As promised, I am writing a summary of my "candidate profiles" for the Village of Whitefish Bay’s April 1st election, with endorsements and rationale.
Without decent media coverage, nor any sort of public forum or debate between the candidates, I have tried to use this blog to fill the void by interviewing each candidate, asking the same set of questions, and allowing each to review and suggest edits of their stories in an abundance of fairness.
I hope this report is used as a tool for voters, instead of turning these important elections into popularity contests, based on who knows who, or the numbers of signs on lawns.
I spoke to most candidates for around an hour, and some for two and three, discussing their vision for Whitefish Bay. -- In short, I did your homework for you.
WHITEFISH BAY VILLAGE BOARD PRESIDENT
For a short time in January, Whitefish Bay had a race for Village Board President. DOUG WEAS had thrown his hat in to challenge two term incumbent KATIE PRITCHARD.
I interviewed Weas in January, and was impressed with one talent he brought to the table, namely, that he was a Real Estate Developer by trade, and had his sights set on helping the Village renew Silver Spring. I've written about the need for aggressive action on Silver Spring, and Weas had necessary skills. However. I had a feeling he hadn't quite realized the many other demands of being the Board President. This proved to be true when he withdrew from the race, 3 days after I published my story on his candidacy.
Prior to that withdrawal, I interviewed Katie Pritchard for over an hour. Pritchard has been a solid leader for Whitefish Bay and a quality steward for the Village. Before Weas' withdrawal from the race, I'd thought that if there were 50 elements you needed for Board President, Pritchard would be better on most of them.
That being said, I continue to take issue with Pritchard's reluctance to bombard WFB with communication about the Village's business. Pritchard herself has critically written that the Village has citizens who are uniformed about issues. Her stance is that the citizenry is responsible to seek out information on their own. This does not compute, especially with our pitiful media coverage.
PRITCHARD is a good choice to lead the village. She remains one of the three on the Board who tend to vote for more aggressive measures on Silver Spring, and thoughtfully handles the Village's business.
WHITEFISH BAY VILLAGE TRUSTEE - Top 2 Vote Getters - 3 Candidates
DAVID FEE is running for his second 3-year term, and was unopposed in 2005. I interviewed Fee for two hours. He is a man of substance, precision, and intelligence. He is conscientious and thoughtful.
My one concern with Fee is that he is too "risk-averse" when it comes to Silver Spring redevelopment. Don't get me wrong, Fee has well-thought arguments for his ideas on redevelopment, and one would be hard pressed to find flaw. Generally speaking, he aligns himself with the school of thought that TIF dollars should go for public improvements, like street-scaping, not for assisting individual businesses. He did, however, explain that he is open-minded, that if a great plan came along for a property on Silver Spring that had solid partners, that he could foresee himself supporting Village involvement.
But great plans are hard to come by. Silver Spring is far behind in the game, and, in football terms, needs to give up the running game, and start passing. We're at a point that we need to take on some risk, some gambles, to see improvement.
Fee is a solid friend of home-owners' rights and has a common sense approach to architectural and historical preservation rules.
FEE remains a solid choice. His thoughtfulness and analyitcal skills are needed. He has the background and solid talent to remain, and I endorse him for Village Board Trustee.
THOMAS FEHRING is running for his first term on the Board. Tom is a 34 year resident of Whitefish Bay, and has his undergrad and Masters Degree in Engineering from Marquette. Fehring is well spoken, has vision and intelligence, and would lead Whitefish Bay in a positive direction with a unique skill set.
Fehring has a background in engineering and project management. He is passionate about Silver Spring's renewal, and sees it as an urgent issue. When I first met him, we spoke for nearly three hours about the history of the district, and the need for partnership with businesses, to create a vibrant street. His desire to create an environment of flexibility is important to the survival of Silver Spring.
His other pet issue, near and dear to many meat-and-potato voters is infrastructure. Fehring has observed the deteriorated state of our roads, sewers, etc., and wants to see marked improvement.
Fehring has quality experience with the WFB Historic Preservation Commission and was recognized as "distinguished volunteer" by the Board in 2007. He's also served as a director for Dominican High School.
I highly recommend THOMAS FEHRING for Village Board Trustee. (campaign website link)
Julie Siegel is also running for Trustee. When I interviewed Siegel, I was extraordinarily troubled by her lack of specificity for every issue I asked her about, and others picked up on that. I believe candidates should have familiarity and opinions about the most important issues, and a solid vision of where they want to lead, before a campaign begins.
Siegel may still win, as she has a deep network in Whitefish Bay, a politically successful family, and has run a visible campaign. I commend anyone who raises their hand to volunteer, but Fee and Fehring are better choices.
WHITEFISH BAY MUNICIPAL JUDGE
There is also a Municipal Judge race between BOB PETERSON and PAUL CHRISTENSEN. We are lucky to have two high quality candidates for this position. Both are highly educated at great schools, (Peterson at Marquette and SLU Law, Christensen at Notre Dame and MU Law.) Not having had the opportunity to need a lawyer, I can't attest to their skills.
However, one component of the WFB Judge position is dealing with juveniles and their brushes with the law. I can attest to Paul Christensen's ability to relate to youth. Paul previously lived two doors down from me, and if I listen closely any summer night, I can still hear the echoes of him playing with his kids in his back yard. Note, I didn’t say I could hear his kids. It was Paul making most of the noise. Paul was also one of the first to welcome me to Whitefish Bay, nearly a decade ago.
I've seen Christensen hustling around the Village's homes, doing campaign lit drops and putting up signs like crazy.
I endorse PAUL CHRISTENSEN. I'm sure he'll do a great job as Whitefish Bay's judge.
WHITEFISH BAY SCHOOL BOARD
I wasn't going to make an endorsement in this race, because originally, two incumbents were running for two spots. However, this week, a write-in candidate has been circulating her name for the job.
In the newspaper article about this write-in's candidacy, her quotes stood out. "I don't think there is a place (in Whitefish Bay Schools) for people who say they want to go to Waukesha Tech .. the focus is too much on college .. There is something wrong when a community focused on children can't get its children to graduate." she said.
While diversity of education is important, Whitefish Bay is a college-prep system that graduates a whopping 99.06% of its students, where 94% go on to college, that also has significant resources dedicated to both ends of academic ability. It is crucial for our district to maintain these high academic expectations.
MARIE GRECO and JAMES PHILLIPS have done a fine job, and deserve re-election.
Summary:
President: PRITCHARD
Trustee: FEE, FEHRING
Judge: CHRISTENSEN
School Board: GRECO, PHILLIPS
