Winnebago Co. Exec Who Ran As An Independent Hires GOP Operative

By Henry Redman, The Wisconsin Examiner

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May 13, 2021

The newly sworn in Winnebago County Executive, Jon Doemel, ousted a longtime incumbent from the office in April by running as an independent who could merge both liberal and conservative ideas into the government of Wisconsin’s seventh largest county.

Yet in the first days of his term, he hired a Republican operative to serve as his chief of staff.

The operative, Ethan Hollenberger, most recently served as a campaign spokesperson for Deb Kerr, the conservative choice in this spring’s state superintendent elections. Hollenberger, a Winneconne native, has also worked as the public affairs coordinator and lobbyist for Washington County and served as communications director for State Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) — a staunch conservative who has been at the forefront of the Republican effort to pass stricter voting rules based on the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

In April, Doemel defeated 16-year incumbent Mark Harris by about 2,000 votes. Doemel is a business owner who had previously served on the board of the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce. Now, he’s running one of Wisconsin’s most purple counties, with Democrats clustered in more urban areas such as Oshkosh and Republicans spread out across the county’s rural areas.

Almost immediately after taking office, Doemel began working to reshape the county executive office, which Doemel says is much smaller than its similarly sized peers across the state. In addition to hiring Hollenberger, he has proposed beefing up the role of the existing executive assistant and adding a communications specialist. The additions would nearly double the current budget for the office.

Hollenberger was hired on a temporary basis — because Doemel can’t add positions without the approval of the county board of supervisors. The board as a whole, as well as members of the personnel and finance committee, have voiced reservations over the hiring of a partisan operative while Doemel has insisted Hollenberger’s politics have nothing to do with his hiring.

“Ethan Hollenberger is known as a ‘Right winger,’ Doemel wrote in a Facebook post. “This addition was made for process, not policy. He understands my vision to use conservative principles to address liberal issues. I’m looking for new ways to address old problems. I’m open to new ideas that will help us create a hybrid approach to our most glaring issues…like housing.”

Hollenberger himself has also defended his hiring and his ability to leave politics out of it.

“I’m willing to meet with anybody across the political spectrum to discuss ways to work together,” he told local news outlet the Oshkosh Examiner. He also said his nonpartisan credentials were evidenced by his work for Kerr, who identified as a Democrat even though she took the conservative position on every major educational policy issue, from school vouchers to transgender girls in sports, during the campaign.

“My name is not on the door — it’s Jon Doemel’s name on the door,” he said. “We execute the daily operations to the policies adopted by the board.”

As chief of staff Hollenberger will serve in an influential advisory role as Doemel oversees the disbursement of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief Winnebago County is set to receive.

If Hollenberger’s position isn’t approved, his role will end June 30. At a meeting last week, the personnel and finance committee voted to table the issue until its July meeting. Members of the county board have expressed a number of frustrations with Hollenberger’s hiring and Doemel’s plan to expand his office.

Some members also questioned how he can totally separate his political worldview from how he operates in a government job.

“I certainly don’t think he’s the kind of person we need in the position he’s in,” board member Bill Wingren, who represents part of Oshkosh, says of Hollenberger’s hiring. “How can you claim to be nonpartisan and hire someone who is an extreme, self-proclaimed right-wing partisan?”

For some supervisors, part of the problem is that Doemel began his work to reshape county government before settling into his new role, according to board member Joel Rasumussen. Rasmussen, who represents the Town of Algoma and sits on the personnel and finance committee, says he’s also concerned about the politicization of local, traditionally nonpartisan offices.

“He ran as an independent, we’ve had both parties trying to influence themselves into the county board, which is nonpartisan and needs to stay that way,” Rasmussen, who is also the Algoma Town Chair, says. “To not sit down with his department heads and bring in a political operative to say you’re all broken. We told him he needs to take a step back and learn the county.”

Doemel and Hollenberger did not return requests for comment sent to the county executive’s office.

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