This Just In ...

There's something happening in Franklin

Posted by Kevin Fischer on Feb. 13, 2012

I did not attend the one and only Franklin School Board candidate’s forum tonight (Monday) at the Root River Lanes. It’s my only night of the week with no commitments so I decided to spend the night at home with my family. I offer no apologies.

Listening to Judith Bialk and David Works and Donald Petre…or quality time with my beautiful wife and daughter? Not even close.

So I don’t know on this wet, frosty evening how many voters attended, which candidates were there, what was asked, what was answered, etc.

But I do know this. I sense a development in Franklin I haven’t seen since I started blogging in 2007. For the first time in many years, I actually sense a genuine interest in the local school board election as opposed to the laissez faire, apathetic, I don’t give a damn attitude that has dominated our city.

People are reading up on the elections. They are familiarizing themselves with the candidates. They are grasping the issues. They are developing a sense of what’s really happing when it comes to our public school system. They are not sitting back. They are not turning the other cheek. They are asking questions and are not happy to accept the status quo.

I’m not sure what might have caused this shift, and I’m not all that sure how dramatic the shift is. Election numbers in April, not February will tell the story. In February, turnout is low. The Franklin Public School intelligentsia will get their people and their people’s spouses out. The question is, will the political climate in Wisconsin that has more and more people politically energized than ever before translate into more voters upset with public employee unions and local units of government (including school boards) gouging taxpayers turning up at the polls in February and again in April.

While those who want to return Wisconsin to the double digit tax increase budgets and budget deficits suffered under Jim Doyle went around and collected recall signatures for 60 days, the silent majority sat, and waited, and waited, and waited for an opportunity to get into the game. That time has arrived now that the recall signature collection nonsense has ended. By the thousands, they’re verifying signatures. They’re making phone calls. They’re knocking on doors. They’re distributing yard signs.

Property taxes are down. School class sizes haven’t changed. Public employee layoffs haven’t happened in municipalities that took Governor Walker up on his more than reasonable and fair budget fixes.

For the first time in a long time, it appears Franklin voters are angry enough to lift their heads out of the sand. It’s a long road ahead, but at this point, the drive looks more encouraging than ever before.