This article was published in the Mukwonago Chief on March 8th. One commenter after the article, MD1955, really doesn’t like me and has said some things that I feel need to be addressed. The parts in quotes below are from his/her comments. He/she is a little misinformed and puts out some outright lies. I know there are people out there like this in any community and I don’t get too worked up, but I hate it when there are lies about me floating out there. Plus, MD1955 is just downright misinformed about some issues, yet acts like an expert.
Here are some of the comments and my responses. Please post a comment here if anyone would like me to respond in any more detail. Remember, anyone is free to comment; I do not require you to register or login to comment.
“Mr. Doble, you up and left the fire department board and we still do not know why.” – I left the fire board because, in quite simple terms, it became clear members of the town board had a vendetta against me and were making up “issues” to discredit me. I think in my resignation letter I characterized them as “slanderous misstatements.” When it became clear that this board member would not back off and I would not be allowed to do the job I was appointed to do, I left. It really not that big of a secret or something I’m ashamed of. In retrospect, it might have been better for me to stay and much of the fighting and whatnot of the last two years might have been avoided. I’d much rather work in a positive direction that always fighting the establishment. We need to work on building stronger consensus in this community rather than always being on one side or the other. That’s why I enjoy working with Marilyn and Diane so much; we can disagree, but then discuss solutions that work for everyone.
“You have lied on several occasions on not being a part of the disgusting signs put up in Vernon.” – I assisted in putting up signs to encourage people to vote for Rodell Singert and write in Diane Herried. I did not have any part in any signs that you characterize as disgusting. I think you’re talking about Vince’s “Bird must go” sign. Nothing to do with me; everything to do with Vince feeling wronged by the town board over his building in Vernon. Were the Bird must go signs really “disgusting?” I didn’t think they were in good taste, and I told Vince so, but “disgusting” is a little strong; just my humble opinion.
“I will expect you to be at the forum! I will expect to see what you have in mind for the Town and this will be in public not by phone so later you can lie and say you didn't say that.” – I won’t be at the forum unfortunately. This forum was set up by Joe Reilly without consultation with Marilyn Gauger, Diane Herried or I. Marilyn has an engagement that night and I’m out of town. This is very unfortunate. May I suggest a forum the Wednesday before the election? I can check with ALL of the candidates to see if they are available.
Oh by the way, MD1955 I don't lie. You’ve said this a couple times. You AND Joe Reilly keep saying that. I've been wrong, I've said things that might not have come to pass, but I don't lie. [Side note: That’s actually why I like this blog so much, I can document my thoughts and opinions for all the world to see in advance of the events. My thoughts and opinions don’t conveniently change over time; they are documented there for the whole world to see.]
“Well, when change was happening you certainly made a big fuss- and that was good change, if you look at the outcome of the fire department.” – Even though the current board has put together a great department, we haven’t realized the long term costs yet. We traded in nearly $2m in equity to get $1.5m for a department that will most likely end up costing us more in the long run. Even if it doesn’t, just think of the money we would have saved if this much positive energy and effort was put into recreating a joint department with a new agreement.
“Also Mr. Doble, regarding the Vernon Citizens for Sensible Government; I believe you are the spokesman, Gauger is the secretary, and Vince Siegel is a major contributor.” – I belong to this group and helped to create it. I’m not the spokesman, but I just happen to be the most vocal. Yes, Vince donated the use of his signs. THANKS VINCE! Not only is Vince a client of mine, but a friend. He runs a very honest, clean business unlike many others in his line of work! Too bad Vernon pushed him out. ONCE AGAIN, when did business become so evil in this country? MD1955 you must be someone who worked for government all your life. I’m sorry to have to bring you to reality, but business is the engine that drives our economy, not government.
“It looks like you are the Village of Big Bend's representative/agent (documented on Siegel [name spelling corrected by mikedoble] annexation papers).” – You have a complete lack of understanding of annexation. I prepared documents for Vince to annex his land to Big Bend. In essence, I wrote a letter and petition for him to sign. This is the first step to request that a community evaluate a potential annexation. I have been working on Vince’s new building site for years and I lost revenue as well when Vernon changed their law to disallow Vince to use this building for its intended purpose. So, no, they didn’t stop him from building technically, but they did put rules in place that would not allow him to sell fireworks.
“I know you are a transplant from Florida and are not thoroughly educated on the Town's business.” – Why the negativity? I grew up the son of an US Army officer. We moved a lot. I’m proud of my background serving this county; first as a child (yes, military families serve too!), but then as an US Army officer myself. I’m sorry you think this is a negative. For the record, I lived in Florida for three years while in college. I am certainly not a transplant from Florida. Out of interest for all of you, here is where I have lived: Washington State, Korea, Georgia, Netherlands, Belgium, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Hawaii and now Vernon! In fact I have lived in Vernon since 1998, about 12 years, this is nearly three times as long as I have lived anyplace else. I love it here and am not planning on going anywhere. As to the town’s business, I know much more than you might think!
“You're the one that helped with the annexation and therefore, encouraged the board to look into the same. I hope what you have planned for the town of Vernon is better thought out than just selling the town out to Big Bend. You are all for businesses and that's exactly what Vernon citizens don't want.” – I really appreciate this comment because it gets to the heart of the issue. First of all, ONLY property owners, NOT consultants like me OR villages, can request to be annexed to a neighboring community. So, we should look very carefully at EVERY annexation to understand what might motivate a property owner to annex away from our community! Annexation is terrible for our town, and we must do everything we can to stop it! We stop it by taking away the property owner’s motivation to leave, because legally we can’t do anything to stop it. So we need to have laws, rules and a town board in place that recognizes this, then figure out what is so attractive about the neighboring communities. We can then keep properties in Vernon by having an environment that encourages property owners to stay! It’s quite simple. Helping Vince with his annexation broke my heart, but I wasn’t going to hide the fact that I prepared the documents; that would have been disingenuous.
Anyway my dear readers, thanks for reading along this far and hearing me out on these issues. Please pass on a link to this blog to your friends and neighbors. They need to see who I am and why I so strongly support Marilyn and Diane. Together the three of us can change the tone of the politics in this community.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
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Mike,
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if you are aware of the comment I posted in your last blog (March 3rd Town Board Meeting Comments)? My comment was dated Thursday, March 10th. MD1955 had a couple of comments in the chief some on the 10th & some on the 11th. The reasons I am pointing out the dates is if you read my comments, MD1955 is making me look like a Prophet:) Just like in my comment, to save time I’m just going to call MD1955… Let’s see….. How about… “Joe”. The killer is this; Joe really believes no one knows who he is. I wrote about feeling pity for him and I still do have pity for him, but, at this point he still deserves what is coming to him.
So, that being said,” Joe, I agree Rodell is worthless, I hear they have to feed him with a spoon and his meals are made in a blender, I hear he laughs every time he cashes his check(Towns Money) at the bank. I also heard he is also working on a secret plot with Heinemann & Fickau to over throw Vernon and gain world domination. Joe, I knew all of this before the last election and as far as I can tell, so did most of the people in Vernon and guess what; they still choose him over Mr. Reilly. I mean how bad of a person is Reilly?! So, Joe, you keep on making up more lies and half-truths and as you do, look around you. Notice how quiet the current boards support group is, notice how the last couple of election the numbers have change, notice the numbers for the last Poll taken, notice how the local papers (Comments & Reporters) are slanted in favor of the VRSG and against this current board, notice at meetings there are more people attending that are against the Board, then for them. Then Joe, just for fun take a look in the mirror and ask yourself “Could it possibly be me, am I the reason?”
First, I’m sorry that I have to ask someone to do my dirty work, as I need to remain anonymous. You see, I might be opening a business or looking to expand a current business or it could be that I am looking to apply for a hobby kennel permit and I do not want to be told NO and then get billed $3500 (Sorry, Mr. Meyer, I am not making fun of your situation) So far Mike & Marilyn cannot make the Forum, but they are allowing question from the Audience. If someone is attending here are a couple of questions which I would love to see them answer.
ReplyDeleteThese are intended for Mr. Bird.
First ask him “Where on the Fire Depts. Budget do you have to look to find the $500,000.00 that Big Bend has rip-off from us over the last several years?
I have looked at the budget and honestly do not see where this has happen. Since, he was the one who made the statement; he should be able to direct you to the exact line in the budget. The next couple of questions are important. First ask, what was the total amount of the appraisal for the Vernon/Big Bend Fire Dept. This is a number he should know off the top of his head as he was in charge of the Bidding Committee. Then ask: At the end of the Bidding, how much did everything we receive in the bidding process amount too? Do not let him bring up the $500,000.00 from Big Bend, you can add that later. Remind him that people do have copies of the Bidding Process. Then ask him why at a Town Hall Meeting we were told that we have all the Fire Vehicles we would need from the Bidding and then a week later they purchased 1 brand new Truck and 1 used one, what changed in one week?
For Mr. Craig, if you could ask him if he still stands by his comment that this is going to costs less than $50,000 and since it didn’t, what went wrong and how much does he figure it will cost when all is said and done? Also, ask about the “Bidding Strategy” Tom Bird said at the Town Budget Meeting that it was a Town Board Strategy (Check the tape) Did Mr. Craig attend this meeting? How did he Vote? Then ask him if it was even a LEGAL meeting, as Rodell was not aware or invited to this meeting, tell him there was no posting of this meeting, there was no agenda or minutes taken. Let’s see how far he is willing to go to save Bird. Because if he backs up this meeting, I’m sure it will not be hard finding somebody to report this to the D.A.