Task Forces

Allied Area Task Force (Member)

Biography

Carousel is a civil rights attorney, and she has litigated employment and housing discrimination cases in Madison, New York, and Washington, DC. Carousel has served as the Prisoner Litigation Staff Attorney for Dane County Circuit Court, and she taught legal writing at the UW Law School for two years. Before becoming a lawyer, Carousel worked as a professional political journalist and copy editor in Washington, DC. She earned her law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School, and she graduated from Boston University with dual bachelors degrees in Print Journalism and Political Science.

Carousel was first elected to the county board in 2006. She is Second Vice Chair of the county board and sits on two standing committees, Public Protection & Judiciary and Executive Committee. Over the years, Carousel has served on the Dane County Housing Authority, the Cultural Affairs Commission, the Allied Drive Task Force, the Sensitive Crimes Commission, the Human Services Board, the Parks and Open Space Planning Committee, the Overtime Subcommittee, and more.

In addition to her County Board service, Carousel is chair of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Foundation, on the executive committee for Emerge Wisconsin, and a member of the Greater Madison Fair Housing Council Advisory Board. She has formerly served on the MATC District Board and the City of Madison’s Equal Opportunities Commission.

Carousel is also an active volunteer at Van Hise Elementary School and is part of the school’s PTO board.

Carousel was named a "Politician to Watch" in the political column of Madison Magazine in 2009 for her work on women’s rights legislation. She was awarded Advocate of the Year by Madison Dane County Public Health in 2008 for her work on breastfeeding and family leave county legislation. She received the Volunteer of the Year award in 2003 for her work with the Fair Housing Council. And in 2011, Carousel was a finalist for top local elected official for the Wisconsin Democratic Party’s Eleanor Roosevelt Awards.

Carousel lives in Midvale Heights with her husband, Madison native Tim Sobota, her two daughters Cassandra (a student at Van Hise Elementary) and Mari (part-time at Preschool of the Arts), and the family dog Rio.