Wiesehan Announces Candidacy For Southern District Commissioner
Wiesehan Announces Candidacy For Southern District Commissioner
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Wiesehan Announces Candidacy For Southern District CommissionerDon Wiesehan wants to be the voice for Kosciusko’s county employees who may not feel like their voice is heard.
To be that voice, Wiesehan, 53, a Republican, announced he is running for county commissioner, southern district, in 2022. The primary is May 3. Bob Conley, also a Republican, is the incumbent for that position.
“Well, I think there are several issues possibly that could be going on,” Wiesehan said of why he decided to run for election. “I think a lot of the employees don’t have a voice sometimes when they want to talk to the higher-ups about issues or problems. They feel like they’re going to be looked down upon or be looked at badly, and I think they need to have a good voice for that so they can, obviously, voice their concerns or opinions without feeling like they’re going to be in trouble if they do so.”
Giving the county employees a voice includes being a voice for the department heads, he said.
“I think sometimes, in the hustle-bustle society that we live in, those people get forgotten, or you just go in and nod your head and you don’t actually look into their issue,” he said. “To you maybe it’s a small issue, but to them it may be a large issue. I think it’s important that they be heard, and if you can do something to help them, then you try to help them. Obviously, you can’t solve every problem, but you can actually take a honest look at it and say ‘maybe we can help you here,’ ‘we can arrange some things here,’ ‘have you ever thought about this?’”
Asked why voters should go with a change and pick him over Conley if Conley decides to seek re-election, Wiesehan said, “I did a lot of thinking about this over the last couple years. I didn’t just jump into it as of yesterday and it wasn’t a hard decision. My wife and my family are totally supportive of it, and if they weren’t going to be I sure in the heck wouldn’t have done it.”
He continued, “The big thing is, I think right now is the right time and I’m the right choice if the county wants to make a change, if the voters want to make a change. It’s not necessarily about me as an individual. I’m going to bring a voice to the table that may or may not be there now. Sometimes I think, from what I’m getting from some of the people out in the public, they’re saying that their voice is not being heard and they don’t feel it’s being heard.”
If their voice is not being heard, or at least if they don’t feel it’s being heard, Wiesehan said that’s a bad thing for the community because they need to be heard.
A lifetime resident of Kosciusko County, the Mentone resident said he has a servant’s heart anyway, and has been involved in many things in the community.
“I’ve been involved, pretty much, the entire time from when I graduated high school to the present,” Wiesehan said. He graduated from Tippecanoe Valley High School in 1986.
He was a football coach at Tippecanoe Valley, coached track and Little League baseball at Mentone. He served as a Winona Lake volunteer fireman, and was a Winona Lake police officer before joining the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. He retired from the KCSO after 25 years, but now works for Parkview Police out of Fort Wayne.
While with the KCSO, he was a lieutenant in the patrol division. He served as the jail commander for a while, running the budgets and reports for the County Council, County Commissioners and judges.
Wiesehan is a member of the Masonic Lodge in Warsaw, the Shrine Club and of the Horse & Pony Committee for the fairgrounds. He was a past president of the fair board.
“So I try to keep myself involved in the community to get a pulse on what they’re thinking, what they feel is going on. Sometimes they may be mislead, and if they are, we can maybe help be more transparent on those things and let them be a part of it,” he said.
The Commissioner seats currently held by Brad Jackson, northern district, and Cary Groninger, middle district, aren’t up for re-election until 2024. If elected, Wiesehan said he could work with both of them.
“I’ve known Cary for a while. He’s obviously been involved in our community a long time,” Wiesehan said.
After Wiesehan had been with the KCSO eight to 10 years, Jackson came on the Board of County Commissioners.
“I remember talking to him when he first came on. He seems to be open to a lot of things,” Wiesehan said. “I think that has to be a teamwork effort between all three. And sometimes, just like any other family, you’re going to maybe grumble a little bit at each other, but in the end, you have to think about the service that you’re trying to provide to the county. It’s not necessarily about the individual.”
After graduating from TVHS, Wiesehan joined the military. He was an Army Reservist from 1987 to 1992 when he let his contract expire and received an honorable discharge. He joined Winona’s police department at that time.
Wiesehan is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.
He and his wife, Ann, have been married for 31 years. They have two children, Zachary and Dusty, and a grandchild, Hadley. They attend Redeemer Lutheran Church in Warsaw.
To learn more about Wiesehan, he will have a Facebook page for his campaign. He also will have a website attached to the Facebook page at donwiesehanforcountycommissioner.com. His contact information will be available through both pages if anyone is interested in having him speak at their club, service organization or event.
