News

Final Campaign Flyer

Click here to read my final campaign flyer.

Besides knocking on hundreds of doors and sending and responding to hundreds of emails and calls, I have distributed four flyers to the 1,250+ residences in the district.  The first was an introduction; the second addressed the biggest challenges I see for the immediate future; and the third (actually 20 different flyers) addressed accomplishments for each of the 20 neighborhoods or groups of residents in the district.

This final flyer differentiates me, but not through negativity.  There is no place for that.  I have never run a negative campaign, and I was not going to start now.

I will continue to respond to calls and emails and visit with people through Tuesday and, if I am elected, after that.  If you have questions or concerns, please let me know.

Not How We Want Mequon to Behave

Twenty years ago, the story below could have been written about Mequon rather than St. Francis.  Ignorance and divisiveness ruled the day by all sorts of people in Mequon government (nobody who is still involved).  Over the last 18 years, our elected officials have learned to deal with each other respectfully and professionally, even when they had heartfelt and principled differences.  I hope voters in Mequon take this into consideration when they go to the polls on Tuesday.  We do not want to go back there.

By the way,  I am NOT referring to my opponent in making this comment.  From everything I have seen, she has handled her campaign well.  I cannot, however, say the same for some of the other campaigns.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/st-francis-mayor-common-council-locked-in-bitter-feud-b99696964z1-374261561.html

Excellent Election Article Published in Homestead Highlander

Madina Jenks, a senior at Homestead High School, published this article about the local Mequon races, including the 4th District aldermanic race:

Candidates describe their stances in the upcoming Mequon elections

A job well done!

 

REMEMBER TO VOTE

Remember, April 5 is Election Day.  Besides the District 4 aldermanic race, the ballot contains the Presidential Primary and general elections for Justice of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals Judge, County Supervisor, Mayor and School Board. Polls will remain open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and a photo ID (driver’s license, passport or other state-approved document that proves identity) is required to vote. Photo ID’s are also needed for absentee voting, either in-person or by mail. For a complete list of acceptable photo ID documents visit the Election Information Page on the City of Mequon website. In-person voting will continue to be available in the Clerk’s Office between 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through March 31, and from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 1.

Elections, Including Those in Mequon, Should be Better

Elections everywhere have become ugly and divisive.  That also includes those in Mequon.  I am proud to be running a positive campaign, and I applaud my opponent who appears to be doing the same.  However, some candidates in Mequon seem to be following the blueprint of our national politicians in waging a campaign of deception, ideological echo chambers, and personal attacks.  I trust voters will see through this, but I am fearful.  Candidates act this way because it works.

Earlier today, Paul Ryan gave the following speech lamenting the state of politics today.  Ignore what party he represents – he chastises both parties – and please hear  the message.

Winning an election is not worthwhile if it means sacrificing integrity.  Gutter politics are unbecoming.  As Ryan says, “[i]nstead of playing to your anxieties, we can appeal to your aspirations.”

 

Staying Active in Mequon

Mequon

This morning, I attended a meeting of the Mequon Economic Development Board. I have been a member since 2014 (and also served on the board as an alderman). This is just one of many ways I have stayed active with the City, and in the community, since I decided not to run for reelection three years ago.  I also have served on committees at Lumen Christi Church, assisted Mequon businesses and served as a board member of the Mequon Community Foundation (an independent, nonprofit charitable organization).

I have lived in Mequon and been active in this community since junior year of high school, and have been active with Mequon city government in one capacity or another for almost 18 years.

An alderman should know the community and the government body in which she or he will serve.  I have been immersed in Mequon for a long time.

Being an Alderman is More Than Just Voting Correctly

I am proud of my voting record as an alderman, but many of the most important things I did had nothing to do with votes.  I advocated for my district, and the people in my district, in many other ways.

Whoever is elected will most probably attend meetings and vote.  She or he might vote the right way.  But will that person use the office to make a real difference?

Here are some examples:

  • When the State of Wisconsin wanted to put a halfway home for a dozen violent sexual offenders on County Line Road, I notified residents, went on a letter writing campaign, organized our state and local representatives in opposition, researched and prepared position statements, and worked with homeowners’ groups to organize busloads of residents to protest at the state’s meeting.  I took weeks off of work to ensure this did not happen.
  • I distributed information about sex offenders.
  • I attended homeowners’ meetings either to update them on developments at City Hall or to discuss issues of concern.  Examples included a Neighborhood WATCH group along Cedarburg Road, multiple association board meetings and neighborhood informational meetings.
  • Some aldermen told me that County Line Road would never be resurfaced.  I was persistent, and finally succeeded.  Milwaukee wanted it to be a full business road with turn lanes and wide shoulders.  I lead the resistance to protect homeowners along the route, and to ensure that it did not attract more semi traffic and higher speeds.   I attended meetings with the City of Milwaukee and neighboring residents to ensure it was done right.
  • I successfully pushed for the reconstruction of neighborhood roads.  Previously, the City concentrated only on major and interconnecting roads.  For example, one road (Kathleen Lane) was so bad that, for years, I mentioned it during every single meeting at which roads were discussed.  I was so persistent that most members of the Council who served with me now know this 16-home road by name.
  • The southbound turn off of Mequon Road at Swan Road used to be incredibly dangerous.  I worked with City staff to have it redesigned by the State.
  • I worked with homeowners’ groups and residents to resolve many neighbor disputes.
  • I wrote the Mequon Water referendum question and edited the materials that were sent to residents.
  • I personally wrote dozens of resolutions and ordinances, and edited even more of them.  My professional background was used by the City.
  • I attended a meeting with Germantown officials and the DOT with Mayor Nuernberg to negotiate the reconstruction of Mequon Road.  If not for that meeting, the west side intersections would now have eight lanes.
  • I helped to organize a fundraiser for a family when their barn was destroyed.
  • I attended meetings with Mequon businesses who were concerned about Mequon’s business climate.
  • I intervened on behalf of businesses and residents when they were having trouble with city regulations.
  • I regularly asked the Mequon Police Department for extra neighborhood patrols.
  • I worked to ensure the long-term viability of the Mequon Nature Preserve so that it could be preserved for the future without burdening Mequon taxpayers.  I also organized aldermen to make a sizable personal contribution.
  • I donated one-third of my after-tax aldermanic pay to the Mequon Community Foundation for improvements at Lemke Park.
  • I gave presentations to school and scouting groups.
  • I attended a couple of school board meetings as a guest to exchange ideas and listen to concerns.
  • I pushed for, and ultimately succeeded in organizing, the first meeting in many years among the City of Mequon, the Village of Thiensville, and the Mequon-Thiensville School District.
  • I listened to residents, and communicated with residents through emails, meetings, telephone calls and flyers.  I developed an email list of over 1,000 residents to which I regularly sent updates.  There is an incredible shortage of communication in Mequon – most residents never hear from their alderman.  I never did before becoming an alderman or after leaving the Council. Every candidate says she or he will do it.  I actually did it.  I plan to do an even better job this time around.

This is a partial, off-the-top-of-my-head list.  Most aldermen do not do most of these things.  The 4th District’s did.  If you vote for me, you will again have an advocate in City Hall, and in our community.

Yard Signs are Coming

Yard signs are coming.  If you would do me the honor of allowing me to post a sign in your yard, at your farm or in front of your business, please let me know.

Alderman Logo 2I see no reason to litter the landscape too far in front of the election.  Also, unless you tell me otherwise, I will retrieve them right after the election.

Newest Flyer: Experience Matters

Click here to see the most recent flyer we distributed to the district.  Unlike many candidates for local office, my flyers will continue to be issue-oriented.

Experience does matter.  Can your candidate identify the difficult issues facing the City?  Does he or she have any idea how to deal with those issues?  Does he or she have any practical experience in dealing with those kinds of issues?

If the answers to those questions are no, then it is likely that the candidate, no matter how smart or well-meaning or dedicated, will end up following only the options presented by  city staff.  When officials work for staff, rather than the other way around, bad things happen.

Non-partisan, But Substantive and Fiscally Conservative

Being an alderman is non-partisan, and should stay that way.  Still, it is a substantive job, and the perspective with which an alderman approaches the position makes a difference.

As an alderman, I worked to represent all of the residents of the 4th district.  I jumped in and lead vigorously when an issue made a difference to the residents of our district, whether that involved taking almost a whole month off of work to battle a sexual predator home the state wanted to put on County Line Road, or asking the police department to drive through our district more often, or fixing the turn lane on Mequon Road to make it safer, or installing a safe bike path on Dodges Bay rather than wide shoulders, or improving Lemke Park, or fixing local roads, or organizing meetings when there was a rash of burglaries.

As importantly, I worked to represent the entire City.  Mayor  Nuernberg and I met with Germantown officials to ensure that Mequon Road was not improved in a way that hurt Mequon.  I fought against a new water runoff tax.  I advocated to ensure that fees charged by the City were not just hidden taxes.  I took a major role in writing the water utility referendum and the Town Center ordinances.  I fought to keep government from harming local business.  I lead an effort to have the City work more closely with the school district and the Village of Thiensville.

But, through it all, I approached government as a fiscal conservative.  I believe that government must live within its means.  I authored Mequon’s tax levy freeze (which held the line on levy increases even before state law required such levy controls).  I worked with Council members of all political bents to ensure taxes did not increase. We still accomplished a lot.

Local government is and should remain nonpartisan, but local government candidates should not hide behind nonpartisanship in order to avoid letting you know where they stand on issues like fiscal restraint.  I have a record in which I take some pride that tells you were I am coming from.

Adding Value to the Mequon Economic Development Board

The City has a committee known as the Economic Development Board.  I participated on that Board as an aldermanic representative.  A couple of years ago, after I left the Common Council, the Mayor appointed me to that Board.

In both the private and public sectors, many board members show up and follow the agenda, but add little more.  I have always looked differently at participation on boards and in committees.  I believe it is my obligation to add value.

On Tuesday, I tried to add value in at least two ways:

  1.  Like most communities, the City has a fund called the Revolving Loan Fund.   That fund is provided by the federal government for the City to use to make small loans to new businesses.  At the meeting on Tuesday, the City proposed making a $50,000 loan to a great new business.  However, that loan would have been effectively unsecured.  I proposed, and the Board agreed, to make the loan subject to receiving a lien on some property owned by the applicant.  That way, if the new business fails, the City has a path to repayment.  Hopefully the Common Council will retain this new requirement.  It is important to be a prudent steward of the public’s money.
  2. Mequon has a reputation of being less helpful than many other communities to businesses that want to locate here.  Other communities are better at providing information to businesses, responding to their concerns, and making them feel welcome.  I requested that the City perform a review of the structure and offerings of the planning departments of other communities.  We should not be too proud to consider whether someone else is doing this better.  Hopefully, we can get the City to do this over the next several months.

As your alderman, I will continue my history of respectfully but persistently challenging the way the City does things.  Mequon is a great community, but we can be better.

I Insist on Transparency and Open Government

Open Meetings

I am proud of this editorial from the January 21, 2010 News Graphic.  Time and again, both as an alderman and subsequently as a committee member, I have opposed closed meetings.  Government should be open to the public.

Everyone (except those in government) agrees that government should not make decisions behind closed doors.  Yet, government officials on all levels keeping shutting the public out.

There are a few things that local government is allowed to do outside of the public eye.  Most have to do with ensuring that government is not put at a disadvantage when negotiating with others.  That makes sense, to a point.  But it should be the exception, not the rule.

Yet, government officials use these very narrow legal exceptions to justify all kinds of closed meetings.  How do they get away with it?  Easy.  The meetings are closed.  The public never knows.

Most elected officials do not know better.  They assume, when staff tells them that something properly should be in closed session, that it should.

I firmly believe that most elected officials are good people and want to do good things.  However, if we want to make government better and fairer, we need to elect people who will effectively challenge the status quo.  Not many candidates will do that.

As your alderman, I will challenge inappropriate closed meetings.  I will insist on transparency.  I will err on the side of open meetings.  I have done it before.  If reelected, I will do it again.  I ask for your vote on April 5.

Don’t Forget About Mequon Business

Mequon light industrial

The 4th District is about 7.5 square miles.  Our one district is about three and one-half times larger than all of Whitefish Bay, and about 50% larger than each of the City of Cedarburg and the Village of Grafton.  Most of the district is residential.  It also has a large amount of parkland.  However, what is often overlooked is the one square mile of light industrial in the district east of Wauwatosa Road.

As an alderman, my first priority was and will be the residential areas of the district. The 4th District, like all of Mequon, is concerned with safety, roads, schools, property values and low taxes.  We all want high value, well-protected neighborhoods.

However, it is mistake to overlook the light industrial area of the district. Light industrial uses few city or county resources.  It uses no school resources.  Yet, it pays a tremendous amount of taxes, reducing the taxes the rest of us pay.

The light industrial properties in that approximately one square mile contribute almost $1.87 million in real estate taxes every year. In 2016, the business owners in that area will pay:

  • about $840,000 in school taxes, or over 350 times the amount paid by the average homeowner (without adding one child to the district);
  • about $390,000 to the City (without using our parks, or contributing much to the cost of our safety services); and
  • about $240,000 to repay sewer bond obligations (largely incurred before most of the buildings existed).

They also pay county, state and MATC real estate taxes.

The City needs to pay more attention to this area. We need to encourage its success.  To the extent it is successful, we all benefit.  To the extent it fails, we end up paying more in taxes and, more importantly, adjoining neighborhoods will end up living near blight.  Additionally, we need to ensure that adjoining neighborhoods remain well-screened and buffered from this area and the roads and rail traffic that serve the area.

First Lit Drop

Today, we distributed our first piece of literature to every residence and the businesses in the 4th District.  You can see it here.  I am going to keep this campaign positive.  I will  focus on my background, my long history of involvement in Mequon, my accomplishments as an alderman of which I am most proud, what I hope to do in the future, and so forth.  I see no reason to make this a negative campaign.

Thoughts on Being an Alderman

I have been going through some old files in anticipation of this election.

Three years ago, when I decided not to run again, I made a presentation at a Common Council meeting encouraging people to run to replace me.  As part of that presentation, I gave the following advice to prospective candidates.  I tried to follow these “rules” when I served on the Council, and I will try to follow them again if I am reelected in April.  In fact, I think this is good advice for all holders of elected office.

I want to pass on to prospective candidates a few of the things I have learned about being an alderman:

  1. If you try to make everyone happy, you will fail (and will drive yourself crazy). On most issues, you will make some people happy and others not. Sooner or later, you will find that, at some point, you have disagreed with everyone you know or meet. If you are smart and honest, the majority will judge you based on your cumulative work.
  2. Never fear doing the right thing or making a decision because it might hurt you in the next election. If holding the office is that important to you, then you probably should not hold office.
  3. You can disagree with other aldermen without being disagreeable. You will accomplish more if you get along with other aldermen. Right or wrong, they are good people.
  4. Simply because the folks on one side of an issue make more noise, they do not necessarily represent the majority of your district or the City. Even 100 people showing up at a meeting does not necessarily indicate a majority opinion. Usually, only one side of an issue speaks up. Often, the other side is the majority view.
  5. Regardless of your preconceived notions, Mequon employees are a dedicated group. They care, work hard and generally do a good job. Do not expect a bunch of lazy bureaucrats. They have areas of expertise. On the other hand, remember that their jobs only exist to serve the City. The City does not exist to provide them a job. Occasionally, they may have their own politics and agenda and, on some issues, they might not agree with you and your constituents. Do what you think is right, not what staff thinks is right. Hold them accountable.
  6. Have thick skin. Most of the residents you deal with on City issues will be polite, and a few will appreciate your efforts. Others will assume the worst about you because you are a “politician” and, in this highly politicized world, some will be rude and condescending. Be polite in return.
  7. Over the years, some of your most ardent adversaries will become your friends. Remember that as you deal with people.
  8. Many people want someone in government to listen to them. If you listen, they will respect you and might come to welcome your views too.
  9. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to the press. These are obligations and are necessary for good government. So are open records and open meetings.
  10. Listen to your constituents. Listen to staff. Listen to your colleagues. Listen to your common sense. But, when an issue is difficult, seek out independent, legitimate experts (not consultants who make their living off of government) and listen to them also.
  11. Most of the time, creating committees and task forces is just a way to defer making decisions.
  12. Be opinionated but build consensus.
  13. Government moves far too slowly. Getting frustrated won’t change that. But, if you wait for staff to put something together, your term will be over and you will have accomplished nothing.   Therefore, push. Push hard.
  14. Some neighbors will complain about each development proposal. That does not make the proposed developments bad. Usually anxiety and fear of the unknown cause the complaints. Anxiety and fear are not good compasses of public policy.
  15. Spending more money does not in itself solve problems.   Of course, things do not get done without money, but much can be done within the confines of a budget. Prioritize. Do not just decide to spend more and think you are getting things done.
  16. Apply the law as it is written, not how you want it to be written. If a policy or law is wrong, change it. Do not just ignore it. Flexibility is important, but consistency and fairness are even more important.
  17. You are not a member of a board of directors, even if some of your colleagues act that way. Board members oversee management and wait for issues to be presented to them. You are a legislator. Propose things. Ensure your voice is heard. Ensure your proposals move forward. Nobody will do that for you.
  18. Details are important. The “Big Picture” is not enough. Make sure that ordinances and policies are written correctly and precisely. Many good ideas that have been poorly executed have come back to haunt the City.
  19. Principles about government’s proper role are more important than a specific agenda. Hold fast to your principles, and your agenda will follow.
  20. Change what should be improved, but please do not throw out the baby with the bath water. You and your neighbors moved to Mequon for a reason. It is a great place.
  21. If you are prepared, and insistent, and know what you are talking about, you can have as much or more influence than the Mayor. Use that influence.
  22. An elected official is not personally important.   Do not act like you are. You are a servant of the people. That does not mean that you should act obsequiously submissive. Step forward and be heard. You can make a difference. But do not pretend that you are important. Most people you meet, regardless of how long you serve, will not know or care that you are an alderman.
  23. Have a sense of humor. Have fun as an alderman. It can be personally rewarding.
  24. Quit while you still have something to offer rather than biding your time until your term is done.
  25. Finally, to steal from Ronald Reagan, “[w]hen we start thinking of government as ‘us’ instead of ‘them,’ we’ve been here too long.” Be an advocate for the people of Mequon, not just the government of Mequon.
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