For years, Scott Walker was trying to force through a pension obligation bond scheme. Walker originally wanted to do the deal with P. Nicholas Hurtgen, who was acting as an agent for Bear Stearns. Hurtgen and Walker go way back, and Hurtgen hosted a couple of big ticket fund raisers in Illinois for Walker. Hurtgen has since gotten himself in some hot water with the feds for possible corruption charges.
The POB was put to a referendum and the voters flat out rejected the idea. But that did not slow down Walker. Despite words of warning on how risky his plan was, Walker was finally able to get a POB scheme rammed through.
Now Milwaukee County tax payers are on the hook for $400 million, and it was still not enough to cover the pension debt.
Meanwhile, the City of Milwaukee was also facing their own fiscal crisis around their pension fund. Unlike Walker, Mayor Barrett took the problem head on and resolved their problems and still produced balanced budgets.
Needless to say, the contrast between the two is now a talking point for Team Barrett:
With a track record like his, it's no wonder that Walker is feeling pretty nervous about Tuesday.
Friday, September 10, 2010
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Why don't you go to the source of the Milwaukee County pension fiasco: Tom Ament. Now there's a real piece of work. How much did his little scheme along with the County Board of Supervisors cost the Milwaukee County taxpayers so far.
ReplyDeleteIt's been eight years since the pension scandal broke. That excuse is getting pretty lame.
ReplyDeleteBesides that, Walker showed that it wasn't the Board, since they successfully sued Mercer.
The real question should be why did Walker refuse to sue the law firm that OKed it? Perhaps because of the fact that Rick Graber worked there and Walker wanted his support and money?
And why hasn't Walker done anything about the buy back scandal that popped on his watch?