Both Sides of the Fence
A Tosa resident since 1991, Christine walks the dog, cooks but avoids housework, writes and reads, and enjoys the company of friends and strangers. Her job takes her around the state, learning about people's health. A Quaker (no, they don't wear blue hats or sell oatmeal or motor oil), she has been known to stand on both sides of the political and philosophic fence at the same time, which is very uncomfortable when you think about it. She writes about pretty much whatever stops in to visit her busy mind at the moment. One reader described her as "incredibly opinionated but not judgmental." That sounds like a good thing to strive for!
Real heroes are in the city clerk's office
When I moved into Wauwatosa seventeen years ago, no one came to my door with a welcoming plate of cookies. But neither did a self-appointed guardian of liberty come demanding to verify my personal information against the voter registration records.
I’d have liked the neighborliness, but if I had to choose one or the other, I’d choose respect for privacy.
In case you haven’t heard yet, Vicky Ostry and the Wisconsin Conservative Leadership Council have undertaken a “nice little project” to “make sure people are playing by the rules.” They are making phone calls and knocking on the doors of their neighbors—that’s right: people who reside in Tosa homes—and checking their names against the voter rolls the group has purchased from the city. You can watch the TMJ news story here (it's after the loud ad).
I’m a little confused. Most of the outrage about fraud has been aimed at people with false names and addresses, at duplicate voting, at voting by felons, and so forth. But if someone is living in Tosa, it seems likely that they are going to be entitled to vote here. Still, you never know: vast numbers of Tosa eastsiders may be harboring hoards of illegal voters, eating pizzas and drinking diet soda behind closed shades, until they finally get to invade the polls on Tuesday.
Fortunately, I live on the westside, where that sort of thing would never happen.
And if someone from that groups shows up on my doorstep, I will decline to provide them with information that is not any of their business.
Who really pays for this unfortunate bit of misplaced zealotry are the folks in the city clerk’s office. My guess is they have plenty to do without taking time to comply with capricious demands from individuals. Their salaries come from our taxes, and if we want to keep those low, we ought to respect the work they do.
Kudos to Carla Ledesma and the office staff. With reasonable grace, patience, and occasional humor, they are handling an unexpected burden of work from fielding other nuisance requests, accommodating early voting, and now this.
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