Thank you Jane and Brian
by Tony Palmeri
Two local incumbents lost their seats last Tuesday. Winnebago County Executive Jane Van De Hey was defeated in her bid for a third term. Oshkosh Common Councilor Brian Poeschl was defeated in his bid for a second. I will miss them both.
Jane might find it odd that I will miss her in office, since I have been openly critical of her performance on many occasions, often confronted her with aggressive questioning on the "Commentary" and "Eye on Oshkosh" television shows, and I even voted for John Daggett in this year's primary.
My problem with Jane had nothing to do with the red herrings raised against her by new County Exec Mark Harris and the Oshkosh Northwestern's hatchet thug Stew Rieckman. Those criticisms are by now familiar to most people reading this and so I won't bore (or dignify) via repetition.
My problem with Jane has always been that I've never perceived her to have the courage of her convictions. Talking to her one-on-one on many occasions, I always sensed in her a person with a deep sense of fairness, a real compassion for the less fortunate, and a genuine belief that government could make a positive difference in peoples' lives. And yet when she governed I rarely saw those convictions in action; perhaps she knew that the power of Realtors, the corporate press, and other special interests would ultimately conspire to defeat a reform agenda at the county level as they have been doing in the city of Oshkosh since 1956. Or maybe her "kitchen cabinet" of county stalwarts like former Register of Deeds Marge Dahms and her support from developers like Ben Ganther made a real reform agenda impossible. Who knows.
My disappointments aside, I predict history will be good to Jane Van De Hey. Long after her corporate media critics are forgotten (those who enable powerful special interests are rarely remembered beyond the time in which they live; we remember those who had the courage to speak truth to power), Jane will be remembered as someone who at least tried to crack the old boys' network that has ruled northeast Wisconsin for many decades. She is not a Jesse Jack Hooper, though her service honors the hopes of that late, great suffragette.
Future generations can draw some inspiration from the example of a woman who went from being a nurse to the county executive's office and did it via sheer hard work. She'll be remembered for being elected to a second term even though by the end of her first term she was subject to some of the most vicious and vindictive corporate media abuse ever leveled at a public official.
Had the Oshkosh Northwestern monitored former corrupt district attorney Joseph Paulus with even half of the verve with which they went after Van De Hey on literally every issue facing the county, many lives could have been saved from ruin.
Brian Poeschl is quite simply one of the kindest, most sincere, and honest human beings I have ever met. Carrying the wisdom of the south side working class, Poeschl in his brief time on the council refused to be bamboozled and bullied by the blinding lie of "progress" that according to the Oshkosh establishment is defined as that which benefits big developers first. Poeschl understood that progressivism in an American municipal context requires that government demand the wisest and most responsible use of public resources. I think after sitting on the council for a few months Brian became shocked and appalled at the special interest control of city hall, and like a true progressive he set out to learn as much as he could about how the system really works to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Reminds me of what writer Edward Doan said about the great progressive Robert LaFollette's early years in the House of Representatives.
LaFollette's service there "gave him a realization of the interconnection between political and economic domination and how the one was used to secure the other for the benefit of a few."
But alas, Robert LaFollette was a fierce campaigner who realized the only way to secure a progressive program in government was to outmaneuver the false progressives at every turn.
Brian Poeschl unfortunately did not campaign at that level (nor did any of the other "cobblestoner" candidates for that matter).
Thank you Jane and Brian for, in your own unique ways, trying to make ours a better community. I never agreed with you on all or maybe even most issues, but I never doubted your sincerity or your belief that you were doing the right thing for your constituents. Thank you for sticking to your guns even while being attacked in ways that were often as unfair as they were petty. You may have lost one election, but you've won the respect and admiration of people who understand that politics is a contact sport that requires taking some hits. At your best, you took the hits with courage and class. I thank you for that.
Two local incumbents lost their seats last Tuesday. Winnebago County Executive Jane Van De Hey was defeated in her bid for a third term. Oshkosh Common Councilor Brian Poeschl was defeated in his bid for a second. I will miss them both.
Jane might find it odd that I will miss her in office, since I have been openly critical of her performance on many occasions, often confronted her with aggressive questioning on the "Commentary" and "Eye on Oshkosh" television shows, and I even voted for John Daggett in this year's primary.
My problem with Jane had nothing to do with the red herrings raised against her by new County Exec Mark Harris and the Oshkosh Northwestern's hatchet thug Stew Rieckman. Those criticisms are by now familiar to most people reading this and so I won't bore (or dignify) via repetition.
My problem with Jane has always been that I've never perceived her to have the courage of her convictions. Talking to her one-on-one on many occasions, I always sensed in her a person with a deep sense of fairness, a real compassion for the less fortunate, and a genuine belief that government could make a positive difference in peoples' lives. And yet when she governed I rarely saw those convictions in action; perhaps she knew that the power of Realtors, the corporate press, and other special interests would ultimately conspire to defeat a reform agenda at the county level as they have been doing in the city of Oshkosh since 1956. Or maybe her "kitchen cabinet" of county stalwarts like former Register of Deeds Marge Dahms and her support from developers like Ben Ganther made a real reform agenda impossible. Who knows.
My disappointments aside, I predict history will be good to Jane Van De Hey. Long after her corporate media critics are forgotten (those who enable powerful special interests are rarely remembered beyond the time in which they live; we remember those who had the courage to speak truth to power), Jane will be remembered as someone who at least tried to crack the old boys' network that has ruled northeast Wisconsin for many decades. She is not a Jesse Jack Hooper, though her service honors the hopes of that late, great suffragette.
Future generations can draw some inspiration from the example of a woman who went from being a nurse to the county executive's office and did it via sheer hard work. She'll be remembered for being elected to a second term even though by the end of her first term she was subject to some of the most vicious and vindictive corporate media abuse ever leveled at a public official.
Had the Oshkosh Northwestern monitored former corrupt district attorney Joseph Paulus with even half of the verve with which they went after Van De Hey on literally every issue facing the county, many lives could have been saved from ruin.
Brian Poeschl is quite simply one of the kindest, most sincere, and honest human beings I have ever met. Carrying the wisdom of the south side working class, Poeschl in his brief time on the council refused to be bamboozled and bullied by the blinding lie of "progress" that according to the Oshkosh establishment is defined as that which benefits big developers first. Poeschl understood that progressivism in an American municipal context requires that government demand the wisest and most responsible use of public resources. I think after sitting on the council for a few months Brian became shocked and appalled at the special interest control of city hall, and like a true progressive he set out to learn as much as he could about how the system really works to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Reminds me of what writer Edward Doan said about the great progressive Robert LaFollette's early years in the House of Representatives.
LaFollette's service there "gave him a realization of the interconnection between political and economic domination and how the one was used to secure the other for the benefit of a few."
But alas, Robert LaFollette was a fierce campaigner who realized the only way to secure a progressive program in government was to outmaneuver the false progressives at every turn.
Brian Poeschl unfortunately did not campaign at that level (nor did any of the other "cobblestoner" candidates for that matter).
Thank you Jane and Brian for, in your own unique ways, trying to make ours a better community. I never agreed with you on all or maybe even most issues, but I never doubted your sincerity or your belief that you were doing the right thing for your constituents. Thank you for sticking to your guns even while being attacked in ways that were often as unfair as they were petty. You may have lost one election, but you've won the respect and admiration of people who understand that politics is a contact sport that requires taking some hits. At your best, you took the hits with courage and class. I thank you for that.
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 8:58 PM
<< Home