Spring Elections

 Spring Elections Matter

Do your homework

 

Our Spring Elections are April 5^th. They are for supposedly non-partisan races like judicial, county, municipal and school board officials. Unfortunately, even these local positions have become politicized in our polarized political climate. 

 

Groups of moderate conservatives have stepped up to serve on local school boards in recent years, beating back the more vocal and radical elements in our communities more concerned about the culture wars than actually educating children. Battles over non-existent issues like Critical Race Theory, Social Emotional Learning and curriculum battles over gender identity make for interesting campaign slogans but ignore the real issues facing public education such as adequate funding, needs of special needs kids, respect for educators and inclusivity. 

 

Nowhere is this more evident than here in Kewaskum where gubernatorial wannabe, state Representative Timothy Ramthun and his hand-picked protégé, Bradley Peterson, are running to keep seats on the local school board.

 

Ramthun has distinguished himself by jumping into the GOP primary for governor on a platform of the impossible, decertifying the 2020 Wisconsin presidential election and switching our votes in the Electoral College to the former president. Upset with the rejection of his plan by the Assembly GOP Speaker Robin Voss and being thrown out of a meeting by Voss, Ramthun took to YouTube wishing he had punched Voss in the nose and told him to “pound sand. At the same time, he runs for a seat on our school board raising the clearly crazy notion that special education may be a plot to force students into special needs classes to gain more funding and to perhaps control students and parents. One must wonder if he is truly suited to serve on a school board, much less become Wisconsin’s next governor. 

 

Peterson has been noticeably silent on all of this, apparently content to ride Ramthun’s coattails with the alt-right conservatives in our community who buy into Ramthun’s conspiracy theories. 

 

In stark contrast, stands Rhett Engleking who is making his first run for public office. Rhett is the son of educator parents and his father, Ray Engleking, served on the Kewaskum School Board with distinction. Rhett promotes a positive view of our schools and the impact they have on our community’s children. He believes in collaboration with all those involved in educating kids who want to achieve the best outcomes. He is reaching out to people in the school district in person and by phone willing to listen to concerns about our schools. He is not afraid to engage people with opposing views. Have a look at his Facebook group for more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1104147717042837/

 

In West Bend and other Washington County communities, moderates who have been managing public education effectively continue to be primaried by extreme conservatives seeking to impose radical views on students and give voice to parents concerned that ultra conservative values are not being taught at school. 

 

Paul Fischer and Erin Dove are running for re-election to the West Bend School Board. Both are smart and involved in their community and have learned the complexities of school finance and budgeting. They have no personal axes to grind and seek to serve those in our schools. They have served well and deserve re-election. 

 

Melanie Ehrgott is running for the West Bend School Board as a staunch conservative opposed to having public schools deal with the emotional needs and social actions of students, believing that is best left to parents. Her position paper on the district website uses the hackneyed buzzwords signaling she stands with those who would dismantle public education by reverting to a Three Rs curriculum. Her social media pages echo the usual anti-CRT and “traditional family values” themes often used in these elections. Her Facebook page tells the story. https://www.facebook.com/MelanieEhrgott4WBSB?ref=py_c&_rdr

 

John Donaldson has been less vocal than Ehrgott, but his social media postings are just as telling. He too is running as a staunch conservative echoing themes rejected when Randy Marquardt and Dave Weigand were booted from the School Board years ago. For more see, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077428396313

 

Neither Ehrgott or Donaldson appear to offer anything positive to advance public education in West Bend and make it a better learning environment for students. They want to move public education back to a simpler time that no longer exists. 

 

We need to take a serious look at our local elections and choose people willing and able to serve all the people in our communities, not just those with the same political or religious views. Modern society is complex and diverse, and the old ways no longer work to meet the competing demands presented. 

 

In our information age, it is easy to find out what people running for office think and believe. We just need to do the homework. 

 

Moving Forward

 Moving Forward is Better than Going Back

 

President Biden’s State of the Union Address to members of Congress and the American people showed us and the world that he is a leader with vision and steadfast resolve to stand up for freedom and democracy here and abroad. He looks forward with a positive agenda for America and freedom loving people everywhere. In stark contrast stand those in Congress and here in Wisconsin who look backward, wish for things long past that are legally impossible. 

 

The President’s address started with a strong admonition to Russian President Putin and his oligarch supporters that the invasion of Ukraine will continue to be met with a unified and strong response from the United States and our European allies. He pointed out that Putin badly miscalculated the resistance of the Ukrainian people, their leaders, and the unified responses from most of the rest of the free world. Putin clearly did not expect large numbers of Russians would take to the streets of their cities to protest the war. He did not foresee members of his military would abandon their units and lay down their arms once they realized what they were being sent to accomplish. His billionaire cronies have seen their fortunes evaporate as economic sanctions are imposed by Russia’s former trading partners around the globe. The value of his currency and his ability to use the international banking system has been seriously compromised. Even Microsoft and Elon Musk joined the fray by helping combat Russian cyberwarfare and restoring internet access though Musk’s Skylink satellites. 

 

Even with the partisan divide in Congress, members from both sides of the aisle rose to applaud these efforts and show support for Ukrainian freedom. 

 

Biden then turned to issues closer to home, promising to deal with rising prices and concerns about energy. He noted progress made on supply chain concerns and investing in products made here rather than abroad. He announced releases from strategic oil reserves here and abroad to combat rising fuel costs. He asked Congress to pass his stalled measures to provide childcare and elder care services and drug price reductions. He addressed concerns about immigration and put aside notions to defund police departments seeking support for law enforcement while requiring accountability. Biden also pushed Congress to pass voting rights legislation stalled for far too long. He noted the progress made in combatting Corona virus and announced new testing and anti-viral treatment programs coming to local pharmacies. 

 

President Biden closed to bipartisan applause noting that the State of the Union is strong because the American People are strong. All in all, Biden’s speech should put an end to the “sleepy Joe” theme oft repeated by GOP politicians, especially our own Senator Ron Johnson.

 

The only dark moments in the President’s address were outbursts by two fringe alt-right members of the House who tried to speak over his remarks only to be booed quiet by other members. 

 

Here in Wisconsin, the backward-looking GOP continues to promote the “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by giving former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman a podium to peddle his mistaken belief that the Wisconsin Legislature can and should recall the 10 electoral votes Wisconsin electors cast for Biden after the 2020 election. 

Gableman delivered is long anticipated report on his partisan investigation of the alleged irregularities in the last election to an Assembly committee on Tuesday. Not only did he urge legislators to recall the Biden electors, but he also recommended that the Wisconsin Election Commission created by the GOP be disbanded in favor of partisan legislative control of future elections, elimination of ballot drop boxes, and further restrictions on absentee voting, especially in nursing homes.

 

Gableman’s “findings” have been soundly rejected in the many legal actions brought after President Biden carried Wisconsin by over 20,000 votes. Non-partisan legal experts and the legislature’s own legal counsel have concluded there is no legal mechanism to recall the state’s electoral college votes. Lawsuits brought by GOP allies challenging election results have all been rejected by the courts. The bi-partisan Wisconsin Election Commission has time and time again concluded that the last election was free and fair. Without a shred of new evidence to support his claims, it is unlikely that any of Gableman’s proposals will ever see the inside of a piece of legislation, even in our GOP controlled legislature. 

 

The only solace Gableman’s report provides is found in the remarks of our alt-right fringe politician, Assemblyman Timothy Ramthun from Campbellsport. Ramthun praised Gableman’s report and once more called upon his colleagues to pass legislation to “recall” the state’s electoral college votes. Ramthun also used the report to bolster his campaign for governor claiming to be the one candidate to support recalling the electoral votes. 

 

Eerily quiet about Gableman’s report and Ramthun’s claims are the other GOP gubernatorial candidates, Rebecca Kleefisch and Kevin Nicholson. They are in a stuck place, not wanting to alienate the GOP’s fringe base that still believes the former occupant of the White House is still president.

 

Looming large behind this craziness is the former president who continues to spout his “Big Lie” whenever he can find a live mic. He still commands control of the GOP’s national apparatus and GOP hopefuls still need to drink his Kool-Aid to gain his blessing and support. 

 

We have a clear choice between looking and moving forward or trying to go back to a Never Never Land that does not exist and never will.