Damakant Jayshi
Kronenwetter Trustee Kelly Coyle this week unloaded on fellow board member Ken Charneski for pushing through what he described as an “attack ad,” while calling him a “bigoted” and “toxic” village representative who is against inclusion and should resign.
Coyle, who is not running for any office this year, also hinted at a potential lawsuit against Charneski before the statute of limitation expires. Charneski is among six candidates who are running to fill three seats on the board.
The ad campaign Coyle refers to targets the top three finishers in the Feb. 20 primary – Aaron Myszka, Scott Dauel and Ryan Leff.
“Not that I really need to defend myself but YES I have been a strong conservative the entirety of my adult life and have voted accordingly,” said Coyle, during the public comments period of the Board of Trustees meeting earlier this week. “That being said, I absolutely support inclusion. Why wouldn’t I?”
Coyle accused Charneski of not having the best interests of the village in mind, pointing to his voting record and a lawsuit filed in January alleging attempts to obtain records have been repeatedly denied by village staff.
The campaign materials, allegedly paid for by Charneski, were sent to voters last week and warned that electing Myszka, Dauel and Leff would harm traditional family values and impact the “social and moral values of the community.” The names of Charneski, Sean Dumais and Cindy Lee Buchowski-Hoffman, who finished in the bottom three among the six qualifying candidates in the February primary, appear with the message.
The campaign material describes Community for All group members and sympathizers as displacing traditional family values with “queerer,” “browner,” “witchier” and “transgender” ideals. Critics say the framing of the campaign literature is “hateful” and “divisive.” But Charneski and candidates whose names appear on one of the campaign posters deny that, noting that they took the words from CFA’s Facebook page.
Another trustee, Alexander Vedvik, pushed back on that denial.
“I know Ken asserts this is just a re-summarization of Community For All, but frankly there is no way the way the message is worded that it would reasonably be construed as ‘restating CFA’s agenda’,” Vedvik told Wausau Pilot.
But Charneski maintains that it is the Community for All group that is divisive. Community for All is an advocacy group that says everyone, regardless of their background and orientation, deserves to live a life of dignity and respect.
The campaign poster alleges that Coyle, along with Vedvik and Chris Voll support CFA and accuses Vedvik of not only being against traditional values, but bringing “bad press” to Kronenwetter which Charneski’s group says was a “quiet, friendly, conservative and safe community” prior to Vedvik’s arrival.
Vedvik referred to the campaign message as “hateful, racist, and homophobic.” Vedvik, who is not a candidate this year, said he was appalled by the rhetoric contained in the messaging for its contempt towards “newcomers” to our Village and racial and sexual minorities. Vedvik’s wife, a nurse who spoke during the public comment period of the meeting, said her family has been harassed and threatened.
“While my expectations for Ken Charneski are low, I found his messaging both repulsive and reckless to list a personal attack against my husband, other members of the board like Mr. Coyle and Mr. Voll, as well as other candidates that are merely running for Village Board,” she said.
Coyle said the question is why Charneski and his fellow candidates are so opposed to inclusion, support for the public library system and guaranteed Constitutional freedoms.
“Mr. Dumais and Ms. Hoffman, I don’t know what you were thinking when you signed off on this text ad,” Coyle said. “I wouldn’t be able to look my family, friends or neighbors in the eye if I ever posted something as bigoted as this…Shame on you!”
Coyle asked residents to vote Charneski out. “So, to be extra clear, Ken you deserve to be voted out of office because you have been a toxic member of the board, not because you are a hypocritical, hateful, world class bigot.”
Targeted candidates take exception to campaign literature
The candidates targeted by the campaign materials criticized them as “hateful.”
“My wife immigrated to this great country from Vietnam,” Myszka, who received the highest number of votes in the spring primary, told Wausau Pilot. “The comments circulated by Mr. Charneski were deeply insulting and troubling to me and my wife.”
He added that the “comments from current Village leaders are hateful and make people feel very unwelcome in Kronenwetter,” adding the Village has always been a welcoming place and he was going to keep it that way.
Charneski did not respond to specific questions about the campaign material. Instead, he attacked Wausau Pilot for “biased reporting” for asking him questions instead of Community for All.
“CFA can post whatever they want to, but then they need to own it and explain it, and so do the candidates who support that group or accept support from the group. This is obviously what the literature is talking about,” Charneski said.
A CFA representative told this newspaper that the campaign material speaks for itself.
“It is unfortunate that advocating for a more inclusive community is seen by some as a threat to family values, when in fact most believe tolerance and inclusion is the foundation for strong families and communities,” Christine Salm, a member of CFA steering committee said. “We support any candidate that values a diverse, inclusive, community because we know inclusive public policy has a direct and positive impact on the local economy and overall quality of life for residents who live and work in Marathon County.”
Dumais, who has a history of arrests for his alleged failure to pay child support told this newspaper that he did not endorse the language but blamed CFA for using those words. He said Kronenwetter is a diverse community and needs representation for all constituents, whether a newcomer or a long-term resident.
“I believe the point that attachment was making was that if all three of the new candidates were elected the Board would only have one Trustee that has lived in the Village for a prolonged period of time so the board would lose pretty much any representation of the long-term residents,” Dumais said.
Dumais, who says he is a minority because he is half Mexican, noted that he and the only woman running in the race are the two being thrown into a “targeted political agenda under the guise that we somehow support these divisive words and phrases.”
Buchowski-Hoffmann did not respond to email seeking comment.
Besides Myszka, candidates Dauel and Leff also took exception to the campaign material pushed by Charneski. All of them said that they are not affiliated with CFA but pointed out that the group supports candidates that favor inclusiveness and diversity.
Leff said he found the campaign material distasteful and was upset that a current trustee was defaming them and others. Pointing to the Kronenwetter’s vision statement of “a growing community with diverse economy, quality infrastructure, championed by the people of the Village” and its mission statement that includes “building an inclusive ad informed citizenry,” said this means representing the entire community, regardless of their individual values and ideals.
Dauel termed it a “desperate and low grade attempt on behalf of the individuals that put it together” and it shows “a thirst for power and…flat out lie about their opponents without merit.”
He said the role of trustee is to represent all residents in a professional and fair manner regardless of race, religion, gender, age or length of time they have been living in the village, he said.
“I would like to see the candidates that put this hit piece together get questioned on the thought process that went behind this and truly show some level of transparency on their intent,” Dauel said.
