Abele Comes Clean: He Ain't No Democrat

For years, I have opened myself to the scorn and wrath of the establishment Democrats, the corporate Democrats and Republicrats by pointing out that Chris Abele was no Democrat.  For years, these same people would try to ostracize me, demonize me and vilify me.

They're rationale for defending Boss Abele was always the same - He gives us so much money! He's our biggest donor!  Meanwhile they kept ignoring the simple fact that all the money he would give them was only a fraction of the amount of damage he would do to them.

But I have been vindicated in my assertions.  Ironically, the vindication came from none other that Abele himself:

Outgoing Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who is a Democrat, says if he ever runs for office again it would probably be as a political independent — and he’s not all that thrilled about attending the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.

That being said, Abele says he supports Milwaukee hosting the DNC as good for business and the community. He said he promised Democratic Party Chairman Tom Perez any logistical support that Milwaukee County government can provide.

“It’s great for the community and I think a Republican convention would be great for the community, too,” Abele said, during a Friday luncheon appearance at Marquette University Law School.

Abele went on to issue some of his usual vainglorious humble bragging, before getting to the real reason for his sudden decision not to run again:

Abele is not seeking re-election after serving about nine years as Milwaukee County executive. He said he will focus on his venture capital fund, philanthropy and lobbying the Wisconsin Legislature on issues including changing the way Wisconsin funds local governments.

This lines up with his statement on how having both Democratic and Republican conventions here.

He's all about the money. He wants to make more and more money as well as save it from having to have to pay taxes, which he hasn't done in years either.

Gee, how noble of him.

That said, Abele isn't really done with politics either.  He's got a lot of money invested in various candidates - such as David Crowley, Lena Taylor and Jason Fields - so that he can be the behind the scenes emperor of all of Milwaukee, undoubtedly with the intent to maximize his ability to monetize both the city and the county.

Milwaukee - Sixth Worst City In The Nation

It may take a village to raise a child but it takes only three corporate stooges to ruin a city.

According to a new report, Milwaukee is ranked as the sixth worst city to live in in the nation:

6. Milwaukee. According to 247wallst.com, the area has a population of 600,154 people, a poverty rate of nearly 27 percent and median home value of $114,000.

This is not surprising.

First we have Scott Walker and his fellow Republican meat puppets that have been passing just about every anti-Milwaukee piece of legislation they can think of. They are doing everything that they can to keep the poor - especially the minorities - in financial slavery. This leads to the high crime rates and high poverty levels.

Then we have Boss Abele, Milwaukee County Executioner, who is too busy giving away all of the county's assets to actually do anything to help the poor. You see, in Abele's myopic world view, helping multibillionaires from New York build a plutocratic playground and building an ivory tower on the lakefront is much more important and requires all of his concentration. He doesn't have time to do trivial things, like finding someone to head the Office on African American Affairs.

Then we have Mayor Tom Barrett. Barrett is a very nice and personable fellow and sometimes, as a city leader, he even gets something right. But his concentration is improperly focused on building a streetcar downtown as opposed to helping the other 599,000 Milwaukeeans.

 Making the streetcar appear even more of a folly is that the fact that Barrett, Abele and their apologists are saying we need it for all the millennials living and working downtown - even though millennials are fleeing the city because they are too worried about arenas and street cars to do anything about the lack of good paying jobs. If anything, it seems that the extreme right wingers like Walker and Abele are doing everything they can to make sure jobs don't come here and we lose the ones we do have.

For the umpteenth time, we need to put the people first by creating good paying jobs and improving education by doing away with charter schools and giving it back to the kids.  If we can get these issues on the upswing, crime and other social woes will drop like Trump's approval ratings.  Furthermore, there would be more than enough money for their dalliances.  But if we don't, well, we are the sixth worst city already.

Larson Still More Of A Leader Than Abele Ever Will Be

State Senator Chris Larson again has shown why Milwaukee County made a mistake when they did not elect him to be county executive.

On Friday morning, he sent out a gracious, uplifting and empowering thank  you note to his supporters, showing what we, as a grassroots movement, have already done:

I’m writing to say thank you for everything you did to help make this campaign so great.  I appreciate all you did to get the truth out to voters and carry our message of hope.

We may have lost this battle, but it’s clear to me that we have the power and potential to shape the landscape of our county.

I am glad that I ran for county executive. And when I stood up to run, I’m glad you stood up with me. Together, we worked harder than any campaign I have ever been a part of. I didn’t take a day off in over three months and neither did many on our team. We hoped for a better result but, in the end, the inherited wealth of our opponent carried the day.

I’ll be honest, the last couple days have been rough. I worry about the direction things will head in our county without a leader who listens.

But compared to not running for this seat, I’m proud of where we are today. You should be, too.

Together, we pushed a message of hope and change. We talked of our vision where government functions more like a community than one of a profit-motivated business. We stood strong in our commitment to a community where every neighbor has a voice and together, we would invest in a greater good that we wouldn’t be able to achieve on our own. We reminded our neighbors that parks have value in themselves because of the quality of life that can’t be measured in terms of dollars and cents.

Here's what I know: we shifted the conversation about our community. The Chris Abele who won on Tuesday was a very different Chris Abele than the one we started running against six months ago. Because of our campaign, he backed away from every major thing we pointed to as evidence that he was out of touch.

• Right after we started running, he turned on the voicemail at his office so people could leave a message.
• He stopped using taxpayer funds to cover his lavish security costs while slashing general public safety.
• He kept more funding in his budget for homeless shelters.
• He backed away from the Takeover of our public schools and even went so far as to completely adopt our vision of providing wraparound services in our schools. This isn’t at all what the Takeover language was and he could have done this anytime in the last 5 years. But it didn’t happen until we stepped forward and put pressure on him.
• After vetoing an earlier version put forth by supervisors and cutting investment, he adopted as his own the Ready to Work legislation that helps bring new workers into the workforce.
• When pressed at a forum, he made a commitment to find dedicated funding for transit.
• He held a public hearing after we pointed out his insistence on avoiding the public.
• He made a commitment to getting workers to a living wage. This, after he vetoed the Living Wage Ordinance in Milwaukee County and even went to Madison to try and preempt it.
• He vowed not to sell parks, the zoo, the airport, or the museum. This, after he got special authority in secret legislation slipped into the Republican budget that allowed him to do those very things.
• He backed away from the power grab of getting unilateral policy making authority without the public at the table.
• He backed away from a bill that would have given him unilateral budgeting authority without the public at the table.

Now that the election is over, it’s up to us to make sure Chris Abele follows through on those promises he made. And while he shifted on just about every major issue we pointed out, I remain steadfast in my commitment to my progressive ideals and standing up for our community.

In the end, his camp couldn’t find much to attack us on so they had to make things up. They ran against a position I held on the Estabrook dam from seven years ago and were even called out by the media for lying in their ad. They made up a banking connection by attacking an LGBT activist and then claimed a bipartisan bill that helped local retailers and had no one against it (including Abele) was suddenly a giveaway to Wall Street. They even attacked us for proposing to carry out a tax plan that passed by public referendum eight years ago and would lower property taxes by making a slight shift to a sales tax.

You know who I am.  Even after a multi-million dollar attack campaign, I’m still the same man you trusted with your support.

I’m proud of the campaign we ran. I’m proud of each of you stepping up with me. We were outspent but not outworked. Together, we changed the conversation in our community. The establishment in town knows we're watching and our movement will only grow from here.

I have a newfound respect for you for standing strong with us against the odds. On election night, we had a room full of friends who knew the playing field was tilted against us by a 20-to-1 imbalance in spending, but who jumped into the fight anyway because it was the right thing to do.

We’re still just getting started. Together, we will stay energized and mobilized to keep the pressure on whenever there is an undemocratic grab for power.

Your Neighbor,

Chris Larson

P.S. To each of you who has called, emailed, texted, or spoken to me with well wishes and offered your thoughts on the race, I appreciate it. I'm soaking it all in and will get back to you soon.

On the other hand, Boss Abele waited until Sunday evening to send out his thank you email. As the gentle reader could imagine, it was rather self-congratulatory and self=serving. Oh, he promised to listen to the people, but that was at the end of the people he listed, meaning don't hold your breath for that to happen.

It also sounded rather Walkeresque, which in itself isn't too surprising, when he put this line in the note:

...Transforming our community to one in which every person is empowered and has the opportunity to thrive isn't someone one person can achieve alone. Every resident, business, faith group and community leader must work together.

When you put that through the conservative -> English translator, it reads "Expect more service cuts and tax hikes to pay for my plutocratic playground."

It is also rather frightening. He would refer to the county board as "his partners," but then cut them at the knees and took away their authority and is trying to grab even more for himself.

But that isn't the only bit of hypocrisy that Abele shared. I almost did a spit take when I read this:

I want to congratulate Senator Larson on his campaign. Running for office is a tough business, and anyone who puts themselves out there deserves nothing less than our respect and gratitude.

Now think back to all the mailers filling up your recycling bin and the endless commercials smearing Larson with flat out lies. Abele doesn't have any respect for himself much less anyone else.

I agree with Larson that I am very apprehensive about Milwaukee County's future.  I sincerely hope that Larson considers another run in 2020 but I hope even more that there's still something to run for.

One of Mitchell Domes Closed For "Public Safety"

Despite Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele's claims that he is the opposite of Walker, the fact is that he is just as bad, if not worse, than Walker ever could hope to be.  This holds true in many different ways, including deferred maintenance of county buildings and other assets.

When Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive, we saw a lot of the negative effects of his willful negligence and deferred maintenance.  Part of the courthouse cornice fell off, parts of Mitchell Airport fell and hit a passenger and most tragic of all, a part of O'Donnell Park fell and killed a teenage boy and seriously injured two other people.

Due to Abele's cutting corners and refusing to replace antiquated and overloaded electrical equipment, the Milwaukee County Courthouse caught on fire and it cost more than $17 million to clean up and fix the mess that could have been avoided for a fraction of that price.

Now we're seeing more of the effects of Abele's so-called fiscal conservatism.

WISN-TV is reporting that one of the domes at Mitchell Park has been indefinitely closed due to falling concrete:

One of the Mitchell Park Domes is closed because of falling concrete.

The Desert Dome in the middle is the one that's closed for public safety.

Signs are posted across the doors of the Desert Dome alerting visitors the exhibit is temporarily closed.

The Milwaukee County parks director made the decision after recent reports that concrete was falling inside.

In a statement to WISN 12 News, Parks Director John Dargle said, "After discovering a piece of fallen concrete at the Arid Dome, the Parks Department consulted with risk management and an independent engineering firm to determine the best course of action to ensure the safety of our employees and the public. Per their recommendation, we have temporarily closed the Arid Dome until further safety evaluations and planning can be completed."

Isn't it nice how Abele can find $4 million to build an arena for billionaires but can't seem to find enough money to properly inspect and maintain county buildings?

What I also find rather disturbing is that his highly paid director of parks needed to consult with risk management and a private company to figure out that falling concrete could be dangerous and that the building should be closed to the public.  But I guess that is the mindset that takes place when your boss is a tyrant that will fire you without just cause just because he was feeling grumpy that day.

Larson Is Running Strong, Abele Begs His Way Onto Ballot

As the gentle reader probably already knows, candidates for the spring elections recently needed to turn in their nomination papers to be certified to be on the ballot.

In Milwaukee County, the excitement got turned up by a few notches with the chance to elect Chris Larson, a truly progressive candidate who will actually listen to and respect the people of Milwaukee County, a person who will restore the office of County Executive instead of County Emperor, as Boss Abele has made it.

The people are responding well to Larson too.

Larson had scores of volunteers gather 5,000 signatures, two and a half times more than what was needed and 1,000 more than he could even submit.  I guess that listening to people, being positive and empowering people might be a good thing after all.

Compare that to Boss Abele, who had paid "volunteers" gathering signatures.  Apparently they weren't doing so well and Abele had to resort to a mass mailing of his nomination papers with the following letter attached, begging people to help him get signatures:

Here's a closer look at the part where he's forced to ask people to pass his paper around:

Despite the paid "volunteers," the plea for assistance and the advertising ad nausea, Abele managed to gather only 3,200 signatures.  There is no indication how many of those signatures he had to pay for.

Yes, it is enough to get him on the ballot, but it is also a pale comparison to the level of excitement and the level of commitment seen by Larson and his team.

It is even more important to note that Abele is the incumbent, which is usually a formidable obstacle for any challengers, especially in Milwaukee.  It doesn't appear to be helping him much.  Maybe his "leadership" style of being a bully, doing what he wants regardless of what the people want and what is actually best for the county and showing utter disdain for the people isn't working out too well for him after all.

If you want to join the fun and the excitement and show your support for Chris Larson, you can do so via his website.

Not only does Larson need you, but Milwaukee County does too.

Larson To Take On Boss Abele!

Chris Larson (the good Chris)

In 2010, Chris Larson sent a shockwave thought the state's Democratic Party when he defeated entrenched incumbent Jeff Plale for his seat in the state senate.  It proved to be a smart move by the voters of that district.  After Plale was ousted, he showed his true nature by accepting his 30 pieces of silver from his pal, Scott Walker.

It is being reported that Larson has decided to take another Corporate Democrat, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele.

To show that Larson isn't taking on this challenge as the odd man out or without support, Congresswoman Gwen Moore will join Larson when he makes his announcement. Comments she has already made is very telling:

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat and former Abele backer, is putting her support behind Larson, giving some heft to his campaign and a potential draw on Milwaukee's African-American vote.

In an interview, Moore said that Abele had focused too much time on amassing power and undermining enemies on the County Board, rather than working with other Democrats to uplift the county's deeply impoverished core.

"I've been very, very disappointed that Chris Abele has really not met my expectations in terms of providing these (social) services and doing it in a democratic way," Moore said. "It pains me because I like Chris Abele. He's smart, but I think he's a benevolent dictator."

Moore has always been diplomatic when it comes to other Democrats, but she really understated the damage that Abele has inflicted upon himself.  But it rather telling in itself that Moore, a Democrat, is supporting Larson while Abele's only defender is County Supervisor Deanna Alexander, a rabid Republican.

Abele has alienated a lot of people in the past five years.

Chris Abele (the bad Chris)

Abele has waged a war on workers.  Not many people realize it, but the things that have them up in arms about Scott Walker - such as gouging the workers even more and attacking civil service laws - are things that Abele has already done to county workers.  Abele has also attacked and fought living wage laws to the point of trying to have those laws killed statewide.

There is also his ongoing war with the transit workers.  Instead of sitting down and negotiating in good faith, Abele is still creating unnecessary and unwanted labor strife with his anti-union tactics.  The only reason that Abele is even starting to budge now is to avoid a strike this close to the election.

Abele has also alienated the teacher's unions - as well as many parents and members of the black community - by extending his power grab to the Milwaukee Public Schools, eagerly agreeing to become the MPS Privatization Czar.

Abele really put his foot in it with the black community last week when he said he wanted to help blacks by giving them more programs in jail, more child support enforcement and more mental health services.

Abele also has insulted veterans by saying that support for the War Memorial Center was "bullshit."

Abele showed his disdain for taxpayers and vulnerable citizens with his mental health debacle.  Not only did he get the state to go along with his plan to create an unelected taxing body to take over the mental health system, but then started to kick people out of the mental health complex with insufficient protection and support.  This has led to people getting seriously injured and even dying becaue of Abele's negligence.

Perhaps Abele's greatest act of maleficence was the gutting of representative government and concentrating that power in his hands.  That's isn't being progressive. That's being a petty tyrant.

In fact, the only chance Abele has is using his daddy's checkbook as leverage with the few Corporate Democrats and Republicans that are willing to turn a blind eye to all of his misdeeds for a check cut out to their campaign.

Abele likes to say it shows that he can be "bipartisan."

Methinks he uses that word on purpose, but really means "buy-partisan."

Either way, it spells that it's time for Abele to go.

Boss Abele, Like Walker, Is No Friend Of The Parks

When Scott Walker was still Milwaukee County Executive, an audit of the parks system showed that they were suffering from $300 million worth neglect, needed repairs and deferred maintenance.

Then came along Chris Abele, the boy prince, who duped people into thinking he was progressive and would work to repair the damages done by Walker's neglect.  In reality, he was an acolyte to austerity and only made things worse, causing the crown jewel of the parks system to fall into disarray:

The bloom is fading at the historic Boerner Botanical Gardens in Whitnall Park, where reduced care in recent years has resulted in a "tired" and "weak" appearance within the 40 acres of gardens.

That's the conclusion of an audit report requested by the Milwaukee County Board after concerns were raised about leadership and communication at the oldest publicly owned formal gardens in the Great Lakes region.

Acclaimed and treasured for its collections of flowering plants, herbs and shrubs and a hybrid rose trial garden, the gardens have suffered over time, the audit says.

A growing burden of inadequate maintenance must be reversed for the gardens to achieve their core mission: to serve as a "living museum" of plants and an outdoor classroom for visitors; and to inform the public of native and exotic plants suitable for landscape use in the Milwaukee area, the audit concludes.

Limited staff perform "triage gardening" to go after the most visible or critical problems while pruning and weed control in the remainder of the gardens is put off year after year, according to the report of Milwaukee County audit director Jerome Heer.

Among the results: nuisance invasive plants overrun some areas of the gardens; an untamed shrub covers a bench and prevent its use; and unpruned rose bushes overrun a decorative wall.

Some signs intended to help visitors identify and learn about flowers, herbs and shrubs at Milwaukee County's "living museum" are damaged or missing.

The real kicker is that Abele has been boasting of having a surplus of tens of millions of dollars over the last few years, meaning that this neglect is willful and could have easily been avoided.

The other concern is that if the money isn't going to services - which it obviously isn't - and it's not going to the workers, what is Abele doing with all that money?

Perhaps he's giving it away to his wealthy cronies like he's doing with other county assets?

Chris Abele's Monkey Business At The Zoo

Last year, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris "Boss" Abele devised a budget which was rife with privatization schemes and giveaways to his wealthy friends, including the privatization of the concessions at the Milwaukee County Zoo.  The County Board wisely rejected this proposal.

The board's decision was well-founded as that the concessions are very profitable for the county.  Privatization of these services would lead to a reduction of services and sending millions and millions of taxpayer dollars out of state.

Abele was so upset of having his privatization schemes foiled, he stamped his silk-slippered little feet and got rid of his head hatchet man.

However, at last week's Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee meeting, it was found that Abele again ignored the will of the people and went ahead and signed a Memo of Understanding with Service Systems Associates (SSA), a Colorado-based private company to run the concessions, even though he did not have the authority to do so.

The committee meeting (Item #12) revealed that not only did Abele promise this group a contract, but had given them keys to the place and office on the zoo grounds.

This underhanded, Machiavellian stunt is reminiscent of his stunt to sneak through an expansion of the privatization of security guards throughout the county or the way he tried to give away the transit system to a for-profit company.

Because of the shadiness of Abele's maneuvering, instead of getting the 5-3 up vote they were expecting, Abele and SSA walked away with a 3-5 rejection.

When this matter appeared before the entire county board this past Thursday, it was sent back to the respective committees in light of Abele's manipulations.

I certainly hope that the supervisors remember their vote last year and why they voted that way to prevent Abele from further diminishing Milwaukee County by wiping out one of its main attractions.

I also would not be surprised if Abele takes another page from the playbook of his BFF, Scott Walker, and creating an artificial budget crisis that would allow him to complete this manipulative, detrimental scheme of giving away more of the county's assets and taxpayer money.

All's Not Well That Ends With Wellness

Boss Abele Squarepants

Boss Abele is desperately trying to garner some positive attention to himself, even if it means issuing meaningless press releases about failing programs and calling them successes:

On April 23, Milwaukee County will receive an award from the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) for its approach in developing programs that improve the health and wellbeing of County employees. WELCOA is widely recognized and highly regarded for its expertise and innovative approach to workplace wellness initiatives.

"We don't leave workplace wellness to chance," said County Executive Chris Abele. "We believe that providing employees with wellness opportunities not only improves personal health and wellbeing, but increases employee job satisfaction and morale as well. I am incredibly proud of these efforts and want to thank all of our employees whose participation makes this award possible. Creating a healthy workplace is good for employees and also leads to better outcomes for our community."

The wellness program at Milwaukee County was designed and implemented with best practices based on what's worked well in other organizations. Milwaukee County is being recognized after less than two years of operation and is well on its way to being a leader in how it engages employees around their wellness.

His shining example that it's working is that 300 people took fruit baskets. That's less than 7% of the county workforce. If he held himself to the same standards that he holds the workers, the only reward that would be given is a pink slip.

What Abele is trying to do is give workers incentive to stay with the county without actually paying them or giving them solid benefits.  What good is a wellness program when the workers or insurance poor and cannot afford to address any health concerns that might be discovered?

To make things worse, Abele is also failing at the worker attraction/retention aspect of things.  People are continuing to leave in droves, including division heads and his chief budgeteer, Josh Fudge, who announced on Thursday that he is leaving the county, even after Abele gave him a promotion and raise.  (At least that means no more Fudged budget numbers!)

If Abele wanted to have something to brag about, perhaps he should put his focus on running the county with common sense instead of cherry picked "best practices."  But then again, that would mean respecting and working with the employees, which is anathema to the boy prince.

Another Top Aide To Boss Abele Bails On Him

The rats keep fleeing the sinking ship:

The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) is proud to announce the hiring of Brendan Conway as its new Chief Marketing and Communications Officer.

In this role, Conway manages the Marketing team and oversees MCTS’ customer communication efforts. He will also help develop strategies to insure a cohesive brand and message across departments, while overseeing public relations and social media efforts to build MCTS’ brand and managing advertising campaigns to maintain and increase ridership. Conway reports directly to Dan Boehm, Managing Director of MCTS.

“I’m excited to have Brendan on our team; his energy, experience, ideas and fresh perspective will help us continue to move MCTS back to a ‘Best in Class’ transit system,” Boehm said.

Conway comes to Milwaukee County Transit after serving three years as Director of Communications for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. In that role he served as spokesperson for County Executive Chris Abele and helped drive communication efforts around County Executive Abele’s key initiatives, including improvements to parks, public safety and transit, as well as mental health reform and additional support and programs for veterans.  Prior to working for Milwaukee County, Conway spent 14 years as an award winning broadcast journalist, including eight-and-a-half years at WISN-TV in Milwaukee.

Hiring Conway is a surprising move by MCTS, especially given the way he has been trashing them in an effort to advance Boss Abele's efforts to privatize the entire system. It is also a surprising hire, given that only a handful of corporate Democrats even like the arrogant, adolescent Conway.

Perhaps MCTS thought that by hiring Abele's boy, they are buying some protection from Abele.  More likely they just hired a mole that will try to destroy them from the inside.

This move does leave another burning question though.

Now who will write Deanna Alexander's press releases for her?

Homeless Shelters Fill During Deep Cold

Wisconsin is in the grips of another polar vortex, with wind chills expected to reach 30 degrees below zero and possibly colder. Due to the extreme cold, homeless shelters are filling up every night:

Milwaukee's homeless shelters have been filling as the temperatures have dipped in recent days. And warming houses, which typically close in the evenings, are keeping their doors open overnight.

"We've been open overnight Sunday and Monday, and it looks like we'll be open again tonight," said the Rev. James West, executive director of Repairers of the Breach, a daytime warming center at 1335 W. Vliet St. in Milwaukee.

The Rev. Karen Hagen of Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church near Bay View said its Divine Intervention program has been at capacity — around 20 people — for the last few days.

"But in these temps, we're also able to bump up," she said.

Homeless guests leave during the day — the local library is a few blocks away — then return in the evening for a meal and settle in for the night.

Hagen said staff have seen some cases of frostbite, and that those individuals are diverted for appropriate medical care.

Hagen said guests were troubled Monday to learn of the homeless man's death and are waiting for authorities to release his name.

"They were very upset emotionally. They want to know if it's someone they personally know," she said.

It is important to remember that if it wasn't for the Milwaukee County Board, these people could easily end up in the morgue instead of a shelter.

During the 2015 county budget process, Boss Abele thought that because no one froze to death last year, the shelters didn't need as much money. He completely missed the fact that it was because of the shelters that there had been no deaths due to the cold:

One of the actions that Abele did was slash the funding for homeless shelters in Milwaukee County. Apparently, Abele forgot about how horrible last winter was with the polar vortexes and dangerously cold temperatures.

To show the importance of this funding, Supervisor Peggy Romo West shared this message from Joe Volk of the Wisconsin Advocacy Project:

"Even though we in Milwaukee suffered through one of worst winters in history last year there were no reports of the homeless freezing to death thanks in part to the extra funding provided by the County Board to support homeless shelters in Milwaukee County. This is something we should all be proud of. This is serious business and should not be used as just another attempt of the administration to mislead the legislative branch of County Government."

There have already been two deaths this winter which have been attributed to the cold.

One would hope that Boss Abele would take this opportunity to give a second thought to the way he treats the poor and homeless. Unfortunately, it's obvious that he's never given them a first thought.

Abele Party Member Named Right Wisconsin's "Legislator of the Year"

White Right Wisconsin has named Joe Sanfelippo, a member of the Abele Party, as their "Legislator of the Year":

Abele and Sanfelippo,
with Chris Kliesmet and Orville Seymer
of CRG.

For any elected representative it would be an impressive year, but for a freshman it may have been one of a kind.

No stranger to the legislative process after years on the Milwaukee County Board, state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-New Berlin) has been able to turn that background into one of the most productive areas of new legislation in Wisconsin. One which has given aid to the mentally ill and ended the do-nothing, high-pay lifestyle of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. In the coming session, Sanfelippo hopes to continue on that early success with other bills.

Boss Abele must be so proud!

After all, it was Abele that donated money to Sanfelippo, not just once, but twice.

In exchange for the campaign donations, Sanfelippo did what comes naturally to Teapublicans - he followed his benefactor's orders and introduced bills written by Abele, including the dismantling of representative government in Milwaukee County and throwing our most vulnerable citizens to the corporate vultures.

I'm sure that Abele considers that money well spent.

Sanfelippo holds a special spot in Abele's heart for another reason too.  Sanfelippo was the only member of the Abele Party to win an election in 2014.

And if you were wondering why the Democrats are in such disarray and keep losing elections, keep in mind that they continue to embrace Abele and give him honors even as he actively works against their own members and most of the Party's platform issues.

A Sad Day In Milwaukee County

Today was a very sad day for Milwaukee but most people are not aware of it.

Thanks to Boss Abele and his agenda of austerity, several Milwaukee County employees who serve our community's most vulnerable citizens, were laid off. Milwaukee County no longer has Community Support Programming for the mentally ill because Abele privatized it.

But the layoffs aren't the worst part. Some of the private agency workers don't have a degree in the human service field. And many of the clients haven't even heard from, much less met with, their new private sector workers. They will be now without medication, support or supervision for who knows how long.

And we are paying more for this decrease in services.

County Executive Chris Abele and Meg Kissinger might call this a success and much needed reform. I call it an abomination and a disservice to our vulnerable citizens and to the taxpayers.

Abele's Mental Health Board Boondoggle Worsens

As I have reported before, Milwaukee County Executive Chris "Boss" Abele is in a hurry to close up the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex so that he can sell the land to his wealthy friends.

When those pesky County Board Supervisors threatened to slow down the process of moving these vulnerable adults out by asking for common sense safety nets and precautions, Boss Abele did what he usually does when he doesn't get his way.  He threw a tantrum and ran to his friends, Scott Walker and the extremist Teapublicans in the state legislature, and had the mental health system removed from the county board's jurisdiction.

In place of the county board, Milwaukee's mental health system is overseen by Boss Abele's Mental Health Board.

From its conception, Abele's Mental Health Board has been a growing disaster.

First off, its formation was delayed while Walker and Abele selected their hand-picked political appointees to be on the board.

When the Board finally started to meet, their first job was to rubber stamp Boss Abele's budget for their system with no chance of analyzing it to see if it was sufficient.  However, more problems arose with the concern of whether their actions are even constitutional.  The Board has the authority to tax people but are not only not elected, they didn't even have public hearings on their budget.  In other words, it was taxation without representation.

This week, it was reported that Boss Abele's Mental Health Board still isn't ready for prime time:

Observers are raising questions about the Milwaukee County Mental Health Board and its plans for restructuring mental health care throughout the area. Formed in the spring, the board has yet to begin formal discussions on how it will lead the transformation to a decentralized health care system focused on community-based facilities.

According to board member Mary Neubauer, the board was initially faced with budget and organizational issues that required its attention and is now ready to make progress on its main mission. Chairperson Kimberly Walker said in an email that the board has discussed priorities that it will “flesh out” at its Dec.18 meeting.

“Once the board identifies priorities and goals, we will work in collaboration with the administration to see that strategic plans are developed and implemented,” Walker wrote.

In other words, they still don't know what they are doing. They don't even know what they want to be doing.

Yet, while the Board is trying to find itself, Boss Abele is still pushing vulnerable citizens out of the complex, with or without proper support systems that will be able to meet their needs and keep them safe.

But, wait! With all things Abele, there is more.

Not only does Abele's Mental Health Board without direction, they are also lacking even the most basic support:

The 13-member board operates without a dedicated staff, raising uncertainty about how it will carry out its responsibilities. “Board members have a hunger for data and information but that raises questions about how the board will function without anyone on staff to gather the information,” said Rob Henken, director of the Public Policy Forum in Milwaukee.

Questions also remain about how the board will manage the makeover of the mental health care system. “No one knows yet what level of oversight the board will choose for itself,” Henken said. “Will it be like a traditional board of directors that sets an agenda, or will it be more administrative and focus on day-to-day details?”

Neubauer said that some level of support staff is “most definitely needed” to gather data and provide analysis for the board to make decisions. Once armed with the information it needs, she believes, the board can lead the mental health care transformation.

[...]

Added Barbara Beckert, Milwaukee director of Disability Rights Wisconsin, “One of the concerns we had from the beginning was who will be supporting the board,” she said. “It is very important to have an independent staff that the board can direct in an analytical role. But to date that has not been available.”

The board has the ability to hire its own independent staff and assign responsibilities, according to Beckert. Until now, the county has proved some administrative support and information gathering.

Well, isn't that special?

Because the Mental Health Board is still lacking any independent reports or analyses, they are forced to rely on information spoon fed to them by Boss Abele, who's proven time and time again to be less than a reliable source of information.

By the time that the Mental Health Board will be ready to do their job, a lot of damage will already be done and most of these vulnerable adults - as well as the taxpayers - will have been thrown to the corporate vultures.

But it is not all bad news.

In their meeting on Thursday, the Mental Health Board, at the persistence of AFSCME, was able to gain a guarantee that Abele would not continue to try to treat the county workers at the mental health complex differently than other county workers.  This will mean sparing those workers thousands of dollars in unnecessary pay cuts.

The Mental Health Board has also taken action, again due to the persistence of the unions, to start to address the serious safety issues that are present at the mental health complex caused by Boss Abele's incompetent handling of the system.

That's more than Abele has done in the four years he's been running the place.

Departure Of Boss Abele's Mental Health Honcho Raises Ethics Concerns

As I have been reporting, Boss Abele has his cold heart set upon abandoning Milwaukee County's most vulnerable citizens to the corporate vultures. Despite repeated warnings by mental health professionals, Boss Abele has put profits before people and austerity before accountability in his push to close the county's mental health center so he can sell the land it sits on to his wealthy friends for a song.

Taking advantage of this, Rogers Memorial Hospital started a $12 million project to open up a 56 bed inpatient facility, which is scheduled to open in January - just in time to pick up the people that Boss Abele abandons.

On Monday, in what I'm sure is just a coincidence, the following email was sent out to all employees in the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division:

Sent: Monday, December 1, 2014 3:43 PM

To: DL BHD ALL

Subject: Transitions

From the Desk of Pat Schroeder:

Dear Team BHD,

It is bittersweet for me to announce that Jim Kubicek, Deputy Administrator for Crisis, Acute, and Long Term Care Services, will be leaving BHD to take on the role of Vice President-Operations of the Rogers Memorial Hospital opening in Brown Deer, Wisconsin.

Jim graduated from UWM as a social worker and has been a part of the BHD family since 1996, joining as a clinician on the Mobile Crisis Team. He has since served in the roles of Director of Acute Services, Director of Crisis Services, Deputy Administrator, and Interim Administrator. He has made significant contributions at BHD during his more than 20 years here.

We look forward to his continued collaboration and partnerships in the future at Rogers, which begin mid January, 2015.

Please join me in thanking Jim for his years of service, and congratulating him on his new leadership adventure.

Pat​

Not a bad gig, eh?

Kubicek helps overseeing the closing of the county's hospital and then just happens to take a job at one of the private agencies prepared to take advantage of the closing.

But there is one problem - it's against the law.

We saw this in 2011, when another former director of BHD had resigned and then tried to drum up business for the private agency he worked at (emphasis mine):

One month after resigning in disgrace, John Chianelli pitched his old Milwaukee County boss with a proposal to privatize more mental health services so his new firm could oversee them.

Records show Chianelli and Peg DuBord of Transitional Living Services urged a top county official to let their private agency - which already has several county contracts - provide services to patients with developmental disabilities or mental health problems if the 72-bed Hilltop unit at the Mental Health Complex is downsized. The firm also wants to begin caring for children with serious emotional issues.

The pair met with Geri Lyday, interim administrator of the county's Department of Health and Human Services, on March 10. Chianelli had submitted his resignation to Lyday on Feb. 11.

County ethics rules say former staffers must wait at least a year before contacting anyone in their former agency on behalf of a private business or individual.

"That's very disconcerting," said County Supervisor Lynne De Bruin. "He's not allowed to lobby her on any contract, period."

If it was wrong then, it's still wrong now.

Although I suppose one could argue that Kubicek didn't technically break the law if he did the lobbying before he left the county. Right?  After all, what's a little profiteering at the expense of the vulnerable and the taxpayers?

The corporate media keeps claiming that Boss Abele's scheme is a wonderful thing.  They just forget to mention for whom it's so wonderful.  

It sure isn't the patients.

Keep O'Donnell Park Public!

As I have previously pointed out, Boss Abele, Milwaukee County Emperor, has openly declared war a privatization binge that would made Scott Walker green with envy.  Fortunately, he was stopped - for the most part - by the Milwaukee County Board.
on Milwaukee County.  In his most recent budget, he went on

Sadly, this is not the only front that Boss Abele has used in his attack.  He is also out to sell county assets in secret sweetheart deals.  Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express had broken the story on Abele's plan to surrender Kulwicki Park for a whole dollar a year.  There is no word if Abele promised to give away a vacuum with every park purchase.

One of the more publicized sweetheart deals that Boss Abele is trying to push through is the sale of O'Donnell Park.  O'Donnell Park became a well known name four years ago when part of the facade fell off and killed a teenage boy and seriously injured two others.

Boss Abele is proposing to sell O'Donnell Park to Northwestern Mutual Life (NML) for $14 million.  When one subtracts the cost of needed repairs and paying off the debt service, the county would be lucky to net $5 million.

Since the announcement of this proposed deal, it has been a constant source of red flags, contention and disconcert.

It turns out that the land's real worth is closer to $40 million and is the source of $1.2 million per year in parking revenue.  Why would Abele want to short change taxpayers by such a margin that he would sell the park for less than 10% of its actual worth?

Another problem that will arise is the fact that the land sits on a former lake bed.  The Wisconsin State Constitution rules that this land is part of the Public Trust and thus it cannot be developed for commercial gain.

Granted, Abele and his bought off Teapublican legislators changed state law to rewrite geographic history, claiming that what once a lake bed is no longer a lake bed.  But no one really believes that this law would stand up to a court challenge.

A grassroots group, Public Parks Alliance, has set up a website to fight Boss Abele's folly.  On their website, they explain the issues clearly:

Suppose a private developer offered to buy Washington Park on Milwaukee’s west side. Or Estabrook Park on the east side, or Jackson, Humboldt or Mitchell parks on the south side, or Greenfield Park in the suburbs, or Juneau Park on the lakefront.

The reaction from government and the people would be swift, sure and final:

Our parks are not for sale.

So why is O’Donnell Park different?

Northwestern Mutual Life (NML) has proposed to buy O’Donnell Park, and County Executive Chris Abele was so eager to accommodate the request he put the sale in his budget last fall. Enough county board supervisors balked to get it removed for separate consideration, but some of them were all for it. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has been cheerleading, too. So, the sale of O’Donnell is back on the table for consideration by the County Board.

Why not? O’Donnell Park is prime lakefront property, worth a pretty penny both in the sale and in future tax revenues, right? And besides, O’Donnell is a liability anyway, a boondoggle and a money hole for the county, right?

Wrong.

O’Donnell Park is among the largest revenue producers for the Milwaukee County Parks System. It brings in an average of $1.2 million a year to help fund the parks. With annual cuts to the tax levy portion of parks funding dating back decades, the Parks Department is expected to fund more than half its operating costs through revenues it generates.

County Executive Abele is aware of the harm to the parks budget that would result from the sale. He even suggested a solution in his budget request to make up the difference. It is this: He would simply raise our taxes.

In what sense is O’Donnell Park not the equivalent of other public parks – the ones we would never sell? Because a large part of it is a parking garage? As such, it provides public parking for lakefront and downtown destinations, a benefit to users and to the businesses and cultural institutions they frequent. But O’Donnell is more than a parking structure. Like many other parks, it also includes a public plaza and pavilion for casual or organized public events.

O'Donnell Park is a park in every sense that defines any other park. It is public property, intended for the use and enjoyment of the public. Moreover, unlike many of our parks, O'Donnell Park is subject both to our constitution's Public Trust Doctrine and to deed restrictions requiring that it be used as a public park.

Much of the southern part of the park rests on filled lakebed land, which, under the Trust Doctrine, must be held by a public body for the benefit of the public. It cannot be transferred to a private party. The northern part of O'Donnell Park is part of Juneau Park, which, pursuant to a referendum, was transferred by the city to the county with deed restrictions requiring that it be held by the county and used by it solely as a public park. It was these deed restrictions which were the basis of the lawsuit blocking the Lakefront Expressway.

Preserve Our Parks has said that it would sue to block any private ownership or development of that portion of the Transit Center that rests on filled lakebed . Does anyone think for a minute that they will not likewise pursue lengthy and costly legal action to challenge any sale of O’Donnell? They will. They’ve already said as much.

NML wants O’Donnell Park now for its parking stalls, because it is building a high-rise tower just to the west. What it wants to do with O’Donnell 10 or 20 years from now is another matter. NML has rejected any suggestion that it enter into an agreement with the county to simply lease employee parking at O’Donnell. No, it wants to own it outright.

NML is a very good corporate citizen, almost as old as Milwaukee itself, and as a company has rededicated itself to the downtown area. That we all applaud, and it is natural that local governments strive to accommodate the needs of their best local employers, the drivers of their economies.

But it is of such love affairs that bad precedents are too often set. If Milwaukee County proceeds with what many believe to be the illegal sale of O’Donnell Park, on just what foot will it stand when the next good citizen steps forward with a plan to develop, say, King Park. Why not? Such a plan could bring needed economic opportunities to the suffering near north side.

Let us return to point one:

Our parks are not for sale.

On the group also presents a legal analysis, which is even more telling of what a bad deal Abele is proposing:

At its November 6th meeting, the County Board delayed consideration of the proposed

sale by a vote of 14-3.  The Board expressed uncertainty about the County’s role regarding future use of the property by requesting a legal opinion from County Corporation Counsel on that matter.  They did so with good reason.  There is much confusion about the legal consequences of the proposed sale. The big question is whether the public will have any legally enforceable right to public use and enjoyment of O’Donnell Park or any of its facilities. In short, the agreement provides for almost none.  If the County Board approves this sale, O’Donnell Park will no longer be a public park. It will be fully the buyer’s private property,

The County Executive is proposing sale of the entire park complex--all of its land, structures and facilities. This is a proposed sale, not what some have characterized as a “public-private partnership.” When you sell your house you do not become a partner with the buyer.  After closing, you have no say whatsoever about how the new owner uses the property. Unless the County and NM agree to legally binding provisions for a continuing role for the County, the County will have no role in determining O’Donnell Park’s future. The public, through its County elected officials, will no longer determine whether the property could become part of Milwaukee’s own “Millennium Park,” Chicago’s destination park built atop a parking garage, nor whether the public can have access to any or all of the property. The corporation that owns the property will have the sole right to determine its future use.

As if all this wasn't enough to give the gentle reader cause to pause, Bruce Murphy of Urban Milwaukee, who is as much an Abele acolyte as any, raises concerns about the deal:

Sixth, why did the Abele administration give the impression the entire property was restricted as to future development? “We were misled at the outset that the entire property was, quote, deed restricted,” Jursik complains.

Sixth [sic], why won’t Abele change course and insist on a deed restriction for the southern half of the property? “I’m really concerned Abele is not protecting the public interest on this,” Jursik says. Abele says Northwestern Mutual has other land it could build parking on and “if we push for too much they are able to do other things.” He also notes the county’s past problems developing real estate on land it owns (largely because of board vs. executive squabbles he refrains from noting) and says he wants to send a message to developers that the county is a reliable partner: “We want to build on a reputation as easy to work with.” 

But this may be a case of being too easy to work with. From a market rate perspective, NM seems to be getting a pretty good deal even without the southern portion of the property. But if it has the ability to develop that portion of the property, the deal looks like a steal. With that land included, Jursik says, “there’s no way that’s a market-rate proposal.”

In summary, Boss Abele wants to sell off O'Donnell Park, a valuable county asset which actually generates revenue for the county, for a tenth of what the value of the park is really worth.  On top of that, Abele wants to sell the land with no protections for the taxpayers that would ensure that the public land remains accessible to the public.  Not only did Boss Abele willfully fail to put in said protections, he refuses to even consider them.

It is obvious that Boss Abele has given up even the slightest pretense of representing the people of Milwaukee County.  That is why it is up to us - the people - to make sure our true representatives, the Milwaukee County Board, hears us that O'Donnell Park - or any other park, for that matter - is not for sale!

You can call your Milwaukee County Supervisor at 414-278-4222.  If you're not sure who your county supervisor is, you can look them up here.

AFSCME Sues County for Breaking Contract Promise to Correctional Employees

As previously reported, Boss Abele tried to go on a privatization binge in his 2015 budget.  When he didn't get his way, he had a tantrum and fired his head of the Department of Administration.

Unfortunately, Abele did get at least one thing through, which was defunding 91 positions that were meant to provide medical and psychiatric services to inmates at the Milwaukee County Jail and at the House of Correction.  This stems from a court order for Milwaukee County to temporarily hire a private firm to manage these services because Boss Abele and his buddy Sheriff David Clarke willfully failed to hire the necessary staff.

The court order also made it clear that the county workers would not be displaced and that their spots would be filled by the private company employees only when they became open when a county worker quit or retired.

By not funding these positions, Abele thought he would get around that order.

The union won't allow Abele to go back on his word.  Boyd McCamish, Executive Director of AFSCME District Council 48, issued the following press release on Wednesday:

Boyd McCamish, Executive Director of Milwaukee District Council 48, AFSCME, announced today that the Union is filing suit against Milwaukee County and Armor Correctional Health Services, Inc.

Armor, a Florida corporation, has provided medical and mental health services for inmates at the Jail and House of Correction using a mixture of its own employees and County employees since 2013. McCamish made the announcement after the County adopted a budget that deletes funding for approximately 91 County health care jobs at the Jail and House of Correction.

In 2013, a State judge ordered the County to sign a contract with Armor to provide health services for inmates at the Jail and House of Correction. The contract, signed by the County and Armor with the court’s approval, promised that County employees would continue to be employed at the Jail and House and Correction but would work under Armor’s supervision. As part of the contract, Armor would provide its own personnel, but no County employees would be displaced to make room for additional Armor employees. Only as County employees quit or retired would Armor be able replace them with its own employees.

“Chris Abele has left a trail of broken promises in his wake as County Executive. We are asking a Court to clarify that the County must keep its contractual promises to the health care workers employed by the County Jail and House of Correction and to let them continue to work until they retire or quit.

“That is what the County promised in 2013 and that is what should happen. The 2015 budget may have not funded these positions, but the contract between Armor and the County says that the workers can’t be fired to make room for Armor employees. If the County thinks its budget permits it to violate the rights of members of the Union who were promised under the contract that they would not be displaced, the Union is going to fight the County in the courts to protect its members,” McCamish said.

McCamish said that if any members of District Council 48 who work at the Jail or the House of Correction receive layoff or termination letters, they should immediately contact the Union or its attorney, Mark Sweet, who will represent the Union in its suit against Armor and the County.

It should be noted that Abele's and Clarke's refusal to do their job and having the private company manage these services have already dinged the taxpayers for an extra million dollars. Now, it's probably going to cost taxpayers even more money to first defend the indefensible actions taken by Abele and then to make those 91 workers whole again.

On top of all that, Armor doesn't have a very good record in providing proper care and has been sued multiple times.

Despite his claims to the contrary, it is increasingly obvious that Boss Abele is neither a fiscal conservative nor a good representative of the people.  Of the plutocracy, yes, of the people, no.

Boss Abele's Secretly Selling Off Milwaukee County Parks

Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express has a must read article in this week's issue regarding some of the ramifications of Boss Abele's unprecedented power grab - namely, his pawning off of county assets in sweetheart deals.

She points out the questionable way Boss Abele decided to try to practically give away the Transit Center and O'Donnell Park and his backdoor attempt at privatizing the zoo's food service to a Denver-based company.

But the real eye catcher is what he is trying to do with Kulwicki Park:

[Milwaukee County Supervisor Gerry] Broderick said he was troubled by the administration’s attempt to lease parkland without public discussion or even notifying him, the chair of the parks committee.

“This is Abele’s approach,” Broderick said. “It lends credence to the argument that Abele’s intent here is to turn the parks back to municipalities where the municipalities would choose to accept them back and in doing so undo the emerald necklace that is something that Milwaukee County is so proud of.”

Broderick said the county would have had more resources to keep up its parks if the Legislature—and the conservative Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC)—hadn’t blocked the implementation of a half-cent sales tax for parks and cultural assets as approved by voters in a 2008 referendum.  Ironically, an MMAC-led effort to push a similar referendum, including funding for a new sports arena, is now underway.

[...]

Broderick said he wanted to bring the matter up for debate in a parks committee meeting as soon as he could. And he warned that while the lease of Kulwicki Park may seem benign on the surface, it could lead to leasing highly sought-after parkland to interested developers with little to no public involvement.

“What’s there to prevent the administration from leasing Lake Park or Grant Park, or encircling the golf courses with high-end condos?” Broderick said. “To say it’s troubling I think understates the facts. This will lead to a two-tier parks system, with have-parks and have-not parks.”

Once again, Boss Abele has proven why people refer to him as Walker Lite. He has all the sliminess and underhandedness of Scott Walker, but with none of the political savvy.

I also have to point out once again that as long as the Democrats keep embracing and honoring people like Abele instead of holding them accountable, they will keep losing elections.

The Boss Abele Temper Tantrum Alert System Has Been Activated

Two years ago, when the Milwaukee County Board overrode some of Boss Abele's budget vetoes - especially those that attacked county workers - Abele through an epic temper tantrum.  He decided to show them by buying off a couple of Teapublican state legislators and did a massive and unprecedented power grab.

When the unions stood up to Abele's plantation economics, he tried to bust the unions - twice.

When State Representative-elect and current Supervisor David Bowen led the move to bring a living wage to Milwaukee County, Abele threw another tantrum and tried to remove all local living wage laws throughout the state.

When Abele started moves to abandon the mentally ill, the County Board demanded that it be done in a safe and responsible manner.  Abele pouted, stamped his feet and went back to his paid off state legislators to have the County Board be stripped off any and all control over the mental health program except to rubber stamp his budget for the profiteers.

Given his past behaviors, Abele must be gearing up for an F-5 temper tantrum after the county board overrode all but two of his nearly 30 vetoes on Wednesday.

Before anyone goes ballistic that the County Board didn't support Abele cutting taxes by two whole dollars, look at the actions taken by the board and see that they were completely appropriate and the right thing to do.  In Wednesday's actions, the County Board:

• Restored $300,000 to homeless shelters. (Keep in mind that this is only November and we have already had two nights with wind chills below zero. Abele's veto was so egregious that even his own personal supervisor, Deanna Alexander, voted against him on this.)
• Restored $300,000 for indigent burials.
• Restored $10 million to do repairs and maintenance to county parks.
• Restored free bus rides for the elderly and disabled.
• Restored several positions in the Sheriff's Office to increase public safety.
• Restored six clerical positions at the House of Correction instead of paying overtime to corrections officers to do that work instead of guarding inmates.
• Stopped the privatization of food services at the zoo.
• Stopped privatization of security guards and transferred them to the Sheriff's Department.  (Remember how well that idea worked out for Scott Walker when he tried it.)
• Stopped the $2,000 pay cuts to county workers and restored a flexible spending account program, which will hopefully slow down the high rate of turnover the county is experiencing.

No "entitlements."  No lavish luxuries.  Just good, old common sense - and necessary - moves to start repairing some of the damage done by Walker and his protege, Abele.

I commend and thank Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic and the other county supervisors for standing up for Milwaukee County and its people and turning back Boss Abele's plantation economics.

People Are Starting To Speak Out Against Boss Abele's Abandonment Of Mentally Ill

While Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive, he continually abdicated his responsibility to the county's most vulnerable citizens.  He neglected the facility to the point that it was found to be in "  shoddy condition" by inspectors.  He hired a director who thought that allowing male patients to sexually assault female patients to be a fair trade for less fights among the male patients.

And every year, Walker tried to privatize the Community Support Programs, which are the programs that allowed people with mentally health issues to succeed in living in the community.

Fortunately, every year, the county board had the wisdom to undo Walker's cuts to these programs.

Then came along Boss Abele, Walker's buddy and protege.  Abele succeeded where Walker failed by buying some state legislatures to remove the county board - and the people's voice - from how the mental health system should be run. Now it is under the control of a panel of Abele's and Walker's political appointees who aren't answerable to anyone.

I have repeatedly pointed out how dangerous and unpopular Abele's agenda. Unfortunately, the local paper has chosen to schmooze Abele by covering up the problems.

Fortunately, the real people that are being harmed by Abele's poorly thought out and calloused approach are starting to speak out for themselves and their loved ones.

One such person, Patricia Spoerl, had the courage to speak truth to power in an effort to protect her son, a person who has benefited from the county's Community Support Programs:

People with serious mental illness need consistent care with continuity of caregivers. The caregivers need time to get to know their clients as individuals and earn their trust. Too many changes can be disorienting and upsetting for those with mental illness.

Now people with mental illness are going to be transferred to private, nonprofit agencies. These agencies often do not pay adequate wages, and their caseworkers often are overburdened with cases. Employee burnout is a real risk for caseworkers dealing with severely mentally disabled clients. Those of us with friends and family members who have mental illness have many stories to share about private CSPs, not all of them encouraging. John has been served both by a private CSP and by the county CSP, and he has said repeatedly that the county CSP is by far the best program of any he has dealt with.

Due to privacy regulations, county CSP workers have been hampered in telling their side of the story.

As Milwaukee County shuts down its hospital for those with mental illness, I certainly would have preferred that the money saved have been put back into the county CSPs and that these tried-and-true, professionally run programs be expanded rather than shut down and outsourced.

Public officials charged with overseeing care for those with mental illness must provide the private agencies with the resources they need to serve their clients well and monitor their performance closely. Our whole community has an obligation to demand adequate care for those of our neighbors who need a great deal of professional and compassionate assistance if they are to live dignified human lives.

Sadly, the privatization will happen in a few weeks and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it, especially when Abele took away control of the system from the people of Milwaukee County.

Also sadly, there probably won't be much of an uproar about it. It's another lesson Boss Abele learned from his friend and mentor, Walker - no one cares about crazy people.