Branding Politix, Leadership, Strategic Blueprints, Views on News, public relations, wispundits • February 24th, 2008

Kehl needs to get message out

by Dennis A. Shook

How do you continue to function as a public official when you have been charged with a misdeed but won’t have a chance to answer charges in a court for many weeks or months?

That is problem faced now by Kenosha County Executive Allan Kehl, who is in the middle of his second term as county leader and also finds himself in the middle of one of the biggest scandals in Kenosha history.

The banner headlines in the Kenosha News this past week have centered on Kehl being named in a federal indictment as part of the continuing investigation on alleged corruption in the efforts to locate a tribal casino at Kenosha’s Dairyland Greyhound Park. The claim is that Kehl accepted $15,000 to $20,000 in illegal payments from Kenosha multi-millionaire businessman Dennis Troha, also the casino front man. If proven, it would cost Kehl his career and possibly his freedom. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail and $250,000 in fines if he is convicted.

If you don’t think the casino is a huge project, bear in mind that the full build-out would be an $808 million project, with the casino, convention center, golf course, and several restaurants. There would be all the games you find at the Milwaukee casino and the greyhound track would also be retained.

The Forest County Potawatomi Tribe is so concerned with losing its local gaming monopoly and Illinois visitors to Kenosha that it has spent many millions in fighting against the Kenosha casino. Heavy-hitters like Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-WI, have sent letters to the federal government asking them not to approve the tribal trust pact that would allow for the Kenosha casino, citing a loss of Milwaukee jobs and tourist dollars. The sponsoring Menominee tribe has also spent many millions making its case, albeit unsuccessfully for the past several years.

Troha was the lead spokesman for the Kenosha casino until early 2007 when he was indicted for and pleaded guilty to charges that he was providing more in campaign contributions than legal limits to several politicians.

Not too long after Troha’s plea, John Erickson, a lieutenant at Troha’s trucking firm, was also indicted and entered a guilty plea. A few weeks ago, another Troha associate, Kelly Infusino, was also indicted. Troha and Erickson agreed to cooperate with federal investigators as part of their plea agreement. While no connection has yet been verified, Erickson was Kehl’s campaign treasurer in the 2006 reelection campaign. Was it Erickson who gave the feds their information on Kehl? Nobody can be sure at this point.

But Kehl has been charged with approaching Troha for campaign contributions on several occasions, totaling more than $10,000. The indictment said that on one occasion in December 2005, Kehl received $5,000 from Troha and soon thereafter deposited $3,500 in cash in his personal account. Maybe the $3,500 came from some other source. But it remains unclear because Kehl has declined to speak out, other than to say he would not resign his post.

One question that needs to be answered is - what road should Kehl take if he is innocent? Kehl has not exactly been active in defending himself in the local media. He has largely declined comment, or at least long interviews to reporters, instead issuing a statement and deferring all questions to his administrative assistant. That tactic might work for local business leaders. They are not elected by the people to their positions of prominence. Kehl was.

Kehl has been elected to two terms as county executive and served as the county’s sheriff before that. For nearly two decades he has served by the will of the public. So shunning the public spotlight in this darkest moment in his very public career seems like an error in strategy.

Some of the most remarkable reversals of fortune in politics have come when officials decided to address such concerns head on, like when Richard Nixon was accused in 1952 of inappropriately taking $18,000 in campaign contributions for his personal use. His famous “Checkers” speech allowed him to stay on as the GOP Republican vice presidential nominee. Another example was the Bill and Hillary Clinton appearance on “60 Minutes” after he had been accused of having sexual liaisons just as he was seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. The Clintons were able to successfully defuse that dynamite by appearing on TV to give their side.

It just might be that some attorneys are counseling Kehl to lock himself away. But if he really intends to remain as county executive, he can’t do that. Maybe he should be seeking the counsel of public relations experts who will help him craft an explanation of this controversy that he can personally deliver on TV.

As the producer and host of a Kenosha TV show, I am offering Kehl just that opportunity to get his message out. He will be welcome as my guest. Whether it be on my show or elsewhere, the voters need to hear more from Kehl on the charges and his plan s for the future.

It just might save his career.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 10:16 am and is filed under Branding Politix, Leadership, Strategic Blueprints, Views on News, public relations, wispundits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.