By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Former Whitewater council member James Winship’s 3rd District aldermanic seat will stay warm through this spring with a newcomer to city politics.
Winship’s six elected colleagues on Jan. 20 voted to appoint resident Brienne Diebolt-Brown to represent the 3rd aldermanic seat through the April general election. Diebolt-Brown essentially will have a seat on the council for five consecutive meetings before Winship’s long-term successor is voted into office in this spring’s general election.
Diebolt-Brown was one of three District 3 residents to vie for the appointment spot through April. Christopher Grady and Kenneth Kienbaum, both of whom are running in a contested race for the councilperson seat, also sought appointment this winter.
Each of the three gave the council their pitch during the most regular meeting. After the mini interview session, council members chose to offer the seat to Diebolt-Brown.
In her introduction, Diebolt-Brown, a 3-year resident of Whitewater, said she and her husband were sold on the community for a number of reasons. Her husband is on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Diebolt-Brown herself has a background as an epidemiologist and also is a statistician. In her work, Diebolt-Brown has traveled to disparate corners of the country and globe. The experience, she suggested, gives her the opportunity to bring a unique perspective to the council.
In the past eight months, Diebolt-Brown said she has been a regular attendee of Whitewater’s council meetings. She asserted she is well versed on the issues of importance in the city.
“In every community I’ve been in, I have been involved in the different issues,” Diebolt-Brown said. “I’d like to get a little experience here on the council, watching it all happen.”
In his brief introduction to the council, Grady discussed his involvement in city matters, including a role in the Starin Park Neighborhood organization.
Kienbaum, meanwhile, said he sought a seat on the council because of “little issues” that frequently do not make their way to the full council. Kienbaum said he is striving to ensure those concerns are properly channeled, from constituent to decision-maker.
In their deliberations, the six incumbent council members praised each of the three candidates, but unanimously voted in favor of bringing Diebolt-Brown into the fold for a number of reasons.
“I think Ms. Brown has a good sense of our community,” council member Ken Kidd said. “If we chose her, we might not change the outcome of the election.”
Given the close proximity of the election, Kidd and several of his elected colleagues suggested a vote to bring Grady or Kienbaum on at this point could be viewed as an endorsement for one candidate over another. Since she is not running in the election, Diebolt-Brown was viewed as a neutral choice.
“Let the voters decide on the two candidates who are running,” Council President Patrick Singer added. “I think a caretaker would be quite all right in this situation.”
