Vernon County Board of Supervisors unanimously passes resolution condemning political violence

VIROQUA, Wis. — The Vernon County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution Thursday condemning political violence and calling on elected officials at all levels to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric.

The resolution was brought to the board by County Supervisor Wayde Lawler with the approval of County Board Chair Lorn Goede. Lawler, who also happens to be the Vernon County Democratic Party Chair and he thanked Goede for an expedited process to get the resolution on the agenda saying he felt it was urgent to make the statement given the current political environment.

Lawler also introduced the resolution to the board.

“No matter where any of us come from, or how long we’ve lived here, or who we love or how we worship, we as Americans, believe that everyone is entitled to the same rights,” said Lawler. “Those of us in elected office took an oath to uphold the Constitution, which spells out those rights, and all of us in the room just affirmed our allegiance to one nation under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And yet, last week’s shooting of a prominent conservative figure, which happened almost simultaneously with yet another horrifying school shooting was just the latest in a series of events that seemed to reveal a growing comfort in this country with using violence to express or settle our political differences. And if that wasn’t bad enough, almost as soon as the news broke, some elected officials started using their highly visible public platforms to pour gasoline on an already highly volatile situation, using language of vigilantism and revenge, they have scapegoated broad swaths of our society that do not share their politics, villanizing those who disagree with them and threatening retribution. It wasn’t long ago that in the aftermath of a horrific act of violence, we could count on our elected leaders to agree, if not to the solution to the problem, then at least to the fact that it is a problem. It feels like that is no longer the case. So this is the context in which I bring the resolution today. I don’t know what’s going through the minds of people making statements like the ones I’m describing, but it’s both heartbreaking and infuriating that they can’t see how irresponsible those words are. Because here’s the thing, those threats don’t only make things more dangerous for their political opponents, these threats make it more dangerous for anyone who might ever attend a political rally or event no matter which party they support, they make it more dangerous for concerned citizens who choose to exercise their First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceful assembly by holding a sign on a street corner or offering a public comment at a meeting like this, they make it more dangerous for anyone like you or me who gives of their time in elected office at any level. They even make it more dangerous for those making the threats and their own families. Imagine for a second how this could play out right here in this room. What if I stood up in front of you after a heated discussion on any topic, and threatened one of you because of your opinion, one of your friends on the board might respond with a threat against me, and one of my friends might return the favor. And before you know it, we have ceased entirely to function as a board. We’re done.

“All of the important work that we acknowledge we have to do on behalf of the people we were elected to serve. Forget about it. And so this inability to disagree peacefully, to see that our shared humanity transcends our differences, is a cancer eating away at our country that we all cherish a like cancer. If we go after it early and aggressively, we stand a pretty good chance of beating it. But if we wait and if we simply hope that time will bring better news, it is very likely to be fatal. I do not enjoy bringing this up today. We do, in fact, have a lot of other work to do, but we’re being sold a lie. It’s a lie that says that people who disagree with us are less than us, that they’re evil. And living in this community I see every day that that is not true. Working with all of you shows me that it isn’t true. So when any leader at any level pushes that lie and fails to or refuses to uphold those constitutionally guaranteed rights for all of us, those rights that we all believe in, it’s our job to remind them who they work for, to remind them that our community is better than this, and that we deserve better from them. And so I hope that you can join me in Yes, productive conversation, maybe a friendly amendment or two, but in supporting this resolution and beyond that, considering very seriously what each of us can do in this role and in all of the other roles we have in our community, to set an example of how we can disagree productively and how we can take care of each other and ensure that everyone who lives in this county never has to be scared because of what they say or because of who they are.”

The board discussed and adopted two amendments to the resolution. Supervisor Sandy Schweiger proposed removing the words “both Republican and Democratic” from the third “whereas” clause, so it would refer more broadly to political figures. Schweiger also requested the resolution explicitly recognize the constitutional right to free speech.

“Even though we disagree with what some people say, it still should recognize in here that we still have that right,” Schweiger said.

Other supervisors voiced support for the resolution and the amendments. Supervisor Martha Olson commended Lawler for bringing the measure forward.

“We’re a small Vernon County, but it starts somewhere,” said Olson. “And this is maybe the push that needs to be.”

Supervisor Mary Henry supported broadening the language of the nonviolence resolution to include not just political figures, but also elected officials and their families. She emphasized the importance of this addition by referencing recent incidents.

“This last year, two spouses have been harmed, one killed and one physically hurt in their own homes,” said Henry. “The other shooting was so visible, and there wasn’t cameras in those homes for the public to see it, and they were horrific, too. And so, it’s just the amount that, it’s just horrific.”

Supervisor Alycann Taylor called the resolution “cutting edge” and said, “While we can’t control what people do or say, we can set a standard and an expectation that we all have a responsibility to do better.”

After discussion, the board approved the resolution as amended by unanimous voice vote.

96th Assembly Representative Tara Johnson (D-La Crosse), speaking at the start of the meeting, voiced strong support for the resolution. She called the board’s work on the resolution “important” and said, “I am encouraging your support of this resolution because I think that it sends an important message at an important time.”

Johnson emphasized the personal impact of the board’s action stating she has taken part of two moments of silence at the state capitol recently, one for Melissa Hortman, the Minn. state legislator recently killed by a gunman in her home, and one for Charlie Kirk was shot while speaking on a college campus in Utah.

“And I think that those moments really hang heavy on my mind today,” said Johnson. “I appreciate these words. I appreciate the spirit of the resolution, and that as a state elected official, I am taking your words to heart, and that your resolution in Vernon County is an opportunity for me to not just stand in moments of silence, but to commit myself to refraining from inflammatory rhetoric, and join you and hopefully all other elected officials at all levels of government to condemn political violence.”