Thoughts relating to Jennifer Moeller's candidacy

Feb 13, 2024

One of the two judicial candidates in the spring election, Family Court Commissioner Jennifer Moeller, was formerly a director and then president of the Wellness Center of Door County. The Wellness Center was a free clinic mostly focused on reproduction-related issues and it also provided primary care.

The clinic closed unexpectedly, and the building was left vacant for awhile. This is what it looked like in August 2013: https://maps.app.goo.gl/FPaWgDgjLDBvtnp66

Ownership of the property was transferred from the Wellness Center of Door County, Inc. to Associated Bank with a deed dated September 11, 2013, according to the Web-Map of Door County, Wisconsin listing for the parcel.

This article is about the clinic, and was written when Moeller (unmentioned in the article) was its president: https://doorcountypulse.com/warmth-wellness-center/

Another article was written in 2009. Although the person answering the questions is unnamed, it is possibly Moeller, since she was president at the time: https://doorcountypulse.com/door-county-non-profit-profile/

Carol Thompson wrote an article about the closing in 2013, and she quotes Moeller: https://doorcountypulse.com/with-wellness-center-of-door-county-closed-patients-turn-elsewhere/

These are some archived pages from its website, wellnesscenterofdoorcounty.com:

The clinic’s number for IRS filings is 14-1850683, which can be used to look up 990 forms. These are listed by the year they cover:

2007, with Moeller as one of the directors: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/141850683/2008_08_EO%2F14-1850683_990_200712
2008, with Moeller as president: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/141850683/2009_07_EO%2F14-1850683_990EZ_200812
2009, with Moeller as president: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/141850683/2010_09_EO%2F14-1850683_990_200912
2010, with Moeller as president: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/141850683/2011_12_EO%2F14-1850683_990_201012
2011, with Moeller as president: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/141850683/2012_11_EO%2F14-1850683_990_201112

Page 25 / 28 of the records for 2011 shows that the clinic had a loan from Michele Geiger-Bronsky for the purchase and renovation of the clinic. The original loan was for $30,000, and there was a written agreement spelling out the terms. This article discusses Geiger-Bronsky’s work at the clinic: https://doorcountypulse.com/treating-the-whole-person/

The 2011 finances are the latest ones reported on the ProPublica website. There is no filing listed for what happened in 2012 or 2013, which is odd. Possibly there was some accident on the part of ProPublica or the IRS. But if it wasn’t an accident, a failure to file can be penalized. Presently the IRS charges a penalty of $20 per day for being late on the 990 form.

Annual business forms were filed with the state in 2012 and 2013: https://www.wdfi.org/apps/corpsearch/Details.aspx?entityID=W044032&hash=1358801032&searchFunctionID=547eea0a-c52f-474f-a18e-366fa93d211a&type=Simple&q=Wellness+Center+of+Door+County

However, in 2014, the paperwork was delinquent, and following three annual notices of administrative dissolution, the Wellness Center of Door County ceased to exist by Administrative Dissolution on May 8, 2017.

This brief item from 2009 discusses fundraising for the new building:

We launched a capital campaign in late summer of 2009 in order to expand our space and provision of services. We’ve saved and/or raised nearly 50% of the funds needed to accomplish this project.

https://doorcountypulse.com/sister-bay-trading-hosts-womens-health-event-for-wellness-center-of-door-county/

A fundraising notice with a building plan: https://issuu.com/doorcountyliving/docs/doorcountyliving-philanthropy2010/26

Another description of the project:

The Wellness Center of Door County, an independent, non-profit family planning clinic, is expanding its Sturgeon Bay facility. A 4,000-square-foot addition will be built on the north side of the existing facility this summer followed by the demolition and rebuilding of the current clinic in 2012.

https://www.insightonbusiness.com/features/forthelove/on-the-move-march/article_b12ed4ee-3170-5852-8a69-8a8330b6e33d.html

This capital campaign was managed by Katie Schnorr, now Katie Lott:

Director of Development
Wellness Center of Door County
Apr 2011 - Jun 2012 1 year 3 months
•Managed $1 million capital campaign
•Shared story of non-profit clinic through publications, media and events

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katielott1'

Several articles about Schnorr:

Moeller’s upbringing could help explain why she is running for office. I tried to find biographical information about Jennifer Moeller for the years prior to what is covered in https://doorcountypulse.com/moeller-announces-candidacy-for-judge/ and the candidacy page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554971378254.

A career timeline is provided in a LinkedIn profile. I don’t expect the link will work directly, but it should work to copy and paste it into your browser:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-moeller-7801a913?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Prior to marriage, her last name was Ament. In January of 1994 she married Mark Moeller in Milwaukee: https://ia600607.us.archive.org/33/items/bostoncollegemagf1994bost/bostoncollegemagf1994bost.pdf

Search engine results include some links with only her first name / last name, and other links with her full name, Jennifer Ament Moeller.

“MOELLER, JENNIFER A” is listed on estate-related court filings for "AMENT, F THOMAS" and his mother, "AMENT, HILDEGARDE D", https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=1998PR002814&countyNo=40&index=0, and in F. Thomas Ament’s biographical encyclopedia entry, his daughter Jennifer is listed at the bottom: https://prabook.com/web/f.thomas.ament/325968

Comparing Tom Ament’s birth year on the entry with Moeller’s birth year at https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2018WL000098&countyNo=15&index=0 shows that Ament was 31 years old when Moeller was born. The year before she was born, Ament became a Milwaukee County supervisor. He was elected county executive in 1992. When he retired in 2002 at 64 years old, he accepted responsibility for having caused a $300 million long-term budget gap from excessive pension payouts: https://web.archive.org/web/20110807091440/http://www.wisn.com/news/1245671/detail.html

Not long afterwards, Scott Walker was elected as the new county executive. Ament’s career is described in these obituaries:

It would be good for Moeller or others who had connections with the clinic to explain more about the closure. The 2013 article mentions that the two nurse-practitioners left, but does not go into detail about why they left.

Moeller or someone else who had a leadership position should publish documents showing what happened with the clinic’s assets from 2012 and onwards. Also it would be good to clarify who was responsible for failures to file paperwork to the IRS or to the state, and who made decisions about allocating the assets.

Other election or districting related posts:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/election-or-districting-related

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