"The case of Calumet County District Attorney Kenneth Kratz reached one level of closure this week when he resigned amidst the sordid "sexting" controversy.

That spared Gov. Jim Doyle the task of following through on his threat to oust him from office.

It wasn't the first time that a Wisconsin governor faced pressure to use his office to remove an elected county official. In fact, one of those cases was here in Brown County more than 50 years ago.

In 1958, an effort to get Sheriff Artley Skenandore booted from office went all the way to the desk of Gov. Vernon Thompson. In the end it wasn't successful, but the Skenandore case certainly provided as many headlines as Kratz's, and almost as much barroom talk.

Skenandore, a member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians, was elected sheriff in 1957 on the Republican ticket. In early 1958, he went to San Francisco to pick up a prisoner and was arrested there and charged with being drunk and disorderly, and resisting an officer.

The latter charge was dropped, and Skenandore pleaded no contest to the other. When he returned to Brown County, Skenandore told his side of the story to the County Board, and the majority of the supervisors were satisfied.

But Supervisor Francis Leanna of the town of Scott demanded that Skenandore resign, which he refused to do, and Thompson also refused to convene a grand jury to look into the matter."

Get the Story:
Tony Walter column: Ken Kratz case recalls Artley Skenandore controversy (The Green Bay Press-Gazette 10/10)