Posted on 05/11/2004 7:45:58 AM PDT by BraveMan
Greenfield - The alderman who insists upon keeping a mannequin in his City Hall office says he's the victim of a double standard, since the Fire Department keeps a mannequin and the police chief used to have three.
The tiff - with its constitutional overtones - has landed Greenfield in the national news and doesn't appear over yet, despite the mayor's recent concession that Madeline - the mannequin - could stay if Ald. Thomas Pietrowski keeps his door shut at all times.
Last fall, Mayor Timothy T. Seider asked Pietrowski to remove the mannequin, which is dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, because some female employees complained it was demeaning toward women. Seider said the mannequin was unprofessional and did not belong at City Hall. But Pietrowski refused a May 7 deadline to remove Madeline, which he considers protected First Amendment expression. After Seider let a Journal Sentinel photographer into the alderman's office, Pietrowski threatened to sue the mayor for violating his Fourth Amendment right to privacy. Seider has said he will defend all his decisions.
Amid the growing dispute last week, Pietrowski noted that Greenfield's Police Department had mannequins and the Fire Department still does.
"I think it's unfair that I was asked to remove my mannequin," Pietrowski said.
In late November, however, the mayor did ask Greenfield Police Chief Francis C. Springob to remove three mannequins from his office, and he did.
"Their names were Hans, Gretel and Col. Nicholi Kolyuka. Hans and Gretel were Greenfield police officers wearing historic police uniforms from 1963 to 1973 and 1973 to 1998," said Springob.
Springob said no one ever complained to him about his mannequins; other officers only made jokes about them, he said.
Greenfield Fire Chief Roland Poppy said he still does have a mannequin - although he refers to it as an action figure.
"He's a mannequin completely clothed in firefighting gear," Poppy said. "He doesn't have a name. We've had him for about six years."
He said the Fire Department uses the mannequin to show children how firefighters look in their gear at school presentations and when students visit the firehouse.
Poppy and Springob said they got their mannequins from a department store that was throwing them away. Pietrowski got his about 25 years ago from a Kmart in Hales Corners.
Seider said the fire and police mannequins perform different functions in different contexts.
"The environment at City Hall should be respectful and professionalism always. Respect for other people in the workplace," he said.
"Furthermore, while people are joking about the mannequin, they seem to forget that this is a real issue," Seider said. "Women have complained."
This has occurred from the beginning of the development of speech, has it not?
Hear Madeline's a real doll...
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