Esser's dissent issue in primary

Posted: Feb. 2, 2010

Town of Lisbon — For the past year, incumbent Supervisor Ron Esser has been the most dissenting voice on the Town Board and that may become an issue in the Feb. 16 municipal primary election.

Esser is being challenged by Plan Commissioner Steve Panten, 43, who designs and installs renewable energy equipment, and Ryan Lippert, 36, a metal and hardware project director, who is making his first bid for town office. The two candidates receiving the most votes will face each in the April municipal general election.

Lippert says one of the reasons he is challenging Esser is to provide more support on the board for Town Chairman Matt Gehrke.

"I stand behind Matt Gehrke and agree with a lot of what he is doing. I think that position on the board should be more supportive of Matt," said Lippert.

"The chairman hasn't done anything," rebutted Esser, who has been a critic of the board majority and Gehrke since Gehrke defeated Esser's political ally, former Town Chairman Mike Reed in 2009.

Reed helped Esser in his upset victory in 2008 when Esser and Supervisor Dan Fischer were swept into office as part of an anti-incumbent mood by voters who tossed four incumbents off the town board in 2007 and 2008.

Esser said he is running for reelection in order "to keep town government accountable to the taxpayers."

Esser, 55, who described himself as retired and unemployed, was the only supervisor who voted against the 2010 budget. He said he opposed the budget because Fire Chief Doug Brahm purchased fire fighting equipment in California that, according to Esser, could have and should have been bought in Wisconsin.

Esser has also described the new Richmond Road fire house as a "Taj Mahal," even though the building has been praised by most of the other board members and town officials.

Panten believes he will be able to do a better job of communicating with town supervisors when they disagree.

"I have worked with a majority of the board as a member of the Plan Commission. I think we have learned to communicate with each other. I can express my positions in a way that I think they can understand me and I hope I can also understand better how they feel about something when we disagree," he said.

Panten was appointed to the Plan Commission in 2008 by Reed and reappointed in 2009 by Gehrke.

Panten said he was seeking the board seat "because I am excited about the future of the Town and I want to be part of it."

He lost a bid for the town board in 2009 when he was defeated by Supervisor Joe Osterman.

Panten believes the town board "is moving in the right direction" but he was critical of the town's consulting of engineering firm Jahnke & Jahnke.

He said he, "has some issues" with the engineering firm under estimating the cost of building the Hillside Road bridge and the inspection work done on a sewer line shared by the fire department and Richmond School.

Lippert said that if he and Panten were the candidates in the April election and Panten won, "that would be just fine with me."

Lippert said if he is not successful this year he will likely make another bid for the town board in the future.

"I have been interested in town government during the last couple of years. I want to keep the town on the track that the current board is on. I want to keep the town from growing too fast and we, all of sudden, having to pay more taxes."

There is one issue on which the three candidates agree. They support efforts to upgrade the governance of the town to village status. However, they do not believe that the town board should invest tax dollars in the effort unless the board is convinced that the courts and state will approve the town's petition for incorporation.