Supervisor says she felt threatened by colleague

Decker files complaint with sheriff following County Board incident

By Gail Peckler-Dziki
Correspondent

The respectful decorum of the County Boardroom was shattered prior to the April 21 county meeting when District 23 County Board Supervisor Dennis Elverman had words for fellow supervisor Erin Decker.

“You (word deleted) with my election,” Decker recalls Elverman saying at the beginning of his diatribe, “I’ll (word deleted) with your race.”

Dennis Elverman
Dennis Elverman

Elverman explained the incident this way:

“I said I would return the favor. I told her that I know more people in Randall and Silver Lake than you do.”

“I didn’t appreciate Erin, as chair of the Republican Party, and others getting involved in what has always been a non-partisan campaign,” he continued. “I’m an independent and don’t belong to any party.”

“At the end, she reached out her hand and asked if we could work together,” Elverman concluded, “and I thought that was the end of it.”

In her statement to the Kenosha County Sheriff Department, Decker said Elverman stated he knew she helped his opponent and the race is non-partisan and his opponent’s literature

Erin Decker
Erin Decker

looked like the other candidates running that were supported by the Kenosha GOP.

“I was stunned when those words came out of his mouth,” Decker said. “I was shaking, my heart was racing.”

Decker said she attempted to shake hands with Elverman to politely end the confrontation.

“He took my hand and then held it while he finished what he had to say,” Decker said in a recent telephone interview.

She said Elverman spoke in a low yet threatening tone so it would have been hard for others to overhear.

Decker told newly seated County Board Chairwoman Kim Breunig about the incident that same night. She also requested a seat change because her seat is next to Elverman.

Breunig said that neither Decker nor Elverman ever used the “f” word when explaining the situation and when Breunig reviewed the tape of that night’s meeting, Decker did not seem distressed to her.

“He threatened her campaign,” Breunig said, “not her person so I see no need to change seats.”

County Board Supervisor Michael Skalitzky said he spoke to Decker following the incident.

“She was very shook up,” he said. “I didn’t see the incident but I saw the aftermath. She’s no shrinking violet and the incident really rattled her.”

Skalitzky said he has worked on several committees with Elverman as chairman. “He is very forceful and I have heard him use foul language when seeking his way. Erin has never lied to me and I believe what she told me.”

“I work in the private sector and this would never happen there,” he continued. “If the chair were a good leader, she would have just moved the seat. It didn’t have to get this far.”

“I would think that as a woman, Chairman Breunig would be sensitive to another woman feeling intimidated,” he said. “There is no excuse to force Erin into an uncomfortable and possibly dangerous situation.”

Decker mentioned the situation to Supervisor John O’Day, who offered to change seats with Decker, but Breunig refused.

Breunig’s non-action has prompted more action on Decker’s part.

“I made a complaint with the county sheriff’s department on May 4,” Decker said. “The patrolman who took my statement said it would be reviewed and a course of action considered.”

The full article appears in the May 13 edition of the Westosha Report


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