Advertisement In our defense, I point out that the Community Life endorsed Mayor Jim Bialecki four years ago when Giese ran against him. Furthermore, complaints that coverage of city meetings contained quotes from Giese but none from Muth seem off base, considering that Muth either did not sit on the committee being covered or — if he was at the meeting — did not have anything quotable to say on the subject during the meeting.
There might be a misunderstanding, too, about Giese’s role in the newspaper. He was a silent partner who was very rarely seen in the office and had no input on the newspaper’s editorial affairs.
Still, with the perception that the paper might be biased, I thought it best to turn to another source for an editorial position on the mayoral election. The La Crosse Tribune’s editorial board interviewed both Giese and Muth for nearly an hour each. Here is the verdict the Tribune reached:
Voters in the city of Onalaska are fortunate to have two good candidates for mayor, but we believe Mike Giese has a broader range of professional experiences and a better grasp of complicated issues involved in running a city of 16,000 people.
Giese, retired former co-owner of the Onalaska Community Life and Holmen Courier newspapers (the parent company of the La Crosse Tribune bought the weeklies several years ago), is running against Bob Muth, a former Onalaska police sergeant who now serves as investigator for the La Crosse County district attorney’s office.
Both Giese and Muth call for open government and collaboration between the city of Onalaska and its neighbors. Both are supporters of the city’s riverfront and downtown development project, and both say that the city needs to carefully evaluate proposals by developers and the issue of whether to provide city assistance for development.
But Giese has more experience dealing with budgets — and has a clear understanding of tax increment financing districts, an important development tool.
Asked how he would evaluate TIF proposals Giese said they should be approved only if they benefit all taxpayers — and that TIF districts that benefit only outside entities or some taxpayers over others within the city should not be approved.
Onalaska city planner Jason Gilman issued a 10-point set of guidelines about TIF districts, including the points Giese raised, plus questions about whether the development would occur without the use of tax incremental financing, and whether there are written assurances that the development actually will take place as proposed.
All of these are useful guidelines, but in talking to the candidates, it seemed clear that Giese is more comfortable examining these issues, and that Muth relies much more upon Gilman’s 10-point guidelines. Muth even submitted them as his answer to a TIF question in the Onalaska Community Life March 21 edition (as did Alderman Jim Olson). Muth was not trying to pass Gilman’s work off as his own, but it seems clear that Giese has a better understanding of the issue, which would serve him well as mayor.
Giese has specific proposals for a variety of areas — including a proposed review of departmental organization, and specific ways to improve the quality of the broadcasts of council and committee meetings.
Both candidates have much to offer. Muth has lived in Onalaska for 31 years and has been a dedicated public servant during that period.
Giese has a somewhat wider range of jobs and experience, however, and would be well suited to deal with the complexity of municipal issues.
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