Courthouse Proud!

On Saturday, July 6, there was a massive fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse which started when the very old and out of code electrical infrastructure started on fire.  Since the fire, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele has been doing his best to control the message and the spin so that people don't focus on the cost of the clean up and repairs, the risk he is putting people in by opening parts of the courthouse too soon and the fact that the fire stemmed from his deferred maintenance and willful failure to replace the faulty equipment even though he had been warned of the danger.

While Abele is trying to come off as transparent and working real hard to fix the problem, there are things that he is omitting, besides the fact that he is responsible for the damage and added expense to the taxpayers.
Some of the highlights he somehow fails to mention include:

• People involved in the risk management field have said that if the fire had occurred at any other time than a holiday weekend, people would have probably died,
• Abele's Director of Risk Management, Cindy van Pelt, was on vacation starting the day before the fire and did not return until July 18th,
• The electrical equipment was known to easily overheat and they had large industrial fans blowing on it to keep it from overheating, and
• When Abele directed the Child Support Enforcement workers back to the courthouse, it was before their work area was clean.  The area was sooty, smoky and filled with dead roaches.  Workers were sent home for another day off with pay.

But now the hapless Abele has managed to make a bad situation for himself even worse.

It is being reported that Abele is launching a PR move called "Courthouse Proud." The idea was supposedly to recognize the public and private sector workers who toiled day and night to try to get the courthouse operational again.

But Abele has a few problems surrounding what should be a no-brainer thing.

First of all, the design he asked for could be an copyright infringement:

The "Courthouse Proud" logo features four blue upraised fists and forearms as pillars on the courthouse against a red background.

The much publicized and widely reprinted blue fist on "Stand with Wisconsin" posters during the 2011 battle over collective bargaining at the Capitol has just one clenched fist, blue against a red background.

David Eisner, contract administrator for District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the banner and shirts won't sit well with many employees.

Abele is "trying to distract or distort the real issue and make it into kind of a pep rally thing," Eisner said. The courthouse's aging electrical infrastructure should have been maintained better so the fire didn't happen, he said.

"It's a buncha crap, that's what I say," said Eisner.

No cause of the fire has been established yet, according to county officials.

As for the blue fist image: "It is a little different, but it's a blue fist," Eisner said. "Is (Abele) starting a union of his own?" He questioned whether the use of the blue fist for the banner and shirts might infringe on the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations' "Stand with Wisconsin" imagery.

That alone stinks to high heaven. But is always the case when it comes to all things Abele, there's more. There's always more (emphasis mine):

The courthouse fist image was put together by staff at Laughlin Constable in response to a request from Don Tyler, the county's director of administrative services. Both Steve Laughlin and Tyler have served on the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Board.

The design work was done at no charge, said Evan Zeppos, a managing partner at the Laughlin firm.

[...]

The T-shirts were parceled out to those most heavily involved in cleanup efforts, Conway said. A tally of who got the 266 shirts distributed so far included staff from eight county departments, as well as workers from We Energies and two private contractors.

Conway said there were still some left over, but those are "somewhat spoken for," he said.

"You've got to earn it," he said.

In this little blurb, Abele has made a complete mockery of the county's Code of Ethics (Chapter 9).

The Standards of Conduct (Chapter 9.05) make it explicitly clear that no county official or employee can take or give anything of value or solicit for anything of value.

Yet we have Abele sending his Director of Administration to ask for a logo design which he gets free of charge.  Abele then turns around and starts doling out these t-shirts to those who "earn it."

Just about everything about his PR stunt has the potential to be illegal and actionable.

The fire might be out, but it doesn't look like anything is about to cool off anytime soon.

Milwaukee County Courthouse Still A Hot Spot

Two weeks ago, the Milwaukee County Courthouse caught on fire when some faulty and outdated electrical equipment finally failed.  It was learned that Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele knew of the problem, but did not attend to the critical issue because he was too busy buying votes to allow him to usurp control of the county.

Since then we have learned just how screwed up the whole situation was and continues to be.

For instance, we have learned that the fire had been burning for thirty minutes before the fire department was even called:

Up to 30 minutes elapsed between the time fire alarms sounded a week ago for the electrical fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse and when a 911 call was placed to alert the Fire Department, the Journal Sentinel has learned.

Both the courthouse and adjoining Safety Building were affected by the July 6 fire, which knocked out power and resulted in smoke damage in both buildings. An expensive, around-the-clock cleanup effort has been under way since the fire struck.

The Safety Building reopened Wednesday, but the courthouse will only partially open Monday for the first time in more than a week. Crews were continuing to replace ceiling panels and to clean or replace carpeting throughout the building.

The delay could have made a difference in the amount of damage to the buildings.

Abele's interim facilities management director Gary Waszak said that they were still investigation but that everything appeared to be working as it should.

Somehow, I don't believe that having a fire burning for 30 minutes, with smoke wafting through the halls and the ducts, would connote a system working at all, much less working well.

Cog Dis has also learned that the damage from the fire might be more extensive than what is being reported.  It could be as much as three months before the cleaning work is done and the fried electrical system can be replaced

Workers have also expressed concern over the air quality.  Given the age of the electrical equipment, the coating of the wires might very well have contained PCBs, a highly carcinogenic chemical, which would have been sent into the air and throughout the building via the ducts.

And that does not include the oppressive heat which has sickened deputies and other staffers that have returned to the building.

One of the most ironic things about the fire so far is the extent to which Abele and his defenders will go to try to shift the blame from him.  There has been attempts to share the blame for Abele's negligence on the County Board, while others want to try to shift all the blame on the Board.

The fact is that Abele could have easily addressed the issue of the faulty and outdated systems as soon as he was aware of the issue.  Instead, he decided to devote his time and energy in usurping the power of Milwaukee County.

And that is where the irony comes in.

One of the main excuses Abele used for his power grab was that Board was spending too much time micromanaging activities and staff under his authority.  Now he is trying to blame the fire on the Board by claiming they weren't doing enough micromanaging.

If the gentle reader is shaking their head at Abele's hypocrisy and absurdity, rest assured, you're not the only one.

Abele's Chickens Come Home To Roast

It's closing in on two weeks since a fire hit the Milwaukee County Courthouse.  Although an official cause has been released by Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele, reports indicate that the fire started due to an outdated and out of code electrical system, something which Abele knew about and chose not to address.

The bill for just cleaning up the soot and smoke damage has already hit the $2 million mark, and does not include any further worked needed, such as the replacement of the faulty electrical systems.  It also does not include the time off some workers have gotten, the cost of the two giant generators put in until they fix the electrical system.

Meanwhile, Abele has been pushing to open up as much of the courthouse as he can as fast as he can.  All reports - except the ones from Abele himself - indicate that he is being reckless in his decision making and might be going too fast, especially in this deadly heat wave we are having.

Look at the experiences of Amy Turim, who had to be in the courthouse today:

Speaking of wilting, I spent the afternoon yesterday in the Milwaukee County Courthouse. The conditions at the Courthouse and the lack of organization regarding calendaring trials has me seriously questioning why the County allows the building to be open to the public at all, and why preventative maintenance on the electrical system was not attempted prior to the meltdown.

First, I will describe my experience when I appeared on a matter for my job on Wednesday. This matter was scheduled for the previous week, and cancelled due to the electrical fire that took down the power at the complex. I was notified of the new appearance date by my attorney a mere four hours prior to the time of the hearing, and was able to arrive at the courthouse on time. If my attorney did not see the appointment on the calendar the day before, it would have been possible that we would have missed the appointment. The other party in the hearing was not notified at all. I knew the other party in the hearing, and took it upon myself to notify them of the new date. This type of notification is not practical, advisable or feasible in most instances, and should not be relied upon in a professional court setting.

Some other people waiting for hearings indicated they arrived after calling in to check when their case would be scheduled for. A few others I talked with said they heard to call in based on the advice of friends who saw news stories asking people to inquire via telephone. This is certainly less than ideal, given the serious nature of a lot of the proceedings. The Milwaukee County Courthouse page on the County web site does not mention the closure at all, or what to do when hearings previously scheduled are missed due to such a closure. Milwaukee County’s general website homepage lists basic instructions for closure related issues here, but again, no advice on determining which cases are calendared when. Certainly this is a difficult situation with a lot of moving parts, but Milwaukee County should be doing better at disseminating information to the public.

While waiting in the courtroom, I observed cases being called without parties to the cases present. Those cases were adjourned when parties did not appear within a half hour or so, and scheduled on an alternate day, after proper notifications can be made to all parties. Some of these matters were more time sensitive than others, but even a casual observer could discern that scheduling matters without proper notifications was creating inefficiency. Due to the rescheduling of these matters to a third date when the parties did not appear for this rescheduled time, this also seems to be a waste of money as well.

Speaking of money, the electrical repair is going to be expensive. The first check cut to the renovation company was for two million dollars, and that number is not based on known costs. The insurance deductible for the county is seventy five thousand dollars, and reports in the Journal Sentinel from the County indicate the County believes insurance will cover this matter. However, Milwaukee County has been in receipt of a report from CBRE since February of 2013 that indicated the electrical system was ready to go kaput (in non-technical terms). I am not sure how or if being in receipt of that report will impact the insurance claim, but that question will certainly need to be answered in the coming weeks. Milwaukee County had allocated the funds to secure the facilities report ($450,000 in funds) in 2012, but waited until the end of the year to procure assessment services. Perhaps if the impending issues with the system were reported earlier, repairs could have prevented the chaos we are currently experiencing. Chris Abele would like us to not point fingers and place blame, but at some point these matters have to be addressed or we will be repeating the same failures on all of the other County properties inspected.

The current Courthouse power supply comes from a generator, which means no air-conditioning can run, and it was hot. A few portable cooling units were set up, but they reached the approximate foot radius of the machine. In the cavernous halls of the Courthouse where they were placed, the difference was minimal at best. The Red Cross had volunteers sitting with coolers on a few floors, which were supposed to contain bottled water donated by MillerCoors and cooled with ice from Arctic Glacier. There were also wet washcloths to towel off with. This was a kind gesture on the part of the corporations, but when I arrived at the Courthouse at one in the afternoon, every floor was out of bottles of water, and one volunteer indicated she had been out for over an hour. She was told replacements were on the way. When I left at four, they had not yet arrived. The drinking fountains (okay, bubblers) that I tried were all non-functional. The Journal Sentinel indicated air-conditioned cooling rooms were available to visitors who needed a reprieve from the stifling heat. However, the only “cooling room” that I saw signs for or heard about was a Milwaukee County Transit Bus parked outside the Courthouse, which was running while stationary with the AC on. This mobile “cooling room” was located at least 50 feet from the nearest courthouse entrance, which might has well have been a few miles if you were having a serious issue. Paramedics were on site on the courthouse lawn, in the event they were needed.

Many of the people I encountered were elderly, disabled, or heat intolerant. I suppose at certain temperatures everyone is heat intolerant, but many people indicated medical conditions or medications were to blame for their extreme discomfort. Others told me they refused to use the elevator because people got stuck on it on Monday when the Courthouse first reopened beyond the first floor. They chose instead to try to navigate the staircases with dozens of thick electrical cords running from the generators to the courtrooms. This too struck me as a serious hazard.

Two deputies assigned inside the courthouse became ill from the heat, with one having to go home.

It's almost as if Abele is very anxious to get the courthouse open again so that people might start forgetting that there had even been a fire and the fact that the fire was one which he could have prevented. That is, people might forget, until the bill for all the cleaning and repairs come due.

And he's going to get that courthouse open no matter how many people will have to pay for it!

Pay It Now Or Pay It Later

An astute reader sent me a link of this video, remarking how it reminded them of the deferred maintenance problems that we've seen in Milwaukee County of late:



The incident with the electrical fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse is a prime example of the truth of this ad.

Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele knew that the electrical system was grossly outdated and needed to be replaced. He also had the money to do it with. But instead of tending to business and doing his job, Abele chose to run to his Teapublican friends in Madison and by his own personal plutocratic empire, getting Act 14 rammed down our throats.

And because of his negligence, the taxpayers are now on the hook for not only the original cost of replacing the entire electrical infrastructure, but also the following:

• At least two days of pay for over a thousand employees who work out of the courthouse, but can't get to their work sites.  Some are temporarily stationed in other buildings, but many will be out all week.  
• The cost of rigging up computers, phones, faxes, copiers, etc, for the temporary work sites for the employees brought back to work.
• The cost of two giant, portable generators, which will be there for weeks until they can replace the electrical system.
• The cost of the numerous fire salvage companies which have been working around the clock to clean the entire building.
• The cost of repairing or replacing other things that were ruined by the fire.

And this does not include the individual impacts, such as the hassle for the people that need marriage licenses, that were planning to get married at the courthouse, the delays in the judicial system., delays for people that might need a copy of their birth certificate, someone's death certificate or any other legal document like that.

All of this extra cost because of Abele's unquenchable thirst for "efficiency," which is apparently the plutocratic code word for austerity.

The reality is that when maintenance is deferred, such as in this case, it usually ends up being much more expensive than it would have been to do the right thing in the first place.  

It's the most expensive money saving stunt that Milwaukee has seen.

Abele Knew Of Dangerous Situation, Did Nothing

As was reported over the weekend, there was an electrical fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse over
the weekend.  The fire was apparently caused by outdated electrical equipment. The initial damage estimates are at half a million dollars and that doesn't include the more than one thousand county employees that might be off all week due to the damage done by the fire.

It is now being reported that Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele was aware of the dangerous situation caused by the old equipment, by having it located near flammable materials and needing protection from water dripping on it:

The report by consultant CBRE — issued in February — called for replacing old components and other improvements in the electrical system.

The courthouse power system is 47 years old and "approaching or beyond its life expectancy," according to the report by CBRE, a real estate services firm.

Aging electrical components should be replaced, the report said.

In addition to shortcomings with the courthouse electrical, plumbing and heating systems, the building also has no sprinkler system, the CBRE report says.

It also pointed out that the power substation in the courthouse basement is next to a paint shop and hazardous paint fumes. The report called for ventilation or separation of the two areas.

Saturday's courthouse fire did not engulf the paint shop, said Don Tyler, the county's director of administrative services.

The CBRE report also recommended replacement of branch power panels, which are as old as the building. The courthouse was completed in 1932.

The report also noted that steam piping routed above the courthouse electrical substation should have a drain pan installed to protect the substation.

The article also reminds us that Abele touted the report, which he had delayed even happening, in his 2013 State of the County address.

To make the situation even more egregious, Abele refused to take responsibility for his delay of the report or for his willful failure to address the issue in a timely fashion:

Abele deflected criticism from supervisors over deferred maintenance, as well as his role in delaying issuing a contract for an inspection report that ultimately noted deficiencies in the courthouse's aging electrical system.

Abele said he preferred to focus on fixing the problem rather than pointing the finger of blame.

Y'know, I think Abele just became more of a hypocrite than his mentor, Scott Walker, with that statement.

If Abele had been actually doing his job like he was supposed to, this costly mess could have been avoided. But instead of being a responsible adult, Abele spent an excessive amount of time and energy pointing the finger of blame at the County Board and working on his overreaching and maleficent power grab.

Instead of serving the people as he was elected to do, Abele followed his whims and chose to serve himself - and his plutocratic pals in the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

If Abele is really serious about fixing the problem, he will tender his resignation with all due haste.

We already had eight years of one pompous ass trying to ruin the county.  The last thing we need now is another term with an even more pompous ass to finish the job.

Addendum: The way Abele is following so closely in Scott Walker's footsteps, perhaps we might need to dust off the Survival Guide to Scott Walker's Chris Abele's Courthouse.

Deferred Maintenance Leads To Deferred Jury Duty

On Friday, I reported that word in the halls of the Courthouse was that Scott Walker was ordered to appear - as a member of a jury instead of the defendant in front of one.

Wouldn't you know it, but the day after he tries to sneak in signing bills that would severely restrict the rights of women and of the unemployed and two days before he was to be at the Courthouse, a fire conveniently breaks out there:

The Milwaukee County Courthouse and Public Safety Building will be closed Monday and Tuesday, after a fire Saturday knocked out power, caused more than a half-million dollars in damage and forced county dispatchers to move to Waukesha County to field 911 calls.

The more than a thousand people who work in the Milwaukee County buildings should not report to work Monday or Tuesday unless told otherwise by a manager, County Executive Chris Abele said. The employees will still be paid.

The fire buys Walker only a one week reprieve. Milwaukee County officials are telling anyone that was supposed to report as a witness or juror is to return next week.

Although, if there was any justice in the world, Walker would be appearing as a co-defendant with Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele for being the cause of the fire.

When Walker was Milwaukee County Executive, he was infamous for not spending the needed money to make necessary repairs or even routine maintenance to county buildings. During Walker's tenure in the county, we had seen parts of the cornice on the courthouse fall of, parts of the airport fall down and the tragic loss of life as part of O'Donnell Park fell on a boy, killing him. The facility at the Milwaukee Mental Health Complex was found to be in shoddy condition. The parks buildings were found to need nearly $300 million in repairs and deferred maintenance .

Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele has done nothing to change this horrible track record. The Mental Health Complex was recently cited for being in even worse condition than before because of Abele's policies.

 Three weeks ago, part of the Coggs Building fell off, closing the loading dock at that facility.  And that was just a couple of years after the county spent a truckload of money on inspections of all the facilities.

Even Abele admits that the courthouse fire stems from deferred maintenance (emphasis mine):

The fire began at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in a large basement utility room with numerous electrical systems inside. Fire officials estimated the cost of the damage to the building at $368,000, and the property damage inside was estimated at $150,000.

"Some equipment is older than it probably should be," Abele said of the utility room's contents.

Over a half a million dollars in damages, and that's just their guess for now.  And that's not counting the cost of more than a thousand county employees, including some of the highest paid ones - like the ones in Abele's office - getting two extra days off with pay.

Y'know, I betcha that the cost of having proper equipment and routine maintenance would not have cost as much.

Abele keeps touting how he wants efficiency, yet he keeps showing he doesn't even know what the word means.

Abele would do well to seriously reconsider the way he is going about things, before someone becomes seriously hurt or worse, killed, due to something that could have been prevented except for his adoration for austerity.

The Business of Government

Aaron Rodriguez, a Walker zealot if there ever was one, wrote a piece claiming that Walker's claim of having a $9 million surplus from the 2009 Milwaukee County budget "was good business."

First of all, one would have to look past all the inaccurate and misleading statements in Rodriguez' post. Such as the question of whether the county has a surplus. I pointed out last week, at Milwaukee County First, that there really is no surplus. Not when there was so much unpaid debt and so many bills that had to be paid. I'm not the only one that caught on to this bit of misdirection. Jim McGuigan, former County Supervisor, also notes that Walker has a pile of bills stacked up, especially with the risky pension obligation bond deal.

Rodriguez also misleads the reader with statements like the one accrediting Walker for the $7 million surplus in 2007. An honest observer would have remembered and noted that the 2007 budget was the one that Walker had vetoed in its entirety, saying it would never work. That year's surplus is completely attributed to the County Board and their hard work in repairing his budget proposal.

An honest observer would also note that Walker is currently still facing a budget with a $17 million hole in it. Said hole was actually much higher, $15 million higher, until the County Board was able to patch some of it up. (As opposed to the balanced budget and funded pension fund that Mayor Tom Barrett gave to City of Milwaukee citizens.)

I will agree with Aaron on one point. Milwaukee County does have a very good bond rating, but where the credit for that can go is obviously an arguable point.

But the main question is Walker providing good government, good business, both or neither?

When one tries to run a government, one is almost guaranteed to have trouble.

The mission statement that is printed on the back of every county-issued business card reads:

"Milwaukee County Government will provide high-quality, responsive services that enhance self-sufficiency, personal safety, economic opportunity and quality of life for all its people."

Anyone that has been paying attention can see where the problem lies.

Due to Walker's ineffective leadership, the state had to take over the Income Maintenance Program, lest all the tax payers in the state have to pay off on a big-money class action lawsuit. The lawsuit stemmed from the majority of people not receiving timely, if any, services regarding food stamps, energy assistance and health care at a time when the nation was facing one of its most severe economic crises and unemployment was soaring into the double digits.

That's not what one would call high-quality or responsive services.

And given the recent events at the Behavioral Health Division, the House of Correction (before Walker abdicated his duties there to Sheriff Clarke), and other issues surrounding programs like the courthouse and the Sheriff's Office being severely underfunded and/or understaffed, I don't see how this meets the personal safety promise.

Economic opportunities are severely hampered in Milwaukee County as well. Since Walker became county executive, there has been a 20% cut in transit, leading to some 40,000 jobs being lost. If the state legislature doesn't pass the transit bill before going on recess, the county is facing another 35% cuts in transit services, costing tens of thousands of more jobs and hurting business owners because customers can't make it to their stores.

Things aren't any better for economic development, since Walker first staffed these positions with unqualified cronies from his campaign, then eliminated the department altogether.

Take all of the above issues, add the problems with the parks being so understaffed and underfunded to the point that there are hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred repairs and maintenance, golf courses being set up for failure, a courthouse crumbling down on our heads, literally, and you can see that our quality of life has drastically dropped under Walker's reign.

It would take some seriously myopic vision through heavily rose-tinted glasses to see anything but that Scott Walker has been an abject failure as county executive and really has no business being in government.

Cue The Bush Excuse in 3...2...1...

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that Scott Walker received a report warning of the dangers of not performing required maintenance on the Courthouse. Said report specifically mentioned the cornice which came crashing down last month because Walker ignored the report.

Full story at Milwaukee County First.

Illy-T notes that the County is not releasing the reports for fear of lawsuits. Isn't that against open records request laws?

James Rowen sees it as a perfect advertising opportunity for Tom Barrett's campaign.

I'm just waiting for Walker to copy his hero, President George W. Bush by saying, "There's no way anyone could have anticipated that happening."

Walker Loses Face and Faith

Poor old Scott Walker is having himself another bad week.

Walker was counting on making a lot of political hay over the next couple of months on the fact that the State had to close off one of the bridges in the zoo interchange. Even though the delays were only five or ten minutes, he were taking good advantage of this opportunity to get his sound bites issued.

Only it wasn't meant to be. The state has announced that the replacement bridge will be ready by Friday morning, only one week after they closed it down. To make matters even worse for Walker, the rest of the project appears to be ahead of schedule as well.

Walker, his campaign staff and the usual right wing echo chamber is very upset indeed about the good news, and are still trying to make a mountain out of this molehill. They claim it was a set up by Jim Doyle and Tom Barrett to make Walker look bad.

To me, it just shows that they have never watched Star Trek. For if they had, they would have remembered one of Scotty's more memorable quotes from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock:

"How much refit time before we can take her out again?"
"Eight week, sir - but you don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for you in two."
"Mr. Scott, have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?"
"Certainly, sir - how else could I keep up my reputation as a miracle worker?"

- Kirk and Scotty

But Walker's problems didn't end at the bridge. There was a follow up story to Walker's crumbling courthouse in which it was reported that it could take up to five months to fix the cornice of the courthouse. Needless to say, the whole crumbling courthouse affair could have all been avoided if Walker just attended to the job he is getting paid to do, which is not going all over the state campaigning in a race that he has already lost.

Between having a golden opportunity taken away from him and having the courthouse issue falling on him like, well, a chunk of the courthouse, Walker must be feeling quite a bit of strain lately. And like many people under a lot of stress, Walker apparently finds himself in a crisis of faith.

His campaign has been tweeting all day about the new, vamped up look to his website. When I went to check it out, the first things I noticed was that it didn't really look all that different. But there was one major change:


Walker took down the picture of the hand holding a card that read "Believe in Wisconsin Again."

First Walker makes a fool out of himself over what turned out to me a minor and a very temporary traffic problem. Then his own house comes falling down around him due to his refusal to perform his duties as county executive. Now he no longer believes in Wisconsin, which was the whole theme of his campaign.

All of this combined will only help to accelerate his tailspin slide in the polls.

That's The Way The Courthouse Crumbles

They've put up scaffolding around the courthouse to protect people from falling concrete.

This is all part of Scott Walker's supposed money saving method of leadership.

Milwaukee County First asks how much longer can we afford his "money saving." No wonder Milwaukee County is in fiscal jeopardy.

Fortunately, MCF's Survival Guide to Scott Walker's Courthouse is still free.

MCF's Survival Guide To Scott Walker's Courthouse

As a public service announcement, Milwaukee County First is proud to introduce the

MCF Survival Guide to Scott Walker's Courthouse.

And yes, it includes a plunger.

Walker Slashes Security, Parks, Maintenance

There are lots of breaking news going on around Milwaukee County this afternoon.

I have heard learned that Scott Walker has just given lay off notices to more than 70 county employees this afternoon. So much for his promise to try to avoid lay offs and to maintain services.

These workers include all of the security guards at the courthouse, children’s courts and city campus. Word is that Walker already had contracts in place with a private agency, which the County Board had rejected due to not being cost effective. That would raise a red flag on why Walker is still pursuing something that is a total waste of money.

Also being given notices of lay off to all of fleet maintenance which includes three mechanics and one maintenance worker. These are the people that keep the county cars and trucks in working condition. If you see a county vehicle after the next two weeks, you may want to show proper precautions since they will no longer be properly maintained.

Also being laid off are several workers at the airport, including six maintenance workers, a clerk messenger and a telephone receptionist. This is an obvious set up for a future attempt at privatizing it. The County Board has already made it perfectly clear that they would not allow this to happen, so this will only leave Walker with egg on his face.

Other workers include at least 26 park maintenance workers. These people are the front line workers who do the maintenance at the pavilions, cut the grass, maintain the ball parks, repair broken equipment among other duties. So if you have an event planned in a county park, or you belong to a baseball or softball team, be prepared to come early to cut the grass and pick up the trash before your event or game.

I checked with some members of the County Board and this was breaking news to them as well. So much for his garbage of being willing to work with the Board in resolving the County’s financial woes which Walker created.

UPDATE: More information: Because the way unemployment compensation works for governmental lay offs vs. private sector layoffs, the lay offs could actually end up costing tax payers $1.3 million more than if the workers were allowed to keep their jobs. And that is not counting the inevitable legal costs coming because Walker did it in the wrong way. Again.

One other thing that I have just learned this afternoon is that there was an all day arbitration hearing today regarding the privatization of the housekeeping staff at the Behavioral Health Division. The crux of the issue at hand is that Walker had shown clear intent to privatize the service by sending out RFPs early in 2009 and started on contract negotiations well before the privatization was approved by the County Board. He did this all without talking with the unions to try to find ways to economize the services, as required by the contract that he signed himself.

The decision might not come for a month or so, but if the unions are successful in their arbitration, the privatization contract would have to be set aside, the former housekeeping staff would have to be returned to their positions, complete with full back pay. Furthermore, Walker would be prevented from any further privatization of this service for at least 180 days and not without first sitting down with the union to look at ways of streamlining the system and proving that the union workers could not do it at a comparable cost to the taxpayers.

Obviously, Walker has decided that the title “county executive” really means “king”, and that we are all nothing more than his serfs to do with as he sees fit, even if it means diminishing our quality of life, raising our taxes, and giving our money to his campaign contributors. It also goes to show that Walker does not have the best interest of Milwaukee County citizens and tax payers in mind, but are only using us as pawns for his political aspirations. This sort of malfeasance must stop and stop soon, before he bankrupts all of us.

Cross posted at Milwaukee County First

Walker Impersonates Courthouse Toilet

There is more spillover from Walker Toiletgate.

JSOnline has finally heard from Aprahamian, and it was revealed that the donation and the RFP came only a month apart. This only confirms the violation of the ethics code.

Cory Liebmann posted that this is not the first time Walker has crossed this line, but regularly dances beyond it with total disregard for ethics. Cory forgot to add Walker's problem with accurately reporting Lear jet rides and his dealings with Air Tran.

But the most damning to Walker is that Channel 12, who first broke the story last Friday, did a follow up today. The toilet is still unusable.

Walker tries to again blame the workers. Again, the fact is, like so many other programs, what we are seeing is the results of his continuous cutting of staff to the point where the work can't be done anymore.

Walker then tells Channel 12 some bad advice:

Walker had previously suggested critics check out the county's Health and Human Services Center, where a private company has cleaned for years.

Two problems. I work in that building, and we are on are third or fourth company in so many years. We still can't get things like toilet paper or soap stocked on a consistent basis.

Secondly, the Coggs Building was already discussed by Supervisor Peggy West in yesterday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article:

Supervisor Peggy West said it was unfair that the board was shut out of details about the custodial services outsourcing. She said poor quality cleaning of the county's Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center, 1220 W. Vliet St., by another private service demonstrated the folly of outsourcing the task.

She called the Coggs Center "disgusting. It's gross, it's not sanitary," she said.

It seems like Walker is very much like the courthouse toilet. They are both full of **it, and it does not appear that this status will change any time soon.