The Madison County Board voted 19-6 Wednesday night to strip powers from chairman Kurt Prenzler. The vote came during a special meeting, which drew a standing-room only crowd. Nine of the 12 board members who called for the vote were fellow Republicans with Prenzler. Some of them, like John Eric Foster of Granite City addressed him directly.
Nine of the 12 board members who called for the vote were fellow Republicans with Prenzler. Some of them, like John Eric Foster of Granite City addressed him directly.
"It's been ten days since Granite City Steel has announced its closing. While you're campaigning, the rest of us have been meeting with local officials trying to figure out what we're going to to do to help the 1,000 people going to lose their jobs," Foster said. "We've yet to get a statement from your office. This is another example of how you failed to lead this county going forward."
In addition to failing to address the steel plant's closure, Prenzler heard about his ongoing fiscal incompetence -- and Granite City Republic Denise Wiehardt added misogyny to the list, based on a letter he sent.
"In the letter you stated what a woman should be: Married," she said. "This is disturbing for many reasons."
Foster agreed, and added that many other board members have been fed up with not only his misogyny, but his homophobia.
"For two years we've explained to you how your misogynistic and homophobic behavior has cost this county millions upon millions of dollars," Foster said.
Prenzler did have some vocal supporters, including Kathleen Ramsey, who asked for evidence of wrongdoing.
"To blame someone publicly with no evidence is called slander with intent to cause harm," Ramsey said. "That's a trespass on law."
After the meeting, he gave a comment to Fox 2 news.
"I obviously disagreed with it, I think the voters elected me to do the job of county chairman," he said.
Under the ordinance, two chairperson pro-tems will assume some of Prenzler's duties until his term ends in 2024.