EDITORIAL
Wood says he’s just 1 in a long line of legislative bad boys
By Jeff Hovind
I said it before, and I’ll say it again. This guy has guts.
By now, everyone knows the story of Rep. Jeff Wood, who’s been arrested three times within the last year for drunk driving. This makes a total of five OWI arrests for the Chippewa Falls Independent, not to mention that little marijuana charge that was tagged on to one of his recent arrests.
The Legislature is considering expelling Wood, and he, naturally, doesn’t care for the idea of losing his job. My guess is he needs the money.
The trouble is, Wood has been unable to come up with a legitimate defense – until now. Wood and his counsel have dreamed up a legal strategy that’s at least entertaining, if not downright genius.
Let’s call it the “why me?” defense.
Wood himself drafted a 12-page amendment, in which he reviews virtually every case since World War II in which a legislator had a run-in with the law, and points out that none of them were sanctioned by the Assembly.
For good measure, he also cites a poll done by his local newspaper that says 57 percent of respondents believe no action should be taken against him. We’ll call that trial by pollster – the new virtual reality.
Wood starts out citing the legislators caught in the caucus scandal, Scott Jensen and Steven Foti.
He then goes on to the OWI offenders over the years: Shirley Krug, David Travis, David Lepak, Walter Ward, John Shabaz, R. Michael Ferrall, Glen Pommerening, and Ray Kuhlman, (in the year I was born, 1956).
Then there’s David Plombon and his conviction for marijuana possession among other charges.
Ward was a real piece of work, with convictions for sexual assault of an aide and two misdemeanors for election law violations relating to misuse of campaign funds.
Other legislative foibles include hit-and-run, more sexual assault, bribery, assault and battery, and the ever-popular embezzling.
Yes, Rep Wood, the Wisconsin Legislature has been quite a Rogue’s Gallery at times.
I thought the Badger State had higher standards. Wood is banking we don’t now.
Here’s how he concludes:
“Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Assembly, that Representative Jeffrey Wood not be held to a different standard than partisan legislators within this institution and based on the facts of this controversy the Assembly takes no further action and the special committee on ethics and standards of conduct is hereby disbanded.”
Either that, or get to work on all those cold cases.?
Supervisors stuck in neutral in fair vendor controversy
By Jeff Hovind
With the dispute between the Grecian Delight restaurant and the Lincoln County Fair Board still simmering away, the agenda sounded promising.
With action items, a closed session and a possible county board resolution on the agenda, it looked like one county entity was going to make an attempt to resolve this issue, head off future legal action, and move forward.
Au contraire.
After fumbling around trying to figure out who met when about what on this issue, the Public Property Committee adjourned into closed session for more than an hour to discuss the possible litigation that might arise from the controversy.
Surely after making interested parties cool their heels for more than an hour, the weighty issues of the day would be resolved. Or at least addressed. Or not.
In its infinite wisdom, the committee came out of closed session only to announce that there would be ANOTHER special meeting – this one on March 16, just two days before the committee’s regular session. The purpose? Well, that’s a little fuzzy. The committee wants to hear the outcome of a meeting between the fair board and the Lincoln County 4-H Leadership Association March 10. No doubt, everyone is hoping against hope that the controversy will be magically resolved there.
I’m not going to hold my breath.
Maybe I’m just cheesed off because I just spent the better part of an afternoon on my busiest day attending a meeting that seemed more like 5 blind guys in a dark room trying to find the door out.
Here’s a suggestion:
The next time someone calls a meeting to resolve an issue, how about having a plan? How about some potential solutions?
Divine inspiration is wonderful, but sometimes the Almighty leaves us to our own devices.
Drat.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Leadership
To the editor:
What this country really needs is a group of “statesman or women” to step forward and grab the reins of this runaway stage and “lead” it where it needs to go. Lately our leaders have been like a bunch of kids: “If you don’t play like I want you to I’m taking my ball and going home.”
I have some examples of what I consider to be “Statesman” in my lifetime: Eisenhower, McArthur, Geo. Marshall, JFK, Reagan, Tip O’Neal, Sam Nunn, Mel Laird, Lloyd Benson, Lee Iacocca to name a few. We may not agree with all their political views or personalities, but they all were able to work with others and eventually come up with solutions to problems that worked. I have a saying of JFK’s that I think says it all: “Let’s not seek the Republican answer. Let’s not seek the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not fix blame for the past. Let us accept our responsibility for the future.”
Lee Iacocca is one of my most admired “leaders”. He has a reputation of being a straight-shooter, creative, businessman. His most recent book “Where Have All the Leaders Gone” speaks about the message I am conveying. In the book he speaks of the 10-C’s which to me should be the main requirements to be elected to Congress or the Presidency.
Iacocca’s c’s:
Curiosity: Listen to people outside the “yes Sir” crowd of the inner circle. Should read alot to know what’s going on in the real world.
Creativity: got to go out on a limb be willing to try new ideas or something different. Think outside the box. Leadership all about managing change- whether leading a family, company, or a country things change you have to be creative to adapt.
Communicate: This is not running off at the mouth. It’s facing reality & telling the truth. Most administrations since Reagan have spent time convincing us things are better than they really are. Communications has to start with telling the truth even when it is painful to do so.
Character: Knowing the difference between right and wrong. The guts to do the right thing. Abe Lincoln once said “If you want to test a persons character, give them power.”
Courage: Swagger isn’t courage. Tough talk isn’t courage. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk open-mindedly.
Conviction: Fire in your belly you have to have passion. Really want to get something done. Congress was in session a total of 97 days in 2006, a record low. Most people would expect to get fired for doing so little work. Yet congress managed to vote themselves a pay raise, which they still do yearly. That’s not leadership in my book.
Charisma: This is the quality that makes people want to follow you to all ends of the earth. The ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust them.
Competent: This is obvious, you have to know what your doing to be a leader. You have to be a problem solver. Our biggest problems seem to be on the back burner these days. In our economy thats jobs and the economy.
Common Sense: The ability to reason and know when to come in out of the rain. Acquaint ones-self with reality.
Crisis: Leaders are made not born. Leadership is foraged in time of crisis. It’s easy to sit and talk theory, it’s another to lead when your world is tumbling down around you.
Folks we are entering an election year we will be asked to consider candidates who have been there before and candidates who are trying for the first time. We need to measure them to see how they measure up on these 10-c’s. Many who are in office now are leaving some of the C’s out and telling us what they think we need not how can we help you get where you want to be. We need leaders to run and be elected to these important office. Big government is not the answer. Reagan once said, “As government expands Liberty contracts.” Let’s put our candidates to the test this time around and see if we can’t find a “statesman or woman” or two in those we elect.
Chuck Bolder
Merrill
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