Ok Wausau, you have a unique opportunity to bring back a modicum of democracy and fairness to your state.
How?
Here's the story...
One of your own, Dentist Fred "Doc" Prehn, has currently hijacked the Natural Resources board that sets the policy for the Wisconsin DNR. Even though his term as chairman of the board ended LAST MAY, he has refused to vacate his seat, even though Governor Evers has appointed his replacement.
How can he do this? Isn't this illegal?
In a state that wasn't completely politically dysfunctional, yes, but you'd have to leave Wisconsin to find that state.
Check this out:
The Republican Majority Senate has refused to confirm ANY of Governor Evers' appointees, and there's a 1964 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that says board members can stay on after their term expires until a replacement is confirmed by the state senate.
So Prehn and Senate Republicans have allegedly figured out how to create a black whole of thuggery in Wisconsin's democracy by subverting the will of Wisconsin voters who elected Governor Evers, who should be able to appoint his own people to state boards.
Regardless of whether you're a Democrat or Republican, this should REALLY MAKE YOU MAD.
Why would Prehn refuse to leave the board? Because the DNR is in charge of setting the rules that would force corporate polluters to clean up PFAS in your drinking water.
And in case you didn't know, PFAS chemicals will give you cancer and deform your babies.
Allegedly, the lobbying group that protects these corporate polluters, the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, is encouraging Doc Prehn to NOT LEAVE THE BOARD, because they need his vote to make sure these polluters don't have to pay to clean up Wausau's polluted water.
Yes, if you've been reading the news, you've read that your own city's drinking water is FULL OF HARMFUL PFAS CHEMICALS!
So let's wrap this all up in a bow.
Your neighbor Dentist Fred Prehn is allegedly refusing to leave this Natural Resources Board in order to protect the corporate polluters from having to clean up your own city's cancer-causing PFAS problem.
He's screwing you, your kids, and your unborn babies over BIG TIME!
We don't think that's right, and the only way to get rich jerks to do the right thing is to hit them HARD in their overstuffed wallets.
So Wausau, time to stop buying guns from Docs Weapons, the sinister sounding gun shop that he owns.
We've heard he sold his dental office, so we don't think it's possible to boycott his dentistry, but there's plenty of gun shops around where the owners are not actively trying to give you cancer, like Chase Outdoors LLC, Fleet Farm, or a number of other places.
Additionally, don't just quietly shop at other gun shops, call or email Doc Weapons and tell them exactly WHY you'll never step foot in their business again.
Wausau, this is your unique chance to strengthen democracy with your pocketbook and tell Doc "the squatter" Prehn to squat anywhere else other than on the Natural Resources Board.