Trustee Phinney should resign; so should his wife

Let’s pull the plug on ‘business as usual’

Shorewood, Wis. (December 10, 2005) – Off with Trustee Michael Phinney’s head, and former Village President Rod Dow’s, too; and Lisa Froemming’s and Harvey Kurtz’s and Jeff Hanewall’s and Jeff Schmeckpeper’s. Give a neighbor a little authority and right away they act like they never heard of democracy, open government or conflicts of interest.

When Trustee Michael Phinney voted to place his wife on the public library board, we suggested that it was improper and questioned why the village attorney sat by silently as the vote took place. Of course, what would you expect from a village attorney who represented out-of-state public officials who attacked a Web site run by a Shorewood resident?

Harvey Kurtz, the president of the Shorewood Foundation, and Jeff Schmeckpeper, a member of the foundation board, said they would hire an out-of-county lawyer in the Benjamin Trust probate matter to avoid the appearance of a conflict. Instead, they hired their neighbor and failed to protect the Trust from excessive fees their “neighbor” billed.

In the waning months of last term, former Village President Rodney Dow’s law firm, Foley & Lardner, experienced a jump in revenue from the village after Dow cleared it with the village attorney, whose actions make it appear he doesn’t understand what a conflict is.

Jeff Hanewall, president of the Shorewood Public Library Board of Trustees and the husband of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Pamela Pepper, refuses to disclose what was behind thousands of dollars in legal fees paid this year to a lawyer Schmeckpeper hand picked, insisting it is privileged information. Guess what. Phinney’s wife, Lisa Froemming, a library trustee, is responsible in a separate scandal for giving a Milwaukee Public Library telemarketing contract to Phinney’s fundraising firm. Froemming was quoted in the daily newspaper refuting the audit’s claim that Phinney’s firm was not the lowest bidder, but shouldn’t Froemming and Phinney have paused to consider whether a conflict existed?

Since assuming office 19 months ago, Phinney has worked long hours on village issues. But a closer look also suggests Phinney is a man on the make, managing to land everywhere money is raised, spent or controlled, from the Budget & Finance Committee to the Community Development Authority to the Business Improvement District’s board. Bearded and barrel-chested, Phinney also volunteered his time on the SEED board. How long will it be until he offers his services to the Elder Services Advisory Board and Senior Resource Center, which has not yet been stripped of all of the trust money?

Now, rather than bringing energy and reason to these positions, Phinney’s disregard for the appearance of conflict has diminished his capacity to effectively lead. Beyond that, the library board will likely be suspicious of Froemming.

Finally, those who claim Phinney and Froemming are anomalies have no credibility; we should also be demanding their heads because the standard of ethical conduct applies to those we support and oppose alike. To condemn Phinney while ignoring the other official misconduct encourages unethical conduct by holding out the expectation of blind partisanship.