Saturday, January 30, 2010

Walker's Motto


Scott Walker has a motto for his life and his management style: Do unto others, but don't do that unto me.

This motto has been exemplified time after time in his eight years as Milwaukee County Executive.

For example, Walker has continuously cut deep into park funding, to the point that Milwaukee County is now sitting on over $200 million in deferred maintenance and repairs. He claims that this is to save tax payers some money. But all it is really doing is kicking the can down the road.

But when the State allowed the zoo interchange to deteriorate that it now requires emergency temporary fixes, Walker and his crew were the first ones to point fingers at Governor Doyle, blaming him for not meeting the public's needs.

Another example would be when he kept cutting corners at the House of Corrections and the Community Correctional Facility. Things got so bad that inmates were escaping and the whole corrections system was lambasted in a federal report.

Despite this track record, Walker chose to tear into Doyle for releasing inmates early and into Barrett for giving MPD two days of furlough. Just days after he tears into Barrett, the news breaks that Walker is four times as bad. On top of furlough deputies for eight days, it was recently found that Sheriff Clarke was considering releasing 120 inmates early and cutting highway patrols because of a $5 million hole in what Walker budgeted for the Sheriff's Office.

Yesterday, Walker joined with County Board Chairman Lee Holloway in condemning a proposed bill that would put 17 year old offenders back in the jurisdiction of the juvenile court system. Walker's big beef was that it would add another $24 million expenditure to a budget that he has set up to fail. But I can't help but remember how he cut back on expenses like first time offender programs and the sports complex in Franklin, which would have helped give the County alternatives to having our youth going to corrections. And those alternatives would have been much, much cheaper.

Walker also has continuously cut back on spending for mental health services. This only means that tax payers are paying more, either through being directly harmed by an untreated mentally ill person or by having to pay their municipal police tons of overtime while they sit with detainees waiting for a bed to open up at the mental health clinic.

As anyone can see, Walker is constantly haranguing and attacking others for the same things he is doing. Maybe Walker should tweak his motto so it is a little more accurate:
Hypocrisy: It's not a choice, it's a lifestyle.
Gretchen Schuldt has more on the bill regarding juvenile defenders at Milwaukee Rising.

3 comments:

  1. You ought to re-check your facts. Walker isn't releasing anyone early, nor is he furloughing sheriffs.

    Let me ask you this, do you think it was appropriate for Barrett to cut out two truck companies from the MFD?

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  2. I can't wait until the real campaigning begins so that the complete failure of Scotty the Clown can be shown to all. Gov. Doyle has been horrible but if this f---head somehow fools everyone and gets elected the real disaster is yet to come.

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  3. Arod,

    You better go back and reread. I did not say he was going to. I said it was considered.

    But don't forget all the other cuts in corrections and mental health. Much more costly in lives and in money than two fire trucks.

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