A write-in candidate has registered to run against District 6 Shawano County Supervisor Randy Young in Tuesday’s election.
William Ecke, co-chair of the Shawano County Concerned Taxpayers Association, formally filed a declaration of his candidacy last week with the Shawano County Clerk’s office.
“The group that I’m connected with needed someone to run, so they pushed me to run as a write-in,” Ecke said, referring to the taxpayers association.
The group is not connected with the Shawano County Concerned Property Taxpayers Association, which has mostly been involved with land-to-trust issues with area tribes.
Ecke said his group was formed in 2009 during the fight over the county’s Maple Lane Health Care Center, in opposition to a referendum that would have raised the tax levy to fund the center’s expected deficits.
The referendum was voted down 2,998 to 1,831. The county sold off Maple Lane shortly after that.
Ecke would not say who else was involved with his group.
“It’s businessmen, business leaders, community leaders,” he said. “Most people know who I’m connected with.”
Ecke also wouldn’t reveal the name of the group’s other co-chair.
“He’s a business man,” Ecke said. “When you mix politics with business, it’s going to hurt business.”
Ecke said it was time Young had some competition.
“He likes to spend a lot of our taxpayer money,” he said. “Some of us are a little concerned about how he’s spending our money.”
Young said he would need to know specifically what spending Ecke was referring to before he could respond to the charge. He said he has never been contacted by anyone in the group raising any concerns.
“I would recommend the voters of District 6 look at my comments, look at how I voted, look at how I represented them,” he said.
Young said he had no problem with someone running against him and voters have the choice of voting him out if they don’t think he’s done a good job representing them.
“That’s the American way,” he said.
However, Young said, he encouraged people to review his record.
“I hope people will do their homework,” he said.
District 6 includes wards 11 and 12 of the city of Shawano.