LETTER: Editorial unfairly lumped good with bad

To The Telegram:

Think back to your childhood. Remember when somebody in class broke a rule, but the teacher couldn’t identify the culprit? Everyone in your class was punished, and those who were innocent of wrongdoing felt victimized.

The Daily Telegram’s solution to shortcomings in Wisconsin’s legislative process, “Flush the Legislature’s mess, and flush lawmakers with it,” (Dec. 18) punishes the innocent along with the guilty.

Unlike a teacher in a crowded classroom, Wisconsin citizens can identify the culprits when government doesn’t do the job for them. It’s proper to punish the culprits, but not the hard-working lawmakers who try to make government work in the public interest.

Northwestern Wisconsin has capable, smart and dedicated office holders, people like Sen. Bob Jauch, Rep. Frank Boyle and Mayor Dave Ross. Jauch and Boyle are not to blame for the state failure to adequately fund local government.

Public officials should be judged as individuals. They should not be lumped together out of frustration, however justified that frustration is.

— Edward J. Huck, executive director,

Wisconsin Alliance of Cities

Tags: legislature, jauch, boyle, huck, lawmakers, public, officials