Tuesday, May 14, 2013

County Board Creates Jobs, Helps Local Economy Even As Abele Usurps Power

As I write this, the state assembly is taking up AB 85 again to add some amendments from the Senate.  Then the hostile takeover from Chris "Little Walker" Abele and his plutocratic pals at the Greater Milwaukee Committee will be all but complete.

Undoubtedly, Abele and his minions will celebrate the moment and make empty statements about "efficiency" and some inane comment about "working together."

What he won't mention is that his form of efficiency has already cost taxpayers over $10 million dollars (and counting).  He also won't mention the corruption that has already been tainting his office or the fact that he had to buy, lie and cheat his way to get the hostile takeover accomplished.

But before any of the Abele lackeys and kiss ups pop open their bubbly, look at what the County Board's been doing.

In April, we learned that Abele was willing to screw over a couple that spent 16 years of their lives and bent over backwards in order to build their business of renting paddleboats at Veterans Park.  He was ready to throw these people to the side in favor of a larger company from California.

This was, needless to say, rather unpopular.  The County Board, who listened to the people and not the plutocrats, on the same day that Abele's takeover was being passed, acted with quiet dignity by restoring the contract with the local vendors.

As Supervisor Jason Haas put it so well in his press release (emphasis mine):

The move, which passed on a vote of 4-2, means that the committee is recommending that Juneau Park Paddleboat, a Milwaukee-based company, retain the right to operate paddleboat rentals at Veterans Park. The company is the original operator of paddleboat rentals at Veterans Park. The Milwaukee County Parks Department had recommended that a California-based firm be awarded the contract, but the committee denied that recommendation. 
“With this move, the committee chose to support a local jobs provider,” said Haas, vice chair of the committee. “We would have lost a treasured gem of the community had the original recommendation gone through. I, for one, am not interested in trading gems for pennies.

But it's not just the small things that the Board has been doing for the County and its citizens.

A much larger matter which has a much bigger impact is the Ready to Work Initiative which was originally proposed two years ago by Supervisor Theo Lipscomb and former Supervisor Eyon Biddle.

Although it would have meant jobs for thousands of citizens in Milwaukee County, Abele vetoed 90% of the funding out of the Initiative, leaving it heavily balanced in the favor of businesses over people.

Thankfully, the Board overrode Abele's veto.  In an update by Supervisor David Bowen, who succeeded Biddle, the program is working well and people are getting family supporting jobs - averaging $17 per hour - that they wouldn't have had if Abele had is way.

As you can see, directly due to Abele and his plutocratic ploys, we are not only losing our representative government, our civil rights as voters and our quality of life.  We are going to lose family supporting jobs and the gems that made Milwaukee County unique and special.

The really sad part of this is that it came from a group of greedy plutocrats and one millionaire spoiled brat Walker wannabe that couldn't play well with others or take no for an answer.

But if Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele thinks he will now be able to exercise his will upon his serfs citizens, he doesn't know Milwaukee very well after all.  We don't take to fascism very well here.

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