| LaMarr Billups, special assistant to the UW Chancellor, was minding his own business and doing his job when a job offer came along that he couldn't refuse. Billups was in Washington, D.C. last February as the University of Wisconsin's representative to a national committee working on licensing and sweatshop issues. His counterpart from Georgetown University was leaving Georgetown to take another position. After five weeks of negotiations and rewrites and interviews, Billups signed an offer letter to become Georgetown's new assistant vice president for business policy. He assumes his duties next month. During his years as an aide to U.S. Senator Russ Feingold in Washington, D.C. and as special assistant to the UW Chancellor, Billups has been fully engaged in the political and social life of Madison. And as a mover and shaker in Madison power circles, Billups has had the vantage point to see how things do and don't get done. Without effective political engagement, any segment of the Madison community will be lost and disenfranchised. For Billups, political engagement begins on the neighborhood level. "All of the power in Madison resides at the neighborhood level," Billups observed during an interview with The Capital City Hues. "Neighborhood associations are tremendously powerful in this city. There are dozens of them. That's how things get started. That's how things get stopped. We don't find people, no matter where they live, who are that engaged in neighborhood associations." The fight over school consolidations on Madison's east side is a contemporary example of political engagement through neighborhood associations. A second important aspect of political engagement is being involved in the oftentimes mundane work of Madison's many committees and commissions. "If you go to the committee meetings downtown where they are making decisions about your life and future and how much money you pay in taxes, people of color don't show up for that unless it's something very specific to that community," Billups said. "When one cares about land use, when one cares about the rebuilding of E. Washington Ave., it's just like me walking down the street and collecting $20 from everyone and saying 'Hey, I'l bring you groceries back.' And then I bring you back what I want to bring back. And that's what not going to those meetings is like. You're paying taxes and you don't have a say. And the thing is, the system is set up for you to have a say. At city council meetings, they'll have 200 people come and do three-minute testimonies. There will be one Black person there. But it's going to cost you $121 on your tax bill. Why don't you just give me the $121? And I'll just do what I want to do with it because that's what you are doing with them. It's a serious thing to be engaged. And when you are not engaged and something happens and you complain, well 'Okay?'" Billups cited the building of the Overture Center as an example. "The planning for the Overture Center went on for two years before they sunk a shovel in the ground," Billups said. "That's when I got involved and it was going on before then because Frautschi had commissioned a study to determine what the space needs for the arts were in this community in the late 1990s. I begged people to come to the planning meetings so that 'our kind of entertainment' would be included in this thing. Two people other than me came and they didn't come on a consistent basis. Gene Parks and John Odom came. I begged people. 'This project is going to be big. We want to make sure our stuff is included and considered.'" The Overture Center recently held a brown bag lunch to find out how it could better reach the communities of color in Madison. Billups feels that the need for political engagement by all segments of the Madison community is needed now more than ever. "There's a lot of work to be done here in Madison," Billups emphasized. "If we approach it in an intelligent and strategic way, we can probably get our hands and arms around it before there's a million people here. By the time there are a million people here 30 years from now or more, hopefully, if the problems aren't resolved, they are at least in a situation where they can be managed and are being managed in an intelligent way." Billups departure, in a way, reflects the transition in leadership that Madison is beginning to experience as the Baby Boom generation retires in ever increasing numbers. And Billups and others including Steve Braunginn before he became ill have been proactively grooming the next generation of leadership to take their place. "The people who are 20 years younger than me, my kid's generation, are really entering their mid-career: Johnny Winston Jr, your Dawn Crim, who is my assistant, Annette Miller, David Hart, and Henry Sanders, Jr. among others," Billups observed. "I've had and developed relationships with them over the years and watched them grow and tried to teach them and expose them to the various political nuances of this community. I put them in touch with or in front of the business community, the foundation and corporate giving community to get them the full breadth of what the community offers. They may end up being business leaders. They don't necessarily have to be political leaders. But they need to be leaders. And it's really time for them to move now. There's a whole bunch of us baby boomers and we live longer so, we'll be around for a while. But this generation of folks who are in their thirties and moving into their forties they are really the future and need to be encouraged and not made to kowtow to some particular set of values. Let them define themselves. All of them have in their heart the desire to make it a better community for themselves, their families and the people around them." "You have to have people in position who do the exposing, to set the young people up in situations where they not only get to make a contribution or give some input, but also the powers that be can witness what they are doing, can recognize and acknowledge their talent and create situations where they can practice this stuff," Billups continued. "I wouldn't say I was the only one either. But you have to have a will to do it. I think a lot of folks get pretty comfortable and trying to maintain their own thing, which is fine. But leadership has to be developed. It doesn't just emerge by accident. If you don't develop new leaders, that's a threat. If you have a bunch of know nothings and nit wits in the community, you're in trouble. You need talent, competency and people with some sort of moral structure so they aren't just motivated by their technical skill. They're motivated by what's right." While Billups is clearly excited about assuming the responsibilities and challenges of his new position, he does leave with some regrets. "I'll miss all of my friends," Billups said. "I've been here for the better part of 30 years. I have some regrets because I'll be missing people. I've really enjoyed being here. I've had a chance to develop a career. People have been very supportive of me. I appreciate that. I couldn't have done a lot of the things I've done without their support. I'm going to miss you guys. Visit me in Georgetown." And LaMarr, come back and visit us in Madison. The welcome mat is always out there. |
| An interview with LaMarr Billups Political engagement Part 2 of 2 By Jonathan Gramling |
 |
 |