Definition: war of words (noun phrase) – an argument in which people or groups criticize and disagree with each other publicly and repeatedly for usually a long time
A few weeks ago, a young Mom called me. She seemed genuinely concerned that the Library was going to be closed down and she would lose a valued place to take her children. We had a polite and very cordial 10 minute conversation, but she was obviously still concerned at the end of the conversation.
I explained to her during the phone call that the Library was in no danger of shutting down, that my potential budget amendment was the only potential 2024 Library budget amendment that I was aware of, and that my proposed Library budget amendment actually raised the 2024 Library tax levy funding by $220,535 relative to the 2023 funding.
Despite my explanations, she remained concerned and unconvinced. She asked me why people and the press would share information, if it wasn’t true. That conversation with a sincere young Mom was a primary motivating factor in my decision to not propose the Library Budget Amendment resolution.
The following is a look at several of the claims made about my proposals and statements and also a look at the evidence and/or the lack thereof in support of the claims.
I only request that my constituents examine the evidence, both presented here and elsewhere, and decide for themselves.
Claim: Supervisor Baker wants to ban books/Supervisor Baker has tried to ban books
My Rating: FALSE – No evidence provided in support of claim.
Please send me any emails that I wrote or the details of any Marathon County Board or Committee video (Meeting Name, Date, and start/stop times) where I personally made a statement that I wanted to or tried to ban or remove books from the Library and I will post the information here.
CLAIM: Supervisor Baker wants to or is trying to defund the Library in the 2024 budget
My Rating: FALSE – No evidence provided in support of claim.
Defund: to stop providing money or as much money to pay for something:
My proposed amendment would have increased the 2024 Library Tax Levy by $220,535 relative to the 2023 Library Tax Levy, saved the Marathon County taxpayers $165,000 in property taxes relative to the County Administrator’s/HRFC 2024 budget proposal, and fully funded the Library’s requested 2024 Budget using a combination of 2024 tax levy, non levy Library revenue, and $228,203 of the projected 2023 library fund reserves of $652,323.
In regards to the HVAC funding, my original email request was only to delay additional funding to give the Board time to make an informed decision. The $2.8 million HVAC funding is all additional funding compared to the 2023 budget. I never actually proposed an amendment to delay the HVAC funding as explained here.
More Details Here, Here, and Here.
Full Disclosure: A year ago, in November of 2022, I did vote in favor of reducing the 2023 Library Budget because of the large projected 2022 end of year Library Fund Balance, which ended up at $996,438.
Claim: Supervisor Baker wants to abolish the Library System or Supervisor Baker proposed abolishing the library system
My Rating: HIGHLY MISLEADING– evidence provided does not support claim. Claim is very misleading based on all available evidence.
I believe that this claim is solely or at least primarily based on an email I sent to HRFC Committee Chair Robinson on October 6th.
The entire email was as follows:
In my view, it is not my role as an elected public official to ban books or to infringe on the constitutional rights of Marathon County Citizens.
It is my role to uphold and protect our constitutional rights.
I believe that it is also my role to represent the interests of my constituents1. Since I serve on the EEEDC Committee, “which shall have responsibility for outcome monitoring and oversight of the performance of education and economic development initiatives supported by Marathon County” specifically including the Marathon County Public Library Board, I believe that responding to concerns of Marathon County residents related to the Public Library Board is directly part of my role as an elected public official.
In my opinion, my suggestion for a policy discussion in this email has been conflated into a statement that I was proposing a specific policy, which is not accurate. I have been very disappointed that it seems that no member of Marathon County Board Leadership spoke up to defend a fellow Board Member in the face of, in my opinion, unsubstantiated allegations.
The email was specifically concerned with the selection of an appropriate HVAC replacement and expansion system for the Wausau based Headquarters Library building. One of my concerns was related to the equity of requiring each municipality with a branch library to fund the costs associated with the HVAC system in the branch library, but requiring County taxpayers to fund the HVAC system at the Wausau based Headquarters building with no contribution from the City of Wausau.
This topic had been discussed at some length at the EEEDC committee meeting the previous day. HRFC Committee Chair Robinson, the Library Director Leah Giordano, and Administrator Leonhard were all present at the October 5th EEEDC meeting during the HVAC discussion so I didn’t think (in hindsight obviously mistakenly) that it was necessary to include this background information in the email.
In my opinion, the Marathon County Library Board has been for the most part unresponsive to a group of Marathon County residents, who have showed up at Library Board meetings in large numbers and presented a petition reportedly signed by about 1000 residents.
This discussion and debate has been very contentious in the County, as evidenced by the large number of Marathon County residents who also showed up in large numbers at the Library Board meetings and also presented an opposing petition reportedly signed by about 1000 residents.
In line with my responsibilities as an elected public official and as a member of the Marathon County Board, I mentioned in the email that I was considering forming an unofficial working group to try to assist with reaching a resolution between the Library Board and the large number of Marathon County residents concerned with the direction of the Marathon County Library.
The formation of such an unofficial working group is well within the rights and responsibilities of Marathon County Board members and in fact has an established precedent in an earlier, similarly contentious issue facing the Marathon County Board.
At the May 13th, 2021 meeting of the Executive Committee2, a motion to form an official work group failed. Despite the failure of this motion, 5 or 6 Board Members, including members who supported each side of the issue, agreed to form an unofficial work group to try to reach a resolution to the contentious issue.
I based the suggestion of forming an unofficial work group, made up of several County Board Supervisors from each side of the Library issue, to try to assist with working out an acceptable resolution between the Library Board and residents, on the earlier unofficial Community for All work group. I did not and have not had any discussions with other Supervisors regarding serving on or forming the suggested unofficial Library Work group.
I only mentioned the idea to provide separate local Library Boards in the email insofar as it related to the possible selection of a specific HVAC system and the potential for the selection to be impacted if the City of Wausau were to be responsible for the HVAC system in the future.
I specifically stated that it was my hope/expectation that the ARPA funding for the HVAC system could be approved at a later date to give the Board additional time to make an informed decision.
Claim: The Marathon County Public Library has been under attack for weeks after Supervisor David Baker proposed an Amendment to dismantle the library system.
My Rating: FALSE – This claim should be pretty easy to verify if it were actually true. Please email me any amendment that I wrote that proposes to dismantle the library system and I will post it here.
Also, I am not aware of any attacks on the Library in the weeks following the single email that I sent on October 6th, which has been construed as an attack.
Claim: Supervisor Baker does not support the 1st Amendment
My Rating: FALSE– evidence provided does not support claim.
I am a strong supporter of our Constitutional Rights. As a matter of fact, before I ran for and was elected to County Board, I led an effort to have Marathon County adopt a Constitutional Sanctuary County Resolution. After many months of efforts to get the resolution on a Committee Agenda, it was killed in a Public Safety Committee Meeting.
As I explained above, I believe that responding to concerns of Marathon County residents related to the Public Library Board is a direct part of my role and responsibility as an elected public official. In the fall of 2022 I was asked by a Marathon County resident if I would support passage of an County Ordinance that would prohibit the Library from lending harmful materials to minors. I explained to the resident that to the best of my understanding Wisconsin State Statutes would preclude Marathon County from passing such an Ordinance. Since I am not an attorney, the resident asked if I would seek an Opinion from Corporation Counsel. I agreed to request this opinion3, which is shown below.
It is my opinion that the prohibition in the Wisconsin State Statutes on showing harmful material to children is not a violation of the 1st amendment.
A questions was asked regarding the legality of my Library Budget Proposal during the November 2, 2023 EEEDC meeting. Corporation Counsel’s reply is in the video below.
- Specific Board and individual supervisor duties: Rule 18(c)7.
Communicate with residents and groups with regard to policy preferences and assist residents with individual complaints/problems. ↩︎ - May 13th, 2021 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
As can be seen in the minutes, the resolution to form an official work group failed on a vote of 2 to 6, with Chair Gibbs and Supervisor Robinson voting yes. Notably, Supervisor Bootz, who reportedly took the lead in forming the unofficial work group a short time later, voted no on forming the official work group. ↩︎ - October 21, 2022 Professional Opinion ↩︎