One of the pejorative terms that came into common vernacular in the years following the US Civil War was “carpetbagger”. It referred to Northerners who came to former Confederate states in the days after the war to win elected seats in state houses and Congress. While some truly wanted to help rebuild the South and ensure the rights of recently-freed slaves, most just saw an opportunity to gain power and to make money. Now, 160+years later, we have a new trend of carpetbagging taking place in our local governments.
Last week, Green Bay School Board member Kou Lee abruptly resigned his seat nearly two years before his term was to expire on the same day the Green Bay Press-Gazette published an article providing evidence that Lee continued to live in the Village of Hobart (outside the Green Bay Area Public School District) while running for his seat in the spring of 2024, and after he won election.
First off, I have to applaud Press-Gazette reporter Nadia Scharf for taking the time to thoroughly research the tip that she was provided questioning Lee’s place of residence. Given the trend toward “advocacy journalism” today, reporters assigned to cover education dedicate most of their articles and stories toward “up-lifting” school districts–and not questioning their operations. It would have been very easy to just ignore a story that would embarrass the GBAPS or to do the cursory “well, he lists a Green Bay address on his nomination papers so it must be legit” and move on to a puff piece on the installation of a swing that can be used by a child in a wheelchair.
Ms. Scharf dug into tax records that showed Lee claimed his Hobart home as his residence for the property tax credit through this year. She went to the address that Lee listed on his nomination papers and found someone living there that never heard of Kou Lee and had lived there before Lee claimed he made it his legal residence. A visit to the address Lee started using after initial complaints were lodged about his residency found a person who had no idea how long Lee had “sometimes lived there”. Ms. Scharf also didn’t back down after Lee accused her of “harassing him” by asking questions about his legal residency prior to a school board meeting last month. Reports state that another board member stepped in and separated the two.
Lee didn’t even vote in the 2024 election where he was on the ballot. That would be a strong indication that he knew he was not a resident of the district and knew that claiming to be at that point would leave him open to criminal prosecution for voter fraud.
Lee’s immediate resignation upon the publication of the story–and his failure to issue any statement in regards to leaving the board–speaks volumes about the accuracy and veracity of the P-G story. A couple of other similar situations I’ll highlight in a bit at least featured “non-denial denials” from those outed as being modern “carpetbaggers”.
This would be a good time to step back and discuss how many candidates decide to run for a local school board. In very few cases does someone wake up one winter morning and decide “I think I’m going to run for the school board!” The vast majority of candidates today are actively recruited to run–usually by current board members looking to bolster their voting bloc with like-minded people, teachers unions looking to put as many allies on the board for contract negotiations as they can, business groups looking to rein in property taxes, or (in a growing trend) political parties themselves–even though these are ostensibly “non-partisan” positions.
So that means that someone, or a whole lot of someones knew that Kou Lee did not live in the Green Bay school district when they recruited him to run. It should be noted that Lee ran for Congress in the 8th District as a Democrat in the past, so he had plenty of connections in the political realm, as evidenced by the $35,000 the state party gave him in in-kind donations (usually printed campaign materials or fundraising mailings), $500 from the Brown County Democratic Party, and $1,000 from the Green Bay teachers union.
While the political party jumped behind Lee’s campaign, it was likely someone already on the board that talked him into running. Did Lee lie to that person about living in the district? Did he promise to move to meet the 28-day residency to be eligible just to run and never get around to it? Did that same member give him advice in how to falsify his nomination papers and to obfuscate efforts to determine his actual residence?
I find the official board response from President James Lyerly to also be very telling. It contains no language expressing disappointment that a member would falsify public records in order to serve, or that steps will be taken to ensure this doesn’t happen again. There wasn’t even a shot directed at “the media” for questioning a person of color’s qualification to serve in public office. Instead, it curtly pointed out that it is “not the responsibility of the School Board or the District to determine if a candidate is eligible to run for the office”.
Which brings us to another issue: There doesn’t seem to be any real oversight on candidate eligibility. Lyerly points out the Board itself is not responsible. Green Bay Clerk Celestine Jeffreys (who is responsible for printing the official ballot) said she just makes sure the address put on the forms is in the district. And the Wisconsin Elections Commission says they have no role in determining a candidate’s eligibility to run or serve unless there is a formal complaint filed against that person. All of this buck passing makes it very easy for someone like Kou Lee to run, win, and govern from seats for which they are not legally allowed to do so.
And he has not been the only one to do so. Last year, Milwaukee School Board member Aisha Carr resigned after serving three years while never actually living in the district she represented. She claimed to have moved into a house in that district owned by her cousin. But when questioned by police, the cousin admitted Carr never resided there. She is now charged with misconduct in office and fraud.
A former member of the Hartland-Lakeside School Board, John Harter, was sentenced to 20-days in jail in 2023 for falsifying his address on nomination papers in 2021–and then serving two-years on the school board. It should be noted that Harter listed his father’s address as his residence on those papers despite not living there. It should also be noted that Harter’s father SERVED ON THE SCHOOL BOARD AT THE TIME!!!
And who can forget former Grand Chute Town Board Supervisor Ron Wolff, who was elected despite living in the town of Nichols. Wolff admitted it to state agents who served a search warrant on that property and found him living there and offered to immediately resign–just like Kou Lee. Thing got even more interesting when agents went to the house Wolff claimed to live at and instead found his brother living there–and a bunch of drugs.
So what can we, the electorate that is lectured to all the time about how elections that Donald Trump doesn’t win are “legitimate” ensure that the people who want to represent us are actually eligible to do so–because it is clear that neither those serving on those councils and boards nor those appointed to conduct the elections are going to do it for us. I’m more than willing to shoulder some of the blame. I don’t check everyone’s address when nomination papers are filed. I don’t check tax records or court documents. I don’t go to listed addresses to see if all of those candidates actually answer door. But then again, I shouldn’t have to. Everyone else involved in the process of recruiting, funding, and promoting these candidates for local offices should have the courage and the moral character to stand up and say “Hey, that guy doesn’t even live here!” instead of caring only about their political ideology.
