my public input addressing corruption in Kronenwetter government

 Below is my public input that I used as a means to address an issue. I mention several documents that were quietly handed out by Mr. Downey at the meeting.

 

Public Input for the 3/22/22 Village Board meeting.

    This is about the March 7 meeting and the effort to remove a committee member.

    I find it interesting that there was no packet report on this item – no explanation, no definition of charges, no victims – nothing. There was not even any complaints or so-called evidence posted in the packet. I'd like to see those 4 documents that were handed to the Board, presumably as evidence, to be retro-actively added to that information packet so the public can see what it is that Mr. Lesniak, Voll, and Downey based this action on.

     One was an anonymous complaint. I completely refuted the second complaint from December of 2020 as being obviously hysterical, and of having no credibility whatsoever. This debunking is called “exculpatory evidence” and you were well aware of this fact, but did not include that information along with your documents. I'll provide those emails to be added to the packet as well, for the public to see.

    Mr. Voll's two complaints were absurd on their face; overblown stretches at best. Neither one having evidence that was anywhere near being justifiable.

    President Voll holds one public official, Mr. Jaeger, to some arbitrary standard of conduct on one hand, while defending the behavior of another public official, Mr. Downey, for publicly disparaging Village Board, telling fantastic lies about a board member, and expressing his complete disdain for conservative values and Trump supporters.

When I complained about Mr. Downey's conduct, President Voll said in an email on Oct 28

“ We do not talk about personal issues... Discussions about employees personal time and activities are not anyone’s concern... Either everyone is accountable for what they do on personal time or no one is. People can’t have it both ways.”

    But now, you are trying to have it both ways. The hypocrisy and double standard here is obvious.

    So it is no surprise that Mr. Voll and Lesniak were the only two on this Board to vote in favor their own attack on another public official.

   In the past year or so, I have provided the president three or four completely documented complaints against Administrator Downey for ethics violations and numerous acts of misconduct, and invoking the President's duty under Wisconsin Statute 61.24 to deal with the matter. What was done with them? Nothing.

    In the past few months, Mr. Jaeger submitted two complaints against Mr. Downey for various reasons, and one against another committee member for a conflict of interest issue. All three complaints had some merit, but what was done with them? Again, nothing of substance. Instead he received scorn, harassment, and now this retaliation that we all witnessed at the last meeting.

    This huge double standard makes it obvious to me that the effort against Mr Jaeger was not really about anyone's safety or mental comfort, but rather were excuses used to thinly veil political motivation to punish Mr Jaeger for his persistent inquiries and investigation into the financial records of this Village, and to intimidate him into silence from proceeding with his most recent complaint.

    When government officials fail to address legitimate complaints, but instead use their positions of trust to attack those who criticize government through these complaints, I think that this is not only unethical, but a hallmark of corruption. Concealing exculpatory evidence is another sign of corruption and malicious intent.

    I believe that harassment of someone for exercising a right and performing a civic duty, has a chilling effect on anyone else who might consider filing a complaint with this Village. Is that what we want to be known for?

    Those who file an official complaint with the government become a witness to follow through with that complaint. Attempting to intimidate a witness violates Wisconsin statute 940.42. This is a Class A misdemeanor, and when two or more people get together in the effort, it happens to be a felony.

    I think your obvious attempt to railroad Mr. Jaeger out of office was an embarrassment to this community. This is a very serious matter, and I think we have a problem here.

I request that this entire input be transcribed into the minutes.

Ken Charneski