Holy Gish Gallops, Batman! Team GMC Is Getting Desperate!

In the ongoing battle for the future of Milwaukee County, Team GMC, the people in support of the plutocratic takeover of Milwaukee County have started taken a surreal and desperate angle to try to convince people that there way is the best
way.

In their efforts to do so, they have gone into complete Gish Gallop mode, throwing everything and anything against the wall, hoping something will stick.

In one example, Tia Tohorst, who until recently worked for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, wrote a short essay on how terrible she thinks the county board is.  Most of the essay is filled with vague accusations without any examples or proof.

Ed Heinzelman, who ironically writes at the same site that the essay appeared on succinctly points out that one of her major complaints would not even be addressed by AB 85.  

I would argue that the bill would actually make things worse.  If the bill would be passed, the supervisors would be working part time, so there would be no time to prepare before a committee meeting.  This means that proposals and reports would have to be analyzed in the meeting, lengthening the time.

Furthermore, the department heads would have to work long days on the days when they needed to appear before the committee.  Good thing Abele gave them such generous pay hikes already.

Tohorst also claims that she helped with two budgets.  She also complains that the Board refused to listen to "staff's expert analysis."  I wonder if she is referring to when the Board shot down Abele's proposal to illegally give out a half million dollars in bonuses to his expert staff.

Even more bizarre than Tohorst's essay is an opinion piece by Dan Cody.

The first part of Cody's piece is describing how he and his wife are so successful. I don't know if he feels that this makes his opinion more important than anyone else's, such as a waitress' or a grocery store bagger's.

He then expresses some vague complaints, like Tohorst did.  But at least Cody did offer two examples he felt proved his point.  However, they didn't really.

His first complaint was that the Board did not go with Abele's proposal to shift the burden of patrolling the parks from the County to the municipalities  He claimed that this would make the parks safer and save taxpayers money.  He also stated that it showed "regional cooperation."

The truth is that it was an abdication of duties by Abele, dumping off county responsibilities on the municipalities. Abele's proposal also called for giving the municipalities money in an amount insufficient to compensate them for their added costs.  Since the lion's share of this money reallocation would go to the City of Milwaukee, it would mean that suburban taxpayers' money would go to support the city, even as their municipal taxes went up.  The unfairness of this proposal is why it didn't pass muster.

Cody's other complaint is that the Park East corridor is still underdeveloped.  Cody blames this on there being 18 or 19 "county executives," each with their own agenda.

The reality of it is that former county executive Scott Walker kept filling the economic development positions with unqualified cronies and campaign workers, including Tim Russell.  Yes, that would be the same Tim Russell who was recently convicted and sentenced to jail for embezzling from a veterans fund and who was integral in the illegal campaigning by Walker.  And that was before Walker abolished the position altogether.

So he's blaming the board for the failure of the county executive, but then wants to give more power to the same office that has been a repeated source of failure for the county.

Like I said, they're getting desperate.

Has Lena Taylor Betrayed One Constituent Too Many?

State Senator Lena Taylor has not been feeling much love as of late.

And that is for a good reason.

Most people tend to dislike other people who stab them in the back.

And that is exactly what Taylor has been doing to her political party, to her city and county and to her constituents.

Taylor has voted to legalize concealed carry and then doubled down on this by also voting for the castle doctrine.

Taylor also sold out on the futures of the children of Milwaukee when she became a rather vocal advocate of privatizing the schools, even though the private schools fail in every measure.

She then followed these betrayals up with stabbing her own party in the back again by making racist comments towards Sandy Pasch, saying people shouldn't vote for Pasch because she "doesn't look like them."

More recently, she turned her back on her community by not only supporting AB 85/SB 95, but also cosponsoring it.  She was the only Democrat to do so, making her treachery more plain for all to see.

It's no great wonder why her constituents are angry with her.  She's not representing them in the least bit.

Now it looks like she might have betrayed one constituent too many:

Here is a portion of the post, which has drawn more than 80 "likes" and 50 comments, including statements of support from state Reps. Peter Barca, Cory Mason, Josh Zepnick and Sandy Pasch.

"I hate that our relationship has gone to this point. I thought things would be different. But clearly not," Grigsby wrote.

"Your efforts to ruin my personal life and professional career seem to have no end. I am now looking out for ME! But no matter what, I still pray that u find happiness and contentment in yourself . . . as opposed to spending ALL your efforts on making my life miserable."

So who exactly is drawing the former politician's ire?

State Sen. Lena Taylor, according to sources. Grigsby has told friends and allies that Taylor has been spreading unfounded rumors about Grigsby's personal life to others, including the ex-lawmaker's current employer, Milwaukee Public Schools.

Insiders said Grigsby -- MPS's manager of parental and community involvement -- has even gone so far as to hire an attorney to help her decide whether to sue Taylor for slander. Grigsby, a Milwaukee Democrat, was elected to the Assembly in 2004 to fill the seat vacated by Taylor, who had been promoted to the Senate.

Taylor feigns ignorance at why Grigsby might be upset with her and tries to distract one's attention by bringing up AB 85/SB 95.

It's much more likely that she is jealous of Grigsby's integrity and the fact that Grigsby went to work for MPS, which Taylor wants to privatize.

The article goes on to say that rumor has it that Grigsby is considering a run against Taylor.  Interestingly, that would be the second name I've heard thinking of making that run against Taylor.

The good news is that both potential candidates are good, solid people and would have no problems taking Taylor out.  Not only would that allow the constituents to finally have someone representing them, but it would also take one more vote away from the Republicans, which makes it a double win for the people.

Squawker Belling Calls Chairwoman Dimitrijevic The B-Word, Latest in Sexist Smear Attack Against Her

When Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele launched his attack against the democracy via his overreaching power grab, he repeatedly stated that it was in no way personal against the County Board.

True to his nature, he immediately launched a smear campaign against them, mostly targeting Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic.  Abele has blamed Dimitrijevic for
just about everything short of sunspots and the oil spills from broken pipelines.  Not surprisingly, Abele took a page from Scott Walker's playbook and has even blamed her for his own errors.

The smear attacks against Dimitrijevic quickly took on a sexist tone to them.

Abele's spokesman, Brendan Conway, referred to Dimitrijevic as a "mean girl," alluding to the movie of the same name.  Abele dismissed calls for an apology, saying that the complaints of the supervisors was nothing more than a "distraction."

Abele had also personally attacked Dimitrijevic by accusing her of only being worried about having her salary cut in half.  To make it worse, he did this on Equal Pay Day, the day that for pointing out the disparity between men and women doing the same job.  It is also very egregious giving that Abele makes a six figure salary, is a multimillionaire for no other reason than being born into a wealthy family, and gave his cronies, er, staff members extravagant raises.

The latest of the sexist and misogynistic attacks against Dimitrijevic came on Friday from radio squawker Mark Belling - infamous for referring to Latinos as "wetbacks" - who called Dimitrijevic a bitch (about the 20 minute mark, near the end):

4-12-13 Hr 2 Pt 1 - Mark Belling

To be specific, the quote is

"There's a saying - well, I think there's a saying that covers everything, I just don't know all the sayings. You know what the saying in this case is? Payback - she be a bitch. [laughter] A lot of bitches in this story."

Given the condescending and misogynistic attitude that we've already seen from

Abele, Belling and the other cretins backing this power grab, don't hold your breath for an apology. But this does not mean in any way that we should not make our opinions known of their hate for women, for democracy and for Milwaukee County.

But it is very telling that they cannot make their argument for AB 85 on the merits of the bill, but rather they must resort to personal, sexist attacks on the Chairwoman.  It tells us they are afraid of a strong, charismatic and popular woman who has been able to thwart their greed and malfeasance thus far.

You can reach Belling's boss, Jerry Bott at JerryBott@ClearChannel.com. Feel free to email him and tell him that Belling and the station owe Chairwoman Dimitrijevic and all women an apology.

You can then reach Chris Abele at 414-278-4211 or at countyexec@milwcnty.com. Tell Abele that his misogyny and arrogance isn't winning anyone over and he should start focusing on doing his job - which he is failing miserably at - for a change.

AB 85 - Most Definitely Not A Populist Movement

It's common knowledge that AB 85, the plutocratic power grab bill written and sponsored by the Greater Milwaukee Committee, is nothing more than a blatant hostile corporate takeover of Milwaukee County.  They are fed up with not getting their way all the time and making the county their personal playground.

I also noted that during the public listening session (that would be obviously non-listening session for the Republicans) that the prime suspects speaking in favor of the usurpation was the people that wrote it (GMC) or their employees.

Kindly enough, today the GMC confirmed my reporting.

They sent out one of their email blasts via their front group "MY Milwaukee."  In said email, they cite "a wide-range of community members in support of the reforms."

Yeah, right.

Here is their "community members":

• Richard Meeusen, President and CEO of Badger Meter, and member of the GMC Board;
• Jason Fields, former state legislator who got booted or of office for selling out to the school profiteers and now employed as the head of the GMC lobbying front group;
• Joe Sanfelippo, whom they mistakenly identify as the bill's author.  Remember that Abele proudly announced his acts of bribery by giving Sanfelippo campaign donations while this bill was being introduced.
• Julia Taylor, the head of the GMC.
• Brian Schupper, Policy Director for GMC and the schmuck who sends out the email blasts for MY Milwaukee.

Noticeably absent from the list is Chris Abele and Orville Seymer.  I wonder why that would be.

Regardless of the omissions, this is not exactly a list of commoners.  They might be members of the community, but they could be more accurately described as members of the rich country club.

Also worth noting is that their arrogance is getting away from them.  Here is a screencap of the bottom of the email:

Click to embiggen

The gentle reader should note that they aren't even trying anymore to pretend that MY Milwaukee is their front group.  I look forward to the day when we will see something like "The Koch's Americans for Prosperity" or "Bradley Foundation's MacIver Institute."

I also noted that they are practicing a wee bit of plagiarism.  Their mission statement reads:

The Make it Your (MY) Milwaukee County Initiative is a broad-based coalition of local businesses, community organizations and individuals that have joined together to address the fiscal and structural challenges facing Milwaukee County in a way that will make the community a better place to live, work and play.

I can't help notice how similar that is to Milwaukee County First's statement:

Milwaukee County First is a grassroots network of organizations and individuals from all walks of life, united to amplify their voices in the cause of stopping the decline of Milwaukee County, restoring its assets and services to their former first class status, and keeping Milwaukee County a place where people will want to work, to play, and to live.

It's not too surprising though.

GMC hasn't done anything honestly throughout this whole ordeal.

The Faces Of AB 85

As our young friend atop the soapbox shared his take on the event, today was the Assembly public hearing for AB 85, the bill that is aimed to destroy Milwaukee County Government.


Despite an overwhelming amount of statements from people from all over the state - many of them Republicans - the Republicans in the legislature are apt to continue their wont of listening to the money being handed to them by the fistfuls rather than the people.

The anti-Plutocracy Power Grab people listed a laundry list of reasons why this was a bad idea ranging from the fact that it's simply not needed to the fact that any reform should be done locally to the fact that they tried something like it in Fond du Lac County and it failed miserably to the destruction of representative government. The list is rather lengthy.

However, the people speaking for it generally broke down into three groups:

• Anti-government kooks,
• The people that wrote the bill (Greater Milwaukee Committee), and,
• The people paid by the people who wrote the bill.

I won't bother with the first group.  We've heard them all before.  We could hear them again at the next week's Tea Party Tax Day Rally - oops, wait, no we won't because there won't be one.  Now it's just a loosely wound group of loosely wound people.

Then there is the plutocrats of the GMC crowd.

Of course, Chris Abele was there because he's already created so many jobs - never mind that that unemployment rate in Milwaukee County is 8.4% and climbing. He's also already resolved the long term funding issue for the transit and parks systems, found appropriate and safe places for all the people he's kicking out of the mental health complex.

Anyway, Abele's sole argument for wanting to be given complete control of the county is simply because he didn't get his way when he wanted to bust the unions even more.

Side note: What really burns my beans is that many of the people who is supporting Abele in his hostile takeover were screaming when Walker tried it. Bloody hypocrites.

Another GMC member who was there to testify was it's Grand Poobah, Julia the worst thing in the world that Lee Holloway fired Tim Russell.  Yes, that Tim Russell.
Taylor. Yes, the Julia Taylor who thought it was

Tayler's rationale for wanting the County Board incapacitated was the same as Abele's - they didn't do what GMC told them to do.

And sitting right next to Taylor in the Rogues' Gallery - because they didn't want to mingle with the commoners, was right wing stud muffin, Orville Seymer. Seymer is one of the two people that make up the totally inappropriately named group, Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG).

Seymer, and his cohort in crime, Chris Kleisment, are neither exactly upstanding citizens nor very responsible themselves.  Where they think they have a right to preach to anyone about anything is unfathomable.

Seymer's reasoning for supporting the power grab was, well, watch it for yourself and see if you can figure it out, because I sure as hell can't:



(Video courtesy of Rebecca Kemble of The Progressive)

I've watched it several times and I still don't know what he was trying to say.  One would think that with all their money, GMC could have hired a better script writer who didn't use so many big words that made Seymer stumble so much.

In short, if this bill is passed, it's only because Abele, Taylor and the other plutocrats were able to buy the votes and not because of its nonexistent merits.  And it's surely not based on the merits of the people pushing it, for those are just as nonexistent.

Wisconsin Soapbox's Take on AB 85's Public Hearing

While I'm giddy with excitement to see what Capper has to say about today's Public Hearing on AB 85, I wanted to share with the gentle reader my take-aways from today's testimony.
For those of you who aren't usual readers of my own Soapbox, you should know that I am originally from Fond du Lac and have only relocated to Milwaukee this past December. Sadly, this means I have nowhere near the vast breath and depth of historical knowledge that my esteemed elder blogger Capper has on all things Milwaukee County. However, being new to Milwaukee doesn't mean that I am unable to see a bill that usurpts power and sets precedent that should make all 71 other counties worry.

My take away is cross-posted at my blog, Wisconsin Soapbox, but for your convenience, I have provided it here as well:

***

While the Joint Finance Committee was taking up residence on Wisconsin Dells Parkway, the Assembly Committee on Government Operations and State Licenses took over the Finance Committee's hearing room at the State Capitol to hear public input on AB 85.

And what a long, long day it was... as testimony went longer than the Finance Committee, ending at  7pm. You can watch the entire event on Wisconsin Eye HERE. 

I was lucky enough to dip in and out of the coverage during the day, and saw many of the "heavy hitters" testify, including County Executive Chris Abele, County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, and State Sen. Lena Taylor. Additionally, there were SEVERAL other government representatives who testified, and it seemed to me that a vast majority of the people who I saw were either Village Presidents, Mayors, County Board Supervisors of counties all over Wisconsin, not just Milwaukee, and members of the State Legislature. And boy, did the testimony show just what strange bed fellows this bill has created.

Two of the initial news stories of the hearing came from Steve Schultze of the Journal-Sentinel, who has been on this story since the beginning, and the (free to view articles on the) Bay View Compass.

One person mentioned in both articles is Fond du Lac County Board Chairman Marty Ferrell. His testimony was fiery, and coming from a generally conservative county in Wisconsin. From the Bay View Compass:

“Today is a sad day as we see a new attempt to dismantle local government,” said Farrell. “First they took away our funding; now they are working to take away power from the local representatives who are closest to the people. What will be next, our public buildings to congregate? Local officials statewide should be concerned as the most aggressive take-over of local government is on the move.”

Damn straight!

The Journal-Sentinel even quoted Mr. Ferrell, and echoed a point that MANY people in the Cheddarsphere have made:

Martin Farrell, chairman of the Fond du Lac County Board, warned that if the Legislature approves the Milwaukee County bill, it could easily be extended to other counties. He called Sanfelippo's bill an "extremely dangerous precedent."

Makes you wonder if someone directed him to the Soapbox? Mr. Ferrell is very right to be worried about precedent. That comes to a point I raised on here about Fond du Lac County and their own reforms that have been undertaken over the last few years:

FDL Co. supervisor:when county gov't got slashed by 1/2 was near impossible to get people stretched across all WI-mandated committees#ab85
— bluecheddar1 (@bluecheddar1) April 10, 2013

I mentioned at the very end of my initial posting about AB 85 that the Fond du Lac County Board contracted from 36 to 18 Supervisors in 2006, but then subsequently re-expanded to 25 members in 2010. I mean, what if the State Legislature told them they couldn't expand so soon after contraction? Or if they felt like they were spending too much money? Or like they were too dysfunctional? Or that they didn't need to expand when they occasionally cancel meetings due to lack of business?

The state setting the precedent of meddling in County Government affairs because of perceived dysfunction by some former members of the Board is "extremely dangerous precedent".

Additionally, I was also told by the lovely Blue Cheddar, who was live-tweeting much of the proceedings, that several people raised an issue brought to you FIRST on the Wisconsin Soapbox - That there are several places where the bill will applied to counties of 500,000 for some issues, and 750,000 persons exists. This would have ramifications for Dane County in at least 2020, and possibly Waukesha County depending upon their growth.

While this was the only hearing for the bill as it is in the Assembly, State Senator Lena Taylor gave her word that when the bill is brought up for a public hearing in the State Senate, there will be a hearing in Milwaukee County. (I will believe it when it's scheduled) That promise did little to sooth the feelings of people like Committee Member Rep. Christine Sinicki, but it is at least some feeling of hope that more average voters will be able to have their voices heard on this legislation.

As to where we go from here, the bill will be in front of the committee again tomorrow as amendments will be proposed and added. Then, the bill will go to the floor next week for a vote. However, the waters are a little less clear in the State Senate, as to when the public hearing(s) will be. Stay tuned...

Questions All Wisconsinites Need to Ask Themselves Regarding AB 85/ SB 95

On Wednesday, the state will be holding the only public hearing on AB 85/SB 95, the bills that would allow Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele do an overreaching power grab.

In light of that, there are some questions that I would ask people to consider.

For my fellow Milwaukee County citizens:

We know that this bill will diminish the democracy and representative government Abele is actively deconstructing the mental health safety net and public safety in our parks to boot.  For a hint, I would point to the fact that that we currently enjoy in our county.

My question for you is this: What do you suppose he will take next?

For the people in the other 71 counties of Wisconsin:

If they will do this to Milwaukee, what makes you think they won't do it to your county or town?  Here's a hint - nothing would stop them.

For those who support Abele's power grab:

Take a few minutes to think about how Abele has treated other people who also supported him and was much closer to him than you are.  Think about the way he suddenly stabbed the backs of Sue Black, Frank Busalacchi, Paula Lucey and most recently, Jim Burton.  And let's not forget that County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic and Supervisor John Weishan both endorsed and supported Abele when he first ran for county executive.

Yet Abele has thrown all of these people under the proverbial bus.

So if he will stab his closes supporters in the back without hesitation, what makes you think he won't do the same to you?

For the legislators who might vote for this bill:

If one listens to Charlie Sykes, one would think that Abele is a progressive liberal.  Yet the only thing progressive about him is his support of marriage equality and gay rights.

Outside of those issues, Abele presents with the same dysfunctional embrace of austerity as any Teapublican.  He also is rather anti-worker as evidenced by his attitude towards his own workers and by siding against the Palermo workers.  He has also come down on the side of the corporations in the Citizens United debate.

Given his duplicitous nature, can you trust Abele?

Furthermore, it's already pretty obvious that Abele won't be serving another term, if he even finishes this one.

Most people acknowledge that the next county executive will be a real progressive.  Do you want to give that much power and that much control to, say County Executive Marina Dimitrijevic or John Weishan?

These are just some of the things that I hope people give serious consideration to and then join in the growing movement to oppose this maleficent and overreaching bill.

Proof Positive That AB 85 WILL Reduce Representative Government

One of the repeated arguments from pro-Milwaukee County factions against AB 85, the Usurpation Bill which would make Milwaukee County into a plutocracy playground is that it would reduce, if not eliminate, our representative government.

The pro-usurpation faction haughtily and arrogantly dismisses this argument, saying that there would still be 18 supervisors.  The Greater Milwaukee Committee really jumped the proverbial shark when they even tried to argue that AB 85 would somehow increase the responsiveness of county supervisors.

The sad truth is we already know that if this bill were to pass, it would most definitely decrease the representation the voters deserve and expect from the supervisors.

The proof of this in in former Supervisor Paul Cesarz.

Cesarz got himself in a financial bind after one of his house-flipping deals went

sour.  In order to get himself out of the hole he was in, Cesarz went back to his former profession and got a job as a pharmacist at a local Walgreens.

The results were utterly predictable:

Paul Cesarz

Milwaukee County Supervisor Paul Cesarz is seldom seen these days at the courthouse.

No one answers his office phone. Messages and emails are ignored.

Colleagues and constituents - including political allies - have grown impatient, even openly angry, over Cesarz's disappearing act.

It's gotten so bad some jokingly refer to him as Casper, as in the friendly cartoon ghost.

[...]

There are other signs of neglect. Cesarz's County Board website has grown stale. His biography is outdated, and he's posted only one new item since his 2008 re-election, a joint news release from last year stating his support for reducing pension credit for supervisors. Under a section titled, "What's new," Cesarz's website has nothing. Most supervisors issue at least annual newsletters and often post online press releases.

"He angers me because there's zero effort on his part," said Supervisor Mark Borkowski, a fellow conservative whose district abuts Cesarz's in the county's southern suburbs. Borkowski said he's taken on some of Cesarz's constituent complaints and hears repeated comments from municipal officials on how tough it is to get Cesarz to respond to a call or email.

[...]

Now 55, Cesarz has gone back to full-time work as a pharmacist, a job he acknowledged had interfered with his attendance at County Board committee meetings. He did not reply to repeated attempts to reach him this week at the courthouse, his home or on his cellphone. Finally reached by phone at a Milwaukee Walgreens store, Cesarz disputed charges that he'd been unresponsive and said he can juggle the duties of a supervisor with those of his drugstore job.

"Absolutely," he said. "If somebody has a problem like that, it's unfortunate," he said of complaints he'd blown off numerous calls and messages. "I've made an effort to honor requests of people."

Cesarz said he'll soon hire someone as a legislative aide, a job that's been vacant since August. He acknowledged occasionally ignoring calls he felt were harassment. Cesarz said he most likely will seek re-election in April to a fourth term as supervisor.

[...]

Cesarz missed 16 committee meetings during the first three years after his 2008 re-election, according to a Journal Sentinel analysis done in May. That was the second highest number of absences among the 19 board members. Cesarz's attendance improved since then, though he missed two of 16 meetings over the summer.

He said he had missed some county meetings, particularly of the board's Judiciary, Safety and General Services Committee, because they conflicted with his Walgreens work schedule. He now works nights on the days committees meet, Cesarz said.

As you can see, Cesarz' constituents were NOT being represented. They could not get in touch with Cesarz to discuss their concerns. They also were not having their voices heard in all of those Committee and Board hearings he missed because he was working his other job.

Furthermore, it started to spill over affecting the constituents in other districts because those supervisors now had to deal with his constituents as well as their own.

But that's not the end of it either.

Cesarz eventually chose not to run for reelection, belatedly realizing he didn't have a chance of winning.

When his successor, Steve Taylor, took over, he ran into another problem:

With a skimpy file of five constituent emails left by his predecessor and nothing else, newly elected Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve F. Taylor did what he could to find a way to reach out to residents of his Oak Creek, Franklin and Hales Corners district.

Taylor filed an open records request with the county for four years' worth of email traffic from his predecessor, former Supervisor Paul Cesarz.

Taylor says he'll use the trove of Cesarz emails to add to his list of constituents he sends his regular electronic newsletters.

"When I say we had to come in and start from scratch -- he left us nothing," says Taylor. Cesarz, who was elected as a reform candidate in 2002 and served for a decade, had developed a reputation for being hard to reach.

So now we see that Cesarz unavailability led to a delay in Taylor's ability to do his job correctly. On top of that, it took IT personnel time to get the records. And paying for that took money away from other services that could have been provided.

Now let's compare this to what is being proposed in AB 85.

The bill is proposing that the supervisors get paid $24,000 a year, which will force all but the independently wealthy ones to get other jobs. As exemplified by the Cesarz story, this WILL reduce their availability to their constituents, delaying any response the constituent might get, if they get one at all.

The bill also will forbid supervisors from having direct contact with department heads unless they first get permission from the county executive (whatever happened to separation of powers?) So now, the constituent takes days to get in touch with the supervisor to discuss a concern. Now the supervisor has to contact the county executive to get permission to address the issue, which will also take days. If and when permission is granted, only then will the supervisor be able to start working on the issue, and that is if the department head responds promptly.

Add to this that the bill also calls for supervisory terms be shortened from four years to two years. This means that as soon as one election is over, they have to start working on the next one. They will have to squeeze this in between their other job, attending meetings, and addressing constituents concerns. Exactly when are they supposed to analyze resolutions and contracts being rammed through by the county executive?

Not only will this bill sharply decrease a supervisor's ability to provide effective representation, it will open the door for a lot of corruption.  They won't have time to analyze any proposed resolutions or contracts to make sure they are on the up and up, but with them in constant campaign mode, they could be more easily influenced by the special interests that are pushing the resolutions and contracts Abele is trying to ram through.

The more that one looks at AB 85, the more vile it becomes.  It attacks democracy, representative government, governmental efficiency, governmental transparency and protections for the taxpayers.

There is no responsible person who could get behind this bill in good faith.

It should never have been started, and it most definitely should not be passed.  Ever.

Sanfelippo Does A Gish Gallop On Usurpation Bill

With AB 85 - the Usurpation of Milwaukee County Bill - becoming increasingly unpopular, the plutocrats are getting desperate to find something to make it even seem the least bit like a good idea.

Unfortunately for them, they picked the intellectual lightweight Teapublican Joe Gish Gallop - a flurry of lies, half-lies and gibberish - to try to justify it.
Sanfelippo to be their sockpuppet in pushing this ill-thought out bill.  As a result, now that it's being challenged, Sanfelippo is forced to do a

A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel demonstrates this well:

Sanfelippo said a key reason for his legislation was to enable the county to more effectively court economic development. He said the lack of much development on the county-owned parts of the Park East Freeway corridor was evidence of the county's ineffectiveness in promoting growth.

Sanfelippo, who served on the board for five years until he won his legislative seat last fall, said the job of county supervisor didn't come close to being full time. He said during weekdays, he only attended committee and board meetings at the courthouse, then met with constituents evenings and weekends.

"In no way, shape or form is it a full-time job," Sanfelippo said.

Dimitrijevic said it was a full-time job and that voters elected supervisors with that expectation. Supervisors are paid $50,679 a year, but their salaries would drop to about $24,000 under Sanfelippo's bill if voters approved the move in an April 2014 referendum.

Sanfelippo denied Dimitrijevic's claim that his bill was inspired by a "small, privileged group of people," an apparent reference to the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

"This is my bill," Sanfelippo said. "Nobody wrote this bill but me."

Just how stupid does Sanfelippo think we are?!

As for economic development, he cannot blame the Board for that and he knows it. The reason that economic development in Milwaukee has lagged is the fact that then County Executive Scott Walker first filled the department with unqualified cronies and campaign workers - including Tim Russell. And it was also Walker who then abolished the Department of Economic Development. Then when the Board reinstated those positions the next year, Walker was the one that never filled them, much less utilized resources the county had available.

His argument about whether the board should be full or part time is equally laughable, as I pointed out two years ago:

A couple of weeks ago, Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo said that he was going to introduce a resolution to make the County Boarda part-time job. Sanfelippo’s stunt is to cover for the fact that he spends most of his time at his taxi cab company instead of doing the people’s work.

This should be compared and contrasted with what other supervisors are doing.

This past weekend, Supervisors Marina Dimitrijevic and Jason Haas made themselves availableto their constituents at a neighborhood festival.

Dimitrijevic has also announced her 125th town hall meeting.

Supervisor Eyon Biddle has been all over the place in efforts to support andto betterhis community and reaching out to the teens in his neighborhood.

Compare that to Sanfelippo who has been more worried about political posturing than meeting his constituents. Perhaps that explains why he is in support of having Milwaukee County tax payers foot the bill so that Muskego can have sewers or why he votes on transit bills even though his company benefits from his votes.

The only logical conclusion from this comparison is that being a supervisor for the county can be a part-time job, unless you want to do the job the right way. Then it would require full-time attention.

I should also point out that Sanfelippo also doesn't feel that the supervisors need aides, but it was Sanfelippo who fought to get his aide at the county promoted to a full time status so that he could spend more time at his families taxi business. This same aide has since been transferred to the airport by Abele so that she wouldn't be cut if this bill were to pass.

The most incredulous of Sanfelippo's claims is that he wrote this egregious bill all by himself.  The man wouldn't be able to write an IOU without looking it up and having someone helping him.

Sanfelippo's claim is a bold faced lie.  The drafting documents are chock full of proof that the bill was written by Ray Carey and Mary Panzer, two lobbyists with the firm of Foley & Lardner, which was hired by the Greater Milwaukee Committee.  But then again, I had already informed the gentle reader three months ago that the Greater Milwaukee Committee was behind this power grab.  They tried to get Scott Walker to do it, but he had ambitions of his own that he was more concerned about.

Given the people who are behind this bill, their motivation for it and their desperation in trying to fool people on it, it should be enough to set off the red flags for anyone.  This is a bad bill that will undo our democracy and bring the county even further.  There is no justifiable reason for it, as evidenced by its proponents still not giving one.

Who - And What - Is Behind AB 85

On Sunday, Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, broke the story of who was actually behind AB 85 - the bill that would allow Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele to usurp all the power in Milwaukee County.

Not surprisingly, and as I've been saying all along, it wasn't Representative Joe Sanfelippo behind the bill, despite his claims to have penned it.  As someone
familiar with Sanfelippo pointed out, he doesn't have the ability to write an I.O.U. without screwing it up.

No, Sanfelippo is merely a sockpuppet for the Greater Milwaukee Committee, whose lobbyists and lawyers were the driving force behind the bill:

Newly released drafting documents from the Legislative Reference Bureau document the efforts of two lobbyists for GMC's political arm, Smart Government Inc.

"Please review this draft carefully to ensure that it meets your intent," wrote Marc E. Shovers, managing editor for the reference bureau. "As I discussed with Josh (Hoisington)and Ray Carey, I did not incorporate into this draft (of the bill) some of the requirements for a county executive that apply to Cuyahoga County because they seem to have no legal effect."

What's important here is not that someone wants the bill to be modeled after some Ohio county government.

Instead, the legislative staffer is consulting on the measure with Ray Carey, a lobbyist for the silk-stocking firm Foley & Lardner who has been retained by Smart Government. Hoisington is Sanfelippo's legislative aide.

Carey's cell is listed on another page of drafting notes.

Finally, the file documents a March 6 meeting in the office of Sen. Alberta Darling (River Hills), the lead sponsor of the bill in the Senate. The page includes notes on a line-by-line draft of the legislation.

Attending the private meeting was a second GMC lobbyist, former Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, according to the record. She was joined in the meeting by Sanfelippo and several legislative aides. Darling attended by phone.

No representative for the County Board is listed as attending the meeting.

Gee, Abele, Sanfelippo and GMC all caught lying. Who'd a thunk that? Outside of anyone that's been paying attention, that is.

Cory Liebmann took this and fleshed it out in a post showing that the fact that GMC is behind this is nothing new nor surprising:

This isn't the first time that some of these same interests tried to do an end-run around local control and local government to get what they want. Remember in 2006 when some of the same special interests paid for secret draft legislation to swipe control of Milwaukee County's successful airport? During that effort they wanted to make Mitchell a regionally controlled airport rather than a Milwaukee County asset. Even worse they wanted to specifically and totally bypass Milwaukee County officials and even local voters. In 2006 they even used the same law/lobby firm to do the job that GMC is using now. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/18/06]

In 2006 while many of the same special interests were busy drafting the legislation they found the perfect guy that would introduce it in the state legislature. In 2006 that role was played by Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) but today it is being played by Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-West Allis).

The fact that GMC's paid lobbyists were so deeply involved in writing this current bill tells us everything that we really needed to know about it. But perhaps we can actually learn more based on who WAS NOT involved in the drafting of this special interest legislation. As they furiously spin in the media and through their highly paid spokespeople they pretend that the beneficiary of this legislation is the public. But they didn't involve the public in writing this legislation. They didn't include key members of the community or other direct stake holders. In keeping with the pattern they had their well paid lobbyists helping write it behind closed doors.

If you had any doubt about what this legislation is really all about it should be totally cleared at this point. It was written by these special interests and for these special interests. Right now they are simply trying to force the rest of us to come along for the ride. Their highly paid PR firm and their phony front group will continue to spin that they really did it all for us. But the point remains, when it was time to actually draw up this legislation WE were not invited into the room.

So, so far we know have positive confirmation that this is a corporate/plutocrat bill that has nothing to do with the will of the people. We already knew that, but confirmation from an independent source is always nice.

But as with all things Abele, there is more. There is always more.

Note the lobbyist from Foley and Lardner who was so heavily involved with this bill - Ray Carey.

He's not just a lobbyist from a silk stocking law firm.

He was also a key player in the caucus scandal from ten years ago:

Among the four witnesses Tuesday were two former directors of the now-defunct Assembly Republican Caucus, which the Wisconsin State Journal revealed in May 2001 was operating along with the other three legislative caucuses as a secret campaign machine.

The two - Kratochwill and Ray Carey - told Moeser that much of their work revolved around campaign tasks such as recruiting candidates, monitoring and deploying state employees to work on campaigns and keeping leaders, including Jensen and Foti, apprised of how Republican Assembly candidates were faring in their races. And both testified they never saw Schultz, who was housed along with them at the Assembly Republican Caucus, do any legitimate government work.

"I did not observe her (Schultz) nor was I aware of her doing state business," Carey said. Kratochwill agreed, saying he never assigned Schultz any non-campaign-related work in part because, "she didn't do any legislative work."

Schultz's attorney, Stephen Morgan, asked Carey whether he believed during his tenure as caucus director from 1994 to 1999 that he was violating the law by having state employees work on private campaigns on state time. Carey, who is an attorney, replied, "I don't recall thinking about it."

[...]

Carey and Kratochwill each testified that Foti and Jensen regularly attended meetings, primarily in Jensen's Capitol office, in which the campaign activity of state employees was discussed. At no time did Jensen or Foti instruct either one to separate his state job from campaigning, they said. And both testified that their jobs as directors included running the private Republican Assembly Campaign Committee out of the taxpayer-funded Assembly Republican Caucus.

What is is with these conservatives and scandals? It seems like you can't have one without the other anymore.

But do even a little more digging and the real horror becomes bare.

Just take a gander at Carey's bio at the Foley & Lardner's website:

Raymond J. Carey is a highly respected and skilled advisor, trial lawyer, negotiator, and partner in the Labor and Employment Practice of Foley & Lardner LLP. He has over 30 years of experience wisely counseling employer representatives within all industries concerning the diversity of human resource and labor relations issues that affect the workplace. During his more than 30 years of practice, Mr. Carey has successfully defended employers and their management representatives against myriad individual plaintiff, multi-plaintiff and class action claims involving virtually all types of federal and state statutory and common law employment-related causes of action, including EEO, ERISA, FLSA, FMLA, USERRA, WARN, Section 301(a), whistle blowing, breach of non- compete agreements, breach of employment contracts, interference, breach of sales commission contracts and policies, and other federal and state statutory and common law causes of action.

Mr. Carey counsels employers concerning development and implementation of effective policies, practices and procedure pertaining to litigation avoidance, hiring, compensation, benefits, wage and hour compliance, FMLA and other leaves of absence, workplace accommodations, workplace investigations, promotion, discipline, layoff, reduction in force, workforce reorganization, discharge, equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, workplace diversity, and zero tolerance for workplace violence, discrimination, and harassment of any kind. He also advises employers with respect to labor/management relations issues, including effective union avoidance strategies, how to expeditiously defeat or avoid union facility specific and corporate-wide organizing campaigns, collective bargaining, grievance resolution, and other management/labor disputes, and he negotiates collective bargaining agreements on behalf of employers.

In addition to myriad pre-trial summary judgments and dismissals with prejudice among other pre-trial resolutions Mr. Carey has obtained for employers and their representatives consistent with their desired outcomes, he has successfully tried more than 100 cases in federal and state trial courts, before arbitrators, and in proceedings before federal and state administrative agencies, including the NLRB, DOL, OSHA/ MIOSHA, the EEOC, and the MDCR, among other federal and state administrative agencies. Mr. Carey also developed and implemented successful strategies that thwarted attempts by plaintiffs to certify class actions in over 20 employment cases throughout his career.

They also note that Carey writes articles and gives speeches regarding labor-related topics, including these beauties:

• Defense of FLSA Collective And Other Actions
• Defending Federal And State Wage And Hour Class And Collective Actions
• How To Effectively Defend Against Employment Related Class Actions
• How To Minimize Prospects For Employment Related Litigation
• How To Avoid Claims for Discrimination And Harassment Based On Protected Characteristics
• How To Defend Against Employment Discrimination And Other Employment Related Claims

and my personal favorite

• How To Remain Union Free

Remember, AB 85 would give Abele sole control over any labor contracts.  And we already have seen that Abele is not labor friendly as evidenced by his support of his wealthy friends at Palermos over the workers who simply want a voice.  And don't even get me started on the multitude of ways he's been trying to mess with his own employees.

It also reminds me of how Julia Taylor, Grand Poobah of the GMC plutocrats, complained that the County Board didn't allow Abele to gouge Milwaukee County employees as much as he wanted to.

Chris Abele

We already know that Abele and the other plutocrats want to eliminate any and all the authority the County Board has so that they can no longer thwart his ambitions to privatize and sell off as much as the county as he can.  

But why he is he going after the unions too?

Labor leader Thomas Donahue gave us that answer long ago:

"The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor."

So, tell us again how this is for the good of the people and all about efficiency, because it sure looks like a plutocratic power grab from here.

Downsizing The Board Is Not The Answer

On Thursday, the Milwaukee County Board passed a resolution to ask the state legislature for the authority to downsize their number from 18 to 13.  The vote was 9-7 in favor of the resolution.

Supervisor Steve Taylor, the crackpot from Franklin that proposed this bit of folly was overjoyed with its passage, as he shows in his press release:

I have been a proponent of reforming the Milwaukee County Board since I was a candidate for the Board. I am glad to see that the majority of my colleagues are on the same page with respect to this resolution and its intent. It is important to note that in addition to creating a more efficient county government, this resolution aims to ensure appropriate minority representation on the County Board, reflective of the diversity we see throughout Milwaukee County. Its approval is a step in the right direction and should the State Legislature provide us with the tools to downsize, I hope that other members of the County Board who share my vision will not hesitate to proceed with appropriate steps towards meaningful reform.”

A more mature, more intelligent man, Supervisor Michael Mayo, felt otherwise. From his press release (emphasis mine):

Supv. Michael Mayo Sr. today criticized a resolution that passed the County Board by a 9-7 vote asking the state Legislature for permission to downsize, saying it is the wrong approach to County reform and that it would potentially hurt minority representation on the Board.

“I will fight hard for minority representation and make sure there is a balance in representation between the City of Milwaukee and the suburbs,” he said. “Downsizing is the wrong approach to reform. The resolution passed today was called a ‘tool’ for downsizing and reforming County governance. But this resolution is not a tool, it’s a mallet.”

Mayo, Chairman of the Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee, said that downsizing the Board would actually mean that supervisors represented more people than members of the Legislature.
He said that even with 18 Board members, each Supervisor represented roughly 52,000. With a reduction of three Supervisors, that number would jump to about 67,000.

“How can you represent your constituents with a lack of resources and no staff?” he asked, referring to a bill before the state Legislature that would cut the salaries and the staff of the County Board. “The Legislature isn’t interested in reform, it’s interested in stripping power from the Board and giving it to the County Executive. That’s not reform, it’s a tremendous shift in power away from the Legislative branch.”

Mayo said that although he strongly opposes downsizing, he will work hard with his colleagues and his constituents to see that any reform such as downsizing will benefit the entire County.

“We might get lemons, but I’ll work to make sweet lemonade,” he said.

It's fairly obvious that the supervisors who voted for this resolution are hoping that it will be enough to stop AB 85, the Usurpation Bill.

If this is indeed their thinking, I think they just made a major blunder.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and his cohorts at the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC), who are the ones that had written the Usurpation Bill aren't interested in democracy. They aren't interested in a balanced government. They aren't interested in a representative government. They aren't interested in integrity. They aren't interested in efficiency.  They aren't interested in the public good.

The only thing that they are interested in concentrating as much power in Abele's hands, just like Scott Walker did when he became governor.

They want this so that Abele can turn Milwaukee County into their own plutocratic playground.  He will sell off what they think they can profit on.  The rest he will privatize or simply abdicated his duties thereof.  He's shown this much in his two budgets and other policy decisions.

If and when AB 85 is passed and if the Board stays at its current 18 seats, Abele would only need to hold sway over five of the ten supervisors on the Finance and Personnel Committee to get whatever he wants passed.  It wouldn't even have to go in front of the whole board.

And with the money that Abele and GMC has at their disposal, it would be nothing for them to buy that many seats, much like the Bradley Foundation and Koch Brothers bought the governor's office for Walker.

If the Board gets downsized, it only becomes that much easier for him since he will only need to hold sway over three or four of the seats to get what he wants.

The really ironic part of all this is that if usurpers really wanted to make Milwaukee County Board "just like the other counties in Wisconsin" by cutting their pay to $24,000 and making them part time, they would actually have to almost double the size of the board.  The other counties pay their supervisors about a dollar per year for every person they represent.  At the present numbers, each supervisor represents 52,000 people, much like a state representative.

Funny thing is, I don't see Joe Sanfelippo, the state representative acting as the sock puppet for the GMC offering to cut his pay to a similar amount. I wonder why that is.

But they aren't about to increase the size of the board to make it just like the other counties, because that's not really their intent.

AB 85: The Usurpation Bill

Here it is in all of his hideousness: