Fitchburg, Wisconsin Pols and City Officials Veer into Misconduct Against Citizens, Again

Kaleem Caire, president of One City Learning Centers,
in Madison, Wisconsin, attended the Ftichburg
Common Council hearing at which funding for non-
profits was addressed. The Mayor of Fitchburg instructed the
City Administrator to call the police on Mr. Caire,
while testifying at a public hearing on the budget last night.
The mayor, city administrator and several alders
walked out of the meeting and ordered the police
to remove Kaleem Caire from the building or they
would not return. This is Fitchburg, Wisconsin.
Via Facebook

'Never seen anything like this before'

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—There is no apparent bottom to how low the Fitchburg Common Council, City officials and Fitchburg Police can sink.

In Fitchburg, police harass and fine residents objecting to this municipal, seemingly socio-psychological experiment on how far city bureaucrats, racists, white poll workers, and cops will go to silence, (and this is in an American city in Dane County Wisconsin), citizens objecting to municipal public policy such as obstructing voters, harassing black residents, and cutting public funds for non-profits serving minorities.

The latest from Fitchburg.

At a public hearing on the proposed 2018 budget last night, Mayor Jason Gonzalez decided he did not like Kaleem Caire, CEO and founder at One City Early Learning Centers, asking a question of Gonzalez.

So, naturally Gonzalez called the police. [Note: This is Fitchburg, Wisconsin, so again this type of absurdity is SOP.]

Reports, Michael Johnson, CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Dane County and all-around scary black man on Facebook last night:

The Mayor of Fitchburg instructed the City Administrator to call the police on Kaleem Caire, President and CEO of One City Learning Centers while testifying at a public hearing on the budget tonight. The mayor, city administrator and several alders walked out of the meeting and ordered the police to remove Kaleem Caire from the building or they would not return. Kaleem was respectful, raised valid points and was the first person of color to speak to only be threatened to be arrested for speaking up for local kids.

Kudos to the Fitchburg Police Department for their professionalism and telling the city leaders they had no grounds to remove Kaleem for raising issues during the testimony session of the meeting. He then told a white community leader who spoke up for the kids to leave and to 'get out of here' or he would be arrested. I have never seen anything like this before from a city leader.

Putting aside Johnson's erroneous description of the Fitchburg Police Dept, no one contacted today is surprised by the Fitchburg Common Council which rejects democratic norms such as citizen input, unmolested attendance of public meetings, and promotes the use of the machinery of public government against citizens.

Writes Cindy Johnson, a Dane county resident in Facebook this morning "[This] is insane but not surprising. Years ago when I lived there the corrupt mayor yelled 'this is MY meeting' when a room full of us were trying to save the Green Prairie."

Another illustration: In August 2016, Mal Contends entered the voting place to cast a vote some four months after alerting state election authorities, the new, (a racist), white chief election inspector refused to place a polling place sign outside the polling place on Election Day, April 5, 2016 in voting district one, and short-staffed a polling station on the 2016 presidential primary election featuring the heaviest turn-out to date. In retaliation against me, after being obstructed at the poll on a false pretense in August 2016, the City Clerk's office phoned police and contrived with the City Attorney office in what became two bogus disorderly conduct citations, rubber-stamped by the Fitchburg Municipal Court.

It is insane, and it's Fitchburg.

Meanwhile, the Council cut funding for non-profits serving black and brown-type humans, and installed a new City funding mechanism to assist the corrupt Ald Julia Arata-Fratta's professional career in a seedy move that is the new Fitchburg Idea.

Still, as seedy as municipal policy is, the idea that Council members and City Hall bureaucrats feel it's standard and acceptable, much less Constitutional, to phone police whenever they encounter objecting citizens raises a host of public integrity, Constitutional and concerns involving ongoing public misconduct under Wisconsin statutes.

In a related story, a Ftichburg alder, Dorothy Krause, continued an outrageous smear campaign and character assassination of a black woman, Wanda Smith, whom Krause said, in ludicrous public statements, should not be allowed around children.

Writes Nicholas Garton in Madison365:

A Fitchburg alder released more than 70 pages of unredacted police reports that Fitchburg police had clearly marked as not to be re-released Monday, posting the documents in a Facebook group and emailing them to a reporter in an ongoing feud with community volunteer Wanda Smith. The documents were removed from the Facebook group by an administrator.

Smith said she has consulted a civil rights attorney but has not decided on whether to pursue any legal action. ...

Smith, who runs the Peace Network, meets three times a week to help at-risk youth with homework, meals and a safe environment. Krause told Madison365 in an interview two weeks ago that she wasn’t sure if Wanda Smith had the right temperament or educational credentials to run such a club.  Krause said she would seek police reports on Wanda Smith and hoped to draw a conclusion about Smith’s abilities from those reports. ...

In addition to several pages listing police contacts, Krause obtained more than 56 pages of officer written synopsis of police contact at Wanda Smith’s address covering 176 calls between 2015 and 2017 to the building Smith’s apartment is in.

None of those incidents involved Wanda Smith as a target of police action or intervention. At no time was she arrested or questioned by police concerning her conduct. Smith was never detained, investigated or reported as having been the target of a police response to that area. 

Ftichburg being Fitchburg, accusation, innuendo and character assassination of citizens are the norm from police, from the Common Council and from City Hall bureaucrats.

Meanwhile, the political party, Progressive Dane, has issued a press release supporting Wanda Smith against attacks on her from the city of Fitchburg.

Reads the Progressive Dane release:

In Spring 2017, Progressive Dane endorsed Wanda Smith’s candidacy for Fitchburg City Alder based on her commitment to public service and strong record of leadership within the Fitchburg community. As Founder and President of the Peace Network, a local mental health service provider, Smith serves area youth and adults through one-on-one group workshops and seminars to equip them with the skills necessary to fulfill their potential as individuals in the community. At the Peace Network, Smith runs a homework club, which meets three times per week to provide students with academic supports, meals, and a safe environment. She also works with youth in the Middleton, Cross Plains, and Monona Grove school districts as a substitute teacher, and has mentored hundreds of youth throughout her career. As a locality that harbors some of the worst racial disparities in the country, Dane County needs to support more service providers led by people of color such as the Peace Network, and support progressive leaders like Smith, to begin counteracting the systemic racism that plagues our Greater Madison community.

Progressive Dane appreciates Smith’s work in the Fitchburg community, especially her compassion for youth and ongoing commitment to their success. We also support her advocacy for the restoration of 2018 budget funds to support local non-profit organizations that provide local services to many children of color in the King James Way area and Fitchburg at large.  Progressive Dane has been working with our members in Fitchburg, including Smith, to draft a City of Fitchburg platform.  Similar to our other policy platforms, we are drafting a Fitchburg platform that strongly supports civil rights, including the rights to assemble and protest, making decisions with an equity analysis, funding safety net programs, affordable housing, and neighborhood organizations, and economic development planning that prioritizes neighborhoods most in need of investment.

Progressive Dane is committed to racial justice, equity, and inclusion throughout Madison and Dane County. Any elected official endorsed by Progressive Dane is expected to support and demonstrate these values and implement policies laid out in our platforms. Progressive Dane electeds who fail to do so should expect to be held accountable by the elections committee and membership.

Progressive Dane is an independent, progressive political party in Dane County, Wisconsin. Progressive Dane believes that ordinary citizens should control public policies at the community and national levels. We support tax justice, better social services, equality in public education, affordable housing, and public transportation. Progressive Dane helps community members organize around issues that are important to them and also works on the grassroots level to elect progressive political candidates.
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