Rich Stanley for Commissioner
I am running for
Brown County Commissioner
in the 2026 election.
The obvious first question that a voter might ask a political candidate is “why are you running for office?” In my case, there is a simple answer to that question—and a long answer. The simple answer is that I want to see “good governance” in Brown County. Although we all have a general idea of what good governance is, too often our government doesn’t seem to reach that goal.
- My focus is only on Brown County.
- I am for fiscal responsibility.
- I am for maintaining the unique character of Brown County, which includes nature, solitude and tourism.
- I am for open, honest and responsible governance.
- I am for common decency, including for those I disagree with.
- I am for reasonable commercial development.
- I am against special interests.
If I am elected to be a Brown County Commissioner, I am going to work to achieve good governance by applying the following values:
I am not running for Commissioner because of any single issue besides good governance, and I am confident that I can achieve that goal by following the values listed above. As for particular issues affecting Brown County, I have personal opinions about some of those issues, but for most issues, I have a pretty open mind. Please feel free to contact me and share your views on issues that you believe are important to Brown County.
I am a conservative at heart—both morally and fiscally. But what that means with regard any particular political issue is not always clear-cut. Moreover, applying the values that I’ve listed above is not always an easy task. That is why it is so important for elected leaders to seek input from interested parties and the public at large. One thing I will not do as a Commissioner, and will seek to prevent, is ramming votes through the Commission to achieve something that I or someone else wants even though the issue is generally unpopular with the voters of Brown County. That is something that most certainly does not satisfy my definition of good governance because it is fundamentally undemocratic. What I or any other individual wants for themself is of limited relevance in a democracy. The touchstone of a democracy is what the majority wants, and that is what I will be pursuing.
While simple enough, that first answer wasn’t very short, was it? Okay, so what is the long answer of why I am running for Commissioner? To be honest, I kind of stumbled into this. During the last election, I got to know Tim Clark and liked the platform he was running on. I also got involved in a couple of local political issues that made me very concerned about two of the Commissioners that we had at the time. On top of that, I became disgusted by the way the local Republican Party treated Tim Clark during his campaign. Fortunately, Tim Clark won his election for Brown County Commissioner, and I believe he is doing a very good job as President of the Commission.
What happened next was truly unexpected. After Tim Clark won his election in November of 2024, I volunteered to represent him in a complaint against the president of the local Republican Party for violating the GOP rules during Tim’s election. How that ultimately played out was shocking and eye opening. If you have an interest in how the Republican Party handles internal disputes, the interrelationship between our local government and the Republican Party, or how our legal system works, please click on “The Lawsuit” link above to find out more about that crazy story.
