. And if you don’t give back to your community, then you really haven’t contributed to a community.’ I’ve been involved in public service and volunteerism since I was in junior high school. It’s taken different shapes and form through the years and in different locations. I truly feel I have the responsibility to serve.” Since she moved to Madison many years ago, Bankston has been involved with the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, ushered at Mt. Zion Baptist Church and served on the boards of the Madison Development Corporation and the Dane County Equal Opportunities Commission among others. She has also been engaged in voter registration and education drives. “I’ve gone out into the neighborhood registering people near Mt. Zion,” Bankston said. “I’ve talked to a number of people who have had misdemeanors or who were incarcerated for a short period of time who had satisfied their parole, but hadn’t a clue that they were eligible again for the voting process. That’s always been a major concern of mine in trying to look at how much education do we need to provide to the community and to keep people mobilized enough to vote. This is certainly a time right now when everyone needs to be voting because it is a privilege and a gift. One of the problems is that people don’t understand that the primaries are really important. If you have an opinion on something, it is the primaries when you should cast a vote.” Bankston has usually enjoyed playing a role behind the scenes in the political process, but a friend suggested that she give running for public office a try and Bankston gave it serious consideration and would only run and serve if she could get things done. “After much consideration, I decided to put my hat in the ring,” Bankston said. “I actually talked to a number of individuals because I wanted to see from people with whom I have had dealings on various committees and throughout the community that if they could vote for me, what were the reasons why they would not vote for me, which is kind of a different approach. But it was something that I had to think about because regardless of what I am doing, my greatest concern is ‘Am I adding value?’ I always have to feel that I am adding value to an organization. And if I’m not, I don’t want to be part of the problem. I have to be part of the solution. And I think you can easily be part of the solution if you are giving service.” Bankston has identified four issue areas she would like to work on if she is elected. Top on her list is senior services. As she sees the elderly coping to stay in their homes and maintaining some degree of independence and as the Baby Boom generation begins retiring in droves, Bankston feels the community needs to stay focused on the quality of life issues for seniors. “One of the important things concerning seniors is to make sure we are advocating for the spending of our tax dollars in such a manner that we can assist not only seniors, but also individuals who have other ‘delicate’ situations in their homes,” Bankston said. “We don’t want to price them out of the market to where they can no longer remain in their homes, particularly with what is going on with housing across the country. I think we have to be focused on being responsible with our tax dollars so we are not putting people over the edge.” And as the Baby Boomers leave the job market, Bankston wonders if there will be enough sufficiently trained individuals to take their places. “We are an interesting community because we have a number of highly skilled people who are out of work,” Bankston said. “I don’t know what the percentages are. It would be interesting to find out how many people are currently looking for positions and have been looking for more than six months. If we have people out of work in the high skills area, it makes you wonder what is there for individuals who don’t have the college degree and may have gone to MATC. We need to make sure that somehow we’re partnering with other organizations so that people can become educated. I really do believe that an uneducated community is a community with problems. As long as we have education available, people will at least have some self-worth and enough self-esteem to feel they are able to participate. But if you can’t support yourself and if you don’t have enough money to get to work and you don’t have health care, those issues beget community problems such as drugs.” At the core of the criminal justice problems Bankston is studying is the criminal justice system and jail overcrowding. “If we have individuals who do not need to be in jail 24/7, then they should be candidates for the electronic monitoring system,” Bankston said. “But what assistance are we giving people to become reintroduced to a civilian lifestyle? And out of 1,400 bookings in March 2007, only 37 people made bail immediately. That’s a problem. The majority of the jail population consists of people who are being held on probation violations, fail to appear on warrants or are awaiting court appearances for the purpose of disposing their cases. This is something that needs to be tackled.” And while Bankston has given some measured thought to the policy questions facing Dane County, she would also be a natural for the customer service aspect of representing an urban/suburban area. Bankston stays involved in her neighborhood. “In the development where I live, I’ve been on the board for a number of years,” Bankston said. “And I’ve held an office on the board. A lot of times, it’s walking around and looking to see if someone’s townhouse needs to be painted. And even though you have snow removal, there are times when you might just need to get out there with your own shovel and take care of someone else’s who is in need. You don’t want a person like the woman across from me in her 80s even taking her trash out. She doesn’t need to be doing that.” When all is said and done, Bankston just wants to be of service in empowering others to make improvements in their lives. “My goal is to make the community one that works and not just for a select few,” Bankston said. “People on all levels need opportunities.” Her dad would be proud. |
