Bauer and Beckwith Support Larson

Dear Editor,
We write to you as decades-long citizens of the Town of York/New Glarus area, regarding the current race for County Board Supervisor District 25. We have had held off on weighing in, as we do not technically reside in the 25th District. But neither does the signatory of Mr. Gashette’s letter published in the March 17 issue of the Post Messenger Recorder, so we feel compelled to provide balance.
The first paragraph of that letter makes it plain that Mr. Gashette was the source. The final paragraph touts the importance of bringing a voice of diversity, governance, and multiculturalism to the Board. We appreciate Mr. Gashette making that point in support of Mr. Larson’s candidacy. Mr. Larson has lived all over the world in an illustrious 20-year career at the United Nations. See, e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Larson.
But the balance of Mr. Gashette’s letter offers an undignified, ineffective and seemingly desperate character assassination which, if it weren’t so deeply offensive to us personally, would be laughable.
We read an accusation that Mr. Larson is a “political operative in Green County.” We’ve known Todd for decades, and yes, he’s active in township matters, but that simply illustrates his long held commitment to civic duty. We further read insinuation that Mr. Gashette’s father’s military service somehow makes Mr. Gashette more American. Mr. Larson’s father also served honorably in the United States military, and Mr. Larson served his country honorably with the United States Peace Corps.
We laughed out loud at Mr. Gashette’s assertion that by owning property also in Dane County, Mr. Larson is somehow unconnected to Green County. Mr. Larson owns many times more acreage in Green County than does Mr. Gashette.
Were it not so tragic an irony, we might have laughed at Mr. Gashette’s depiction of himself as a model family man. This despite his charges of Assault Causing Bodily Injury/Family Violence (Fort Bend, TX, 2007), followed by two years of probation, and multiple restraining orders against him. Copy of all relevant publicly available court documents are available to the Post for possible future publication.
Mr. Gashette’s rank hypocrisy is stunning.
Note also that the week of 21 March this year – yes, just last week – Mr. Gashette was paid multiple visits by the Green County Sheriff to enforce correction of outstanding campaign finance violations earlier alerted to him by the Green County Clerk (case G22-02074, also a matter of public record).
We have worked with Todd for decades on various local projects that benefit the entire community. These activities include Todd’s volunteer work with the Chalet of the Golden Fleece, volunteer work on the Town of York Plan Commission, prairie and at-risk eco-restoration, among other projects. Todd is smart, strategic, honest, hardworking and universally respected. Just ask anyone from the community!
Todd Larson, from the area, for the area, with no police record – for District 25 County Board Supervisor.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles Bauer and Charles Beckwith,
Rural Blanchardville