Well over a decade ago, Maryland Governor William Schaefer threatened political critics in an abusive way: he had Maryland employees take pictures of his opponents at rallies, etc., and sent those photos to them. So great was his sense of entitlement, so arrogant was his presumption of the use of his political authority, that he felt this conduct justified. It caused a great outcry, and Schaefer eventually met a bad end — he was defeated in a Democratic primary race for state comptroller after a string of remarks ridiculing women, non-English speakers, Koreans, residents of the Maryland eastern shore, and AIDS patients, among other groups.
He lived in contempt of many of his fellow citizens, and felt entitled to use public resources to intimidate his law-abiding political critics. Here’s what one of the targets of the photographs had to say to Schaefer, in reply: “”It doesn’t bother me,” she said. “It won’t stop me” from protesting. “In fact, it might make me protest sooner.”
Well said! No decent person should ever sacrifice the full rights of citizenship to an official who misuses his authority against political critics.
Could anything like that happen in Whitewater? Would anyone here — holding public office — ever ask municipal employees to observe, track, or identify political opponents? To do so would be a misuse of public office, a violation of the promises on the City of Whitewater’s website and in other publications, and actionable under Wisconsin law.
It happened in Maryland, but could it happen here?