Alderman Dave Ament was sitting in the audience at today’s candidate forum at New Berlin West School. Isn‘t that rather hypocritical? Dave Ament, you may recall, was one of four New Berlin aldermen in 2006 who voted to limit the use of City Hall facilities to government units, thus barring citizen groups from using them. Their action put an end to voters forums at City Hall.
Whenever I think about voters forums in our community, I remember Jean Crotty, who died last year at age 82. She ran candidate forums for many years. Several years ago, Ms. Crotty asked if I would assist her with an aldermanic forum she was having and moderating at City Hall. The forum would be broadcast on the City cable channel. Ms. Crotty simply wanted me to operate the camera. Although this task was unpaid and meant giving up some hours of my time on a Saturday, I was happy to help her out and said yes. A few days later, Ms. Crotty called again. Sounding terribly distraught and apologizing multiple times, she told me that Ted Wysocki, who was mayor at the time, objected to my assisting her with the forum and told her to get someone else. I felt very sorry for Ms. Crotty, who seemed so distressed and hastened to assure her that it was ok. I thought it was very petty of Ted Wysocki, though.
In 2002, as an incumbent, I participated in a candidate forum held at one of our District elementary schools. Rules were announced at the onset of the forum. We were instructed to give a brief opening speech, stick to issues and not make personal attacks. I listened and complied with those rules. My speech was about what I had accomplished on the School Board and hoped to achieve if re-elected. Then came my opponent Jennifer Eitel’s turn to give her opening speech. Did she obey the forum rules, concentrate on issues, present facts? Heck no. She immediately launched into a vicious personal attack against me--even accusing me of harassing our church pastor to get dirt on her! Needless to say, Mrs. Eitel’s accusations were untrue. But that didn't stop her from including them in her campaign fliers and on a radio broadcast. Ironically, Mrs. Eitel and her running mates had earlier signed a pledge against making personal attacks. My father-in-law had suffered a massive stroke at the beginning of the year, continued to deteriorate and died in April on election day. Dealing with my family’s grief at his suffering and loss was of far greater importance to me than Mrs. Eitel’s false allegations and shenanigans.
The next year, Jennifer Eitel was elected to the New Berlin School Board and became Board President. Not long afterward, she contended she wanted to “get politics out of our schools” and promoted a School Facilities Use policy change that prohibited political speech in school facilities and specifically banned candidate forums. The School Board (by majority vote) approved that atrocious policy change. By the way, when Jean Crotty requested the use of the district cable channel to announce a voters forum she was having at City Hall, New Berlin Public Schools denied her request, citing the policy. The District’s lawyer maintained that the cable channel could be construed as a “facility”. The School Board stubbornly clung to their awful policy which trampled on people’s Constitutional rights of free speech and assembly, despite a public outcry--- until the District/Board was ultimately sued. And guess what? When the School Board was legally required to respond to the lawsuit, it backed down and rescinded the policy.
So, Jennifer Eitel participated in voters forums in District school facilities when running for office. After election, she decried “politics in our schools” and took action to get political speech/candidate forums banned. Today, not only was Mrs. Eitel sitting in the audience at the candidate forum at New Berlin West Middle-High School, she actively participated by submitting a card with a question for the candidates. Quite a flip-flop.
