Mayor: City of Waukesha to review parade rules after Hovde incident

Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly told Wisconsin Right Now that the city of Waukesha will review its approach to enforcing parade rules after Republican Eric Hovde was barred from participating in the Fourth of July parade because he is not an incumbent candidate, while a Democrat running for Congress was allowed to participate.

“The city will review the parade policies and procedures before the next application process and examine how the rules will be enforced on parade day,” Reilly said.

Reilly said the parade’s rules prohibit people from running for office, but he acknowledged that the rules were not followed.

“However, we have learned that some political placards were held up during the parade and that there may have been some electioneering activity. These activities were not recorded on the parade unit registration forms and were not noticed before the parade began,” he said.

See for yourself. Here’s the Democratic Party, including Democratic candidate Ben Steinhoff, running against incumbent Republican U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald.

We previously reported exclusively that Hovde was given the same explanation locally – he was not an incumbent and therefore could not march – when he and his team were barred from participating in the parade. He was also told that no one wearing his campaign T-shirts would be allowed to march, the sources said. Sources told us Hovde had to walk on the sidewalk to campaign. He was allowed to participate in parades in other cities.

However, it is clear from the livestream video and social media posts of the parade that Democratic candidate Ben Steinhoff was allowed to participate in the parade. Steinhoff and several others wore campaign t-shirts. Democrats also carried a giant Biden sign in the parade. We also spotted a campaign sign belonging to Tammy Baldwin and a sign belonging to a Democrat running against Republican Julian Bradley.

A woman in the small GOP group at the parade carried a Hovde sign, and a car had a sign on it but no candidate.

“The City of Waukesha held its annual Independence Day Parade on Thursday, July 4th. The parade consisted of over 70 units with hundreds of participants,” Reilly told WRN.

“To participate in the parade, units must submit an application by a certain deadline. The application contains the participation conditions and procedures for the Independence Day parade, which state: ‘Political and/or campaign posters are not permitted. Persons running for office may not participate in the parade as candidates or distribute campaign materials. Elected officials may participate in the parade,'” he added.

“The intention behind these measures is to make the parade a celebration of the nation’s independence and not a political campaign event. The measures are not intended to favor any political party or candidate,” he said.

Reilly added, “We want the Independence Day parade to be a celebration of our country’s independence that brings families and the community together, and that will continue to be our main focus.”