There have been some interesting developments in the Sheboygan saga over the last several days. The City of Sheboygan is attempting to retract the letter sent to a private citizen, telling her that she must remove a link to the Sheboygan police department. Link.
The City of Sheboygan is backing down from its demand that a Sheboygan resident remove a link from her business Web site to the Sheboygan Police Department, the city attorney said this morning.
Basically, this is lawyer speak for calling a time out or a "do over". It has gotten a little too hot down at the mayor's office and now they are trying to claim a "do-over".
Unfortunately for the mayor and the city attorney, this may work in a court room when having evidence thrown out, but it does not work in the real world where most Americans live.
The city's aldermen have also weighed in on the subject.
I can certainly understand why the alderman are upset about this issue taking over their city, but I believe they are missing the bigger picture.
The city's now-retracted demand that a resident remove an Internet link to the Sheboygan Police Department is an embarrassment and a distraction for the city, some aldermen said Wednesday.
No where in this article do you read that a single alderman is condemning the actions of the mayor, they say they are embarrassed, but they do not condemn the actions. Now maybe some of them stated this to the media, but their statements did not make the paper.
Some of these alderman even go so far as to state that no real damage has been done here.
"What is the damage to this person if that link is up and running again and her Web site has been going all this time?" Montemayor said. "I'm sure her attorney will say there's been some damage, but I don't know what it would be."
I find this statement by this alderwoman to be highly offensive. Clearly the alderman in Sheboygan are missing the entire point.
This is not about a website or a link to the Police department. This is not about Sheboygan government, this is about the people of Sheboygan.
At issue here are the basic rights afforded every single American citizen.
A citizen in the city of Shebogan was denied her basic rights by her local government.
This very country was founded by men and women that were running from abusive governments.
The Sheboygan mayor used the taxpayer's money to go after a private citizen because of a personal political vendetta. He used the city attorney to send a threatening letter to a political opponent. The mayor also had this issue investigated by the local police department.
As American citizens, we have rights in this country. We also have laws in this country and some of these laws do protect from government officials using their power and position to enact personal vendettas.
I am more than a little curious as to why most of the alder persons in this city seem to have completely missed the point. The mayor of Sheboygan seems to have violated the rights of a citizens and they are miffed because they city is not getting good press.
Why are they not calling for an investigation?
If this mayor is allowed to do this to anyone in the city, who is next?
What happens if one of these alder persons makes the mayor angry- would these alder persons allow their rights to be violated?
I am pretty certain that not only the mayor, but the aldermen in Sheboygan took an oath of office. Did that oath include protecting the rights of every single Sheboygan citizen?
If not, it should include this.
If these aldermen want to protect the reputation of Sheboygan, they need to start by immediately calling for an investigation into this matter. They must then take whatever means necessary to protect the citizens of Sheboygan from an abusive government.
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