Waupaca County Republican Party - Chonology
Friday June 14th, 2024
I had submitted an application to join the Waupaca County Republican Party. Several people who ran for Sheriff before me have done this and never had any issues.
Thursday June 20th, 2024
I began receiving emails from the Republican Party and started signing up for volunteer events for the party. I assumed this meant I was accepted into the party, although I did not formally receive anything stating I was accepted as a member.
Thursday, July 4th, 2024
My fiancé and I marched in the parade for the Waupaca Republican Party and handed out popsicles to the kiddos . This was signed up and approved through the Waupaca County Republican Party online sign-up. We had a really good time and met a lot of really nice people within the party.
After we were finished with the parade, I made a nice Facebook post with photos of the great time we had today. I tagged the Waupaca County Republican Party page in my post. Within several hours, the party removed the tag from my post. They then made the following post:
Friday August 9th, 2024
I received an email from Joel Bartel, Chairman of the Waupaca County Republican Party, stating that the executive committee had reviewed my membership application and had declined it. He then thanked me for my interest in joining the party. I sent a total of three emails back asking for an explanation on why I was denied access to joining the party now all of a sudden.
Email correspondence reference membership denial
I also had been deleted off of their facebook page and blocked, so I was unable to see anything that they post or talk about. I was unable to “re-add” them either. I had also been signed up for a volunteer event at the Waupaca County Fair and they deleted me off of the online sign-up and filled my spot with someone else. They did not notify me of any of this. I found this out on my own by keeping a close eye on the online sign-up.
Online Volunteer Signup Confirmation
I found out later that the Chairman of the Waupaca Republican Party had made a facebook post directed toward me. It was a comment talking about how the party will “soley support” Constitutional Sheriff Tim Wilz.
To this day, I am unable to gain an answer from the party. I do know that Tim Wilz and the Chairperson, Joel Bartel, are very close with each other and they both run the Republican Party in Waupaca.
Sunday September 1st, 2024
I had attended the Shawano County Fair. I went to the Shawano County Republican Party booth and struck up a conversation with their party Chairperson. I video/audio recorded this conversation, one party consent. He explained to me how easy it is to join the party and the cost to join. I asked him if anyone ever gets denied and he said no. He said they don’t even vet people to see if they are Republican or Democrat. He provided me his info so I could register to join, since Waupaca has denied me.
Wednesday September 11th, 2024
I filed an ethics complaint through the Wisconsin Ethics Commission (see attached). I received a response shortly after stating that the Republican Party Chairperson isn’t required to abide by Ethic Commission rules, therefore my complaint was denied.
April 15th, 2025
I learned that the Republican Party of Wisconsin had just passed two new bylaws referencing fairness within the party. I decided to send Joel Bartel another email, this time CCing other ranking members of the State Republican Party. Joel responded back asking me to complete another application. I submitted another application and the $5.00 fee. Please reference the following email correspondence:
Email Correspondence Reference Bylaw Change
July 4th, 2025
As of today, I still had not received a response back from the Waupaca County Republican Party referencing my new application that Joel encouraged me to complete & submit. I also did not receive my $5.00 back, if I was indeed denied again.
Since the offer (pictured above) was out there, my wife Abby and I decided to walk again with the Waupaca County Republican Party float for the City of Waupaca 4th of July parade. Abby was worried (rightfully so) that they would cause a scene so she asked that I audio record the interaction. Once we walked up to the float, I introduced myself to Joel and informed him that we were going to walk with them. We were immediately told no by Joel and a Christine Seidl and then treated like this. Watch:
