Recently an anonymous comment was posted in response to "Roger Danielsen, Gone!" Former school board member Roger Danielsen or a supporter of his asks,
How is it an attack when the mother and adult daughter both request that the newspapers print the bad gossip concerning them, only to get at someone supporting a referendum?Let's look at the facts, shall we?
Roger Danielsen, while a member of the Waukesha School Board and of his own volition, e-mailed several people the criminal record of the daughter of a prominent referendum opponent. Among the people Danielsen e-mailed was a member of the press. The daughter had nothing to do with the referendum, what she did had nothing to do with the referendum, the daughter was a private citizen, but she fell into Danielsen's crosshairs solely because she was the daughter of someone Danielsen considered a political enemy. By e-mailing the member of the press, Danielsen clearly meant for the information to become public.
Now, Danielsen could act like a man, admit what he did was wrong, even slimy, and ask for forgiveness. Instead, Danielsen has tried to spin the issue as best as he can to avoid any personal responsibility. He was forced to resign under threat of recall.
According to the Waukesha Freeman (April 30, 2005), Danielsen has since been asked to release, via a freedom of information request, to make public his e-mails from March 1, 2005 to the present, and any e-mails regarding the criminal record of the daughter of the referendum opponent. Danielsen has decided to fight the request and has retained legal counsel.
A fair question would be to ask, why is Danielsen fighting the release of his e-mail? What other dirty little tricks did he pull during the school board's recent attempt to raise taxes? Was there another referendum opponent slimed by Danielsen? Danielsen is an unelectable public figure so there would be no practical reason to hide these things now, leaving us to fairly ask: did he consider or even commit illegal election campaign activity, or is he covering up for someone else?
The Waukesha Freeman and others cannot stand by while a public official covers up for his misbehavior in office. They should ignore the threat of Danielsen's attorney and press forward through the legal process to get those e-mails. It's not just Danielsen at stake, it's the ability Waukesha citizens to avail themselves of the pertinent information needed to judge the worthiness of their public officials.
Danielsen has a responsibility as a former elected official to not suppress these e-mails. And Danielsen owes it to his community, friend and foe alike, to apologize for behaving like a juvenile deliquent. He can answer in one fell swoop any suspicions the public may have about him if he just complies with a simple request for public records.
And if you're a friend of Danielsen, tell him to start acting like a man and release the e-mails.
