Fitchburg, Wisc Alder Caught Red-handed in Non-profit Budgeting Scheme

In early October 2017 in Fitchburg, Wisconsin
ald Julia Arata-Fratta used her position on the
Common Council to target a non-profit
in an unprecedented attack. Now,
Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits are cashing
in on the scheme she crafted, (Madison365).

Once-promising pol drinks in toxic politics of Fitchburg, Wisconsin

In October 2017 ald Julia Arata-Fratta secretly worked for a punitive IRS audit of a popular Dane County non-profit

In 2016 and 2017 Arata-Fratta worked successfully to defund the same non-profit from Fitchburg's annual budget

Now, several Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits have applied for City-allocated money under the new Arata-Fratta funding scheme run through the City authority that Arata-Fratta now chairs

Updated - Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Alder Julia Arata-Fratta has consolidated her political relationship with Republican Party interests, and the results are fetid, stinking of corruption.

Since 2016, Arata-Fratta worked to zero out City money earmarked for the non-profit Badger Prairie Needs Network and the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County.

Now as chair of the Community Economic Development Authority (CEDA), Arata-Fratta is administering non-profit monies, including an allocation to a group on which she currently serves as a member of the board of directors, (Madison 365), and two other groups linked to Arata-Fratta.

Arata-Fratta crafted an amendment supporting the 2018 mayoral budget successfully zeroing out non-profit funding from the Fitchburg budget, and transforming the funding process of the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA), under which Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits look to benefit with $10,000s in grants.

In her reelection campaign last spring, Arata-Fratta told the Fitchburg Star in March 2017 that non-profit "funding should be given through a grant process application through a merit score, not an earmark in the city’s budget," without mentioning conflict-of-interest concerns about non-profits linked to her seeking to obtain money in the new grant process she authored. One merit point is having worked with Arata-Fratta, also known as a public integrity problem.

After cultivating and consolidating political and financial relationship with insurance, real estate and municipal police interests, Arata-Fratta has recently become more aggressive working for Republican interests, reaching out to City employees last month to target a non-profit held in disfavor by Arata-Fratta.

In early October 2017, Arata-Fratta used her position as Fitchburg alder to target the non-profit Boys and Girls Club of Dane County in a secret and unprecedented attack.

As reported in (Madison365):

On October 3 2017, Arata-Fratta 'used her private Gmail account to direct City Manager Patrick Marsh to inquire with the IRS and Fitchburg City Attorney Mark Sewell and Asst City Att Valerie Zisman to work to revoke the tax exempt status of Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. Reads the email in part: "Non for profit (sic) cannot do political activities otherwise the IRS can revoke the tax exempt status,' Arata-Fratta wrote to Marsh. Check with Valerie [Zisman] or Mark [Sewell] and send an inquiry to IRS.'

No word on the status of Arata-Fratta's audacious move to this point.

Arata-Fratta's funding scheme, if successful, will direct $10,000s in public money to non-profits linked to her professionally.

Arata-Fratta described her profession on her 2017 campaign aldermanic website as composed of "17 years of experience as a consultant and educator," ... on entities including "non-profit" operations.

The conflicts of interest surrounding Arata-Fratta have not drawn any Council criticism.

Nothing to see here

Arata-Fratta denies any knowledge of, and collusion with non-profits seeking public grants from the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA), to which she was first appointed in 2014. She told Madison365, she is "appalled" by criticism she is scamming Fitchburg.

An updated Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA) grant website is dated Aug. 18, 2017, some four weeks before Mayor Jason Gonzalez posted his proposed (Sept 22) 2018 budget, (Facebook) calling for removal of City funding from the same non-profit which Aratta-Fratta sought to effectively destroy by having its tax-deductible status decertified.

Non-profits linked to Julia Arata-Fratta seeking money from the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA) include:

Madison Region Economic Partnership - Arata-Fratta presently serves as a member of the board of directors.

Latino Chamber of Commerce - Arata-Fratta served as treasurer, president, resigning her position months before she first introduced an amendment to defund non-profits in 2016

Latino Academy of Workforce Development - Arata-Fratta hyped her partnership with the Latino Academy in a 2011 profile in the Wisconsin State Journal, saying "We are partnering with other organizations. For example, the new Latino Academy of Workforce Development tries to train Latino people in a skill."

After two years of pushing for a new grant application process for non-profits, Julia Arata-Fratta has found out new applicants for her crafted money-delivery scheme are the same groups for whom she has worked and with whom she has partnered.

This discovery may have pleased Julia Arata-Fratta.

Fitchburg, Wisc Mayor's Remarkable Public Apology Rings Hollow

Wanda Smith is a popular community activist and child-care
activist against whom Fithcburg Ald Dorothy Krause began
a character assassination project, attempting to enlist
the Fitchburg City Manager, the Fitchburg City Attorney's
office, and the Fitchburg Police Department. A subsequently
contrite Fitchburg Mayor issued an apology to Ms. Smith on
behalf of the City of Fitchburg on Nov. 17, throwing
Ald Krause under the bus, and opening the City to a
possible federal civil rights action by Smith. Smith is speaking
at the apology press conference above.

Fitchburg—the city's name is an imprecation, a curse against democratic norms and generations-long commitment of the progressive state, Wisconsin

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—The bullshit piles up so high here, you need wings to stay above it.

The Fitchburg, Wisconsin mayor issued a well-conceived PR apology for cutting off a commenting citizen in mid-sentence and then instructing the Fitchburg City Administrator to phone the police about this disturbance at a budget hearing last week, (Wisconisn State Journal, Fitchburg Star).

This mayoral apology directed at multiple citizens—Kaleem Caire, Amelia Royko Maurer, Nate Royko Maurer, and Wanda Smith for First Amendment-protected speech—fell flat last Friday, (Nov. 17).

No citizen reached was surprised the Fitchburg police were contacted as a complaint against a citizen attending a Common Council meeting, ejecting citizens from a public meeting, that a Fitchburg alder would engage in a character assassination scheme against another citizen, or that Mayor Jason Gonzalez' effort at damage control would be so transparently disingenuous.

"There was some … improper exercise of discretion by myself when I interrupted two speakers. When I ran, I ran on a platform of inclusion and bringing our city together. It appears I’ve gone astray, and I apologize for that," said Gonzalez, (Fitchburg Star, City of Fitchburg). Gone astray?

Voter obstruction will continue in Fitchburg, and as most young and minority voters in alder district one know, the polling place here is hostile to their presence on Election Day.

This is Fitchburg, and the norms prevailing in other municipalities do not apply here where retaliations by elected and appointed Fitchburg officials against whistle-blowers, black people, and assorted progressives (they're a perceived problem), are routine.

Some take-aways from the last few weeks of life in Fitchburg, Wisconsin:

• Nicholas Garton deserves recognition for his investigative reporting at the journal, Madison.365.
• Fitchburg Alder Dorothy Krause has been thrown under the bus after the mayor issued his remarkable public apology on behalf of the entire City of Fitchburg specifically citing Krause's character assassination project against citizen Wanda Smith. Krause is now an alder without a district, and resides in political no-woman's land.
• Kaleem Caire, a commenting citizen at the budget hearing who was subjected to public abuse and an outrageous police call, has been revealed as an opportunistic pol who can be expected to use this outrage for his own political benefit, against the benefit of the community. Caire isn't fooling anyone and standing up for Caire is just, is the consensus among progressives here.
• The Recall-the-bums campaign is still on, and the mayor's public dumping of Krause and his apology change nothing.
• Former mayor Steve Arnold is a keeper of valuable voting lists. 
• City officials still feel entitled to treat the Fitchburg Police Department as a political hit-squad for corrupt purposes such as defaming citizens.
• Wanda Smith is a political force to be reckoned with.
• Wisconsin State Journal columnist, Chris Rickert, who penned a racist, black parents-should-feed-their-kids piece in his coverage of Fitchburg earlier this month, is now working at a new position to improve local coverage at the daily, what used to be the life-blood of newspapers.
• Fitchburg is racist to the bone, and any young and minority person locating here should be prepared to fight for your rights, perhaps more than folks have ever had to before.

Light Shines on Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Insular, Provincial, Without Adult Supervision

Fitchburg Mayor Jason Gonzalez walks out of the Common
Council meeting November 14.

Fiefdom of Fitchburg to citizen "human beings": 'You're done. Please leave'

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—A relative in rural Georgia reminded me this summer about the problem in Wisconsin few acknowledge.

'Mikey, Wisconsin is way more racist than rural Georgia, sweetheart."

Yes, Wisconsin is, and the city of Fitchburg, the focus of increased local media attention is among the worst offenders against citizens voicing concern about public policy at public meetings, especially black citizens, (Pasque, The Capital Times,

In Fitchburg local bureaucrats routinely call the police on citizens expressing concern about the municipal budget, reporting voting obstruction, and caring for black children, (care-givers are the worst problem).

Common Council members contrive with the City Attorney's Office and City Administrator, Patrick Marsh, to phone police when a citizen, like me for example, point out unlawful public conduct.

Kaleem Caire, president and CEO of One City Learning Centers, found out the hard way that citizens can not count on Constitutional and democratic norms to publicly voice concerns at public Council meetings.

Reports Lisa Speckhard Pasque in The Capital Times:

During Tuesday's public hearing, Caire began his statement by saying that community services should be part of the city budget, as those who would benefit from the services 'are human beings' and taxpayers. He then criticized council members, saying 'I saw you all, members of this council, who refused to meet with people in this community, Mayor Gonzalez as much as I --'

At that point, Gonzalez interrupted him and called him out of order, saying 'We’re here to talk about budget amendments.' Caire kept trying to finish his statement, and said he wasn’t done and hadn’t said anything offensive.

Gonzalez continued to interrupt him, saying 'You’re done,' and 'Please leave, sir.'

City Administrator Patric Marsh then called the police. 

Notes Chris Aadland in the Wisconsin State Journal:

Caire said the message the [Fitchburg] budget sends is that the city isn’t welcoming and doesn’t value community input.

'I thought for the last several years they were trying to change that image, but these people are taking them backwards,' he said.

Mayor Jason Gonzalez claims that the performance of the Common Council on the municipal budget cannot be articulated by citizens commenting on the budget at a budgetary public hearing, or Gonzalez will rule the citizens "out of order," contact the Fitchburg Police Dept, who will escort the citizen out of the Council.

Jason Gonzalez, and Ald Julia Arata-Fratta and Ald Dorothy Krause cannot operate beyond the norms of democratic society without the explicit support of City Administrator Patrick Marsh, asst City Attorney Valerie Zisman, and ultimately the Fitchburg Municipal Court which will rubber-stamp any civil citation the police issue, any action of the Council and the cloistered racists who populate City Hall, no matter how absurd. Mal Contends advocates citizens voice their concerns with appropriate Fitchburg public official as listed in the public Fitchburg public directory.

On a personal note, as long-time Fitchburg resident, I sometimes wonder if I had veered into a Cassandra complex, after years of alerting election officials to unlawful practices of Fitchburg city officials.

One thing is clear: the urgency of the moment lives forever in the present.

Writes Dane County resident, Amelia Royko Maurer last night as rights, open meetings and democratic norms are dieing in Fitchburg. [Royko Maurer was also thrown out of the Common Council meeting, ( The Capital Times, Wisconsin State Journal)]:

I’m utterly stunned by the lack of response from Fitchburg citizens to the behavior of their elected representatives. Politeness and silence have never, ever brought about necessary change in fact, quite the contrary.

The question to ask yourself is, are you part of the firing squad or are you for equity and justice. *There is no middle ground.*

This column is from the 60s so it contains racial terms that may trigger some, as it has me, but the overarching point should hit home hard for Fitchburg residents.

Royko links a column, Millions in his firing squad, on the assassination of King penned by the late, great Mike Royko, reading in part:

FBI agents are looking for the man who pulled the trigger and surely they will find him.

But it doesn't matter if they do or they don't. They can't catch everybody, and Martin Luther King was executed by a firing squad that numbered in the millions.

They took part, from all over the country, pouring words of hate into the ear of the assassin.

The man with the gun did what he was told. Millions of bigots, subtle and obvious, put it in his hand and assured him he was doing the right thing.

It would be easy to point at the Southern redneck and say he did it. But what of the Northern disk-jockey-turned-commentator, with his slippery words of hate every morning?

What about the Northern mayor who steps all over every poverty program advancement, thinking only of political expediency, until riots fester, whites react with more hate and the gap between the races grows bigger?

Toss in the congressman with the stupid arguments against busing. And the pathetic women who turn out with eggs in their hands to throw at children.

Let us not forget the law-and-order type politicians who are in favor of arresting all Negro prostitutes in the vice districts. When you ask them to vote for laws that would eliminate some of the causes of prostitution, they babble like the boobs they are.

Throw in a Steve Telow or two: the Eastern and Southern European immigrant or his kid who seems to be convinced that in 40 or 50 years he built this country. There was nothing here until he arrived, you see, so that gives him the right to pitch rocks when Martin Luther King walks down the street in his neighborhood.

They all took their place in King's firing squad.

And behind them were the subtle ones, those who never say anything bad but just nod when the bigot throws out his strong opinions.

He is actually the worst, the nodder is, because sometimes he believes differently but he says nothing. He doesn't want to cause trouble. For Pete's sake, don't cause trouble!

So when his brother-in-law or his card-playing buddy from across the alley spews out the racial filth, he nods.

Give some credit to the most subtle of the subtle. That distinction belongs to the FBI, now looking for King's killer.

That agency took part in a mudslinging campaign against him that to this day demands an investigation.

The bullet that hit King came from all directions. Every two-bit politician or incompetent editorial writer found in him, not themselves, the cause of our racial problems.

It was almost ludicrous. The man came on the American scene preaching nonviolence from the first day he sat at the wrong end of a bus. He preached it in the North and was hit with rocks. He talked it the day he was murdered.

Hypocrites all over this country would kneel every Sunday morning and mouth messages to Jesus Christ. ...

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.
#

Out in the Cold—Fitchburg Kicks Black Children out of Shelter, Wisconsin Winter Looms

Beautiful children in Fitchburg Wisconsin
are relegated to picnic tables by City officials.
Those who dare care for minority children
are targeted by the Fitchburg Common Council
and white City Hall bureaucrats.

Fuck you, Fitchburg—An editorial

Update: Group is now meeting at an area church, Facebook reports. Good hope; one feels confident cops will not invade, harass, fine or kill there.
--
Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Fitchburg is a suburb just south of Madison run by white people, for white people, wrestling with the Black Problem.

It's August 2014 and a Fitchburg cop pulls outside of the polling place in district one with red and white lights flashing, creating a barrier between the polling place and King James Way, the black sector of the Jamestown neighborhood named after a 17th century Virginia slave colony.

I'm working as a poll worker and I point out the cop car outside the polling place: "Good," says the new chief election inspector, a white racist named Dale Zahorik.

Zahorik hates black people. Do you think communities of interest who don't trust cops should have to encounter a cop car with lights flashing as a condition of voting? I ask.

Zahorik evades the question, and I call up the City Clerk's office, and its reaction, from one Patti Anderson, vacillates between feigned indifference and hostility toward me challenging why I am questioning the presence of the cop.

The cop is but one example of white hostility towards black folks here. There's Zahorik's refusing to put out a polling place sign out on Election Day, April 2016, short-staffing the ballots table, open antagonism towards black voters, intimidation, stuffing the roster of polling workers with white racists, Ron Johnson and Pat McCutcheon for example, several instances of voter obstruction I have witnessed, challenged and documented between 2007 and 2016, most recently in a related civil case in Fitchburg Municipal Court where I testified under oath a detailed chronicling of the placing of the White Power Caucus in Fitchburg aldermanic district one polling place.

Zahorik and the City Clerk's attitude exemplify the white consensus towards black residents from City Hall. Blacks are not wanted here and they should leave.

Sometimes though, pictures tell a clearer story.

Wanda Smith runs an informal, after-school club to help out children with homework, structure, comfort, encouragement, a little something to eat, and a general peace-and-love gathering to help children not-quite-yet-traumatized by living in Fitchburg.

Fitchburg knows how to handle Wanda Smith.

For working with minority children, Smith has been unremittingly harassed by City Hall and the Common Council. In a piece that is shaking the conscience of Dane County Wisconsin, Nicholas Garton reports, "Fitchburg alder Dorothy Krause wanted to use police records and licensing requirements to shut down the after-school homework club run by longtime community volunteer Wanda Smith, who she considers 'not someone who should be in charge of groups of children,' according to emails obtained by Madison365."

This is pure character assassination and harassment of a peace-loving citizen.

There's a small, unoccupied park shelter off King James Way in Fitchburg in the black sector. Smith meets with the children near there.

Writes Amelia Royko Maurer in Facebook last night:

Wanda Smith has to conduct her after school program outside if they want to be near their homes, which they do because it builds a sense of place and community and saves on transportation costs. The city of Fitchburg won’t let them use the unoccupied park shelter without paying an unaffordable amount. [Alders] Dorothy Krause, Jason Gonzalez, Tony Hartmann, [and former Mayor] Shawn Pfaff, if you’re looking for criminal behavior, look no further than yourself and colleagues. This is unconscionable and your collective regrets and care are proven hollow by your willingness to let this continue.

Soon, the kids are going to get cold. But besides the weather, they have to cope with Fitchburg City Hall and the Fitchburg cops who relegate the kids to a picnic table.

Below are recent shots of these human children.

Fuck you, Fitchburg.

To Wanda Smith and those children blessed by her love, this is for you:

"Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
Robert F. Kennedy
University of Cape Town, South Africa
"Day of Affirmation" Speech June 6th, 1966 

Woman Wanted in Fitchburg, Wisconsin for Corrupting Children

Wanda Smith of Fitchburg, Wisconsin is
targeted by City officials for being
black and speaking out against racism.
Smith is pictured above at a press
conference at Fitchburg City Hall in
October at which community activists
protested the defunding of non-profits
by the Fitchburg Common Council.
The Council is attempting to create a
slush fund for non-profit interests aligned
with Ald. Julia Arata-Fratta, a major force
behind the move to defund.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Political fall-out is coming after an investigative report this weekend revealed a Fitchburg Alder engaged in a character assassination campaign against her former constituent, attempting to enlist City officials in smearing the name of a well-known community volunteer and critic of racism, one Wanda Smith.

Reports Nicolas Garton in Madison365:

Fitchburg alder Dorothy Krause wanted to use police records and licensing requirements to shut down the after-school homework club run by longtime community volunteer Wanda Smith, who she considers 'not someone who should be in charge of groups of children,' according to emails obtained by Madison365.

An open records request into internal communications between Fitchburg Common Council members revealed that Krause sought potentially damaging and explosive information about the fitness of Smith to supervise the club.

In an October 9 email to City Manager Patrick Marsh, Krause wrote,'From what I’ve witnessed firsthand at the fire station, at city hall, and online, among others, she is not someone that should be in charge of groups of children.'

Wanda Smith engaged in First Amendment-protected activity critical of Fitchburg City Hall and the Fitchburg Common Council.

Krause's move is another act of political retaliation in a City known for its toxic racism and corrupt politics.

Former Fitchburg mayors, Steve Arnold and Jay Allen, are silent about the character assassination attempt.

Arnold and Jay Allen, a former supporter of the rightwing extremist congressional candidate, Ron Greer, are attempting to discourage support for Smith on social media.

Wanda Smith remains adamant.

"I will not be silenced, and I will not be moved," said the uppity, black woman reached this morning.

Fitchburg, Wisc Alders Up Attack on Non-Profit Supporters, Launched Character Assassination Move Against Black Citizen, Report Shows

Fitchburg Wisconsin City Hall and Common Council alders
really do not like black people. Above is a press conference at
City Hall in October 2017 conducted by scary, blackish people
objecting to a scheme by the Fitchburg Common Council and
Mayor to defund non-profits too cozy with urban types. Black
people congregating in Fitchburg, Wisconsin have long caused
consternation and anxiety among whites here who see danger
and a threat to public safety when they gather.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin Officials Keep up Battle Against Citizen Critics; Includes Unprecedented Character Assassination Campaign Plot Hatched by Common Council Alders

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Ald. Julia Arata-Fratta amped-up a crusade against the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County by calling for the Fitchburg City Manager and City Attorney's office to investigate and ultimately seek revocation of the popular non-profit's 501(c)(3) status under Internal Revenue Code regulations, a news report reveals, (Garton, Madison 365).

The move by a Republican-leaning alder is part of a long effort by Fitchburg City Hall staff and the Common Council against minorities and those working for minority citizens.

Boys and Girls Club of Dane County is a non-profit, tax-exempt, non-stock entity assisting all children in Dane County and a move on the Common Council this autumn to defund Boys and Girls Club and another non-profit has highlighted the long hostility of Fitchburg City Hall against minority citizens.

Writes Nicholas Garton in Madison365:

On October 3, the same day the (proposed recall the Common Council idea) was announced, Alder Julia Arata-Fratta, a close ally of [Mayor Jason] Gonzalez, used her private Gmail account to direct City Manager Patrick Marsh to inquire with the IRS, according to emails obtained by Madison365.

Non for profit (sic) cannot do political activities otherwise the IRS can revoke the tax exempt status,' Arata-Fratta wrote to Marsh. Check with Valerie or Mark and send an inquiry to IRS.'

Marsh forwarded the question to City Attorney Mark Sewell and Assistant City Attorney Valerie Zisman, telling Arata-Fratta they would 'provide next steps.'

The City of Fitchburg with Sewell and Zisman's active participation has also worked recently against voting rights in Fitchburg aldermanic district one, as chronicled at Mal Contends.

Garton's investigative reporting in Madison365 has also uncovered a political plot by Fitchburg Alder Dorothy Krause, another Common Council member working against funding non-profits, that proposes to enlist City officials in a character assassination project against Wanda Smith, a former aldermanic candidate who works to help black families through informal homework clubs, recreational outings and community events.

Smith is a critic of the racism of the white-dominated Fitchburg City Hall and Common Council and has frequently engaged in First Amendment-protected political activity against racism in Fitchburg on social media and at her attendance at Fitchburg Common Council meetings.

Reports Garton:

Fitchburg alder Dorothy Krause wanted to use police records and licensing requirements to shut down the after-school homework club run by longtime community volunteer Wanda Smith, who she considers 'not someone who should be in charge of groups of children,' according to emails obtained by Madison365.

An open records request into internal communications between Fitchburg Common Council members revealed that Krause sought potentially damaging and explosive information about the fitness of Smith to supervise the club.

In an October 9 email to City Manager Patrick Marsh, Krause wrote,'From what I’ve witnessed firsthand at the fire station, at city hall, and online, among others, she is not someone that should be in charge of groups of children.'

Krause wrote that she had sought police records about how many times officers have responded to the residence or adjoining residences of Wanda Smith, who previously ran for a seat on the council and has publicly supported a recall of Mayor Jason Gonzalez.

Online court records indicate no criminal convictions against Smith. One charge against Smith was dismissed in 1999, court records show.

In the email, Krause also asked whether the city could require a homework club like Smith’s to obtain a daycare license. She also inquired as to whether children could be removed from a Common Council meeting 'if and when bullying and abusive language is used.'

Marsh responded that he didn’t think the City could require such a license, or ask that children be removed from the Council chamber.

Smith spoke forcefully in October at the Fitchburg Common Council’s budget hearing about Gonzalez’s decision to remove more than $100,000 in the 2018 budget to support local nonprofit organizations that provide services to Fitchburg residents, and how the removal of non-profit funds would impact children of color in the King James Way area and Fitchburg at large. Smith was rebuked by Marsh for personally attacking council members Dorothy Krause and Anne Scott by name during the hearing. 

As a long-time Fitchburg resident, Mal Contends can confirm the toxic, racist climate in Fitchburg, and the past efforts of City Hall officials to use the municipal government as a legal tool against political opponents, including Alder Dorothy Krause in 2011-12.

Said Smith:

'For them, (the Common Council and City Hall staff] to try to lower my reputation is a total disgrace. All I’m trying to do is serve these kids. I didn’t even know that they could go this low. I’m appalled right now. My track record when it comes to kids is proven. They went this low over 50 grand?' she said, referring to the amount cut from the budget that would fund the Boys and Girls Club. 'They don’t like the fact that I came to City Hall and I stood up to them to their faces. I cannot believe this. Dorothy Krause is supposed to be supporting the children in this community.'

Fitchburg resident Monica Howard has worked with Wanda Smith for many years and is described by supporters of Smith as "deeply offended" by Fitchburg officials' work against this Smith.

Writes Howard on Facebook:

I have worked with Wanda for over 10 years. She has been amazing not only with my own daughter but several other children. She is passionate about children’s rights and advocacy for advancement. Her passion is mistaken for hostility and that’s not the case. She is dedicated to the success of youth and this is highly unnecessary. Why all of the sudden is a homework club a problem. It hasn’t been all this time. This is where the City needs to separate their personal feelings and allow a great program to continue.

Contacted this weekend by phone, Smith said she is contemplating legal action against the City of Fitchburg for defamation.

Voting Rights Battle in Fitchburg, Wisc; Pursuit of Poll Worker, Civil Rights Activist Proceeds

Fitchburg, Wisconsin Municipal Judge
Hamdy Ezalarab is a popular figure on the
 bench in Dane County, Wisconsin.
Photo is from 1969,
(Schmidt, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Memorial Union TerraceViews)

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — Who knew advocating for voters would provoke the wrath of a handful of white bureaucrats of a small Wisconsin suburb?

If you knew Fitchburg aldermanic district number one like I do, you would know.

I've worked roughly 10 years as a poll worker in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and voted at the same polling place for some 18 years.

Fitchburg is heavily segregated, stained by open racism, and my voting district's poll workers include a handful of white racists who loathe me, I calculate, roughly to the degree I regard them as miserable, xenophobic and deceitful.

The all-white Fitchburg City Clerk's office backs the racists, fervently.

On August 9, 2016, I was obstructed from voting by this group, and after I objected, citing election law and election authorities, I received a civil citation for disorderly conduct.

Why did this happen? The full context is I regularly embarrassed the City Clerk's office by pointing out defects in the operation of my polling place. I'll get specific in Dane County, (Wisconsin), Circuit Court.

The United States and Wisconsin Constitutions and state election law are diminishing under the white-power banner predominating among this small number of racists in our city.

On May 10, 2017, Fitchburg Municipal Court, (a fine, municipal judge), found me guilty of the civil citation, ordering no fine. No fine.

Clearly, I will avail myself of a jury trial in Dane County Circuit Court and appeal this bogus citation.

Not easy to hear racists, whom I explained are the "White Power Caucus," lie repeatedly in open court but at trial I followed advice of friends and more or less went along with a few objections.

I will prevail in Dane County Court in front of a jury, Dane County Circuit Court is a different forum.

Of note, before defamations from the City Clerk's office were ruled inadmissible, the City Attorney's office in the person of one asst. City Attorney Valerie Zisman, threatened in a conference in the hall to write a new citation for August 9, 2016, which is precisely what happened after court adjourned.

I am confident.

Now, however, I have two disorderly conduct citations, one going to Dane County Court, and the new citation in limbo for now.

The second citation was indicated by the City Atty's office in court, to which the judge replied, not in my court. The judge also stated, he was finished with the citation and the matter was closed, stating he had enough, (not a direct quote).

Stay posted. This may appear light stuff from a small, corrupt Wisconsin city. It's not light stuff. From an email sent by me to the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Aug. 5, 2016, four days before I was obstructed from voting on Aug 9, received the first two of four visits to our home by armed Fitchburg Police, and received the first of now two civil disorderly conduct citations:

From: Mike Leon [ ...]
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2016 8:42 AM
To: Lowe, Diane - ELECTIONS
Subject: Polling Place
Importance: High

Diane,

Could you email me a URL or GAB (WEC) memo that would indicate how many election inspectors are supposed to hand out ballots at a table in a polling place? I believe it to be two.

A ... chief election inspector in our polling place, where I worked on April 5, positioned one election inspector at the ballots table, and predictably quite a voter bottleneck ensued.

Other elections to my memory featured two inspectors on ballots.

I need a memo or other publicly available authority on this two-people-on-ballots question.

I emailed our election and city clerk, around late April on this but no one got back to me. They are not too crazy about questions RE what they regard as their apparent turf, though I believe myself as a resident and long-time election inspector to be a stakeholder.

Administering elections should be about rules and regulations, to my view.

Mike
--
More to come. Much more.

Fitchburg, Wisc Police Harassment Escalates Against Poll Worker Who Blew Whistle on Voter Obstruction

Rushed piece follows no sleep by author, and inflicted trauma to household by 1:00 a.m., police intrusion

First-person report- updated

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — Somewhere deep in my life experience, I don't want to believe cops are lying, harassing pieces of human filth.

But I know better after living 53 years in Wisconsin.

Following the Aug. 9, 2016 civil citation given to Fitchburg, Wisconsin polling worker who blew the whistle on voter obstruction, police have harassed a home in a quiet, suburban neighborhood.

From an email sent this morning to Fitchburg, Wisconsin officials documenting what is one sense light harassment, but is in our home intimate betrayal and police misconduct, (see Mal Contends and Mal Contends).

James,

Would you forward to the judge? I want this documented in real time.

Judge H.E., please preserve this email as a record.

Tom Clauder, you have the most-heavy police background, read on and tell me this is acceptable behavior by police. Tell me this is the way it was in my Cap Times days when I covered Fitchburg.

This morning at approximately 1:00 a.m. Jackie and I were awakened to the Fitchburg police harassing our home. That's one in the morning, people, and I have not been back to sleep since. Jackie caught some two hours. We're clearing out calendars as we can, we do need to sleep.

This is the second time Fitchburg police have harassed our home is the last two months, both on laughably ridiculous pretexts.

Both times Jackie has been driven to tears. I can tell you that this is a less-than-gratifying experience. This harassment follows the Aug 9, 2016 harassment and the polls and our home.

The perp is Fitchburg police, and on both occasions cops shined powerful, (spotlight-intense), lights into our home after creeping around the outside of our home (in our quiet, peaceful neighborhood save the harassment by cops) and then lying to our face about what they were doing.

This is effectively terrorizing us in our home. I have alerted a civil liberties atty who asked to be kept posted after the last time this occurred earlier this year, calling him/her at 2:00 in the morning, for Christ's sake.

The pretext, the lie told to us after confronted the cops by phone, is about as credible as the Sgt with whom we spoke by phone at 1:30 this morning. Whatever you may believe about the character and nature of Fitchburg police, know these are not honorable individuals. Read on.

Two months ago, it was a car accident in the area that the cops said was "traced" to our address, which is easily disconfirmed, but resulted in no apologies to us. Moreover, when I walked outside to confront the two cops digging in the snow behind our bushes, I told them they looked "busy" but would like to know what is going on. I believe in retrospect the cops were planting evidence of footprints in the fresh snow for another purpose. This is felony misconduct, people.

This morning the Fitchburg Police Department said there was a 911 call "traced" to this address. On both occasions Jackie and I were dead-asleep, which is to say the cops lied, and their supervisors covered for them instead of investigating this harassment. "Traced," now, that is one bullshit word.

This kind of story is not one which is in the public sphere of consensus attitudes towards police, (but we are learning about the motivations and actions of these people).

This is a ridiculous situation, and the cops know this to be ridiculous but who will say anything? Writers, civil liberties activists, (and lawyers) that's who. I will say something, and will not stop until we are granted some measure of legal relief.

Therein is the motivation behind cops acting like thugs and prowlers in the night. Retaliation against me for what I write, and the civil liberties violations against others on which I have reported while working as a Fitchburg poll worker, (2007-2016).

I am taking legal measures of course, bringing these matters to the attention of newly elected city officials is one among many measures, but should I have to?

Neither Jackie nor I are is prepared or schooled on how to handle being harassed by cops.

With the approaching warm months, the only real concern we have Re safety, health and security is police harassment and being awakened at 1:00 in the morning, accomplished with bad intentions to inflict injury onto our household.

In any event this harassment, twice in two months, precedes my trial against the bogus civil citation. That trial is May 10, 5:00 p.m. I urge you to attend. My provisional conclusion is hostile cops wish to intimidate me and traumatize my disabled life partner so we will forgo our defense.

On the memory of my mother, I intend to litigate this citation and the harassment Jackie and I have endured. I will litigate first in muny court, then county district court, then federal dist court, and will be filling every complaint and making use of every civil defense against this apparent harassment project dating back to at least Aug 9. 2016.

Believe it. Oh, and pls consider acting.

A call to Fitchburg PD expressing concern would be a start, asking, for example, just what the hell do these people think they are doing?

Politics Remain Local—Fitchburg Wisconsin Mayor Is Swept from Office

Political party know-it-alls were swept from office
in this progressive city of 25,000 in south-central
Wisconsin, (election results, Dane County).
Citizens elected the city's first Latino mayor,
Jason Gonzalez on a campaign message stressing
neighborhood activism and social justice.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — In the country-side regions of Fitchburg can be found majestic homes.

People live here, with real concerns and sentiment about maintaining a way of life in their homes and communities.

They voted heavily for Bernie Sanders on April 5, 2016 in the presidential party primary, and they joined a broad rejection of a first-term Wisconsin mayor, sweeping one Steve Arnold from office, and electing the city's first Latino as mayor, Jason Gonzalez.

Gonzalez assembled a coalition from across the political spectrum in calling for social justice, neighborhood empowerment and listening to the people.

Politics is local. The message from Fitchburg is: People matter more than politicians, more than political parties, and more than grand schemes to change the character of a rustic city without consent.

Jason Gonzalez chats with supporters
after being elected Fitchburg's first
Latino mayor.
Image from Gonzalez campaign volunteer.

Gonzalez congratulated his opponent last night at a celebration at Laredo's Mexican Restaurant, and vowed to seek the consent of the citizenry.

The incumbent mayor, breaking from well-observed tradition here, did not phone Gonzalez to congratulate his campaign on his electoral victory.

No matter. The victory was sweeping as all four aldermanic districts decisively voted for Gonzalez, delivering a warning shot to state Democratic Party hacks that people really should be listened to.

Those who seek the consent of the people ultimately prevail. This is a both an article of faith and a political truism.

Will Wisconsin Democratic Party commissars get the message? I know the Republican Party of Wisconsin will not.

Tax Working Families at Higher Rate, Says Wisconsin Mayor

Volunteers get ready to lit drop for Fitchburg,
Wisconsin mayoral candidates, Jason Gonzalez,
and Alder candidates Anne Scott and Rich Tate in
Fitchburg, Wisconsin the weekend of March 24.
Gonzalez would be the first Latino mayor of
Fitchburg, as residents increasingly express anxiety
about minorities living in the age of Trump, and
local working families living in the mayoral term
of Steve Arnold, (Tax working families as a stimulus).
Image by unidentified campaign volunteer.

Has any macroeconomic school, economist or policymaker other than one obscure Wisconsin mayor ever proposed taxing working families at a higher rate is stimulative to the economy

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — Alder Jason C. Gonzalez stopped by the neighborhood and pitched his mayoral campaign on a typically cold January day.

Gonzalez stressed affordable housing, saying the incumbent mayor's commitment to raise local property taxes is "regressive," and is a bizarre insult to working families.

This Wisconsin incumbent mayor is out-of-control, out-of-touch and constantly emitting public lectures pleading working-class homes should pay a nine-percent increase in local property taxes.

Fitchburg Mayor Steve Arnold pushes his grand plan to raise local taxes in this community of 25,000 residents, saying he opposes "austerity," and instead believes in a stimulus budget achieved by raising taxes on the working class in this "high-service city," (Gaines, Madison365).

In Arnold's world, families living in ranch homes, for example, would pay $100s more in property taxes every year and they would like it. Seriously, this is not hyperbole.

"Fitchburg is a high service community. Generally residents demand high services and are willing to pay for them," said Arnold at a mayoral forum hosted by the Fitchburg Chamber of Commerce, (Gaines, Madison365)

Working-class households do not want higher property taxes, and are not "willing to pay," in light of the undeniable fact Arnold's proposal that would mean some $1,000-plus in increased municipal taxes over five years for the average household, (Mal Contends).

Has any macroeconomic school or any economist or any policymaker other than Steve Arnold ever proposed taxing working families at a higher rate is stimulative to the economy? "No," said Gonzalez, when asked.

Increasing purchasing power, not degrading purchasing power is a municipal policy objective and is the aim of almost anyone in the political culture, save Steve Arnold.

Whether a politician is anti-healthcare or anti-affordable housing, the politician is anti-American.

A Small Wisconsin City Sees Democratic Party Opposition to the Grassroots, Again

Fire Fighters Local 311 endorses Jason Gonzalez
for mayor in Fitchburg, Wisconsin,
(Gonzalez for Fitchburg)

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — Jason Gonzalez is running for mayor of this progressive city, rising from the ferment of grassroots citizen action working to preserve a way of life.

Affordable housing can still be found here.

The City is guiding a sizzling real estate market as Dane County, Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison keep producing high-tech start-ups, responsible for a large chunk of economic growth in the Badger state's private sector.

"Buyers are ... struggling in cities such as ... Madison, Wisconsin," notes Prashant Gopal in Bloomberg News. Struggling as in having trouble finding listings, prompting a construction boom.

An alderman, Gonzalez would be the first Latino mayor in this city in which blotches of white supremacy stain City Hall and the polling place.

Facing these challenges of social justice and a growing economy in this liberal region, Gonzalez has amassed a broad coalition—including progressives, the AFL-CIO, and social justice activists—in a campaign to oust an incumbent mayor who literally brags he wants to raise property taxes 9 percent on local working class families.

So from the people who delivered Wisconsin to Donald Trump and inflicted Gov. Scott Walker on the country, the gang that can't shoot straight (aka the Democratic Party of Wisconsin), is supporting the incumbent mayor, Steve Arnold, and rejecting working class families and grassroots activists supporting Gonzalez.

The Party apparatus needs to listen to citizens more and worry less about kowtowing to the donor class and doling out political patronage. When there is an organic grassroots movement with sound objectives, join it; do not oppose it.

Wisconsin Democrats, specifically the Party hacks, could mess up a sunny, 70-degree Wisconsin day in April.

Early voting has begun for the election held on April 4.

Fitchburg Wisconsin Mayor's Race Heats Up

Fitchburg Wisconsin mayor goes negative on progressives
and neighborhood activists in mailer delivered March 13, 2017

Sitting mayor attacks residents and activists: Is this the new normal?

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — A corporatist, anti-grassroots mayor is running for reelection in a small liberal city in southern Dane County.

The mayor is Steve Arnold and he is running scared.

Three weeks out from the April 4 Election Day, Arnold is going nuclear-negative, a clear sign of increasing rejection from progressives and neighborhood activists who are opposing him and his bizarre sock-the-working class campaign.

Arnold has a text-heavy mailer out that accuses his many opponents and Fitchburg residents of "lies," and features a nine-point list of negative, false and incoherent attacks.

After the Feb. 21 primary in which Arnold was rejected by 61 percent of voters, Arnold said he would change "tactics a bit" in his campaign, (Girard, Fitchburg Star).

Changing tactics. It would appear that Arnold's opponent, Jason Gonzalez, who is running to become the City's first Latino mayor has so upset the autocratic and heavy-handed Arnold regime that going negative, to Arnold's way of thinking, is the only way to hang onto his seat. Twenty days out from Election Day and the incumbent goes negative. Not a good tactic for this city.

It would also appear that the lessons of 2016 fall on deaf ears: Listen to the grassroots and the people, not the hacks and Party establishment.

Fitchburg Wisconsin Mayor Steve Arnold targets progressives and activists

Progressives, Neighborhood Activists Want Jason Gonzales for Mayor in Bellwether Wisconsin City

Jason Gonzalez is running for mayor in Fitchburg Wisconsin.
Jason is pictured with James Kilgore who helps people
traumatized by the prison-industrial complex try
to reclaim their lives, (Gonzalez for Fitchburg mayor).
Gonzalez is the first Latino to sit on the Fitchburg Common
Council and would be the City's first Latino mayor.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Jason Gonzalez is running for mayor in this small, fast-growing city in south-central Wisconsin, in the most progressive county in the state.

Gonzalez has amassed a broad coalition—typical in Wisconsin municipal campaigns—that includes Bernie Sanders progressives and independents, Democrats, Republicans, Greens, neighborhood activists and labor unions, (Wisconsin AFL-CIO).

Fitchburg is a bellwether, part of Dane county's jobs-creating engine that powers the state, socially liberal, activist and in the middle of a hot real estate market.

Gonzalez preaches "inclusion" and "collaboration," and would become the first Latino elected as Fitchburg mayor.

He's running against incumbent Mayor Steve Arnold, who calls himself a populist.

The progressive label seems ironic for a mayor who wants $100s in property tax increases, (nine percent), for working-class homes, higher rents for tenants and who seeks to privatize City services for those living in cul-de-sacs.

As though living in a cul-de-sac, a small home, or on a rustic road were a bad thing. Arnold also apparently doesn't like the bucolic look of residents' front yards, so he has divined a grand vision to pave over people's front yards. Walkable urban neighborhoods and pedestrian approaches, he says, (Wisconsin State Journal), (Fitchburg Star).

Arnold is fighting a City and a grassroots-backed candidate in Gonzalez that does not react well to commissars working to decide what front yards and neighborhoods should look like.

Word from the campaign front is Gonzalez is the on-odds favorite to defeat Arnold.

In the February primary Gonzalez won 47 percent of the vote to Arnold’s 37 percent. Marc Jones finished with 13.8 percent of the vote. Jones has since endorsed Gonzalez. The election is April 4, early voting begins March 13.

The Pocan Problem

In a dynamic that has progressives shaking their heads, an increasingly corporatized U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, (D-Madison) decided to endorse Arnold in early March.

The move echoes perhaps the worst image of 2016 broadcast from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last July. It features Pocan reprimanding the Wisconsin Bernie Sanders delegation for wearing "silenced by the DNC" tape over their mouths. Hundreds of Sanders supporters walked off the floor as Pocan and DNC hacks preached "unity," a heavy-handed move that did not work out well in November.

Corporatized Democrats like Pocan have not seen the April 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary results from Fitchburg that saw Sanders win easily. If they knew and cared about the results, likely they would be backing Gonzalez.

"This is our community. I know there is no easy fit for which member of the political spectrum supports a candidate for mayor in Fitchburg. But this is a strength of our campaign. We need wide collaboration now," said Gonzalez last January after knocking on a door. "I'm proud of the wide support we have received. People need to know they are being listened to. That's the basis of my campaign."

It's a little rich to read give-me-more-money Mark Pocan endorse Steve Arnold for Fitchburg, Wisconsin mayor. What attracts Pocan: Nine-percent property tax increases, higher rents or privatizing cul-de-sacs? (WISC-TV).

What is clear is that residents of Fitchburg are looking pretty small now-a-days from the D.C.-based, money-infused world of Mark Pocan.

Come to think of it, that's the problem with Arnold as well: People just don't seem to matter so very much anymore.

Jason Gonzalez is working to change this.