by Tony Palmeri
December 31, 2001
Near or on the last day of a year, the mainstream press that has provided mostly vapid, insipid, and vacuous (VIV) coverage of the past 364 days now tells us what were the "highlights" of that period in similar VIV fashion. See Oshkosh Northwestern Executive Editor Stew Rieckman's column of December 30, 2001 for a good example. Stew still persists in framing Oshkosh Mayor Jon Dell'Antonia's directive to City Attorney Warren Kraft to "nail to the cross" an individual whose website he didn't like as a kind of aw shucks, "I wish I hadn't said that" matter. This is the same kind of sweeping under the rug of the dirty deeds of the powerful that gave us in the early 1970s the argument in some circles that "Nixon's major mistake was that he didn't burn the tapes."
For me, the best American journalism is that in the "muckraking" tradition of the first decade of the 20th century. The writings of Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, and many others were the opposite of vapid, insipid, and vacuous. Indeed, these writers sent a chill up the spine of the powerful, helping to set the path for major progressive reforms.
The muckraking tradition exists in a variety of forms today; here in Wisconsin the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy are solidly in the tradition. Muckraking takes lots of research time, a little bit of guts, and some level of financial resources. Since "Commentary" has no research assistance, is too mainstream to be called gutsy in the Tarbell/Sinclair sense, and has a zero budget, the best we can be at this point is part-time muckrakers. But in a county like Winnebago, where a narrow group of well-connected individuals "call the shots" at virtually every level of power (almost like what you would see in a banana republic), part time muckraking is better than none, I suppose.
So here (in no particular order) are the top stories of 2001 from a part-time muckraking perspective:
*Feingold Defends Civil Liberties: While most politicians in Washington were willing to discard the Constitution in the aftermath of 9/11, Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold took a principled and courageous stand in support of freedom. In February of 2001 I had the good fortune to attend and report on a Feingold Listening Session in Omro.
*Van De Hey's Vote Of No Confidence: Winnebago County Executive Jane Van De Hey, a thorn in the side of the old boys dominating local government and media, won reelection narrowly against challenger Charlene Lowe. Still, Commentary reporter Dan Rylance discovered that Van De Hey does not have the confidence of the County Board of Supervisors, even among those not part of the old boy network.
*Old Boys Support "Quality of Life" In Algoma: Speaking of County Old Boys, most of whom express a belief in "natural market forces" to justify economic development that screws the little people, well these old boys done had a "quality of life" wake up call in 2001. Seems that a proposal to put an Ethanol plant in their Town of Algoma backyard got them thinking that maybe the "natural market forces" weren't as natural as they thought. See the story here.
*Wal-Mart Superstore Comes To Town With No Council Discussion: Soon Winnebago County is going to be in the absurd position of having two Wal-Mart Superstores (one in Oshkosh, one in Neenah) about 15 miles apart from each other. One expects the Oshkosh Common Council to act in the interests of wealthy out of town developers, but what the heck were they thinking in Neenah--a city that spent years reviving its downtown? Anyway, the Oshkosh store is only possible because the Common Council refused to consider the consequences of changing the zoning on Washburn St., as reported here. Even the Oshkosh Northwestern's business page editor Sean Fitzgerald could not help but comment on the absurdity of the Council's actions.
*Jackson St. Fiasco: In 2001 the Wisconsin Department of Transportation finally succeeded in destroying a historic Oshkosh neighborhood, placing a 4-lane highway through several blocks of beautiful old homes. I decided the only way to deal with the travesty was through satire.
*UW Joins The Schmooze Circuit: As reported in My UW Day Experience.
*Bill Clinton's Final Sell-Out: Remember all the hoopla about the Clinton pardons early in 2001? The pardons were a travesty, yes, but the biggest travesty was the pardon that Clinton did not grant.
*The Walter Pagel Whitewash: After a year of "investigation," Milwaukee prosecutor Robert Donohoo provided a textbook example of how to conduct a whitewash. Milwaukee's Shepherd Express had the best reporting on the event, while I had a horrible conversation with Donohoo and once again decided that satire was probably the best route to take.
*Unions Come to Life in Oshkosh: The report of the death of organized labor in Oshkosh has been greatly exaggerated. UW Oshkosh food workers and workers at Lapham-Hickey showed the labor spirit is still alive. The Lapham-Hickey workers voted in March to unionize in the face of hostile opposition from management.
*Chamber Defeated In Recount: The Chamber of Commerce candidate for Oshkosh Common Council, Frank Tower, lost to Shirley Brabender Mattox in a recount in April. Dan Rylance and I delivered a statement on the first day of the recount asking for a full hand recount. Unfortunately, Shirley has so far turned out to be not much different than Tower would have been, voting with the Chamber majority on virtually every major issue.
*Welcome to the New World Order: This AP Photo of a murdered protester at the "G8" Summit meeting in Genoa pretty much sums things up, doesn't it? Matt Rothschild spoke at the Fox Valley Civil Liberties Union annual dinner in 2001, and gave a stirring speech on globalization.
*The Caucus Scandal: Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala and Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen appear intent on completely destroying whatever little is left of the state's progressive tradition. In 2001 I argued that they need to go, and soon.
*The 100 Block Fiasco: In the "how not to redevelop a downtown" category, we have the case of the 100 block of North Main St. I pleaded to no avail with the Council to hold a summit and advisory referendum on the block. Perhaps if I were an heir of Sam Walton I would have had more success. Regardless, when Councilors Melanie Bloechl and Paul Esslinger appeared on Commentary a short time after the 100 block vote, it became clear to me that the Council had absolutely no idea as to state statutes governing closed sessions of elected bodies, so I asked the District Attorney to look into it. The DA decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute--no surprise there--but he did chastise the Council for their failure to keep records of closed sessions.
*The Concert of the Year: Holly Near, a folk singer who has inspired millions of people worldwide for more than 30 years, appeared at UW Fond du Lac.
*UW Oshkosh Student Joins Stop The Bombs Campaign: Bob Poeschl, a UW Oshkosh Student, became a full time intern for the Oak Ridge Enviornmental Peace Alliance (OREPA) in 2001. OREPA seeks to halt nuclear weapons production in the United States, employing civil disobedience tactics in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. See the Stop The Bombs website for more information.
*School Board Follies: We are still saddled with an Indian Logo at Oshkosh West, while the Oshkosh Northwestern treats the school Superintendent the way they should be treating the Mayor and City Manager. Mr. Rieckman in his December 30 column called Oshkosh City Manager Dick Wollangk the city's "Most Patient Person." Hell, at least Wollangk and Mayor Jon Dell'Antonia can count on the Northwestern to obfuscate, make excuses, and advocate on their behalf. Heilmann can't even write a memo to the school board without getting beat up by the Gannet Gang!
*O'Malley Town Hall: I had the good fortune of attending and covering former Oshkosh Common Councilor Matt O'Malley's last town hall meeting before he left Oshkosh. The "serious" media in town argue with a straight face that the town hall is not "news." Huh?
*Mayor D and the Silent Six: The 2000-2001 Oshkosh Common Council will be remembered, at least in my book, as the Council that not only allowed in a Wal-Mart Superstore with no public discussion; that not only established a "relevance rule" for citizen speakers; that not only screwed students and small businesses in order to lower the tax rate; that not only gave us the 100 block fiasco; but did not even have it within them to express outrage at their own chosen Mayor's attempt to "nail to the cross" someone whose website he disliked.
With the state of the world today, only one thing is certain: we need more muckrakers.
Happy New Year!