This is specific ONLY to Madison under the leadership of David J. Cieslewicz, former mayor. Under his aegis, memberships on citizen committees and commissions and boards was more partisan than at any other mayordom. I was living near the Yahara River at the time, and management of its waters during that time was inadequate to keep them inside of the man-made banks of this artificial canal that replaced a meandering stream. While I got some interesting and even lovely photos, a flash flood came up onto East Main Street and flooded my car, damaging electronics. The auto-lock for the doors never worked right again, and had to be disconnected from one of them.