Letter to the editor: DOJ raid on Wausau Mayor is political persecution

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With political persecution conducted by activists in and out of city hall and the intimidating Nazi-like raids executed by our own State Department of Justice at the behest of these same activists, one need not visit Caracas, Venezuela or Washington, D.C. to witness “government gone wild.” It exists right here.

Welcome to the ever tolerant “Community for All.” Welcome to Wausau Wisconsin!

The same governmental agencies, local and state, that to this date are still slow walking citizen open records requests (Hmm, --- who’s in charge of that in Wausau?), as well as citizen complaints against former mayor Katie Rosenberg regarding her alleged campaign violations, now move with “blitzkrieg”-like speed to confiscate Mayor Doug Diny’s communication devices by warrant and create a crime for his “ballot box caper.” Maybe the current mayor should have restricted his antics to the same shenanigans of the previous mayor and the current assistant city clerk (Yes, the same assistant clerk who currently handles our ballots.) Mayor Diny, you should have limited yourself to grinding your genitals on the ballot box in the same pagan ritual dance of appreciation as your predecessor did!

But I refuse to dwell on “double standards” or unequal treatment, at least for now.

What was clearly just a political fight about implementing the ballot drop boxes, or choosing not to, has been escalated by the local left-wing partisans and our State Attorney General Josh Kaul into something akin to “crimes against the state.” Let’s conveniently ignore that boxes were illegal just a few months ago. Let’s also ignore that their use is not a mandate or a law, even now. What was simply an agreement between Mayor Diny and City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde to postpone implementation of the box --- till the council voted and went on record to do so --- has been breached by Ms. Bernarde. One may suspect that this occurred with the back door counsel and encouragement of the embattled city attorney (no friend of Diny) and the suspected Open Meeting Law violator, (want to be mayor) Alder Lisa Rasmussen.

The idea that election laws were violated or that voter rights were suppressed are patently ridiculous.

The implication of that premise is that municipalities that choose not to use the box are equally in violation. If the left leaning (4-3) Wisconsin Supreme Court wanted to exercise raw political power, it would have done so. It would have mandated the boxes. It chose not to and left it up to the clerks (ambiguously, whether elected or not). Ambiguous laws are best handled by we the people, through our representatives. That is all the mayor wanted to accomplish. But our weak alders, led by Ms. Rasmussen, too busy spending taxpayer money and leading Wausau to financial ruin, chose to hide behind some incredibly weak interpretation of the law that basically hands legislative power to an unelected bureaucrat. It’s as if she was counseled, “Here you go Kaitlyn. You’re the boss. You tell us and the mayor how you want to run the election. Either way, if you want the box out or you want the box in, our refusal to obey you constitutes the breaking of some law.”

Also, keep in mind, that U.S. postal mail boxes can be used for the same. (We cynical conservatives know fully well why liberals don’t want to place multiple ballots in a US postal box but that is an argument for another day.)

Now for the truly chilling consequences of weaponized justice. Attorney General Josh Kaul, Wisconsin’s own version of “Lavrentiy Beria,” sent his intimidation squad, a half a dozen men, including Kaul’s “hitwoman” Mary Van Schoyck. They cornered the mayor in city hall, one can only assume, for maximum intimidation and embarrassment and demanded all his electronic devices. Simultaneously, another similar squad of armed agents, one, openly filming the event, descended on the mayor’s wife Jean, at home with their 18-month-old grandson, and immediately confiscated her phone as well, preventing her from calling a relative and making it difficult for her even to contact a lawyer, while not a right in Venezuela it is still a right here! This is a common fear tactic used in communist countries to keep loved ones from communicating.

Back to “double standards” and unequal treatment. Those of us who have friends and relatives that have personal experiences with authoritarian governments (my parents fled Cuba) know all too well that what we are seeing in America today is not a simply a double standard. Double standards, when encountered by reasonable people, compel changes and corrective measures. This is not that. This is a statement of raw power. A warning that says, “If you go along, you will be left alone. If you don’t, we will get you by any means necessary!” Below is what a friend of mine in Wausau had to say about the mayor’s situation. “I’m sickened by what transpired – all in line with the stories I’ve heard and read in communist and fascist regimes that took over my parent’s homeland in Lithuania – difficult to reconcile when it happens to those you respect deeply here in a land that is supposed to be protected by a constitution.”

We are constantly warned, by the middle-aged, white, Marxists “Karens” that underrepresent the Wausau electorate but overwhelmingly control political power here, about the tyranny “to come” if Trump is elected. What they fail to recognize is that the tyranny is already here --- it’s been here since Trump was unexpectedly elected in 2016. The government and the left have been hunting conservatives ever since. The government uses “lawfare”; the left, as we have witnessed all too often, uses real bullets. It’s the overwhelming reason for Trump’s resurgence!

Lenin used the term “useful idiots” not for dumb people, but for the postmodern, college educated humanities types, the utopians, the kind of people that easily fall for the lexicon of “kindness,” “caring,” “sharing” and of course, “equity,” The “Karens” mentioned above most likely fall in to this group, peoplemthat are easily controlled by sanctioned state studies and other useful propaganda. Mr. Kaul, you on the other hand seem much smarter, not so gullible. You’re still young. You have ambition. You’re an up and comer for the Democratic Party on a national level. Are you really wasting time going after a small fry like Mayor Diny, loaded for bear just to appease a few middle-aged white Marxist ladies in Wausau? It would probably be wise if you consulted with Kamala and Tammy first! The last thing you want on your impressive resume is to be known as the person who single handedly delivered Wisconsin for Hovde, and of course, Trump. I, on the other hand, will be thrilled if you do!

Orlando Alfonso

Wausau WI