Hartland trustee under fire for flying misogynistic flag during Hometown Celebration

Hartland residents shared their outrage at Monday's Village Board meeting after a village trustee flew a flag with misogynistic language on it during the Hometown Celebration parade on June 26.

Six residents spoke about the incident during public comment. According to residents, village Trustee Tom Truttschel, who was elected to the position in April, flew a flag in his yard on East Capitol Drive along the Hometown Celebration parade route that read, "Jo and the Ho Gotta Go," referring to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Multiple neighbors took offense at the slur used on the flag. Hartland resident Courtney Marschalek said that when she saw the flag before the parade, she confronted Truttschel and asked him if he would take the flag down because she "found this sign really offensive as a neighbor and a woman."

Marschalek said that Truttschel told her that he could keep the sign up because of "freedom of speech." She reiterated that "calling any woman this word was offensive." She said he responded by saying again that it was his freedom of speech and that he didn't want it to be political; he then asked her to leave.

"I was pretty disappointed and dismayed by that response, to put it mildly," Marschalek said. "It got me wondering, Where is the line? If your village is going to allow signs that call women degrading names, what does this teach everyone, including our kids? Even kids with the most basic reading skills could’ve read this sign. We claim to be against bullying yet allow these signs to be hung up in our village?"

Truttschel told the Journal Sentinel that he put the flag on the tree as "political satire" for the parade. He said he took it down after having it up for less than an hour and that was his plan the whole time.

"I was at my residence enjoying time with many friends preparing for the parade, like I have for the past 24 years," he said. "There was a woman who I had never met before who apparently was a neighbor from a block or so away. There was a flag hanging from a tree that was political satire that she didn’t like, and we had a nice, respectful conversation.

"I said. 'I’ll consider what you're saying and appreciate you saying that to me. Let's move on.'"

The flag drew the attention of many local residents who spoke at the meeting. Paul Harker-Murray began his public comment by taping a photo of the flag in front of Truttschel.Village President Jeff Pfannerstill had it removed.

"What you’re saying and showing the sign are fine," Pfannerstill said. "I just want to be careful. Even if someone did something degrading, and that’s not good, I just want to make sure we keep it around our issue, regardless of how you want to direct it. It just can’t be a personal attack like the taping up. I’m just explaining that that’s why I asked for it to be taken down."

Harker-Murray shared his opinions about the flag afterward.

"When that sign was put up, a sign that was on my child’s parade route in Hartland, it called the vice president of the United States a whore," Harker-Murray said. "I think that’s wrong. Not because I agree with all of her political opinions, but because I think it is degrading and shallow and ignorant and stupid. It called my wife a whore. It called my sister a whore. It called my mother a whore. It called every women in this country a whore, and it was insulting to all of these women and also the men who respect them.

"I believe in free speech, and you could put whatever sign in your yard that you want, but the question is should you?"

Other residents shared concerns about the offensive language toward women, especially from an elected official.

"Some of the signs put up over the years have disturbed me on both sides of the political spectrum," said Lori Taylor Ciesko, who works at an elementary school teacher in the Hartland-Lakeside School District. "For the kids to see this sign, specifically, I didn’t think I would be able to explain to any of these young children what (the word) meant. We can do better. We can do a lot better as a community."

More: Political signs in Waukesha County have shown how the 2020 election season has become ‘R-rated’

Taylor Ciesko said she has seen flags and signs like this in the past.

"We’ve seen political signs like that around town for the last six years, things about any Democratic candidate. Before Kamala it was Hillary (Clinton)," she said. "We live in a very red area. We all know this. I’ve lived in other places before, and I have never seen as much hate as I have in this small village. I have no problem with political discourse, but disparaging women and girls, especially in a time like this, he should’ve known better."

No trustees, including Truttschel, responded to any of the comments during the meeting. Once public comments closed, Pfannerstill noted that the board does not respond during public comments, although it has happened in the past at the village president's discretion.

"There are times where people will say something back, so someone can," he added. "I don't know if a board member is. I know I, myself, other that just stating that, am not at this time saying anything. It’s a lot to process."

On Tuesday, Pfannerstill told the Journal Sentinel that "the village does not regulate free speech on private property." He did not want to comment further on the incident.

Truttschel said the flag is no longer up. He added that he "wasn't acting in a village capacity" when he put up the flag.

"I will tell you, I am a man of integrity," he said. "I’ve lived in Hartland for 24 years, have a wife of 33 years and three beautiful young ladies I’ve raised, and I will always respect women ... I felt things can get taken out of context. Anyone who knows me in the village knows I am a man of respect and integrity."

Ongoing problem

Multiple residents stated that offensive signs like the one in question are nothing new to the area. Marschalek said the same flag is often seen in the garage of a neighbor two doors away from Truttschel's residence.

Residents also recalled aggressive acts of signs being stolen or destroyed during Pride Month in June 2021 in Hartland.

"I’ve lived here for 20 years and was part of the community prior to that," said Val Wisniewski. "I love Hartland, and I’ve raised my children here. But over the past four years, things have definitely gone downhill, and it’s made me question whether or not I want to remain in Hartland anymore. It’s unfortunate that certain things and certain signs and actions have happened that speak louder than the rest of the good people I know who live in the community."

As residents see more offensive and aggressive signs publicly displayed, some are calling for action to prevent further "hate speech" from being shared.

"I feel like this is reprehensible for an elected official to feel they can fly that flag, because it represents Hartland," Marschalek said. "It really concerns me because the presidential election will get closer and closer, and if we don’t do anything about these signs of hatred now, it’s going to keep getting worse and worse. We need make a rule in Hartland that you can’t be flying these signs that have hate speech on them."

Drew Dawson can be reached at ddawson@jrn.com or 262-289-1324.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hartland community upset about misogynistic flag flown by trustee