09/29/2017
It seems that last nights board meeting has generated some interest in what the county board does. Here is an explanation of why I chose to not vote on the resolution last night.
I did leave the room for the vote on res-195, a resolution that was, on the face of it, intended to deal with white supremacy and Neo- N***s.
First let me clearly state that I am against all kinds of racism and violence, including the K*K and Neo-N***s. That includes violence on the streets in Dane county as well as at any rally, permitted or not. This resolution dealt ONLY with condemning the violence in Charlottesville. If we are going to spend time on a resolution about violence we need to start with Dane County, and then perhaps we could include all violence.
Furthermore, the resolution goes on to state that “the County Board stands in unity with all of its fellow constituents against racism, anti-Semitism, bigotry and hate,…” I believe that the board is not king and queen of the County and that we may state what we think as a board, but have NO RIGHT to make a statement of that kind for ALL of our fellow constituents. As stated by Supervisor Ripp “people in this country have a right to think and say what they want. Even if that includes people I consider nut cases whether they are liberal or conservative, Black or White. ”
Now, let’s get to the rest of the story. Why was this even brought up? The resolution does nothing. It creates no ordinances, nor even asks for any kind of action. I have left the room before when I felt that a resolution was a waste of taxpayer’s time. I believe that the Dane County Board needs to spend their time on the immediate issues facing Dane County, not making political statements to help the sponsors in future elections.
