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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Vote "NO" To Keep Your Right To Vote For County Office

Rock County Office Referendum
"Should the County of Rock exercise its authority under Article VI, Section 4(2) of the Wisconsin Constitution to replace the existing elected Office of Coroner with a County appointed medical examiner system, effective January 2015?"
My recommendation for County Of Rock Voters isn't just no...its' HELL NO!!

Don't be confused, just because during the primary election you had the right to vote your choices in for the general election, and still retain that right for the county coroner's office on November 2nd, doesn't mean it'll be there next time. If you vote "yes" on the county referendum, chances are high that the county board will strip that precious right away from you and hand it to a politically appointed panel of bureaucrats. That's not accountable democracy - that's pure authoritarianism.

Don't be fooled either by the county's language in the referendum or the Gazette and their affiliated henchmen that this is about changing to a medical examiner. It's not. It's about stripping your right to vote away in a malicious game of revenge politics. Few people in the profession would give Rock County tax payers the bang for the buck Jenifer Keach has without changing to a pathologist. That's a guarantee.

The Janesville Gazette not surprisingly suggested voters should surrender that right for several reasons. Among the reasons is for more government control...
JG Editorial Excerpt:
"The office of coroner has no accountability to anybody in Rock County other than the voters..." county board Chairman Russ Podzilni told us.
Exactly!! And if Rock County voters want the coroner to remain accountable to them, we must vote "no" on the referendum. That's a given. But Podzilni's statement is not entirely true. The coroner, like every citizen of the United States, is subject to all state and federal criminal laws including city ordinances. So our county offices including the coroner do not have some extraneous immunity from punishment for criminal actions like Podzilni has attempted to imply. She's just not subject to somebody's whims, itches or opinion of her personality, office duties or management ability as it should be.

Podzilni has also proven to be one of a small group of county board authoritarians aiming to disempower voters regarding county offices. In this article published in the Wisconsin State Journal, he admits, "the main issue is control."
JG Editorial Excerpt:
...it makes no sense that the coroner's office is partisan. Partisanship creates a political scrum every four years. It makes no difference whether the person who certifies a death is a Democrat or Republican.
Exactly!! Again. It should make no difference to anybody whether the coroner is a democrat or a republican. However, it should also make no difference for the county treasurer, DA, clerk or sheriff either ...so why single out the coroner when all elective county offices share the same scrum? Why the selective partisanship from the Gazette?

The Gazette also brings up the League of Women Voters who ironically have concluded that policy administrators within government should be held accountable only to government rather than to the voters. I don’t know what political principles their position is built on, but it certainly is not democratic or progressive. Stripping away the established right to vote for an existing office? Authoritarian regressivist….emmmm, perhaps. This coming from an organization who has steadfastly fought for women’s right to vote appears to have gone full circle from their proud and accomplished past – and now support disempowering themselves. It's more efficient that way, they said. Considering the bizarre rhetoric and irrational logic used in most of today’s political debates and discourse – I regret to say the LWV appears to be no different.

Despite the editors claim that the majority of journalists are liberal,
does anyone really think the Gazette is a Liberal or Progressive newspaper? Don't bet on it because you'd lose your shirt.

Consider this, what genuine liberal or progressive would deny the people's right to referendum? None. But the Gazette has taken issue with the county board for even considering the referendum in the first place. The newspaper believes the county board should literally just take the office away from the voters at will. The newspaper, including a few county board members, have shown a bold-faced disregard not only for the citizen's right to vote, but for our ability to select qualified candidates. They think we're a bunch of dum, dum, dummies.

Analyzing their editorial becomes almost a needless exercise when one begins to look into the deep-seated misinformation campaign institutionalized by a disgruntled former employee and several members of the county board that the Janesville Gazette has metastasized into a campaign of personal destruction against our county coroner. I wouldn't wish what they have done to her on my worst enemies.

On the other hand, I can understand many voters who really don't care who the Janesville Gazette endorses or whom or what I support – I totally understand that. This posting isn't about being a democrat or a republican or who our coroner is. But for Pete sakes man, vote to keep your right to vote. That is what this is all about.

Vote "NO" on the Rock County referendum.

Related:
Gazette Wants To Kill Wisconsin Primaries!

Gazette Smear On Coroner Unprecedented

Media Circus Monopolizes Politics Around Coroner's Office

Chicago Politics - In Janesville?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find the Gazette's argument for voters to surrender their right to elect a coroner very dishonest, even disgusting, when considering all the ink they give for their endorsements and all the letters right next to the editorial vocalizing their choice the people should consider to elect.

On top of it, they think people aren't smart enough to see through them. They suck.

Anonymous said...

Because of the county boards willingness to use this office to play "political football" is reason enough for me not to vote for it. It shows just how "non-partisan" they really are. What could possibly make me believe that their appointment would be any less "non-partisan"? They have been so willing to play politics with this office it makes me sick. I cannot imagine that it would be any less political if it were under their control, probably moreso. Only then it would be kept internal with zero accountability to us.

The Gazette was whining about accountability. To that I ask, who is the county board accountable to? It's good enough for the board to be accountable to the voters but not the offices? Seems a little hypocritical and a completely hogwash arguement. Here we have the chairman openly advocating for bigger governement. All you get with that is less accountability.

We need term limits for the county board! These indivduals need to be reminded they work for us and how they got their positions in the first place. What do we get in return? They want to strip of of ours right to choose. How thoughtful.

I don't care what the Gazette says never have. I didn't vote for the county board so they could make decisions for me. I guess I'm just not as lazy or indifferent as they are. I applaud those 17 that voted for us to choose. They did what they were supposed to do, let us decide.

I agree with what you said about what they have done to Ms. Keach. She has more character and dignity than any of those county board members could ever hope to have and she obviously has much more integrity. She is someone that is actually working for us.

If she reads this, I say thank you for what you have done. You did what we elected you for. You have stood in there, where many would folded under that constant barrage of bs. You have shown us your character, as well as theirs.

Richard L. Costerisan said...

Thanks to you Lou for this factful and insightful article about the referendum, the Gazette, and the Rock County supervisors that blatantly choose to strip us of our Constitutional rights. Thanks also for your support for Jenifer Keach. I want to thank the authors of the above comments that support Jenifer as well. It is extremely difficult for her to conduct the business of the coroner's office while under such pressure. Yet, she prevails and fights back and keeps winning. She is a true champion.

Anonymous said...

I love this blog! The author should start his own TEA party "Democracy - Trashed Enough Already." Keep fighting the good fight. Great content - great music.

Anonymous said...

What an embarassment for LWV. Those who forfeit their voting rights for the perception of efficiency -- deserve neither.

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