Dane County Supervisor Kathleen Falk, recently announced her decision to resign in early October.
Falk said she also wanted to give candidates enough time to run a campaign for the job she’s leaving. She said by announcing her intention now, a county executive can be elected during the regularly scheduled April 2011 election. Campaign papers for county executive are due Jan. 4.
Even though it did not go as smooth as she would have liked, she resigned in time to make sure that her successor would be elected in April. Then in a very classy move, Scott McDonell, appointed Kathleen Falk to fulfill her position until the spring elections. Thus assuring that the position of Dane County Supervisor will continue to be an elected position.
Now compare that to Cottage Grove. At the end of September 2009, 5 months into a 24 month term,
Village President Scott Norton abrubtly resigned on a Friday afternoon at 4:30 PM , with no explanation. Two days later was the Village Board meeting where they \”discussed\” how to fill the vacancy. The Village Board, despite a petition put together with over a hundred signatures and overwhelming public input to appoint until April(see above) and then hold an election for the position, the board decided to appoint.
Trustee Micah Zielke said it was imperative for the board to appoint someone to the presidency as soon as possible – and for the remainder of the term.
“No matter what,” said Zielke, “We can’t have the village presidency vacant.”
Zielke said the demands of the job and a need for continuity made it hard for the board to ask someone to take the position for only seven months. Zielke also said that since the board was elected by the voters, it was reasonable for the board to make the decision on who would fill the presidency, promising someone who will follow the “fiscal discipline,” that Zielke said the voters said they wanted in the last election.
But trustee Diane Wiedenbeck said the board could appoint someone to fill the seat until a special election in April at the time of the regularly scheduled elections and that the appointee could run for the presidency at that point.
“I am against appointing someone for the entire term,” said Wiedenbeck. “I really feel this needs to go to the people( note: Zielke and Wiedenbeck are both on the ballot this year)
The two weeks between the decision to appoint and the next board meeting, were contentious in the Village. The Village Board took “applications” despite many in the village with a good hunch who would be “appointed”. When people expressed their displeasure of the appointment to the village board, they were misled by members of the board. The Herald-Independent received an actual email where board member Duane Hubing was directly misleading the public. There were rumors(since confirmed) of a few members of the board, the old president, and the eventual appointee, meeting in private to figure out the best way to make sure the board had who they(not necessarily the public) wanted to be the next president. Then during the meeting, the public was NOT allowed to address the candidates directly, nor speak to the process. When things got a little loud, Trustee Paula Severson, even threatened to call the police and clear the room. Public opinion, even though it skewed about 90+% in favor of electing the Village President, was clearly not wanted that night. It was so predictable, that I wrote a LTE before the meeting actual took place, and changed NO WORDING after. After 1-2 generic questions to each candidate, a motion was immediately made to make Mike Mikalsen our appointed(for 19 of a 24 month term) village president and the motion carried 5-1. Never explaining why one candidate was chosen over any other. Mikalsen then promised to \”continue his predecessor\’s focus on spending\”. That was an unfortunate choice of words as his predecessor is so frugal, he does not pay his property taxes.
I find it interesting that the republican controlled Wisconsin legislature has spent this week debating Voter ID, worried about the “purity” of elections. Here is a real life case study where Falk/McDonell are well known liberals and the Village Board of Cottage Grove are well to the right. One group held the vote sacred and the other held power most sacred.
