By Keene Winters

After having asked around, it seems like everyone has a hypochondriac in their life. It is that person who is visited by every malady known to man, who always has something to complain about, or who insists that every pain is a “ten.” It is an exhausting routine of exaggeration that at best precludes a solution and at worst invites medical interventions that may do more harm than good.

We have now reached a turning point in our politics in Wausau. We have started soliciting legal interventions that are likely to do more harm than good. The never-give-up and stick-it-to Mayor Doug Diny crowd has kicked their attacks into overdrive, and the community is going to pay a price for it.

It started with disregard for last year’s spring election and the disrespect of civil traditions that bring us together afterward. From the moment that Diny was elected, the resistance was on. Former Mayor Katie Rosenberg never called Diny to congratulate him on his victory. Instead, she made a public declaration that “we still have the council and the staff. This [election] changes nothing.” That statement was later echoed by Council President Lisa Rassmussen. And, we have been ramping up the vitriol ever since.

Right out of the gate, Diny’s proposal to begin implementing zero-based budgeting reviews of departments was met with vehement hostility. Diny selected the parks department as a starting place because it is an “odd duck.” Joint city-county parks departments are uncommon. Moreover, in its 50 years of existence, no neighboring city or village has seen any cost advantage in joining the structure. After a 50-year experiment, it was high time to gather data and reassess the pros and cons of this construct. It was time to study whether a flatter hierarchy with fewer middle managers and the same number of front-line workers could deliver the same or better services for less money—an entirely reasonable supposition.

What followed was an absolute freak-out by the anti-Diny council members. His proposal was roundly ridiculed. Parks and Recreation Chair Lou Larson called an emergency meeting of his committee, launched a scathing rebuke of the mayor, and declared the proposal dead on arrival.

Fast forward to today, and you will find the same stick-it-to-Diny crowd hyperventilating again. This time it will be to decry his board appointments and staff hires. Despite the fact that all of them are highly credentialed and distinguished members of the community, it is expected that the usual members of the council will find fault with them all for Diny’s sake.

Let’s not forget about the ongoing law-fare, where local supporters of the former Mayor Rosenberg on the city ethics board and a Madison liberal eyeing a run at the governor’s seat have conspired to bleed the Diny Family dry with never-ending legal costs—and, for an extra measure of spite, took away the precious phone pictures of their grandchildren, never to be seen again.

To be clear, the problems with this form of total warfare and vitriol without end is complete governmental paralysis and community decline. Who would want to work for Wausau? Who would want to risk the reputation built over a life-time to serve on a board or committee? Capable people will find other jobs. Capable people will find other ways to serve their community. Capable citizens will choose to live elsewhere, and conditions in Wausau will worsen. The political hypochondriacs offer no solutions, only destruction.

The ethics board has a choice. They can do the right thing and diffuse this cycle, or they can hurl us into a death spiral of recriminations and lawsuits. Reasonable people can disagree. One lawyer’s opinion is just that, one lawyer’s opinion until it goes to court. By statute, the mayor is the clerk’s supervisor. There is no logical way to conclude that a difference of opinion about unsettled law constitutes knowingly misappropriating powers that the mayor does not have.

Ten years ago, as an alderman, I fought hard to bring this community a referendum on hiring an at-will city administrator who would supervise at-will department heads. It was defeated. The winning side’s premise was that citizens could hold their government accountable by electing new mayors as needed.

Three mayors later, the truth should be abundantly clear; Wausau’s mayors cannot supervise anyone because they cannot fire anyone. The bureaucrats can and do openly disobey the mayor and hamstring him or her with costly legal challenges at every turn. The only way a Wausau mayor can have peace is if he or she agrees to shower the bureaucracy with ever greater gifts from the public purse.

Throw into the mix the political hypochondriacs whose goal remains to never concede the last election. They have staked-out such exaggerated and unreasonable positions that they cannot be reconciled. How can a person break bread with an opponent that he or she has repeatedly decried as a monster? And, if people cannot even get together for lunch, what can they get together on?

These are the wages of the politics of personal destruction—nothing but destruction. Wausau is and should be a wonderful place to live and work. But, we cannot expect that to hold up unless we fix our body politic with an infusion of measured realism. The ethics board has a chance to do that on April 30th by dismissing the complaint against Mayor Diny as the frivolous exaggeration that it is.

Impeaching a duly-elected mayor for moving a drop box would require rhetorically making a mountain out of a molehill. If that precedent gets set—if that becomes our yardstick—it is hard to see how we will get good people to take positions in city hall ever again. And, that’s not hyperbole.

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Keene Winters is a former Wausau city alderman. He is also a two-time winner of recognition from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for opinion page content.

Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email editor@wausaupilotandreview.com or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.

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Opinion: Reject political hypochondria