By Steve Erbach on Saturday, April 14, 2007 3:40 PM

There's nothing like experience.  I'm not sure if a political science degree would prepare someone for running for local office.  I suspect that it wouldn't.

Mistakes I made that I won't make again:

1. Doing it all by myself.  That isn't strictly true: my wife, Janet, designed spiffy yard signs for me, helped me assemble the newspaper ad, and helped me with the two mailings I did.  And, of course, there were my 8 campaign contributors, and the people that took a bunch of my yard signs to put up.  Those people include: Patricia Wirth, Geriann and Joe Heath, Vicky Head, and Dan Dringoli.  (Yes, that Dan Dringoli.)  But as far as creating and printing the hundreds of handouts, printing and addressing the personalized mailings, and doing the actual door-to-door work, I did that alone.  It was very satisfying but not nearly as satisfying as it could ha ... Read More »
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By Steve Erbach on Saturday, April 14, 2007 2:44 PM

This next email came directly after the Council meeting during which Capt. Long used the phrase, "Bring it on!" in reference to the potential additional investigation of the police department's management policies with respect to l'affaire Dringoli.

Capt. Long is right in his "bring it on" comment. What professional would say that to his/her governing body? His attitude was very professional before the council. Do you like my humor? Sounds like another politician who said the same thing. I could not disagree with him more. The police department needs an overhaul front the top down. Citizens are fearful of speaking in public just because of what you saw at the council meeting. I have seen and heard enough.

RW
Neenah, Wis.

I reacted fairly strongly to this email:

Dear Mr. _____,

No, I don't like your humor, mainly because you're ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Saturday, April 14, 2007 2:28 PM

Just before the April 3rd election I finally managed to put a few web pages together containing my thoughts about a few issues facing the city.  I dovetailed that web site with a reminder mailing that went out four days before the election.  In the mailing I invited people to email me with any questions.

Well, here's the first one and my response.

Dear Steve,

I received your request to vote for you.  I read your views on the police dept.  Why  should I vote for you? The council [which you are a part of] and mayor have limited influence on the police dept..  Come on.  If the council and mayor had wanted to use their influence on the police and fire commission they [police and fire commission] would have acted as soon as the police study was completed.  I heard Todd Stevenson at a council meeting say that if changes were needed in the police dept., t ... Read More »

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