Former Sheboygan HR Director Adam Westbrook is scheduled to make his initial appearance in a Sauk County courtroom tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. Westbrook is facing four counts each of Child Sexual Exploitation and Possession of Child Pornography.

Many staunch supporters of Westbrook remain in city hall. Mayor Sorenson, Attorney Chuck Adams, and Assistant City Attorney Liz Majerus were very supportive and assertive in protecting Westbrook.

Chuck Adams quickly issued a press release to WHBL clearing Westbrook of claims that an open records request for alleged inappropriate comments to an intern was related to his resignation.

Adams’ press release rebuking any claims against Westbrook essentially cleared his name.

The Former Director of Planning and Development, Chad Pelishek, asked for the same exact thing Adams did for Westbrook many times after this headline appeared in the Sheboygan Press.

Adams and other city officials refused to attempt to clear Pelishek’s name, putting his life into disarray and setting the events in motion for the termination of former City Administrator Todd Wolf without cause.

Sheboygan currently faces two federal lawsuits regarding these events.

What could have potentially been prevented had Adams investigated Westbrook?

Why has Mayor Sorenson not released anything regarding the arrest and charges facing Westbrook?

Mayor Sorenson, will you publicly denounce Westbrook?

Alder Dean Dekker, your comments at the September 18, 2023, Common Council meeting were critical of this site and this message.

Listen to Dekker’ s remarks here.

Very few people who were critical of Westbrook ever met him in person. No opinions were formed by anything other than his actions as a city employee, email communication, and city employees’ testimonies.

It was clear that Westbrook was egotistical and abusive with power.

He leveraged his education and training to overpower and steamroll city employees. Westbrook utilized policy and judicial training as muscle to strong-arm long-term dedicated employees, often sending their lives into a tailspin.

Long-term dedicated employees of the City of Sheboygan stories brought forward to TBS repeated this abuse of power and little regard for the respect or decency of those on the other side of the table.

Mr. Dekker, you applauded Westbrook and indicated he was a great employee during his time in Sheboygan. You added that a “small but vocal group” bullied an employee into resigning and stated that you do not believe this is who we are as Sheboyganites.

You apologized for the harassment that the “small but vocal group” brought upon Westbrook.

Members of this “small but vocal group” did not work closely with Westbrook. We did not spend hours with him in a professional setting. Yet, it was clear that something was not right with him.

With him as a person, not with him for his sexual orientation or any other reasons that were brought up. The issue was with his ego and brazen abuse of power over those who were powerless.

The allegations facing Westbrook in that courtroom tomorrow may indicate that Westbrook’s fascination with abusing power to overpower the powerless extended beyond his professional life.

That was the problem with Westbrook.
That was the concern.
Nothing else.

Mr. Dekker, you end your prepared remarks by saying the views of the group that opposed Westbrook did not reflect the majority of Sheboygan but a small minority. You closed by saying we are better than this.

You stated that in defense of Westbrook.

It is hard to believe that the majority of Sheboygan does not oppose brazen abuses of power over the powerless.

Can we agree this is wrong?

Mayor Sorenson, Dean Dekker, Chuck Adams, and Common Council members need to release a public statement denouncing Adam Westbrook.

In the words of Dean Dekker: We are better than this.

Take Back Sheboygan County knows that many former and current City employees have been reluctant to share their stories for fear of retaliation. If you are one of these, we welcome you to contact us. Your name will not be shared without permission. You can contact us at https://takebacksheboygancounty.com/contact/.

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