Shame on the local media!
They knew about Mayor Timothy “Madcap” Michalek's second gun fumble back in October of 2021. You read that right. His second gun fumble...the one that happened over five months ago.
This happened in Hartford, Wisconsin, a city of some 15,000, home to The Wisconsin Automotive Museum and close to Pike Lake State Park. Hartford is not, repeat, not some hotbed of Ammon Bundy wannabes. There is a small but entirely treatable infestation of Q-Anon in the suburbs that the Public Works Department could eradicate, and the usual rash of fundamentalist christianists doing harm in the supposed name of good, but on the whole the city is a far cry from the Wackos in Waco, or some Koch-addled corporate town.
So, did the media alert the public back then, in October of 2021, that a public servant was exhibiting dangerous levels of carelessness, was displaying a callous, even arrogant disregard for public safety, was thumbing his nose at the wellbeing of Hartford residents? And that he had done it for the second time, that this was the second time it happened at a public meeting where government business was conducted, and where members of the public were present?
Crickets...
Yup. A pair of crickets could have drowned out the clarion call from the fourth estate.
Local media were so silent on the matter you could have heard a gun drop. It's as if they were complicit. Or they were eager to normalize such idiocy. Or they sincerely believe that I.O.K.I.Y.A.R.!
Madcap Michalek's bit of slapstick was captured by the video camera in the Common Council Chamber. Posted to YouTube, the video shows Mayor Gunfumble presenting an award to a volunteer arborist. As the mayor raises his right arm to offer a handshake, a holstered handgun leaps from his waistband and makes a desperate dash toward freedom.
This happened on October 26th,2021. This incredible offense went all but unnoticed. Over five months have passed. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8AsrpP-vxQ&t=793s)
Then came Mayor Gunfumble's third display of public gun-juggling! Third! The Hartford Common Council is now concluding debate on the new city motto: “Hartford: Home of the Serial-Slinger!”
Strike three occurred on March 9th, 2022. Mayor Gunfumble, in his capacity as a County Supervisor, let slip his sidearm in the Washington County Public Safety Building (pause for cognitive digestion and ironic burp).
Let’s state the obvious: Timothy Michalek, and his waistband, are vehemently opposed to gun control.
But this latest slip-of-the-gun caught the attention of the County Sheriff. You see, under state law, it is illegal to carry firearms into a Public Safety Building. Michalek made it worse for himself, though. As the Washington County Sheriff's Department reported, “The supervisor implied to detectives that as an elected official he believed he was exempt from the law and could carry his firearm inside police departments and the sheriff’s office. Both charges are Class A misdemeanors and if charged and convicted would be punishable up to nine months in county jail, and a $10,000 fine.”
Michalek’s implied statement, and the pungent whiff of entitlement it exudes, finally raised a stink within Hartford City limits. Five write-in candidates will now square off against Madcap Michalek in next Tuesday's mayoral election. While some are political opportunists who taste blood in the water and are now circling an easy meal, at least one, former mayor Joe Dautermann, has already demonstrated integrity and a commitment to public service.
“And lo and behold, it came to pass, that on the third strike the local media rose from the dead!” Proof positive that the Age of Miracles has not passed, the local ABC affiliate managed to locate Hartford on a map, and sent a reporter to interview two of the write-in candidates. He also conducted a perfunctory search for Madcap himself, who was, curiously, in absentia.
The mayoral election is this Tuesday. Will voters in Hartford will shoot down Madcap Michalek's bid for another term? Will aldermen declare that Common Council meetings will be gun-free gatherings of citizens and elected officials? Courage seems to be in short supply in Hartford, now recognized as Wisconsin's “Duck-and-Cover City!”