OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Outagamie County Board is moving on with an anonymous open records request targeting Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson.
Nelson was absent from Tuesday’s county board meeting. But his time spent in the office was still a topic on the board’s agenda.
And it has come up in the midst of Nelson’s re-election campaign. Former board member Kevin Sturn is set to face Nelson in the general election for county executive in April.
“I’ve been consistent with my message all along,” Sturn said. “I’m going to show up for work. I’m going to be committed to holding regular office hours. I’m going to work with the team and be here, so I believe that you do need to be here.”
Sturn said he had no involvement in the open records request. He said he doesn’t personally care about the findings — his focus is on what he needs to do to win in April.
“I’m not Fact Check the Exec — I don’t know who or, I have no idea. That being said, I don’t really have anything to comment on the information. People can look for it and make their own minds up on it.”
In early February, an anonymous group named Fact Check the Exec asked for information regarding Nelson’s office hours. Supporters of Nelson say that data ultimately doesn’t matter.
“I think if you ask voters what they would prefer, they would prefer results rather than a guy who is in the office all day long and not getting anything done,” County Board Member Steven Thiede said.
Thiede has defended Nelson and his character throughout the process. He said there’s no reason for the discussion to have been an agenda item to begin with.
“He’s always the hardest working, smartest guy in any room. They can’t attack his record, so they’re playing this insider baseball. It’s a dark group — they won’t even put their names on this.”
County board chairman Jeff Nooyen says the reason the communication was an agenda item was because board members were asking for more clarification on what information was being provided in the open records request.
The County’s Corporation Council says a follow-up request will be returned some time this week. That request asked for a phone log from Nelson’s cell phone.
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