An “old guard” has maintained control over Fulton’s town government by running numbered seat elections for as long as anyone can remember. Candidates who took out nomination papers for Town Board Supervisor were told by the former town clerk that they had to pick either Seat I or Seat II, making them choose which incumbent to run against. This was intimidating. The old guard was seldom challenged. Only three incumbent board members have been unseated in the last 15 years.

Annual Town Meetings are unique bodies under Wisconsin Statutes. They allow individual citizens to author direct legislation. During the April 11, 2006 town meeting, Brian Christianson expressed his concern over the numbered seat election process. “It often causes dissension and hard feelings.” Saying “I wish I could have run for the board instead of against a specific incumbent,” Mr. Christianson tried to introduce a motion to change Fulton’s election process from numbered to unnumbered seats.

According to the minutes of that meeting, the Town’s attorney, Mark Schroeder, stated he would need to review the statute to make sure this is a power of the annual meeting. Mark claimed that "the statute is not clear.” He then persuaded Mr. Christianson to make (and Andy Walton to second) an advisory motion – “the Town Board research with legal counsel the ability to remove seat numbers and return to balloting for Town Board Supervisors on an at-large basis.”

Later in 2006, citizen Dave Brown commissioned independent research that proved Wisconsin Statutes to be very clear on this issue. Section 5.60(6)(a) states “All towns shall elect their supervisors to unnumbered seats unless the annual town meeting adopts a plan to elect supervisors to numbered seats.” A search of Town records failed to come up with any evidence that a numbered seat plan has ever been adopted by any Fulton town meeting. Except for 2001 and 2002, the Town of Fulton has been electing supervisors improperly at least since 1961.

Elections were run properly in 2001. This was due to an ordinance passed in May, 2000, which described the procedure for changing the makeup of the Town Board from three to five supervisors. It created staggered terms and defined unnumbered seat elections for the chairman and four supervisors. Click here to see the ordinance.

2001 was a year of opportunity for citizens who wanted to get involved with town government and bring in fresh ideas. Ten candidates filed nomination papers. After a February primary, eight advanced to the April general election. Under the protocol defined in the ordinance (unnumbered seats), they were all listed together on the ballot. Voters were told to select no more than four candidates. Andy Walton (461 votes) and Brian Christianson (426 votes) won two-year terms as Supervisor. Incumbents Ken Veitch (411) and Kerry Hull (344) received one-year terms, meaning that they would have to stand for election again in 2002. Click here to see details.

In 2002, the elections closed up again. Veitch and Hull were unopposed. In 2003, Walton was unopposed, but Scott Farrington ran against Christianson and won his first two-year seat. In 2004, Veitch and Hull were unopposed. In 2005, Farrington was unopposed, but Arnie Lund, Jr. defeated Walton.

We know that the candidate intimidation that most likely was going on 2002 – 2005 definitely was practiced in 2006. When Robert Rippberger went to Town Hall to take out nomination papers, town clerk Jennifer Johns told him that he had to pick a seat number that defined whom he would challenge. Reluctantly, he chose Hull. When Brian Christianson went to Town Hall, Ms. Johns told him that he would have to fill out the nomination papers in her presence so that she could see which seat number he would choose. In 2006, Hull defeated Rippberger and Christianson defeated Veitch.

Why Jennifer Johns reverted the supervisor election process back to numbered seats is a mystery. We do know that she ignored Fulton ordinance 2000-5.2 and Wis 5.60(6)(a) in the process. No documented plan to go to numbered seats has ever been adopted in a town meeting.

Although the Town Board was directed to research the numbered / unnumbered seats issue during the April 11 town meeting, nothing was done until the August board meeting, when supervisor Scott Farrington was delegated to contact the Town’s attorney, Mark Schroeder. Click here to see the August 17 reply. In it, Mr. Schroeder went off on another tangent: “I do not have any information as to when, if at any time, any official action was taken to provide that the Town Board Supervisors have numbered seats. Since, historically, however, they have done so, I will assume that this was done pursuant to the authority found in Wis. Stats. § 60.10(1)(c)."

Wrong assumption. Although Fulton has been using numbered seats for as long as anyone can remember, there is no memory or any documentation that this was ever done legally until 2001. Mr. Schroeder continued to miss the most relevant statute, 5.60(6)(a).

The numbered seats issue had been tabled until the September 14 meeting, but because he was going to be absent, chairman Hull directed it to be held over again until the October 12 board meeting. On October 3, supervisor Arnie Lund noticed that the numbered seats issue had been left off the published agenda for October 12, and asked the Clerk to post an amendment.

This apparently prompted another consultation with town attorney Mark Schroeder. On October 6, Mr. Schroeder reported Fulton's illegal election history to the State Elections Board, and proposed a convoluted remedy. Click here to see the letter.

Before getting to the numbered seats issue at the October 12 town board meeting, supervisor Brian Christianson presented a list of situations in which he believed that town attorney Mark Schroeder had provided sychophantic opinions to the former town board chairman that were poorly researched or outright wrong. The numbered seat elections issue was a prime example. The Board then voted 3-2 to direct the current Chairman to seek other candidates to retain as town attorney.

Mr. Christianson then noted that every time the topic of numbered seat elections had come up in prior meetings, informal "straw votes" showed that most people preferred an unnumbered seat system. "To follow attorney Schroeder's advice and call a special town meeting this late in the game," Christianson said, "would only serve to 'air the Town's dirty laundry' that we had been running elections illegally." He then proposed a motion (with Lund seconding) to direct the Clerk to conduct the April 2007 and all subsequent supervisor elections in conformance with Wisconsin statute 5.60(6)(a). During the discussion, citizen Robert Rippberger spoke up and said "This has gone on for too long. Most citizens appear to want unnumbered seat elections. No one in this room tonight is favoring numbered seats. Why not just pass this motion and move on?" The motion passed 5-0.