From Kriss Marion

Blanchardville

To the editor:

For a few days last week, Lafayette County pulled off a media miracle by stealing headlines away from national politics and directing a spotlight on local government. While some felt embarrassed by our exposure in the New York Times, on Dubuque television and across the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal, I think we can be proud of this story as a triumph of small-town democracy.

Running America’s constitutional republic is complicated, and carried out by regular people, most doing the best they can with good intentions. Some citizens question whether there is such a thing as good government anymore. Some don’t vote. Faith in elected officials seems at an all-time low. But right here in rural Southwest Wisconsin, we just saw the democratic process work. Citizens exercising their rights to free speech and open meetings were able to stop the rushed passage of an ill-advised resolution. The press shared information in a timely way about what was happening and held government accountable. 

The Wisconsin State Journal’s Editorial Staff wrote in the Sunday paper: “Lafayette Should Learn from Debacle.” Indeed, we should, as should the rest of a nation increasingly preoccupied with national political theatre. Our attention is required here at home. Buy a subscription to your local newspaper. Run for office. (County and School Board filing starts Dec. 1.) Vote in April elections. Stay engaged. If you see something that needs doing, use the uniquely American superpowers of free speech and the free press to make your community better.

Meanwhile in Lafayette County, we should direct our energy toward solving water quality problems, rather than trying to limit discussion about them. The SWIGG study, still underway in collaboration with Grant and Iowa Counties and several state and federal agencies, has so far found that in Lafayette, 55% of private wells tested last fall and 36% tested this spring were high in nitrates or bacteria. We have a lot of good work to do together. Let’s get after it. 

— Marion is the District 8 Supervisor on the Lafayette County Board, but the opinions expressed above are her own, and do not represent the county board or any committee.