Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg in front of City Hall. MWC photo by Mike Leischner.
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Dust off the ‘Katie for Us’ lawn signs. Wausau mayor Katie Rosenberg announced that she’s running for another term last week. She says she won’t be actively campaigning, saying that the public probably isn’t interested in a year-long campaign.
Actually, I don’t dislike Katie Rosenberg. It’s her policies that I can’t stand. The Wausau that I moved to 18 years ago was a city that was evenly divided politically. Most people didn’t look at the city through the lens of ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’. People cared about whether the streets were plowed and the crime rates were low. Back then quality of life issues were much, much more important than left or right.
Today Wausau is a more diverse city. And it is certainly a more liberal city. That there would be people on the city council who are to the left politically of a mayor like Katie Rosenberg would have been unthinkable when I first arrived in town. There are some of her often-allies who think she isn’t liberal enough.
Compared to when I first moved here, crime is up. Drug use is up. Homelessness is up; that the city has a Portland-style homeless encampment under the Scott Street bridge would have been unthinkable years ago. And taxes are up.
And that’s my big problem with Mayor Katie. She’s a big spender. And I’ve criticized other mayors who’ve spent recklessly. When a fundraising effort to renovate the 400-Block came up short, then-mayor Jim Tipple fronted the money. Taxpayers were told they weren’t going to pay for it… until we were. When mayor Robert Mielke announced the new water treatment plant (before all the additional PFAS spending) I opined that the price tag was astronomical. And those previous mayors at least gave lip service to looking out for the city’s homeowners and landowners; the people who pay the money that makes everything happen.
You will never see a ‘taxpayers for Katie’ sign. There’s no one in City Hall who even discusses how to keep taxes down.
But I suspect that as long as our mayor is down for the struggle, she has a good chance of winning another term. If you’re a Wausau taxpayer, I hope your wallet can take it.
Chris Conley
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