Dringoli leads in supermarket poll

No area controversy has led to as much public discussion as has the suspension of Neenah Police Officer Daniel Dringoli. Whenever I bump into neighbors at Copps, the conversation almost always leads to an exchange of the latest rumors and gossip on the case.
Officer Dringoli can take some comfort in the fact that my own unscientific Copps Supermarket poll shows him to be leading by about 4-1 in public support over his superiors at the Neenah cop shop. He could probably be elected Mayor if the election were held soon. Time will tell whether that kind of public support is deserved.

Other area law enforcement agencies should view the Dringoli fiasco as a "how-NOT-to" case study for police investigating their own. The Neenah Police Department gives the appearance of being a petulant agency bent on sending Dringoli to jail in retaliation for his reporting of Neenah police corruption. Winnebago County District Attorney Bill Lennon appears to be kissing butt with the Neenah cops in an effort to gain their endorsement in his campaign to get elected judge.

Even Wisconsin’s Attorney General is skeptical of the case and has left Lennon to dangle in the wind. The AG refused Lennon’s plea that Wisconsin Department of Justice take over the prosecution of the case. Essentially the AG told Lennon, "You made your own bed, now go lie in it."

The local rumor mill has it that Lennon has also been turned down by other area District Attorneys that he asked to take over the case as an "independent prosecutor."
The fact that Neenah rumor mill is so active in this case is testimony to the inadequacy of the reporting of the Post Crescent and other area news media.

Months before the PC reported the story, it was widely known in the community that Dringoli had been suspended and that Neenah Police were investigating him for some unknown "crimes." The PC either is so out of touch with what is going on in Neenah that they didn’t know what most residents already knew or the paper chose to sit on the story. The only things the PC knows about the case is what Dringoli’s attorney has fed them.

Your faithful servant,

Silence