KENOSHA, Wis. — Gateway Technical College President Veronique Tran has ignored two inquiries about David “Cole” Kollath’s use of a taxpayer-supported radio station to advance his political agenda. Kollath’s annual salary was $110,482 in 2025, and correspondence obtained by Kenosha County Eye raises serious questions about what taxpayers are getting for that investment.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
In my view, they are subsidizing a far-left activist blogger’s campaign to discredit Kenosha County District Attorney Xavier Solis. Tran has been given the emails and asked directly whether she considers the conduct acceptable, but she has provided no answer.
I believe Tran’s own liberal Democratic politics help explain her tolerance for Kollath’s partisan blogging. Her silence, even after receiving ten exhibits, looks like a college president protecting a political viewpoint she shares while taxpayers foot the bill. The most revealing email shows Kollath looking for an expert to deliver an argument he had already selected. On March 10, he contacted Marquette University law professor Michael O’Hear seeking someone who “presumably could make the point” that newly graduated attorneys might be unprepared for moderately complex criminal trials.
Kollath wanted discussion of the consequences for someone who was “in over their head,” specifically referencing the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office. He had outlined the criticism he wanted an academic to support before the interview even occurred. That is a convenient approach when the goal is to build a negative story. Find the argument first, then look for someone with credentials to help sell it.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Kollath forwarded the request to former Kenosha News “reporter” Deneen Smith, now at Wisconsin Public Radio. “Say ‘Kenosha DA’ and they think you’re going to give them the plague,” he wrote, explaining that he had also approached UW-Madison. O’Hear declined because he did not have time to help. Kollath forwarded that response to Smith the next morning with another message: “Story time is approaching.”
The correspondence also shows Kollath pursuing the possibility of removing Solis from office. On February 18, he told Smith and WPR reporter Sarah Lehr that something online suggested someone was preparing to ask the governor to remove the district attorney. “WPR has better connections with the governor’s office than I…would somebody want to poke around?” Kollath wrote. He subsequently identified a local hate blog, discussed possible regulatory complaints, and added: “The gov does have the power to yank DA’s with cause.”
Kollath also said he planned to contact a connected attorney. Those are his words, written through his college email account while encouraging WPR to investigate a possible removal effort. Solis defeated Democratic nominee Carli McNeill in 2024, becoming Kenosha County’s first Republican district attorney since 1924. In my judgment, Kollath’s fixation reflects hostility toward that political change and a determination to damage the Republican who won.
A duly elected district attorney deserves scrutiny, and his party affiliation does not excuse mistakes. But taxpayers should not have to finance a public employee’s partisan campaign against him, and the correspondence gives Tran ample reason to examine whether that line has been crossed. Smith appears repeatedly throughout the records as a recipient of Kollath’s leads, commentary and requests for additional coverage. I regard her as a far-left activist “reporter,” and the frequency and substance of their exchanges warrant questions about whether she challenged his assumptions or helped amplify them.
On March 12, Kollath encouraged WPR to pursue former prosecutors, suggesting some might be working in Waukesha. On August 4, he urged an examination of an allegedly unusual number of dismissals in Judge Jodi Meier’s court while acknowledging that he lacked the time and expertise to perform the analysis himself.
Smith responded that she could ask Sarah to examine the issue after the primary. KCE asked what independent verification WPR performed, whether the analysis occurred, and what it found, but Smith has not responded. The correspondence concerning the Justin Tercek prosecution is equally revealing. On April 15, Kollath encouraged WPR to develop the story further after describing his initial account as having been “slapped together quickly” from court minutes.
After the verdict, Smith asked whether the judge planned to impose sanctions. Kollath discussed alleged procedural mistakes before writing: “The case was so cut and dried that the prosecutorial missteps didn’t matter. Jury was out a lot longer than they should’ve been.” Even a successful prosecution could be squeezed into his negative narrative by declaring the case easy and the jury too slow. KCE asked about the basis for that assessment, but neither Smith nor Tran has answered the questions directed to them.
This permissive culture predates Tran. Former Gateway President Bryan Albrecht was in charge when WGTD employee Tyrone “Troy” McDonald publicly defended looting and embraced destructive unrest in Facebook posts during 2020. McDonald wrote, “I support looting,” and offered a lengthy justification for taking property. Another post welcomed the prospect of massive civil unrest and potentially civil war, dismissed objections about stolen televisions, and included an image of a burning building.
KCE’s 2022 reporting found that no discipline was issued despite complaints to Kollath and Albrecht. Albrecht’s public response said there had been a discussion and that the post had been taken down. That was the accountability offered to taxpayers: a discussion and deleted posts. In a community that suffered through looting and arson, I consider the failure to impose discipline a disgraceful response to an employee publicly defending looting and embracing destructive unrest.
Albrecht allowed that episode to end without discipline, and Kollath remained in charge of the station. Tran now has her own opportunity to explain what standards apply, but she has chosen not to answer KCE.
WGTD is owned by Gateway and is an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio. WPR’s published editorial practices promise fairness, impartiality, accuracy, and equal treatment of public officials regardless of political affiliation. Those commitments should mean something when an affiliate’s manager approaches an expert with his preferred argument already supplied. They should also mean something when a frequent WPR correspondent is asked how she independently evaluated that material.
Kollath’s correspondence also reaches into matters involving me. On August 19, he asked Judge Chad Kerkman whether he was disappointed that Solis declined charges stemming from Kerkman’s apparent harassment complaint involving KCE’s reporting. Kollath declared an “obvious conflict of interest” within the question itself. Kerkman declined to comment, leaving Kollath’s loaded premise unsupported by anything Kerkman said in that exchange.
In coverage circulated to Smith on September 3, Kollath described me as Solis’ “perceived political ally and blogger” while presenting conflict allegations raised by Jacqueline Niccolai’s attorney. He reported that Judge David Hughes declined to disqualify Solis, but still framed my involvement in political terms. KCE asked who supposedly perceived that alliance and what evidence supported the characterization. Smith and Tran have offered no answers to the questions directed to them about that coverage.
Kollath’s professional correspondence also included his statement to Smith that he “certainly blew the wad on Harry Wait” while discussing the effort spent covering Wait’s trial. I consider that crude language for a college email account, although the larger concern is the political judgment reflected throughout these exchanges.
Tran received KCE’s first inquiry on August 3 and a detailed follow-up with ten exhibits on October 21. She was asked what she had done, whether she considered the conduct acceptable, and what action she intended to take.
Neither Tran nor Smith has responded. Gateway has supplied no explanation of whether these concerns were reviewed or what standards were applied. In my view, a public college is allowing a well-paid far-left activist blogger to use his position to pursue an elected Republican while its leadership looks away. Taxpayers deserve an answer about why they are paying for it, and Tran’s continued silence is unacceptable.
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One Response
Veronique Tran? As in “transexual”? It certainly looks like it.