Trouble right here in Jefferson, with a Capital T
and that rhymes with D and that stands for Dave
Well, a sympathetic post Tuesday about my old friend Dave Olsen certainly has stirred the pot.
Olsen is the Jefferson alderman who faces a recall after voting against annexation to clear the way for a Wal-Mart superstore.
I've known him for 17 years, and I don't think I've ever known anyone who didn't like him. Now I do.
It turns out there are at least a couple of people in Jefferson who think he's the devil. Maybe even literally.
One of them is John Foust, whose resume says he's an entrepreneur and Internet guy who "works well independently and remotely." It doesn't say whether he plays well with others. But he loathes Olsen and can rant about him for thousands of words, as evidenced by comments on this blog and Brian Christianson's Free Will blog, which also made the mistake of saying something positive about Olsen and less than positive about Wal-Mart. Free Will gives Jefferson John a little exposure here.
Among other pursuits, Foust is the president of GoJefferson.com, which bills itself as "The Center of the Internet in Jefferson County, Wis." That makes him the editor of a sort-of online newspaper and the unelected savior of the Jefferson area, although he doesn't actually live in Jefferson. [Update: Foust says in a comment to this post that he does live in Jefferson, although his resume didn't show that.]But that still leaves him plenty of time to trash Olsen, for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. (I expect he will explain in another comment.)
Meanwhile, another party heard from was the candidate who lost the Jefferson mayor's race by three votes a year ago, who also has a blog, called Forward Jefferson. He says he's "staying above the fray." Good luck.
I'm not going to get into a point-by-point debate with Foust about Olsen. He claims to have hundreds of documents showing Olsen's a bad guy. It is hard for me to understand, if Olsen is Darth Vader, how he got the most votes of the four aldermen elected to the council just 16 months ago. There is an explanation -- no one ran against him. Why on earth would John Foust and the good people of Jefferson elect Darth Vader to the city council unopposed? Foust says Olsen's been an outlaw for years, but he was elected by acclamation?
The other thing that doesn't ring true is Foust's insistence that Wal-Mart's not behind the recall. I don't think John Walton is lying awake nights thinking about how to get even with Dave Olsen. (He leaves that to Foust). But the recall clearly is about the Wal-Mart vote and not about some open meeting violation, real or imagined (as Paul Bucher might say). The same woman who headed the pro-Wal-Mart citizen's group is leading the recall effort. She may not be taking orders from Wal-Mart headquarters, but let's not pretend this vote is about something else.
Foust asks why Wal-Mart would bother to recall Olsen when he has to run next April anyway. You might wonder why the citizens group doesn't just wait until April and try to beat him. My guess it's because with Olsen gone and a Wal-Mart backer in his place, Wal-Mart will be back knocking on the council's door this fall. And this time, if Olsen loses, there won't be anyone to yield his time to the opponents. It will be a railroad job.
If you'd like to help David beat Goliath, send a campaign contribution to Olsen for Alderman, 117 E. Dodge St., Jefferson WI 53549. Or if you want to volunteer to help Olsen in other ways -- phones, door-to-door, literature drops, whatever -- you can e-mail him at olsen@jefnet.com
On a related note, Wal-Mart is running into more than a little resistance in New York City, as the Village Voice reports.
posted by xoff @ 8:20 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
My resume needs an update. Fixed. I moved back into Jefferson in June 2003, a stone's throw from both City Hall and Olsen's compound. "Plays well with others"? Professionally, or personally and politically? If you can't find someone or something to rail against, you're not living. But please, continue with the ad hominem if you think it helps.
And if you want to skip the point-by-point debate, then at least please skip to the gross generalizations. Base them on representative research of Olsen's reputation, as opposed to just talking to Olsen. Start in Jefferson at City Hall. Call the Mayor, City Admin, the rest of the Council. Call the Chamber of Commerce and the members of the Boards he once served. Call members of the local tourism groups, call the state tourism Council. Call your buddies in Kohl's and Doyle's offices. Chat off the record. Get back to us with your overall impression. No need to reveal quotes or anecdotes, just give us your measured impression to see if Olsen indeed wears a halo or a Dark Helmet.
Olsen's election results are easy to explain if you understand small-town politics. One, he had name recognition from his family's funeral business. Two, he did a lot of handshaking during his well-padded years at the Chamber/CIA/JDC, his picture was in the paper every other week for years welcoming some new Chamber member, and everybody likes a nice guy - at least until proven otherwise. Experience-free certified kooks have won elections in Jefferson County strictly on the basis of having the same last name as other well-liked officials.
There's no conspiracy and no contradiction here. A few write-in candidates did run against Olsen, but we all know how hard it is to win a race like that. The real numbers were Olsen 776, incumbent Coffman 549, van Lieshout 359, Howard 123, Other 69, so Olsen and Coffman took the two at-large seats. The only person who finds a mandate or significance in these numbers is Dave Olsen. Let's talk about his record. (And as any Star Wars fan knows, Darth Vader was generally well-liked throughout the Galaxy. It was only those rag-tag Rebels who opposed him.)
As for Wal-Mart, I remain confident they are very, very good at handling small towns where they want to build. There's no need for them to get involved in such petty issues. The debate will burn bright and fade on its own accord. This - and when I say "this", I mean to include your blog posts to help spin and shill for a political acquaintance in his time of need - is all a distraction manufactured by Olsen to gain sympathy, gain anti-W-M votes, and distract from his record.
After all, the other half of the recall group's excuse was "he hasn't acted in the best interests of Jefferson." It's not as easy to debate as an Open Meetings violation, but for heaven's sake, we can't ignore Olsen's history if we are indeed seeking the truth about why 1,000 people signed a petition for a chance to recall him.
I'm not here to defend the recall effort. Of course they're motivated by their desire for a Wal-Mart. I think their clear lack of strategy, tactics and organization should be perfect proof that no professionals were involved. Are we arguing semantics here? When someone says "Wal-Mart is behind the recall petition" I take it to mean they believe Wal-Mart Corp. is actively involved. It's only Olsen who's claiming (without proof) that Wal-Mart reps brought out the carrot and stick.
I actually declined to sign the petition to recall Olsen. I stand by my "In Defense Of Ald. Olsen" story. I predict that if re-elected, Olsen will reverse his position on Wal-Mart due to miniscule changes in location or size.
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