Neenah Politicians Run for Cover

The folks in Neenah are up in arms over what it perceives as a dysfunctional police force. And the local politicians are running for cover.

The headline-grabbing controversy, of course, is the Dringoli case. A few weeks back the judge through the case out of court calling District Attorney Lennon’s argument “convoluted.”

When the Dringoli case surfaced over a year ago the City Council declared that it wanted to say out of the matter and wouldn’t second guess its police chief. Now with the election looming and the natives up in arms, there is a lot of CYA going on around City Hall.

The other day Mayor George Scherck called up the Post Crescent to report that he had chewed out Police Chief Ray Appel over a $10,000 overrun in the department’s $4.4 million budget. Compared to the $8000, 000 overrun in Sherriff Mike’s Brook’s budget, $10,000 seems to be a drop in the bucket. But, of course, County politicians aren’t on the hot-seat over Brooks mismanagement the way Neenah politicians are on the hot-seat over Scherck’s and Appel’s mismanagement of the police department. Scherck has thus decided to toss Appel to the wolves.

Neenah residents have long known that the “inmates are running the asylum” down at the cop shop, not Appel or Scherck. Now Scherck has won Council approval to bring in an outside consultant to study what ails the Neenah Police Department.

The current rush to bring in outside experts strikes at the very heart of what is ailing Neenah’s political establishment. A few years back, Dringoli upset the City Hall establishment when he reported serious improprieties among police while they were on a taxpayer funded junket to Florida. City Hall politicians derided Dringoli for tattling on his fellow cops. Dringoli responded that the problems ran deep in the police establishment and urged that a consultant be hired to untangle the mess. The politicians laughed at him.

Now, with the political heat on, the politicians seem to be finally agreeing with Dringoli that there is something amiss.

Your faithful servant,

Silence