Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Scenes From The Public Hearing And Walker's Failure To Understand

Over at Milwaukee County First, I have just put up a post, with pictures even, about last night's Public Hearing.

Of course, Scott Walker couldn't be bothered to attend to hear what the tax payers wanted, so he went to Pewaukee for a fund raiser.

But Walker doesn't stop with the undeserved arrogance there.

He actually uses county property to complain because the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covered an official governmental meeting:
The daily newspaper ran a story on the front of the Metro section this morning about the crowd of some 500 people who attended the public hearing held by the County Board last night on the 2010 budget. The majority of people who attended the hearing were there to advocate for spending programs. The paper did, however, note that another portion of the crowd was there to support a no tax levy increase budget.

Interestingly, this was reported in the same newspaper that did not print one word after more than 700 people showed up at Serb Hall to support our 2010 county budget. The entire crowd at that event was there to support a no tax levy increase budget. The people at that gathering were dismissed by the newspaper (and by many Supervisors) because the event was sponsored by Citizens for Responsible Government.

Yet, the story acknowledges that the majority of people at the hearing last night were organized by the largest union in the county (AFSCME) or a series of other smaller interest groups. Why is it that a group that is organized to represent taxpayers is dismissed, but groups that advocate more government spending are praised by many in the media and in politics?

Scott Walker
Milwaukee County Executive
There are some real problems with this arrogant statement, outside of it being on the county website.

One, it is hard for even me to believe that Walker is so dense and/or dishonest that he cannot tell the difference between an official governmental hearing and a campaign event. Has he been campaigning on county time so much that he can no longer differentiate between the two?

Another problem is that he fails to acknowledge that many of the people that attended the CRG rally were actually from outside of Milwaukee County, and he ignores the violence that the CRG people caused, while there was no violence last night.

But the biggest problem is what he calls the "other smaller interests." Is the woman with mental illness asking the Board not to cut her services so that she may remain as independent as possible a special interest? Is the woman in a wheelchair who asked that her paratransit service not be cut a special interest? And when there are 25% more hungry people than last year, is Hunger Task Force a special interest?

What an malicious and unfeeling thing to say about these people! He really does need to apologize to the County Board and to the citizens of Milwaukee County for this slap to the face.

And someone should read John Gurda's editorial in last Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to him, especially this part:

The critics of local government crow whenever tax rates are cut or payrolls are reduced. In my view, that's like bragging about how much you haven't fed your child or cheering while your house burns down. These are our sidewalks and sewers, our police officers and firefighters, our parks and pools that suffer when budgets are cut.

How far will it go? If present trends continue, the day may come when librarians have to leave a key under the doormat at each neighborhood branch, when homicides are reported to a call center in Bangalore, when every household is expected to bury its own garbage and to keep its own fire bucket at the front door.

That's not the kind of community I want to call home, but we're headed in that direction. Until ordinary citizens wake up to the reality of their own interests, until public officials find the courage to stop committing civic suicide, we'll get precisely the government we pay for - and precisely the government we deserve.

1 comment:

  1. scott walker is useless.he doesn't give a damn about milwaukee county and it shows more every day.when are the people who follow this clown going to wake up and see through all his bullshit.

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