I am blessed each and every day, and I fight with cynicism and sarcasm on each of those days. The City of Wausau has blessed me with an amazing life and a rich tapestry of friends and experience. Most days I feel like the luckiest little boy in the world to be living where I am, being around the people I am around, and doing the things I do. Never once do I not realize it. Often times, I hope you feel the same way.
Over the past year, I have been exploring ideas and politics in this town in a new way, at least for me. I have been trying to learn the players and learn the game a little bit better. As such, I have had both great experiences (spending time with Pat Peckham) and bad ones (spending time with others). I have seen acts of tremendous leadership and sacrifice, and I have seen acts of tremendous personal cruelty that is masked as somehow part of this political process. We have watched a GOP spokesman ousted for seeking moderation in tone, and we have watched the national media decry a man seeking that cooler heads prevail.
We had the terrible incident involving the letter of intimidation sent to the Council here in Wausau, fraudulently from the VFW address. This letter was, in my opinion, a low point in Wausau politics. But I did not know some of the terrible stories about the last few election cycles, and the personal and vicious attacks some of our elected and nonelected officials have taken.
Do not get me wrong. I believe that this administration lacks transparency. I believe that this administration is misguided, and in many ways, in over its head as Wausau seeks to find its footing in the next 10 years. I think our Mayor is far too passive in regards to anyone and anything, save for his friends he spends time with up north. None of this makes him a bad man, and none of this warrants personal attacks on him made through anonymous means.
In the past months we have seen a local village administrator and his wife attacked personally, and some might say viciously in the Wausau Daily Herald Forum. Everything from this man’s weight, to his wife’s ability to have a more attractive husband was brought forth by an anonymous poster. This administrator was able to get the name and address of the attacker, and he sent him a measured letter inviting the attacker in for a face-to-face meeting to handle these sorts of conflicts. The attacker then had what I would call a bit of a nutty, dancing all over town about how the administrator was doing this or that with the letter, and attacking him further. Then suddenly, as if out of nowhere, he changed his tune and screamed that the Wausau Daily Herald gave out his personal information. This would be AFTER the man showed the world the letter, gave interviews, and the like.
In Wausau we have a large elected council. This council is tasked with management of the future of our city. We have an elected Mayor who is tasked with the day-to-day operation of our city. The Mayor came to us after retiring from his professional life. The council … they all have other jobs. My point is, I am thinking they all chose this. They all chose to serve.
Sure there are some benefits. Many go on to improved lives, higher standing the community, and some go on to higher office. It appears that our Mayor is getting some of the great social perks that come from being the man in charge. Many decry this, and I have in the past, but recently it was pointed out that no matter who is in the chair, those perks have existed. Whether I like the Mayor or not, they all tend to get to spend time at the cool up north lake house of wealthy friends, they get invited to the cool Christmas parties, they get the cool stuff. They are, after all, the Mayor.
But now it seems like we have entered into a horrid time of personal attack. We can see the massive venom on display places like the WDH forum or facebook, or by some degree twitter and other places where people can anonymously post mean spirited items. Personally I have received emails from folks saying that I should attack people more viciously, and more personally if I oppose their actions or policies. For about a day that seemed like a good idea. These are public officials after all. They volunteer, so they have willingly placed a target on their back.
I was wrong. I was wrong, and that sort of personal cynicism has no place here in Wausau, or Central Wisconsin. Everyone who seeks office does so willingly. They seek to help, they think that they have something to offer their fellow man. They think that they can make it better. That is it. End of story.
Our personal cynicism clouds our judgment about these people. We see conspiracy where it is not, and we seek to make them into targets. Doing this, we only harm ourselves. By allowing people in this city to use vicious means to attack all of the members of the council, we make the next generation of leaders less likely to appear.
Jim Rosenberg once told me that you need to be aware of what is next, when you seek to cast stones. I did not get it, and I probably still do not fully understand it, but I think he meant that before we tear down what we have, we should be aware that the next one is less likely to be as good. We might in fact be creating a descending grade on which we get poorer and poorer leadership each time we seek to tear someone down, simply because we can.
Our personal cynicism enables us to feel powerful, instead of sad or afraid. This misguided power is often used to lash out and harm people. Hear that, harm people our attacks are harming the people who have volunteered to help our city move forward. I have not been elected to anything, so maybe I need to consider that before I throw stones. Maybe you could consider that as well.
It is fair to disagree on policy: it is even encouraged. Our newfound lack of civility as evidenced all over the place should be stopped. We, as a COMMUNITY, should demand of ourselves that we do not condone the actions of those who would seek to harm people, not policy, for their own ends. We should seek to engage these folks and seek to drive a wedge between them and the process, as they seek to drive wedges between the council and the voters.
Our city council is full of good people. They mean well, and they are trying their best. Maybe instead of encouraging them to be part of the voting block (which is thankfully disintegrating) maybe we should encourage them to take steps to be more transparent, and we should engage in their discussions with votes and the media.
In honor of their sort of goodness, I thought I would make a list of one thing I like about each of them. In no particular order.
- Gary Gisselman. I have created a mythos around Gary that makes him simply the smartest man I have ever known. When I was a boy I would go to the library and work on school papers, and inevitably Gary would help me find everything I was looking for, and more. Hence, the smartness. Plus, he is a studied and patient member of the council.
- Deb Hadley. First off, it appears Deb has known me far longer than anyone should. So that immediately makes her cool, for enduring that. Secondly, I think that Deb is committed to her ideas, and she sees things clearly and acts with a clarity of vision. She does not often seem to get sidetracked by the passion of it all. And she owes Rosenberg 20 bucks.
- Steve Foley. Steve is simply the cool guy on the council. But more than that, Steve is a multitasking, community driven father who puts his money and his life where his ideas are.
- Ed Gale. Ed Gale is passionate, smart and driven.
- Lisa Rasmussen. New to the council, Lisa is willing to engage in the conversation far more than anyone else. When no council member will respond to an email question, Lisa will always. I think that is noble.
- Gary Klingbeil. Like Pat Peckahma, I like Gary’s calm sense of process. Things take time, discussions happen, time passes and Gary seems to get that.
- Jim Brezinski. Simply put, Jim is a teacher. He presents his opinion in a way that reflects his ability to communicate. And, Jim is a survivor.
- Jim Rosenberg. Rosenberg wants to be the cool guy, but you can tell just by looking he is a dork. In a good way. He has dorky passions, but he is really passionate. He is that sort of dorky earnest guy who will always end up being the hero, because it is the right thing to do. And he acts on a longer vision than most.
- Bill Forrest. The thing about Bill is I think that Bill gets it. He understands the divisive nature of things, of the process, of those people in the community who would drive that wedge. And he does his best to ensure that the process is safe and possible for council members. He is a great council president.
- Tom Miller. First off, Miller has a great pickup truck. Second, I think that Miller sees the world in such a way that he is able to understand his voting and position with clarity and grace.
- Matt Kaiser. Like Lisa, Matt is a new cat and is more than willing to engage the process. To engage the conversation. I like his willingness to say things, make mistakes and correct them. That reflects earnest effort.
- Sherry Abitz. Sherry is tough. Tough as nails. You can see that her time has been hard on the council. You can see that she listens to her district closely, and she works hard to ensure that these things are brought forth. Abitz is a worker, and that is awesome.
So there it is. 12 people. All trying to do something. All volunteers for lack of a better term.
