Wausau City Hall. MWC file photo.
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Lisa Rasmussen, Wausau’s city council president, was unceremoniously voted out of office last week. She wrote her farewell letter, published last Thursday in the Wausau Pilot and Review.
I have nothing personal against Lisa. We haven’t talked in many years, but she’s always been courteous to me. And after 18 years in elected office, she knows much more about city finances than I do. She’s served multiple terms as the city’s finance committee chair and as council president.
So how does someone with those credentials lose an election? Well, most local elections are won or lost on front porches. A challenger who goes door to door to speak with their neighbors has a good chance of winning; an incumbent who doesn’t has a good chance of losing.
But I think this: the mood of Wausau voters is that we’ve reached a tipping point on taxes. People feel like they’re tapped out. I’m sure $3.89 gasoline and high grocery prices has a lot to do with that. And Lisa’s last letter was a long dissertation in support of the status quo; no we can’t lower water rates, no we can’t close more TID districts, no the city is unlikely to stop borrowing money. Voters, I think, rejected the idea that costs are high, spending is up, and there’s very little we can do about it. And, I concede that’s a tricky read. In the same election that Lisa was voted out, Wausau residents also decided to voluntarily raise their taxes to pay for more firefighters. Public safety is always difficult to cut.
When someone serves 18 years in city government, they’re not doing it for notoriety – they’re serving their neighbors. We didn’t always agree – especially on city spending and taxes, but Wausau owes Lisa Rasmussen a debt of thanks.
Chris Conley
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