My story
Why I'm Running
What I saw
On April 18th I stood outside Ridglan Farms with hundreds of nonviolent people. Like everyone around me, I treated the deputies with respect and kept an absolute, uncompromising commitment to nonviolence, and we made that abundantly clear. We were there because a Wisconsin judge had found probable cause that the facility was committing felony animal cruelty.
Instead of reciprocity, we were met with immediate escalation to indiscriminate violence. I watched clouds of tear gas bring elderly women to their hands and knees, gagging and choking, snot running down their faces, while I and others moved in to help whoever we could. I watched a deputy reach through a fence to grab a woman who was holding up a single white flower, pull her against the fence, and mace her relentlessly. I was tear gassed myself, more than once, while never raising a hand or even my voice against anyone.
It was entirely one-sided violence, and it was horrifying.
Sheriff Barrett has tried again and again to frame us as violent. But there is no evidence a single officer was so much as scratched. Are we really meant to believe there was a "violent" crowd of more than a thousand people and there's not even a bruise to show for it? Is this the same "violent" crowd I watched deputies stroll through with no riot gear, no fear, not even a hint of concern, chatting and laughing with each other? Give me a f*cking break.
And through all of it, the Sheriff himself was nowhere to be seen.
I also watched sheriff's deputies take direction from private security contractors. Public servants, paid by our taxes, taking orders from the hired guards of a private business our own courts had already found wanting. Our deputies, in effect, serving as Ridglan's private police force. A well-led, respectable department avoids even the appearance of that like the plague, let alone actually carrying it out.
How I came to run
That day changed what I was willing to accept from the people who hold power here. I couldn't stand by and do nothing, and I couldn't let Sheriff Barrett run unopposed.
When I found out there were only three days left until the nomination deadline and no one else was in the running, I decided on the spot to run, and I announced my candidacy. I had no plan, no campaign team, no money, no political experience, and almost no time, with roughly 500 signatures needed in under three days. All I had was unrelenting determination and the passionate people of this community. It turned out those two things were enough to get me on the ballot. So here I am.
I warned this would happen
In April, before any of this, I wrote an open letter to Dane County. I had never published anything in my life. I wrote that by branding nonviolent people as violent and promising to "intervene decisively," the Sheriff was playing a dangerous game and raising the risk of harm to everyone, his deputies included. I hoped I was wrong.
I wasn't. You can read what I wrote, and what came after, on Substack.
Why a civilian
Sheriff Barrett will tell you I'm unqualified, that I've never worn the badge. So let me be straight with you. I'm a civilian and a resident. This county is my home, and I am not afraid of him.
Until I stepped in, Sheriff Barrett was running unopposed, and since April 18th the County Board's oversight has been frozen out behind his lawyers. A sheriff no one is willing or able to challenge runs unchecked, accountable to no one. An unchecked sheriff is exactly how you get April 18th.
Wisconsin doesn't require a sheriff to be a career officer, and there's a reason for that. The job is leadership, judgment, and accountability to the public. Those are the things that failed on April 18th. Those are the things I will bring.