Unsigned flier fans flames of Rosalia mayoral race

With the Nov. 3 election drawing near, the race for Rosalia Mayor is heating up to a rolling boil.

Many residents awoke Saturday morning to find an unsigned flier questioning the credentials of candidate Brady Kiesz, who is running against councilman Jim Stenhouse for the mayor’s post being vacated by Ken Jacobs. The unsigned letters were left on car windshields and doorsteps, apparently during the early morning hours of Saturday.

Council candidate Karen Rockness said she discovered the flier shortly after 6:30 a.m.

The main theme of the flier was that Kiesz is being run as a candidate to advance the agenda of his father-in-law, Kelly Messinger.

“But for now we do not need KELLY MESSENGER (sic) to be the PUPPET MASTER!!!! and BRADY KIESZ the PUPPET,” was the end line on the flier.

Kiesz told the Gazette Tuesday he has a great deal of respect for Messinger, but is running because he wants to help guide the town in a positive direction, not to help out his family.

“Whoever wrote this is obviously not involved in the community,” said Kiesz. “If they were, they would have seen that I speak for myself on what I believe.”

“It really seemed to me that this was a letter to browbeat Kelly,” said Kiesz.

The flier said Messinger is trying to install Kiesz as mayor because he can not serve because of “several unethical practices.”

Messinger, who operates several businesses in town, said he can not run for mayor because he does not live in Rosalia.

Kiesz stressed that he did not suspect his opponent, Stenhouse, had anything to do with the fliers.

“Jim’s a nice guy, and we get along pretty well,” he said. “I really don’t think he had anything to do with this, and I’m sure he’s pretty upset about this right now.”

Stenhouse told the Gazette he had not seen the flier, but was upset when told what it said.

“That’s exactly what we don’t want to see,” he said. “We can’t get into a mud-slinging match like they do in the bigger campaigns in the big cities. This is a small town, and we all have to live together.”

He added he had no idea who would have made up the flier, but said they should “be ashamed.”

One of the allegations contained in the letter was that Kiesz offered special favors and job security to city employees as part of an effort to pick up their votes.

Kiesz said he has assured employees they would not lose their jobs if he was elected to diffuse a rumor that he would “clean house.”

Kiesz is running along a ticket of reform candidates that are challenging incumbents. The “blue-and-white” candidates, as they’re known because of the color scheme and matching format of their campaign signs, are open critics of current town leadership, particularly Mayor Jacobs.

Their campaign signs have been posted in sets of four around town.

Mayor Jacobs flatly denied any connection with the flier when called by the Gazette Tuesday.

He added nasty campaigns have for years been a hallmark of Rosalia politics.

He said he has been the victim of several smear campaigns in his many elections. He also admitted to saying unkind words about opponents.

“But you just hope people can get past this sort of thing,” he added.