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Like almost every other aspect of the municipal election in Germantown Hills last week’s Germantown Hills Chamber of Commerce endorsements set off a round of angry comments.
The Germantown Hills Chamber of Commerce endorsed Ken Slater, Theresa Olsen and Brian Wysocki in the April 5 Germantown Hills Village Board election. Slater is an incumbent. Olsen and Wysocki are newcomers.
Each of the endorsed candidates received 15 votes of the 45 cast by chamber members. Fifteen chamber members cast votes. The chamber has 25 members.
Incumbent board members Mike Gaetz and John Ford received no votes.
No surprise
Gaetz and Ford said their lack of endorsement came as no surprise.
“An exact 33 percent split between the three of them strikes me as strange. It’s very obvious (the chamber’s) goal is to get the incumbents, aside from Slater, off the board,” Gaetz said.
“This is a page right out of (Mayor Kenny) Mitchell’s play book.”
Ford laughed when told of the results.
“It’s amazing how that turned out. It was a set-up. That was (the chamber’s) plan from day one,” Ford said.
“The amazing thing about this is the chamber thinks Mike and I are against them. Kenny (Mitchell) and Clark (Hopkins, village board trustee) are always at the chamber board meetings. That locks out any other village board member from going. If we did it would be a violation of the Open Meetings Act. The chamber only hears what Kenny and Clark tell them. They (Mitchell and Hopkins) have an agenda and are doing what they want.”
Reaction
Dr. Tim Kaufman, president of the chamber, responding to the comments by Gaetz, said Gaetz is not pro-business.
Ford, he said, is moderately pro-business.
“Olsen and Wysocki are on the planning commission. We’ve worked with both of them. Slater is pro-business,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman said the outcome was not a surprise to him.
“The reason the chamber was formed was because business was not well treated by the village board. Mike (Gaetz) once said he would be happy if Germantown Hills went back to being cornfields,” Kaufman said.
“We have a voice, too.”
Kaufman said if the village board was non-cooperative during good economic times that was one thing.
But, he said, when some village board members are resistant to helping business during hard economic times the business community felt a need to react.
“That’s why we are endorsing,” Kaufman said.
Like almost every other aspect of the municipal election in Germantown Hills last week’s Germantown Hills Chamber of Commerce endorsements set off a round of angry comments.
The Germantown Hills Chamber of Commerce endorsed Ken Slater, Theresa Olsen and Brian Wysocki in the April 5 Germantown Hills Village Board election. Slater is an incumbent. Olsen and Wysocki are newcomers.
Each of the endorsed candidates received 15 votes of the 45 cast by chamber members. Fifteen chamber members cast votes. The chamber has 25 members.
Incumbent board members Mike Gaetz and John Ford received no votes.
No surprise
Gaetz and Ford said their lack of endorsement came as no surprise.
“An exact 33 percent split between the three of them strikes me as strange. It’s very obvious (the chamber’s) goal is to get the incumbents, aside from Slater, off the board,” Gaetz said.
“This is a page right out of (Mayor Kenny) Mitchell’s play book.”
Ford laughed when told of the results.
“It’s amazing how that turned out. It was a set-up. That was (the chamber’s) plan from day one,” Ford said.
“The amazing thing about this is the chamber thinks Mike and I are against them. Kenny (Mitchell) and Clark (Hopkins, village board trustee) are always at the chamber board meetings. That locks out any other village board member from going. If we did it would be a violation of the Open Meetings Act. The chamber only hears what Kenny and Clark tell them. They (Mitchell and Hopkins) have an agenda and are doing what they want.”
Reaction
Dr. Tim Kaufman, president of the chamber, responding to the comments by Gaetz, said Gaetz is not pro-business.
Ford, he said, is moderately pro-business.
“Olsen and Wysocki are on the planning commission. We’ve worked with both of them. Slater is pro-business,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman said the outcome was not a surprise to him.
“The reason the chamber was formed was because business was not well treated by the village board. Mike (Gaetz) once said he would be happy if Germantown Hills went back to being cornfields,” Kaufman said.
“We have a voice, too.”
Kaufman said if the village board was non-cooperative during good economic times that was one thing.
But, he said, when some village board members are resistant to helping business during hard economic times the business community felt a need to react.
“That’s why we are endorsing,” Kaufman said.
“I commend anyone who runs for public office. Our endorsements are about policy, not personalities.”
Kaufman said Ford’s assertion that members of the village board are trying to control what the chamber hears is not true.
Hopkins echoed that idea. Hopkins said an assertion that he and the mayor conspired to lock other members of the village board out of chamber board meetings was ridiculous.
“I was appointed to be the village board’s liaison to the chamber. The mayor chooses to go with me,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins laughed at the idea that he and the mayor are trying to control any message to the chamber board.
“That’s incorrect,” he said. “We’re trying to help the chamber.”
Mitchell did not respond to calls for comment.
Pleased
Slater said he appreciated the faith of the chamber membership.
“I will do my best to represent their interests and the interests of all Germantown Hills residents,” Slater said.
Olsen said she was pleased.
“I hope to work well with the business community,” she said.
Wysocki said he was honored.
“I’ve worked to help the business community to grow and thrive,” he said.
On the chamber website, where the results were announced, Kaufman wrote, “It is the general feeling of the membership that these candidates (Slater, Olsen and Wysocki) are the most pro-business and would be the best for our community.”
When asked to reveal the names of those voting Kaufman said it was anonymous vote and he did not know who voted.
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