I’ll explain why mixing politics and the workplace is a bad idea, walk through the Wisconsin incident that cost an owner his job and stake, reproduce the key eyewitness quotes, note the fallout for the employee and ownership group, and underline how basic respect for property and speech should guide workplace policy.
Workplaces work best when politics stays in its lane. For more than three decades in medical manufacturing I followed a simple rule: no politics at work. It wasn’t fear; it was practicality — arguing politics interferes with getting the job done and creates needless friction among people who need to cooperate.
The recent incident in Wisconsin shows how badly that friction can explode into real consequences. At a local restaurant, co-owner Chad Kodanko reportedly burned an employee’s Charlie Kirk sweatshirt that had been hung on a hook, an act that moved this from a memo-board disagreement to a public scandal. The behavior crossed lines that employers and communities rightly treat seriously: destruction of another person’s property and escalation of a political dispute into humiliation.
On Dec. 12, Husby’s Food & Spirits employee Robert Meredith says he left his Charlie Kirk sweatshirt on a hook at work.
“Somebody had told me, ‘Hey, where is your hoodie at?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know — probably at my house?'” Meredith said. “He said, ‘No, it’s probably not.'”
Meredith says he wasn’t provided many details, but was told Husby’s co-owner, Chad Kodanko, burned his Kirk sweatshirt.
“It was talking politics in a bar and led to that, which is never good,” said Meredith, who also says he was told there is a video of the incident, but he has not seen it.
Put yourself in the other person’s shoes for a moment. If a Republican owner had burned a Bernie sweatshirt in front of staff, you’d expect immediate outrage and consequences. Americans on all sides react the same way when basic decency and property rights are violated; the labels change, the principles do not.
The local response was swift. Word spread in the community, and a resident framed the incident in stark terms, noting the hoodie’s symbolism and the sensitivity around political violence. Political tensions made Kodanko’s continued role as a village trustee untenable, and he resigned from that position amid the fallout. The ownership group signaled it would buy him out, and the restaurant promised internal changes.
Meredith says politics isn’t a normal topic at Husby’s, but according to Paul Kwiatkowski, word of the incident spread quickly in Door County.
“We’re talking about a guy who was assassinated 16 weeks ago, and his shirt that is symbolic of him, being burned — and not to mention, it also had an American flag on it,” said Kwiatkowski, a Fish Creek resident.
Kwiatkowski wrote a letter to the Sister Bay Village Board, making sure it was aware of what happened, as Kodanko was a trustee. On Monday, the village announced Kodanko had resigned.
There are practical consequences beyond resignation. Reports indicate Kodanko will be bought out of the ownership group and that management and staff have met to address the matter. The restaurant pledged training to prevent similar incidents, which is the least a business should do after such a public failure in leadership and judgment.
And the employee affected, Robert Meredith, has also decided to leave the job, handing in his two weeks’ notice. That outcome underlines a basic truth: when an employer or owner creates a hostile or unsafe environment, employees often pay the price by losing their sense of stability and trust, and sometimes their jobs.
Kodanko is part of an ownership group. We wanted to interview one of the other owners, but we were told no one was available. We were also told the owners were meeting Monday. They put a statement on social media.
Part of that statement says the other owners’, “priority is to make sure Husby’s remains a welcoming place.” They say Kodanko will be bought out of the ownership group, meetings were held with the affected employee and the rest of the staff, and training will be held to prevent a situation like this from happening again.
This incident is a reminder that political anger is a private feeling, not a workplace policy tool. Employers should set clear expectations: respect coworkers’ property, avoid political provocation on the clock, and resolve differences without destroying someone else’s belongings. Those are simple rules that protect both employees and businesses.
People on every side of the aisle need to accept that words and actions have consequences. The community response here — collective pressure, resignations, buyouts, staff departures and promises of training — is exactly how businesses and voters hold leaders accountable. Let that be the takeaway: respect and professionalism matter more than partisan points in the break room.
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