The Shepherd-Express has given Milwaukee County Supervisor Lynne DeBruin the title “Jerk of the Week” for her votes siding with County Executive Scott Walker on the recently passed budget.

I can understand why they did it and DeBruin has certainly been a disappointment on many issues but while I don’t agree with what she has done and would never do what she has done, I can at least understand it.

If DeBruin had taken a stand, the pro-recall group, Citizens for Responsible Government, promised to recall her from office. Just their threat appears to have had their desired impact in this case.

But why? Why would an elected official cave in to the threats of a group who she fundamentally doesn’t agree with?

DeBruin is a situation where she has been out of the private sector for so long that she would have a difficult time adjusting to the schedule if she ever went back into her career of nursing. She faces the threat of recall whenever she hints at returning to her left of center roots and she is the sole bread winner in her family. Losing the job would be personally and financially devastating to her.

I cannot imagine that she wants to take these positions but she feels she is forced to by the hand that has been dealt to her. It takes a great deal of courage to take those stands and she has seen former colleagues, who were also friends of hers fall because they stood on principle.

This is not meant to excuse her actions but to understand them. DeBruin has been in office a long time and sees her elected post as a means of self-preservation. She doesn’t wants to hurt as many people as she has, but she is fearful of the private sector alternative if she cannot beat back a fight from the right. The irony here is that in her district, if she had to face a recall from the right, the only viable candidates would come from the left and then she would garner all the votes from the right as they would have no post-primary place to turn. So she truly is in one of the safest districts a Supervisor can be in.