Mequon Mayor and Thiensville President Letter
Recall Letter Signed
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Mequon and Thiensville Voters
We urge you to vote for the school board incumbents in the upcoming recall election. We are all of the Mequon mayors who currently live in Mequon and a past president of Thiensville. One of us was a longtime Superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District and another a longtime school board member, both of whom served long before these disputes.
To the extent you disagree with actions of the school board, run for office and vote them out at the next election in April. Just do not use an extraordinary recall election.
We take no position as a group on the decisions of the school board, the individuals who are the subject of the recall election or the school policies involved. Among the six of us, there are conservatives and liberals, and we do not necessarily agree regarding all the issues the recall organizers have presented. We agree, however, that this is an inappropriate use of the recall process.
Recall elections are an important tool in a democracy. There must be a way for voters to remove elected officials who have used their office for personal gain, who have committed crimes, fraud or some other malfeasance or misconduct, or who unambiguously lied to achieve office.
There have been none of those allegations. Instead, the recall organizers have raised policy concerns. Policy differences, even those that are serious, should be resolved at regularly scheduled elections.
This recall sets a bad precedent. If recalls based on policy differences become customary, we run the risk of never-ending elections. Division and incivility will become even more normalized, and Mequon’s and Thiensville’s reputations will suffer. It will become impossible to attract candidates, and with respect to the school district, it will become difficult to hire employees.
The recall organizers could have made all the arguments they are now making before the school board elections this past April, yet they failed to do that. All of these arguments will still be available this coming spring at the time of the next regular school board election.
Each of us who was or is a Mequon mayor stayed out of school board politics while in office. We believe municipalities and schools should be separately and independently run. The current mayor is not speaking for the City and specifically is not taking a public position regarding any of the issues presented. Rather, we all object to the use of recall elections for these purposes.
Dan Abendroth
Mequon Mayor, 2013-2019
Christine Nuernberg
Mequon Mayor, 1998-2010
Member, M-T School Board, 1973-1991
Curt Gielow
Mequon Mayor, 2010-2013
Connie Pukaite
Mequon Mayor, 1986-1992
Karl Hertz
Thiensville President, 2006-2012
Superintendent, M-T School District, 1984-1996
John Wirth
Mequon Mayor, 2019-present