I hope this email finds you well.

It has come to my attention that Dane County Human Services is now in the business of harassing protesters for the “crime” of bringing children to protests.

Here’s the situation. A good friend of mine, Craig Spaulding, has been one of the most ardent protesters at the Capitol since the beginning. His 11-year old daughter has been very much involved in First Amendment action at the Capitol as well. She is so much a thorn in the side of the Republicans that the Capitol Police have begun to physically abuse her (they have pushed, shoved and jerked her around; she has bruises to prove it). And now they have taken to trying to emotionally abuse her. After they arrested her dad, Craig, (for the “crime” of having raised a cross during state-established prayer), they told her that her dad would be in prison for a very, very long time. That she would be taken to foster care permanently. Of course, he was booked & released. But now they have embarked on a campaign to manipulate Dane County’s child protective services to have her separated from her family.

Terrorizing an 11-year old girl is now the way of it.

They haven’t stopped there. (And this is where your oversight responsibilities come in….) Here’s how the Capitol Police are now enlisting Dane County Human Services in the terrorization of children. About a week & a half ago, DCHS showed up to O’Keeffe Middle School. They had Mr. Spaulding’s daughter called out of class (completely unbeknownst to Mr. Spaulding), and had this announced to the entire class: “[Daughter’s name withheld by me], Dane County  would like to speak to you.” Nice. Great way to smash a kids spirit before her peers. I consider Dane County’s—and the Madison School District’s—actions a gross violation of privacy.

So the DCHS agent gets her in a room by herself and starts asking questions which implied that sexual abuse had been going on in her life. Mr. Spaulding’s daughter—at this point having no idea why this questioning is going on—answered all the questions truthfully. At one point she finally figured out what this was all about (she is indeed whip-smart) when some question about being left alone at the Capitol came up. She got right in the investigator’s face and sternly asked him: ” Who put you up to this? Chief Tubbs?[*] Mael [a Capitol Police officer]?” At that point, the investigator knew the jig was up and ceased questioning.

Now the Capitol Police follow her after school.

For months the Republican leadership has threatened to bring child abuse charges against parents of child protesters. Now that the protester numbers are manageable, they are actually pressing the brownshirts into action. And the people whom we the people of Dane County are funding are carrying out their brownshirt tactics. I don’t use the fascist comparison lightly. But we do know that one of the salient features of the rise of the Nazis was in their ability to infiltrate, bully, undermine and eviscerate professions and professional standards. Breaking up families, setting one family member against another was another major tactic. It is happening now. Right here in Dane County, carried out by Dane County officials.

You, John, are our representative. As a county legislator, you are expected to oversee the proper *professional* functioning our county’s bureaucracies. You vote for their funding.

You have a responsibility. A responsibility to protect your constituents when they suffer abuse at the hands of Dane County officials.

I have told you about how the Capitol Police behaved toward me, and how another county bureaucracy—Dane County’s DA—actively promoted the state’s acts of violence against me. The Dane County DA continues to behave monstrously toward minorities. You have done nothing to demand accountability (dumping cash on out of control officials is not accountability), much less even respond to my request for accountability.

Will this be another such case?

A young girl is being bullied by the state police and Dane County officials. What will you do about it, John?

Sincerely,

Mike Barrett

***

Update: County Supervisor Hendrick replied that he will check with the oversight committee – Health and Human Needs. I’ll update here with the results, if any.

*Update 2: “Segway” Jeremy Ryan has more on Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs’s connections to the National Sicherheitsstaat.