Column: Perhaps if there is no useful purpose for it, just let it go

By Dan Kontos

My wife is always chiding me because I have a tendency to hang on to things “just in case I need it.” I may not have a use for it right then and there, but you never know. Sometimes I am vindicated, but usually not.

Government is kind of like that, but not quite exactly. They accumulate power, not necessarily stuff in the garage and basement. The famous author and abolitionist Frederick Douglass once said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Is the County Board guilty of that?

For a little history, prior to 2005, Portage County was run by the County Board of Supervisors (i.e., County Board) which exercised both legislative and executive authority. Twenty-nine representatives (later changed to 25) were elected by the voters, organized into nearly three dozen committees that wielded political power over the County of Portage.

This administrative behemoth was not unlike a massive cruise ship. Large, complex, hard to change direction, relatively slow, and commanded by one person at the helm with a small team to assist. The County Board Chairman also served as the county administrator, and the departments of the County reported directly to the Board.

Come 2005, voters approved a referendum to strip the executive power from the County Board, and vest it in the newly created County Executive. Department heads would now report to this new position, not the County Board.

Supervisors would no longer hold executive power and would be limited to legislative authority and oversight. This was a change that some supervisors still do not fully understand. It was at times a hard and painful habit to break.

In 2018, the County Board elected Al Haga as its new chair. One of Haga’s goals was to slim down the vast and complex body he now managed. This was unheard of in recent memory. He was successful in eliminating six of the committees, and one more died due to a change in state law. This reduced the board to 27 committees, boards, and commissions, 17 of which are required by state law, as well as seven other joint committees and liaisons. It’s still like a cruise ship, just a bit smaller.

The newest committee is the Diversity Affairs and Inclusiveness Committee. In October of 2018, the County Board was approached with the claim that county government needed to address giving a voice to marginalized residents and help boost the local economy. Just how was this to be accomplished? No one could say with any specificity, but the need was urgent, and only by expanding government can people be saved. In an unprecedented era of actually downsizing government, the call was to reverse direction, all without a clear goal or path.

Diversity committees were all the rage at the time. Stevens Point, Wausau, and Marathon County all struggled with balancing the growth of government without a well-defined purpose, in a desperate attempt to appear to be “inclusive.”

During a 2018 meeting, Haga asked Supervisor Meleesa Johnson, a proponent of this new expansion, how the committee would achieve the stated goals, as nebulous as they were. She simply replied, “You have to let the committee chart its course. Sometimes these things have to be driven by the committee.”

Oh, the old trust us and we’ll figure it out later plan. Right.

While there was no clear-cut purpose or mission, the county board was cowed into approving the formation of the Committee. There was much hedging of their yes votes, with plenty of comments like let’s see what happens. Privately, supervisors would say that they were not really in favor, but didn’t want to be labeled as a racist, bigot, or something else. You know—the same old tired play.

To date, we have yet to see anything solid and productive that has come out of this Committee. Their only accomplishments so far have been to propose virtue signaling resolutions that did more to divide the community than to unite it. But unity was never the goal, was it? It was to show their fidelity to the cult of wokeness.

Need proof? Enter newly elected County Executive John Pavelski. Filling several citizen-member vacancies, Pavelski appointed four community members to the Committee, not based merely on the color of their skin or pairing of chromosomes, but by interpreting diversity based on peoples’ backgrounds and experiences.

Instead of the usual groups, Pavelski selected what he described as among the most marginalized and underrepresented people in the County. A single mother, someone who battled with addiction, someone who knew what it was like to be poor, and someone who had struggled with the law now exemplified underrepresented and marginalized communities. This did not sit well with the self-proclaimed guardians of inclusiveness.

Now that these new members have joined, there has been a shift in the direction of the group. You may have attended the September 8 committee meeting, or watched the video, where discussion topics ranged across the issues of homelessness, mental health, crime and justice, veteran services, and lack of housing and transportation. All laudable issues, but all issues covered by one of the other twenty-eight committees of the County. Clearly, this Committee, as described on September 12 by the Metro Wire, was grappling for a purpose.

With a four-year history of doing nothing concrete, now struggling to even find a goal, I can’t help but ask, why does this committee still exist? I say it’s time to address the issues raised in their last meeting with the remainder of the Board and dissolve this group. I would thank those who were willing to serve—but concede that this experiment just didn’t work out. It’s time to once again shrink government.

I remind the County Board that it’s OK to admit a mistake. I know, I’ve made plenty of them myself.

So, with that, let’s meet in the opinion section to talk about all of it, boldly, honestly, and with a healthy respect for each other. Remember, inclusiveness means respecting your opinions too.

Until then, God bless.

Dan Kontos lives with his family in Whiting.