Kronenwetter's Unethical Mystery Tour

 

 An October 10 Wausau Pilot article talks about Kronenwetter admin James Davel's plan to revive once again the idea for an (ethics) "code of conduct"

   I guess I missed the part where there is even a need for something like this. It reminds me of what the Prophet Jeremiah said - "they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” Isn't that the current Kronenwetter government in a nutshell?

   What exactly has Davel accomplished in the past year that is good for the Village? Yet, here he is again stirring the pot of mischief and drama, and appearing to pursue more self-interest at Village reputational expense.

In my opinion, Davel calling for an ethics code and "ethics board" to supervise elected officials is like the pot calling the silverware black.

This item has nothing to do with legally defined ethics, which is already defined and enforced in State Statutes. What Davel is touting here a "Code of Conduct" which is a politically-based, arbitrary set of rules taken from a very liberal-left city of Green Bay, to selectively control personal conduct and freedom of speech of elected officials. The end result seems intended to impede the honest fulfillment of an elected person's oath of office. 

 

 The Obvious Not-so-Secret Plan

It seems so glaringly obvious to me that this is simply Davel's self-serving scheme of  as an employee and as a public figure to insulate himself as an administrator from criticism, regardless of potentially poor or unethical/dishonest performance. More importantly, he apparently also seeks here to provide himself with a weapon to hammer any trustee under the slightest of pretexts, whenever he decides to.

We commonly know this as "lawfare", or a form of "canceling". This "Code" idea appears to just be his attempt at creating a convenient, localized, version of it.

This is not really theory or conjecture, but an actual description of what Davel has already done to at least one Shawano County supervisor who was getting too close to the facts about Davel's allegedly illegal, unprofessional, and bullying tactics, which caused numerous women to resign and/or file complaints against him which were in turn basically ignored; allegedly due to his "connections" with the county chair. This is not exactly a secret, and is well documented.

In that Shawano case, it is reported that Davel incurred upwards of about $50,000 in legal fees with his "friends" at von Briesen & Roper law firm to persecute the supervisor, who had to pay for his own defense. 

   This code that Davel has shilled for almost since he was hired, appears to provide for the same lopsided scenario. Win or lose a case like this, the accused always loses because of the costs of this crooked system, and Davel seems all too willing to complain about anything and everything. We have already seen an example of his personal pettiness, by his frivolous complaint against me last February. The Board never even bothered to discuss it.

 

Selective "Service" 

You will notice that the code Davel's presents here, is only imposed against elected officials, not employees like Davel, who are apparently intended to get a free pass for anything they do. 

It appears that Davel is trying to consolidate his power over the Board with another obviously ill-advised, obviously weaponized, piece-of-garbage code.

The goal here seems to be to undermine representative form of government by encouraging milquetoast, obedient trustees who take instruction from the employees,  while hanging a constantarbitrary threat over anyone who asks too many questions or gets the idea to advocate first and foremost  for the elector/taxpayer's best interest and who expects employees to provide an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. 

In other words, staff may lie, misrepresent, or withhold information, which is not uncommon, but if a trustee calls out such conduct at a meeting, it violates the code. Making the trustee subject to fines and public shaming. 

  By this proposed system, trustees would obligated to work for the "organization", just as Davel has been preaching to the Board closed session, rather than working for the taxpayer/elector. Make no mistake, these are often two separate things.

Ambiguity as an Open Door 

"Poor behavior toward staff ", which the code forbids as punishable, is an extremely ambiguous term that can be construed literally any way an "Ethics Committee" chooses to. The alleged kangaroo hearing at Shawano against the supervisor, is an example of how biased and corrupt these local tribunals can get, which has apparently inspired Davel to install a similar system here.

It all boils down to this - An "Ethics Code" with an arbitrary, local "ethics board" is only as good as the ethics of that Board itself, and in Kronenwetter it appears to be a very bad bet. The fact is, that every single attempt  at imposing an arbitrary ethics code of any kind has been due to personally politicized ulterior motives and/or targeted individuals.

   In other words, "Ethics" is and always has been a cover story; a Trojan Horse to infiltrate and exert illegitimate and undue leverage over local government. After all, everyone saw what Wegner, Poyer, and Sorensen got. Who else wants to be abused and publicly pilloried like that for doing nothing wrong?

Whether it was Trustee Lesniak (among others on the Board) targeting Trustee Theresa Obrien in 2015, or Trustees Alex Vedvic and Kelly Coyle targeting myself and others in 2023-24, you will never separate honest objectivity from political and personal biases in a small community; particularly if the ethics board itself has no accountability for it's actions. 

  An ethics board becomes an unelected gang with inappropriate power over elected officials triggered by unrestricted interpretation of ambiguous, broad-brush terms in the code, while it answers to no one. It may act on opinions as if they were facts, and emotions as logic while treating some people different than others based on ideology and tribal conformity.

Anywhere but Here 

If you cannot see how Mr. Joling, Mr. Davel, and apparently complicit employees and Board members have demonstrated this abject lack of morals and justice to the Nth degree during the recent "investigation-turned-witch hunt", then I don't know what else to tell you.

  I could say the same about them invoking arbitrary summary judgment North Korean style, by firing an employee "with cause" but not telling him what the "cause" is, and without allowing for a chance to explain or defend himself. Does this sound like decent American ideals to you, or like a good place to set up an unaccountable "ethics board"?

    I could say the same about them conducting the public spectacle of a blatant, shameful sham of a sand pit appeal with even any pretense integrity or rule of law thrown out the window.

   I could say the same about the alleged back-room deals that gave the county everything, without even a shred of benefit or consideration for Kronenwetter taxpayers left holding the bag. 

And now, are we to believe that Davel appears like some virtuous  Angel of Light with his intolerable conceit and  unmitigated hypocrisy to "recommend an ethics code"? Seriously?

Let me ask - If you were an open minded, honest, rational thinking person, would YOU ever be interested in running for trustee in Kronenwetter, knowing that any non-conforming or critical opinions or solutions will risk the threat of retaliation by Davel and the minions of the Board?

   Probably not, and perhaps that is also part of the whole idea here. They appear to be setting up an extremely hostile environment  for clean, intelligent trustees.

A Taste of History 

In 2024 we agreed to establish an ethics board with the provision that all applicants would have no association or affiliation with current or past village officials or employees. In other words, an arms-length, unconflicted group similar to a jury.

    Guess what? Suddenly there was NO interest in any "ethics board". Objective honesty and an ethics board seem like opposite poles of a magnet. No rigged game =no interest in an ethics code.

Here are links to some of my posts regarding this perennial white elephant ethics issue. These reports have a ton of details, history and examples of what I am talking about in this article .

My Ethics Complaint to President Voll March 4, 2021 - No Reply

This is a summary of all the alleged malice and non-ethical motives behind the 2015 "Ethics Code"

https://kencharneskireport.blogspot.com/2023/05/my-ethics-complaint-to-president-voll.html

(Un)Ethics in Kronenwetter- Why was this report hidden from the public?

  https://kencharneskireport.blogspot.com/2023/05/unethics-in-kronenwetter-why-was-this.html

Ethics in Kronenwetter –the Real Issues March 28, 2023

https://kencharneskireport.blogspot.com/2023/03/ethics-in-kronenwetter-real-issues.html

   Here is what I consider to be an honest, legitimate code of conduct   that I consider worthy of the name.

https://kencharneski.blogspot.com/2026/10/a-new-old-idea-meaningful-code-of.html

In Shawano, Davel apparently somehow inveigled himself into the good graces of key people like the chairman of the county board, which in turn would afford him protection from accountability for the numerous antics that eventually led to three closed sessions to deal with "an employee issue". The last of which resulted in a motion to accept Davel's resignation. 

   Apparently when the Village hired him we were not told a truthful story about why he left Shawano. In fact there were a number of red flags with him in Chief McHugh's background check that were apparently never followed up on. It's too bad we Board members were never given a chance to see that report before we finalized the employment.

   Corruption? Tribal cronyism in Kronenwetter government? Don't be silly.

   Like Shawano, it appears that here in Kronenwetter, Davel  glommed right on to Prez Joling for the same kind shielding protection and abetting of his behavior that he reportedly got back home in Shawano.

    Once I saw Davel's disgraceful history at Shawano, it's almost like a mirror image of his behavior here in Kronenwetter, only here, he seems to have access to village funds to grease the various skids, and it appears a much more manipulable, subservient president and Board to support anything he does. The Shawano County supervisors seem to have woken up to the proverbial problem child. Will the Kronenwetter Board ever do the same?

Solutions? 

As we have seen with the apparent ongoing and wanton illegality, vindictiveness, immorality, dishonesty and plain old brainless behavior, etc, etc. during and following the "investigation ", it is my opinion that the LAST thing the village needs is a weaponized, virtue-signaling ethics code. 

   Some jail cells and personal lawsuits against those responsible sounds much more appropriate to me.

Having said all that, I do not see a brain or backbone on that Board of marionettes that might stand in the way of Davel's plans. I hope I'm wrong.