Oshkosh city attorney still refuses to admit he was wrong, despite state AG's ruling to the contrary
According to a piece posted earlier tonight on the Oshkosh News site, City Attorney Warren Kraft has said that the Attorney General's Office opinion that the Oshkosh Common Council violated the state’s Open Meeting law concerning the Five Rivers project is based on a view of what the AG's office wants the Open Meeting law to be, rather than based on what the law currently provides. The story goes on to say that “In a Nov. 10, 2006 memorandum to City Manager Richard Wollangk that is included in the city manager's weekly newsletter, Kraft writes that his recommendation would not change since the current law permits the type of notice used for the Feb. 14 closed meeting and permits the twin subjects discussed in that session.” Clearly that is NOT the case according to the Attorney General’s office. So do we take Mr. Kraft’s memo to mean that as long as he is our city attorney business will continue as usual at City Hall and that Kraft himself has learned nothing from this most recent complaint filed against the city?
I like Warren Kraft as a person and believe him to be a fine and upstanding man. But, like many in this community, I have begun to question his competence as a city attorney and think perhaps there needs to be some kind of action taken by the city manager. After all, there have been a number of recommendations he has made and/or work that he and his office have done in the last few years which have either been called into question or just been flat out wrong. I would hate to think that this kind of inferior work product is acceptable to city manager Richard Wollangk. How many times do you have to be told - or in some cases, proven - you’re wrong before you admit you made a mistake? Apparently in Warren Kraft’s case it’s at least one more time, and even then, I wonder if he would admit he screwed up.
Kraft’s attitude and response to the Attorney General’s office determination about the illegal closed session meeting is one that exudes arrogance and should not be tolerated by anyone, least of all our city manager. His attitude is disturbing on two levels: First, he was told by the AG’s office that the meeting did not comply with the Open Meetings law because some of the subject matter discussed did not fall within the scope of what can be discussed in closed session; yet Kraft insists it can be and continues to maintain that everything about that meeting was fine. The second disturbing thing is Kraft’s insistence on picking and choosing which things from the AG’s office he’s going to have the city follow and which ones he isn’t; or better yet, which laws he is going to have the city follow and which ones he isn’t. It has seemed for some time now that he follows the AG’s guidelines when it suits the city or one of its administration; but if it doesn't, he falls back on his stock phrase of “It’s only an opinion.” He cannot have it both ways and I would hope that more city councilors than just Paul Esslinger (who, as has been stated several times in the past, did not attend the meeting) will realize that we cannot pick and choose which laws we’re going to follow and which laws we’re not.
When the decision of the AG’s office was released the other day I wrote that I hoped the “Common Council, city manager, city attorney and other department heads at City Hall will use this determination (and the past one concerning the no-bid contract for the bathrooms at the Leach Amphitheater) to actually learn something and approach it, not with arrogance or smugness, but with a willingness to do better in the future and act more judiciously where taxpayers and their dollars are concerned, even if that means erring on the side of caution.” It seems like that is not to be in the case of Mr. Kraft. Indeed, in typical lawyer fashion, the wording of Mr. Kraft's memo to the city manager seems to suggest that he has gone out of his way to find any legal loophole that will justify the law having been broken by the Common Council's actions on Feb. 14.
Let’s hope those who attended this illegal meeting (including former councilor Frank Tower) have a little more common-sense and humility about them and start to use the moral compass and brains the good Lord gave them when they make decisions in the future which affect our community. If not, they can rest assured people like me and Tony Palmeri, and other media like the Oshkosh Northwestern, will be right there to hold their feet to the fire and file another complaint. And even though no one will be prosecuted this time, I would hope that if too much of a pattern of illegal activity develops, the AG’s office would feel compelled to do something. Absent that, perhaps the law should be changed so it can't so easily be broken without penalty or prosecution, and the AG's office should give Warren Kraft a refresher course in the law, just as he regularly gives such refreshers to council members and city board participants. It seems that would be appropriate given his response to the AG's opinion this past week and all the city attorney's office "missteps" of the last couple of years.
But, no matter what, one thing remains crystal clear: until changes are made somewhere, we, the people, continue to lose and those in government can continue to find loopholes with which to break the law.
I like Warren Kraft as a person and believe him to be a fine and upstanding man. But, like many in this community, I have begun to question his competence as a city attorney and think perhaps there needs to be some kind of action taken by the city manager. After all, there have been a number of recommendations he has made and/or work that he and his office have done in the last few years which have either been called into question or just been flat out wrong. I would hate to think that this kind of inferior work product is acceptable to city manager Richard Wollangk. How many times do you have to be told - or in some cases, proven - you’re wrong before you admit you made a mistake? Apparently in Warren Kraft’s case it’s at least one more time, and even then, I wonder if he would admit he screwed up.
Kraft’s attitude and response to the Attorney General’s office determination about the illegal closed session meeting is one that exudes arrogance and should not be tolerated by anyone, least of all our city manager. His attitude is disturbing on two levels: First, he was told by the AG’s office that the meeting did not comply with the Open Meetings law because some of the subject matter discussed did not fall within the scope of what can be discussed in closed session; yet Kraft insists it can be and continues to maintain that everything about that meeting was fine. The second disturbing thing is Kraft’s insistence on picking and choosing which things from the AG’s office he’s going to have the city follow and which ones he isn’t; or better yet, which laws he is going to have the city follow and which ones he isn’t. It has seemed for some time now that he follows the AG’s guidelines when it suits the city or one of its administration; but if it doesn't, he falls back on his stock phrase of “It’s only an opinion.” He cannot have it both ways and I would hope that more city councilors than just Paul Esslinger (who, as has been stated several times in the past, did not attend the meeting) will realize that we cannot pick and choose which laws we’re going to follow and which laws we’re not.
When the decision of the AG’s office was released the other day I wrote that I hoped the “Common Council, city manager, city attorney and other department heads at City Hall will use this determination (and the past one concerning the no-bid contract for the bathrooms at the Leach Amphitheater) to actually learn something and approach it, not with arrogance or smugness, but with a willingness to do better in the future and act more judiciously where taxpayers and their dollars are concerned, even if that means erring on the side of caution.” It seems like that is not to be in the case of Mr. Kraft. Indeed, in typical lawyer fashion, the wording of Mr. Kraft's memo to the city manager seems to suggest that he has gone out of his way to find any legal loophole that will justify the law having been broken by the Common Council's actions on Feb. 14.
Let’s hope those who attended this illegal meeting (including former councilor Frank Tower) have a little more common-sense and humility about them and start to use the moral compass and brains the good Lord gave them when they make decisions in the future which affect our community. If not, they can rest assured people like me and Tony Palmeri, and other media like the Oshkosh Northwestern, will be right there to hold their feet to the fire and file another complaint. And even though no one will be prosecuted this time, I would hope that if too much of a pattern of illegal activity develops, the AG’s office would feel compelled to do something. Absent that, perhaps the law should be changed so it can't so easily be broken without penalty or prosecution, and the AG's office should give Warren Kraft a refresher course in the law, just as he regularly gives such refreshers to council members and city board participants. It seems that would be appropriate given his response to the AG's opinion this past week and all the city attorney's office "missteps" of the last couple of years.
But, no matter what, one thing remains crystal clear: until changes are made somewhere, we, the people, continue to lose and those in government can continue to find loopholes with which to break the law.
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 12:24 AM
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