Purple Unicorns

Alexander and Abele
Searchers of the
Purple Unicorn

It's becoming increasingly obvious for all to see that Milwaukee County Supervisor Deanna Alexander is in way above her head as she tried awfully hard to curry favor with Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele, the Greater Milwaukee Committee and their counterparts, the Bradley Foundation.

She cannot seem to help but run afoul of Chapter 9 of the Milwaukee County Ordinances - the Code of Ethics.  Basically it says to steer clear of conflicts of interest and not to use one's position for monetary or political gain for themselves or their family.

Sounds simple enough.  But like former supervisor Joe Sanfelippo, Alexander pays no heed to such things like ethical behavior.

First she receives work done by the Emperor's spokesman, Brendan Conway.  Even though it looked like an essay written by a third grader for a first grader, it was still a thing of value (Lord knows to whom, but to someone).

Then in May, because she was late to the Board meeting, she called for a Suspension of the Rules just so she could have her vote counted against overriding Abele's vetoes of reforming county government, even though her vote made absolutely no difference.  Two days later, Abele and representatives of GMC held a fundraiser for her.

Now Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting on yet another violation of the Ethics Code by Alexander.

Abele is upset because the Board voted in a super majority to terminate the services of Kimberly Walker, the inept and corrupt head of Corp Counsel.  As a result, Abele had Alexander issue an unsubstantiated complaint against the rest of the Board, accusing them of violating open record laws.

So far, Alexander has yet to produce one shred of evidence that anything illegal happened other than she said so. When challenged about the appropriateness of her charges and the fact that she is violating the Ethics Code herself, her only rational is "purple unicorns."

Regardless of this being a completely baseless complaint which was only issued in a feeble attempt at intimidating the Board, Rick Esenberg of the comically named Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has agreed to represent Alexander in her complaint.  And therein lies the rub.

Esenberg said that he's not charging Alexander, because the case is in the "public interest:"

It's not a problem at all, said Rick Esenberg, the lawyer representing Alexander.

He is the head of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a nonprofit law firm that uses the courts to pursue conservative and libertarian causes. It has received $1 million in start-up funds from the deep-pocketed Bradley Foundation.

Esenberg likened his outfit to the liberal American Civil Liberties Union, saying the two groups don't charge flat or hourly fees because they are litigating issues that are of interest to the general public.

"Deanna Alexander is not paying us with public money or campaign funds," Esenberg said. "We are public interest lawyers. We don't charge our clients fees."

Technically, Esenberg is being honest. As noted in the cited blurb, his group's clients are actually the Bradley Foundation, who is bankrolling his harassment of public officials.

However, because he is not charging Alexander, and she is the complaintant in this case, she is in violation of the Ethics Code again. Whether Esenberg does it pro bono, as part of the Bradley Foundation's directions or  the through funding by the GMC, the fact that Alexander is receiving it at no cost to her, she is violating the Code.

It's really gotten to the point where it's pointless to file charges with the Ethics Board (which is compromised anyway) and just let the District Attorney look into the matter.

At least the new pink uniforms that the women inmates wear at the House of Corrections would go nicely with the purple unicorns that Alexander looks for.

It's Time For Abele To Put Up Or Shut Up

The Milwaukee County Board proved all their critics wrong by passing their locally-generated reform measures in a veto-proof majority of 15-3.

The three that voted against the bill were Supervisors John Weishan, Steve Taylor and Deanna Alexander.

Weishan voted against it because he doesn't believe in caving in before bullies.

Taylor voted against it, even though he was all for it on Monday, because he got bullied into it by Mark Belling.  Taylor proved himself to be both a snake and a coward.

Alexander voted against the bill because that is what Abele and GMC are paying her to do.  Her whiny press release (I thought she couldn't send those out!) only revealed her dishonesty and the fact that she has absolutely no clue on how government or democracy works.

The Board issued their own press release as well that lays it out quite nicely:

MILWAUKEE COUNTY BOARD OVERWHELMINGLY PASSES
BOLD LOCAL REFORM PACKAGE 

15-3 Vote Dramatically Cuts Board Budget, Staff, Supervisors’ Salaries

(MILWAUKEE) – The Milwaukee County Board approved a dramatic local reform package by a 15-3 vote on Thursday, meaning Board Supervisors’ salaries will be cut by 20 percent, staff will be cut by 50 percent and the Board’s budget will be cut by 50 percent.

Under the reform package, Supervisors’ terms would be also cut from four years to two beginning with the new term in 2016 if the state Legislature approves. The comprehensive package includes other measures such as the requirement of an efficiency audit for all levels of County government and use of a mediator to enforce those efficiencies.

“This is the kind of local reform our constituents have demanded,” said

Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic. “We listened to everyone – residents, state legislators and community leaders. This bold reform reflects the tone of local input.

“It’s been said that we would never reform the Board, that we would never cut our salaries, and that we would never cut staff. But we’ve done it. This is indeed a new day on the County Board, and we have shown leadership in approving this reform package.

“While the state is attempting to mandate Board change without local support, without even a hearing in Milwaukee County, we have accomplished meaningful reform by listening to the residents of Milwaukee County. Reform without local buy-in cannot work. This is true local reform.”

Dimitrijevic said the overwhelming support for the reform package was a reflection of the Board’s desire to create locally generated reform.

“We made the hard decisions,” she said. “But with local support this is one of the most dramatic changes to Milwaukee County governance in history.”

The Board's reform measures isn't all that different than the one written by the GMC. They both cut the supervisors' pay and staffing levels. The Board's version doesn't go as deeply as the GMC's, but with the county budget being well over a billion dollars, that amount of money is negligible in comparison.  Both measures also transfer more power to the executive's office as well, but as with the pay, the Board's version is a little less severe.  To squabble over these minor differences would be merely splitting hairs.

There are some bigger differences though:

• The Board's version clearly describes the Board's role and the Executive's role in government.  This cuts back on Abele's power grab by eliminating his ability to make the rules as well as addresses Abele's false accusations that the Board is micromanaging the county.
• Control stays local with the Board's version.  This means that when it's demonstrated that this isn't working because of Abele's incompetence, it won't takes years for an act of the state to rectify the problems that will come with it.
• The Board's version calls for an audit for efficiency in ALL areas of the county, including the county executive's office and the top heavy departments. The GMC version only selects the Board, which is a drop in the bucket as far as cost goes.

Interestingly, Abele had no comment on the Board's measure and whether he will sign the bill.  I guess that this means we'll have to wait until Aaron Rodriguez' next blog post to see what Abele really thinks.

But now is the time for Abele to put up or shut up.

If Abele is really all about reforming the government, he will need to sign this resolution.  It gives him the pay and staffing cuts.  It gives him more power.  And it's much more comprehensive than the GMC bill.

If Abele vetoes it or just doesn't sign it, it shows that he wasn't interested in reform and that this was nothing but a power grab all along so that he and his plutocratic pals at GMC can divvy up the county's assets for themselves.

And it should be noted that he has only about two weeks to make up his mind.

And as he makes his decision, he'd best be aware that the people of Milwaukee County - the majority of which has been quite vocal in their opposition to the GMC version - will be watching.

State Legislators To Hold Milwaukee Listening Session On Plutocracy Bill

From the inbox:

Local residents are invited to share their opinions on the state-imposed changes to the Milwaukee County Board at a public hearing this Tuesday
in Milwaukee.  The hearing starts at 5:00 p.m. and will be held at the Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vilet Street.

After Senate Republicans failed to hold a committee hearing in the community that they are forcing to change, local Legislative representatives of Milwaukee County are holding an opportunity for citizens in Milwaukee County who were unable to attend the midday Madison hearing to voice their opinion on the bill forcing state-imposed changes to the Milwaukee County Board.

WHAT: Milwaukee County hearing on the attack on local control

WHO: Sen. Chris Larson, Sen. Tim Carpenter, Sen. Nikiya Harris, Sen. Lena C. Taylor, Rep. Josh Zepnick, Rep. Sandy Pasch, Rep. Mandela Barnes, Rep. Evan Goyke, Rep. John Richards, Rep. Christine Sinicki, Rep. Daniel Riemer, Rep. LaTonya Johnson, Rep. Leon Young, Rep. Fred Kessler and Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa

WHERE: Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vilet Street

WHEN: Tuesday, April 30, 5:00 p.m.

This is not the type of hearing Milwaukee deserves, but word is that despite Lena Taylor selling out her constituents on so many issues, she could not get the Republicans to agree to come to Milwaukee to hear what the people really think about them doing Chris Abele's and the Greater Milwaukee Committee's bidding.

I wonder if she's realized how much she is being used by them yet.

I also wonder if the other Abele minions are realizing that Abele and the GMC will turn on them once their usefulness is gone.

Milwaukee County Board Calls Team Abele's Bluff

Soon after Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and his plutocrat pals at GMC hired State Representative Joe Sanfelippo to present their power grab bill, it was obvious that there were problems. The introduction of the bill kept getting delayed.  It took so long that they weren't able to get the red herring referendum on the spring's ballot as they were hoping.

Sanfelippo said that this was because he wanted to give the Board time to do their own reform.

So they did.

Then Sanfelippo and the other minions of GMC said that it was too little too late and that the Board didn't really mean it.

But the committee just passed it on Monday afternoon:

Milwaukee County Board Intergovernmental Relations Committee

Overwhelmingly Supports Bold Local Reform Plan

(MILWAUKEE)—The Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Intergovernmental Relations passed a resolution to reform the Board locally on Monday.  The resolution contains provisions to cut the board’s salary by 20 percent and cut by 50 percent the board’s budget and staff.  It also includes in-depth language to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the legislative and executive branches, while ensuring that all branches receive access to the same training on county operations and governing.   In addition, there is a commitment to seek further efficiencies.

“This resolution is the culmination of hours of testimony at public hearings and hundreds of conversations with the public and stakeholders on local reform,” said Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic. “This is the first comprehensive reform plan presented by the board, and I am proud to be a part of positive local change.  Those who suggested we would never change were just not listening. Today, those folks should admit they were wrong.”

Other provisions of the resolution include: that any allowable savings from the Board cuts be directed to county services; streamlining of procedures such as prohibiting dual referrals and increasing the threshold for professional service contracts; and  a commitment to implement any additional budget and staff cuts recommended by an efficiency audit.

“Any time real change occurs, no one gets everything they want,” Committee Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr. said. “But real change can only occur successfully if it is embraced locally.  What we are moving forward today is historic for this county board.”

The resolution passed committee on 6-1 vote and will now go to the full board on Thursday, April 25.

Oops.

Now Abele and GMC have to decide whether they want to take the reform, which they claim they wanted or show their true colors again and lay bare the fact that their ploy was nothing more than a power grab.

And they didn't take long to decide:

[Mike Ellis said] “…we’re getting the public hearing on the same bill, but the Senate version, we’re going to get that out of the way this week, it’ll then come back to the Senate, we’re not in session until the first part of May, and then we will schedule it. I would hope that we schedule it right away and take it up on the floor.” 

Ellis says Republicans have the votes to pass the bill in the Senate, and Republicans have already passed it once in the Assembly.

Yup, pure power grab it is.

And for the record, again, I am against both the Board's reform and GMC's power grab.

There is only one thing needed to fix Milwaukee County government - cut out the rot.

Milwaukee County Board Offers Bold, Broad And Sweeping Reform - Abele Balks

I had already planned on attending the "OUR Milwaukee" listening session being hosted by Supervisors David Bowen and Russell Stamper II.  What I hadn't planned on was a whopper of a press conference announcing bold, broad and sweeping changes to the structure of county government.

The press conference was hosted by Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic; Supervisors Bowen, Stamper, Jason Haas, and Theo Lipscomb; State Representatives Mandela Barns and Evan Goyke; State Senator Tim Carpenter; and Mike Wilder of Wisconsin Jobs Now.

Here is the press release they issued with their conference announcing the changes:

MILWAUKEE COUNTY BOARD ANNOUNCES MAJOR BOARD REFORM OVERHAUL

$2.75 Million Cut to Board Budget

(MILWAUKEE) – The Milwaukee County Board’s budget will be cut by 50 percent under a bold new set of initiatives proposed before an “Our Milwaukee County” listening session Thursday night.

The major initiative includes but is not limited to government streamlining, mandatory training for County Supervisors to clarify roles and responsibilities in County governance.

“This comprehensive package is the kind of bold reform our constituents asked for during the ‘OUR Milwaukee County’ sessions and various town hall meetings across the County,” said Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic. “We’ve had listening sessions in more than half of the County, and Milwaukee County residents want to see reform done locally, not imposed on the County by the state Legislature. This is the one of the most significant and dramatic overhauls of Milwaukee County government in history, and this is what our constituents have demanded.

“We listened to everyone – county residents, state legislators and local officials – to create realistic Board reform. This package reflects that. It’s been said that we would never reform ourselves, that we would never cut our own salaries, and that we would never cut our budget. But this package demonstrates clearly that not only have we listened, we’ve acted with a commitment to true, realistic, locally generated reform.”

Dimitrijevic said that with seven new Board members “it is a new day for County government.”

“These reforms are proof that this is a new Board with a new outlook on reform,” she said. “We have a new chair, and seven of the 18 members of the Board are new. Everyone on the Board – new members and long-time Supervisors – is committed to locally generated change.”

Supervisors’ pay will be cut by 20 percent under the proposal, and the board budget would be cut $2.75 million, which could be used for transit, parks, mental health and other County services.

The reforms mean that beginning in 2016 supervisors pay would be reduced to about $40,000, and that the Chairperson’s salary would be less than that of the Waukesha County Board chairperson.

A majority of people who spoke at the “OUR Milwaukee County”
sessions said they favored reform, but not reform imposed on the County Board by the state Legislature, she said. Assembly Bill 85 would reduce the Board’s budget to .4 percent of the County tax levy while cutting Board staff by about 70 percent. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, would strip the Board’s ability to govern effectively, Dimitrijevic said.

“The fact is, the County Board matters, and our constituents care deeply about it,” she said. “They want to be part of the reform process that is taking place on County governance.

“This reform package is real reform generated locally, and we believe our constituents will agree that this package is far preferable to one imposed by the state. There is more than one way to reform, and the most successful way is locally.”

Among other reforms announced were:

• Definition and clarification of roles and responsibilities of both the Board and the County Executive, which agree the Board is a policy-making body and the County Executive is manager of day-to-day operations, with mandatory training for supervisors.
• Creation of an independent Office of Intergovernmental Relations, which will report to both the County Executive and the County Board Chair.
• Changes to contracting policy.
• Requirement of an efficiency audit for all levels of County government and use of a mediator to enforce those efficiencies. Recommendations for additional efficiency measures in governance and operations. Follow-through on the efficiency audit for additional governance measures and County-wide operational efficiency measures.
• Transfer of the Community Development Business Partners department from the Board to the independent office of the County Comptroller.
• There would be no future pension benefit provided to Supervisors unless they choose to pay the full-cost beginning with the 2016 term

“Everything is on the table,” Dimitrijevic said. “We have said that this new board is committed to reform, and we have presented a bold new look for the County Board. We believe this is what the people of Milwaukee County want – change on a local, not state, level.

“This is the beginning of a new chapter in County governance. The people of Milwaukee County spoke, and we listened.”

The supervisors said further details would be forthcoming, and there would be a public hearing on Monday afternoon regarding the proposed reform.

For what it's worth, I personally disagree with this. The Board's authority and salary is not out of line with any other county in the state. It's a dollar per person represented, just like every other county. And for anyone to argue that the county's situation is the Board's fault is laughable. If we did not have a full time board, things would have gotten much worse in much less time.

But as much as I disagree with this, I understand the need for it.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and his fellow plutocrats at the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC) have been plotting this for months and had a head start on the messaging.

The Board made up considerable ground with "OUR Milwaukee" by doing something that Abele never thought of doing - they listened to the people.

And the people were pissed.  Every listening session has had the basic same theme from the vast majority of attendants.  People, whether they felt there should be some sort of reform or not, felt that any reform needs to come from Milwaukee.

Case in point: At tonight's hearing, there was a disabled Vietnam veteran who told how he walked a half mile to get to the nearest bus stop and rode for an hour to get there.  His statement was that "Milwaukee needs to stay in Milwaukee and Madison needs to stay the hell out!"

Like I said, the supervisors listened to what the people said. (Note to Chris Abele - that's what democracy looks like!)  And then the Board acted on what the people were saying and came up with the above-mentioned reforms.

Unfortunately, Abele has already dismissed the reform offhandedly and without even seeing it:

Abele said late Thursday that the plan announced by Dimitrijevic was an acknowledgment that county reform is needed. But he said he remains supportive of the state legislation.

"There's nothing about this that makes me any less supportive of the Sanfelippo bill," Abele said.

Abele's indifference to the people's will shows us that Abele is not interested in real reform. Rather, this is nothing but an unadulterated power grab by Abele and the plutocratic GMC, which wrote and funded the bill.  And more and more people are seeing this every day, and becoming angrier about it.

In fact, it can be argued that Abele is afraid of real reform.

In the past two years, Abele has forced county workers to take anywhere from a 10% to 20% pay cut as he doubled the cuts called for by Act 10.

Now the Board is cutting their pay by 20% and their operating budget by half.

And what is Abele offering? Not a damn thing.

In fact, as every other county employee and elected official is taking cuts up to 20%, Abele has been lavishing his staff with huge raises.

At the beginning of 2012, he gave more than half of his staff big raises, even as he was cutting everyone else's pay:

The largest raise was to his Chief of Staff, Amber Moreen, who he had brought with him from his personal charity group, Argosy Foundation.  She got nearly $40,000 more per year, translating to more than a 50% raise.

When was the last time you got a 50% raise.  Hell, when was the last time you got a 50 cent raise?

Abele's generosity to his cronies was an ongoing pattern.  He had given a huge raise to Sue Black, even though she had just gotten a raise a few months before.  Then he fired her for unknown reasons.

As recently as last fall, he had given another aide, Tia Torhorst, a 20% raise.  Torhorst is the woman who wrote the letter endorsing Abele's power grab.  But I'm sure that's just coincidence.  Even despite that big raise, Torhorst left the county for unknown reasons four months later.

Abele's hypocrisy was shown when he defended his largess with our tax dollars:

Abele said he's tried to get the best people he could for sometimes hard-to-fill county jobs, at reasonable pay levels. The higher pay awarded to some managers reflects greater expertise or experience for the posts than their predecessors had, he said. 

"The issue is this: At the end of the day, voters and taxpayers are probably more interested in the outcome than the specifics" of who gets paid how much, he said. In other words, he'll be judged on how well the county operates rather than any specific pay decision, he said.

These people were so vital to the county that many of them are gone, either getting axed by Abele for no known reasons or fleeing from his tyrannical ways while the getting was good.  And no, the county isn't in such better shape that it would justify such extravagant raises.

And since the GMC's argument in cutting the board's salary and budget was to make it on a par with other counties, it should be pointed out that Abele is the receiving one of the highest salaries in the state.  Furthermore, by the end of his term, he will be eligible for the lucrative pension that he is always decrying.

Any meaningful reform would require that his salary, pension and operating budget be cut at least as much as the Board's.  After all, as they are fond of pointing out, there isn't as much for him to do as there was for past executives.

This point is even more true when one considers that most of the fiscal problems and corruption has come out of the executive's office anyway.

In summary, it is unfortunate that it has come to pass that the Board members have to make these sacrifices, but it is what the people are calling for.  But any real reform will have to take all parts of the county into consideration - including the county executive's office - and not just the Board.

If Abele was indeed serious about his goal being to reform county government and not an overreaching power grab, he would be wise to agree to this.  By refusing to, he shows himself to be a hypocrite, an emperor wannabe, and small, petty man.

The choice is now up to Abele.  But as he considers this decision, he would be best advised to remember that he works for the people, not the GMC.

AB 85 - Most Definitely Not A Populist Movement

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

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

Kindly enough, today the GMC confirmed my reporting.

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

Yeah, right.

Here is their "community members":

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

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

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

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

Click to embiggen

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

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

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

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

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

It's not too surprising though.

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

Damn straight!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greater Milwaukee Committee's Epic Flail

A few years ago, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, the group that wrote and is pushing the Usurpation Bill, teamed up with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to form a front group called "MY Milwaukee."

Taking a page from their friends at the Bradley Foundation, they have used this
front group in a thus far vain effort to justify their overreaching power grab in Milwaukee County.  In their fact-free endeavors, they end up citing their propagandists, who in turn cite MY Milwaukee, making it nothing more than an example of "We're right because we said we are."

Their latest endeavor to stop the tide from turning on them even further is a series of email blasts which they call "Myths & Facts."  Let me tell you, gentle reader, they are heavy on the myth and very light on the facts.

Their most recent blast included a number of myths.  Unfortunately for them, their "facts" are just as mythical.

Their first myth is "The Milwaukee County Board has always been full time."  They go on to correct this.  It is true that the Board had been part time at one time.  But it is also true that no one is using this as an argument to defend the Board, thus making it a straw man argument and a waste of time.

Their second myth is "County Supervisors do way too much work to be part time."   Even more silly is their justification for this argument:

Fact: County supervisors should be primarily focused on developing policy for the county. Unlike Common Council members, who provide wide-range of constituent services covering a wide range of everyday issues (e.g., garbage, snow plowing, roads, police services, etc.), supervisors generally take few constituent calls. This is particularly true in Milwaukee County, which is the only fully incorporated county in the state. As a result, every Milwaukee County resident also has a city or village government they can reach out to regarding these services.

A 2011 Journal Sentinel article also showed that six Supervisors missed at least a dozen board or committee meetings over the past three years. That amounts to an absentee rate of about 10% or more, depending on a supervisor's particular committee assignments. "We get trashed enough," said Supervisor Borkowski in the same article. "Committee assignments and the board meetings are the extreme least that we can do. The job is not really that complicated."

Additionally, on his blog, Supervisor Jason Haas described a "busy week" of three committee meetings and two community meetings as "Not too shabby."

Gee, that would be so damning if it were even slightly true. The real fact is that a supervisors job is not just in the office. A good supervisor is out in the community they represent, listening to and working with their constituents. Also, a good supervisor does not work from 9-5, but are out there attending meetings and events in the evenings and on the weekends.

For example, since they use Supervisor Jason Haas as a an example of having only five meetings in just one week, what they don't tell you is that he has been setting up "Friends of the Park" groups for almost every park in his district. He also holds regular listening sessions in community businesses and centers.

Perhaps the folks at GMC are perplexed because they only know Chris Abele, who rarely leaves his ivory tower to mingle among the commoners. Or perhaps they are using Joe Sanfelippo as an example, because he spent most of his time at this family's taxi company, counting all the money he voted to pay their company with taxpayer dollars. Sanfelippo's interaction with the community usually was nothing more than insulting women with mental health issues.

MY Milwaukee's third myth was "A part-time board will make it even tougher for constituents to reach someone to help get their problems solved." As in the previous example, their rationale is laughable:

By restoring a part-time board, supervisors will be more responsive to their community by:

• Holding meetings during the evening, when constituents can actually participate without having to take time off of work;
• Ensuring that supervisors are not isolated all day, every day, at the courthouse, surrounded by employees. Instead as citizen-legislators, they are members of the community, accessible and sensitive to the needs and interests of neighbors and colleagues; and
• With a county board and staff no longer focused on micromanaging and otherwise trying to assume the administrative functions of the executive, they will be able to focus that time on constituent services.

I cannot believe that they had typed that with a straight face.

First off, the bill calls for a salary of $24,000 which is not a livable wage.  This means that the supervisors will have to find other work.  How can they be responsive when they are working their other jobs?  The quick answer, which we already knew due to former Supervisor Paul Cesarz, is they cannot.  In fact, things got so bad that Cesarz' successor had to do an open records request on his own office to get access to Cesarz' computer files.

As for their second bullet point, I just discussed how a supervisor's job is not a 9-5 office job, as the GMC is trying to argue that it is.  But considering the role models that they have to work with, it's not surprising.

The GMC's fourth and final myth is "We need a full-time board to monitor county services, like the already challenged mental health facility."  They go on to blame the Board for not making the changes recommended by the Public Policy Forum, which GMC paid to make the recommendation of throwing the people out of the mental health complex.

They ignore the fact that this opposed by the doctors and clinicians, many of whom Abele has fired for standing up for their patients.  They also ignore the fact that it was former County Supervisor Lynne De Bruin who was the one that blew the whistle on the horrid conditions, including frequent sexual assaults, that was happening at the complex.  And they most definitely don't want to go into the fact that the deplorable conditions stem directly from Scott Walker's agenda of austerity and his hand-picked director.

As an added bonus to their lunacy, the folks at GMC's MY Milwaukee added a little blurb at the bottom in which they cite cherry picked data in a failing effort to portray the County Supervisors as being overstaffed and overpaid.  One of the things they cite is a six year old study by the misnamed Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG).

This is telling for two reasons.

One, their numbers, like all of their other arguments, are patently false.  The real numbers show that the Board is actually underpaid:

"I'm not changing anything," state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-West Allis) told the Milwaukee Rotary Club. By imposing part-time status on supervisors, he's trying to restore a balance that state legislators intended when they created the office of county executive in 1959, Sanfelippo said.

However, a review of past supervisor pay shows supervisor salaries from decades ago exceeded today's $50,679, when inflation is factored in.

Supervisors were paid $11,500 in 1970, which translates to $68,812 in today's dollars when accounting for inflation. The pay was up to $21,537 in 1980, the equivalent of $60,682 in today's dollars. The calculations were based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology.

While the County Board's pay has been considered full-time compensation, the post hasn't been formally designated a part-time or full-time job.

Milwaukee County supervisor compensation greatly exceeds that of any other county in Wisconsin. Milwaukee County supervisors' pay in 2007 - the same as now - ranked 14th of 18 similar-sized counties elsewhere in the United States in a report by the county auditor.

The gentle reader should also remember that the Milwaukee County Board is actually the same as every other county in the state: One dollar per person represented. If they wanted to keep it equitable to other counties, but only pay the supervisors $24,000, they would have to double the number of supervisors.

Secondly, it is very telling that GMC is stooping to the level that they are referencing CRG. CRG is a group of particularly unpleasant anti-government thugs that are used by groups like the Bradley Foundation. CRG's claims to fame including attacking public sector workers who are whistle blowers and illegally dispersing private information about Janesville teachers.

The fact that GMC is stretching the truth so much, scraping the bottom of the barrel in an effort to find allies and flailing like mad men in general is showing the depth of their desperation.  If their overreaching power grab had any merit, they wouldn't need to go to such extremes.

Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain

In life, we devise plans and strategies for dealing with the difficult issues we are facing.  Whether it is the loss of employment, a sick child, financial struggles, whatever it is we are facing, people take a bad situation and work to solve the problem. Sometimes we are successful and sometimes we just get by.

When Scott Walker took the governor’s office and the Republicans took over the majority of both houses of the legislature in 2010, the people were forced to deal with issues they wouldn’t have had to if there was not a very elaborate well thought out plan setting the agenda in motion.  A strategy developed not to deal with difficult issues but to create difficult issues.  A person does not do this unless they are at war. How do you create a strategy to “drop a bomb” on the people you are supposed to be “governing”? How do you get to that place where “divide and conquer” is your weapon of choice upon the people you were elected to oversee the common good of?

The divide and conquer strategy is the only thing working in Wisconsin.  Yet the people continue to buy into the extreme right agenda to funnel our tax funds to their private corporations and realize Wisconsin, Inc.

How else could Scott Walker fulfill the Greater MilwaukeeCommittee’s (GMC) prophecy right under our noses? In 2009, County Executive Walker touts 4 “criteria” that, if met, would quantify their agenda to “eliminate county government and transfer the assets to the state”.

• Think about that. What would it take to render the people so oppressed that they would actually help him further the agenda?
• Forcing a wage and benefit structure change on state employees (divide and conquer)
• Reforming service delivery: education, transit, fire department, etc (eliminate services)
• County assets transfer to privatization (remove revenue capability and local control)
• Reform budget process (eliminate accountability to the people)

Scott Walker admits he has been working on this agenda for years with the GMC prior to running for governor. The people were sleeping in 2010 and I remember a lot of people in Milwaukee demanding to know why the people in the rest of the state would elect someone who decimated the largest county in WI under his watch.  I also remember the people in surrounding counties wondering where the people of Milwaukee County were in 2010 when Scott Walker “pulled the wool over their eyes”.  How could they not be screaming about what he did?

For the same reason Patience Roggensack retains her seat on the Supreme Court after openly admitting taking bribes is acceptable for a judge in the same election Tony Evers was re-elected to Superintendant of Public Education after denouncing the attacks on public education.

Keep the people looking at the left hand not knowing what the right is doing.  “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Time and again Scott Walker manipulates the numbers to create a problem and then with the slight of his right hand slips millions into the pockets of his corporate interests. In effect, with the campaign donations and the legal defense fund, he has successfully forced the tax payers to fund them.

How about those jobs?

He takes advantage of the people’s outrage on government to manipulate them into thinking they should not trust the Department of Labor statistics, they should trust what the employers report on employment.

Only there is one big problem, now we have a declining unemployment rate because one employed person working 2 and 3 jobs becomes 2 or 3 employed people. What comes with that declining unemployment rate? With the Republicans' shiny A.L.E.C. bill, it is a drop in benefits, when the people need it the most to sustain the economy and keep them in their homes, providing food on the table, they will lose 2 weeks of benefits for every ½ % increase in the unemployment rate. As long as Walker looks like he is creating jobs, the people will receive their insurance benefit, as long as they have applied for 4 jobs a week and jumped through all the hoops. He creates the problem with a deficit in the Insurance Trust Fund and forces the cut to services to fix it. And the people buy into the trigger words: Waste! Fraud! Abuse!

Don’t look at what my right hand is doing, look at all those people taking advantage of the system. Did we forget you have to meet certain criteria in order to qualify for unemployment benefits... like… have a job you lost through no fault of your own?

Republican voters will buy it hook, line and sinker; they will even blame the Democrats for losing their benefits.  By all means, don’t look at that man behind the curtain.

African American Leaders Plan Monday News Conference to Denounce Bill Cutting County Board Power

Opposition to county board takeover plans grows. . .

United in their opposition to a state bill designed to limit the pay, power, and budget of the Milwaukee county board, African American community leaders will hold a news conference at 11 am Monday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 1531 W. Vliet St. Speakers include local, county, and state leaders.

“The African-American community needs more jobs, not less representation and less accountability for local government,” said Mike Wilder of the African American Roundtable, who plans to speak at the event. “The planned takeover will silence underrepresented voices, especially communities of color, while concentrating more power in the hands of politicians and the corporate elite.”
Others scheduled to speak include Rep. Mandela Barnes, Sen. Nikiya Harris, County Supervisors David Bowen and Russell Stamper II, and the Rev. Greg Lewis of Pastors United.

WHEN: 11 am Monday, February 25

WHERE: MLK Community Center,1531 W. Vliet St.

WHO: Rep. Mandela Barnes, Sen. Nikiya Harris, County Supervisors David Bowen and Russell Stamper II, the Rev. Greg Lewis of Pastors United, and Mike Wilder of the African American Roundtable

I have also learned that Congresswoman Gwen Moore wanted to come but couldn't. Instead, she's sending a staffer to read a statement from her.

More and more people are standing against the overreaching and tyrannical attempt by Chris Abele and the GMC to remove Milwaukee County's representative government. Those standing for democracy and balance are coming from all walks of life, regardless of gender, race or socioeconomic background.

Meanwhile, those that are for the hostile takeover of the county are limited to the Abele and his plutocratic friends at the GMC, their sockpuppets and teabaggers.

And they cannot even offer a mature, rational reason for their desire to remove the voice of the people. All we get from them is arrogance, conceit and adolescent condescension.

Abele's Trolls Attack!

I saw this on the Facebook page of Milwaukee County Supervisor Jason Haas and I wanted to share it with you:

A comment was posted on my blog a little while ago from an anonymous person who claimed to be a constituent. This person also claimed that I am unresponsive to constituents.

Curiously, this comment, which was anonymous, came from a server at the lobbying group Mueller Communications. That company is a hired gun in the "nuke the board" fight.

The IP address that the comment came from appears to have a physical location in Waukesha. As a Milwaukee County Supervisor, I do not have any constituents who live in Waukesha County.

If this person is indeed a constituent who has not gotten a response from me, I asked that they call my office, and their needs will be met, by me, immediately. The phone number is 278-4252.

In any case, we are still waiting to hear from this constituent who works at the lobbying firm and posted from the Waukesha IP address.

For full disclosure, I met two weeks ago with a person from Mueller, albeit on a different issue. So it's facetious to claim I don't respond. Even to lobbyists.

Troll attacks are nothing new. Neither is the fact that the trolls are habitually sloppy in their attacks. That's why they're called trolls.

But it is significant that Chris Abele and his fellow plutocrats at GMC are resorting to having their hired supporters resort to such tacky lines of attacks. It appears that all of Abele's appearances on talk radio is doing nothing to turn the rising tide of negativity coming from their power grab.

Hmmm. Americans are against tyranny. Who'd have thunk it?

The Milwaukee Plutocracy Power Grab Bill Revealed

At the beginning of the year, it was revealed that Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and his friends at the Greater Milwaukee Committee had drafted a bill that would allow them to usurp control of Milwaukee County.  They found their patsy in the state government - Joe Sanfelippo - who was ignorant and greedy enough to take their bill and run with it.

After many false starts and bald-faced lies, Sanfelippo dropped Abele's bomb for him and revealed the bill.  And what a nasty piece of work it is.

There is so much wrong in this bill that it would be impossible to give it a thorough analysis in just one article.  The gentle reader can read the bill here.  Or for an easier read, here is the memo prepared by one of their staff attorneys.

In a nutshell, this bill does the same thing to Milwaukee County that Scott Walker and the Republicans did to the state, but even more so.  It consolidates all the power into the hands of one man - Chris Abele.

As I said, there is too much for just one article, so I will have to do a series of them to fully explain the amount of malfeasance and evil behind them, but I will say that there will not be many people happy with it and it will serve to destroy the county very effectively.  Not just the government, but everything that we enjoy and all too often take for granted.

Here are some of the major horrors included in the bill:

Except for the purpose of inquiry, the bill specifies that the County Board and its members may deal with county departments and department subunits solely through the County Executive.

This means that if you have a county-related problem - such as vandalism in a park, poor treatment at the mental health complex, or a county road in need of repair - and you call your supervisor, they have to get permission from the county executive to contact the department to resolve the problem, again, with the executive's permission.

Given how petty and insecure Abele is, if you live in any of the more progressive supervisors' districts, you might as well forget about it.  He's going to punish you by punishing your supervisor and denying him or her the right to do the job they were elected to do.

Subject to approval by the County Board, acquire, lease, or rent real and personal property for public uses or purposes of any nature, and take and hold land acquired from the sale of tax delinquent property.

In other words, Abele will have the authority to give, sell or lease any county property to his friends at GMC for sweetheart prices.  The bill notes that the Board will not be allowed to correct any parts of the deal.  This probably spells the demise of the Monarch Trail, the Eschweiller buildings, the mental health complex and any lakefront parks.

And since Abele is not about to charge his friends fair market value, guess who will be making up the difference.

Hire or contract with attorneys to provide support enforcement for health and human services programs.

This is related to Abele's plans for the mental health complex.  Abele wants to relocate all the patients in there, even though there are not sufficient resources to keep the patients or the public safe. Needless to say, the guardians of the people hospitalized are very alarmed and concerned about this.  They know that their wards would present a danger to themselves or others if not given the proper supervision.

This section allows Abele to hire a slew of attorneys to either override the guardians' concerns or have the guardians removed in favor of someone who won't stand up for their wards.

Call a special meeting of the Milwaukee County Board with a written request specifying a time and place for the meeting, to be held at least 48 hours after the request.

Given that they will also make the board part time, the supervisors, unless independently wealthy, will have to find other jobs.  Calling an arbitrary meeting time will guarantee that there will be some supervisors who won't be able to attend due to having to work their other jobs.

This will keep constituents from having proper representation and allow Abele to force through anything he wants by just manipulating the times of the specially called session.

Sign all contracts, conveyances, and evidences of indebtedness on behalf of the county

And who is going to oversee to make sure that these contracts, etc. are in the best interest of the taxpayers or any other citizen of the county?  We have already seen him try to foist county responsibilities, and the costs associated with them, on the City of Milwaukee.  We've also seen him try to give away county property in an illegal fashion.  Who's going to be footing the bill for all the lawsuits stemming from his rash and uneducated stunts?

Hire and supervise the number of employees that the County Executive reasonably believes are necessary to carry out the duties of the County Executive’s office.

And you thought Walker was bad with his crony-laden government? Wait until Abele is done.  And don't forget, Abele is paying his crony political appointments tens of thousands of dollars more than even Walker did, plus he wanted to give them a half a million dollars of bonuses with our tax dollars.

The bill specifies that in Milwaukee County, the County Executive is the entity authorized to bargain collectively with county employees.

This one is also going to cost taxpayers an arm and a leg.  Abele is extremely anti-worker.  He's gone above and far beyond what Act 10 called for.  And now that Act 10 has been struck down, he is refusing to negotiate with the unions.  Thus the unions have filed lawsuit after lawsuit, all of which the county is losing because Abele likes to think he is above the law.

Instead of trying to negotiate down the costs, Abele is arbitrarily and unilaterally enforcing his whims.  Thus the taxpayers have been footing the bill to defend his legal actions and still paying for what should have been done in the first place.  On top of that, the county is paying $500,000 every time Abele changes something and another $500,000 to change it back when he loses the court fight.

The bill allows forbids the county board from entering into contracts for the services of retired county employees.

This is especially hilarious since the board did it once.  Just once.  Yet Abele has done it dozens of times.  In fact, there are a number of these "double dippers" working county jobs right now, all under Abele's directions.

In pushing this bill, Abele has repeatedly said that this wasn't personal.  He claimed that he only wanted to make Milwaukee County Government more "efficient" and "cost effective."

This bill does anything but those things.

It will greatly slow down services - or at least the ones Abele hasn't privatized yet.  It will make things more expensive for taxpayers as they foot the bill for sweetheart contracts with his friends, cronies and campaign donors.

To show you how bad this bill is, the only people who have come out in support of it are the ones paying the legislators to pass it, the teahadists, and one crank who has an irrational hatred for the County Board.

The sad news is that this bill will probably pass.  The Republicans have more than clearly shown that they are willing to do anything for a price.  And Chris Abele and GMC have more money than what they know what to do with.  So they'll be able to buy its passage.

The only faint good points to this is that it will give progressives like me ample fodder to write about since Abele is sure to fail.  The other good point is that because Abele is sure to fail, this will lock him in as a one term wonder and then we can get an adult into office who can fix things without being stopped by the teahadists.

Abele: Executiving Is Hard Work

During his time as Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker repeatedly showed that he was not up to the task with one blunder after another.

The people had really hoped that the election of Chris Abele would bring some necessary changes to Milwaukee County.  The people had hoped that there would be, for the first time in over a decade, a focus on restoring Milwaukee County to be once again a great place to live, to work and to play.

Sadly, the people were to be sorely disappointed.

Abele turned out to be as much a failure as Walker was - if not more so.

Even though Abele's only been office for two years, he's crammed an incredible amount of failure into that short time.

Not only has he done nothing to restore vital services like the parks and transit system, he's actually tried to cause more harm on top of that which Walker inflicted on Milwaukee County, such as trying to end the Emergency Medical System.

He's also failed in protecting our most vulnerable citizens, even to a greater degree than Walker did (emphasis mine):

Milwaukee County deputies are investigating a reported patient sexual assault by another patient at the county Mental Health Complex, the Sheriff's Department said Tuesday.

The incident happened early Monday, according to the department. No further details were released.

Since 2011, the Sheriff's Department has investigated 19 cases of possible sexual assault. But Paula Lucey, who heads the county's Behavioral Health Division, said in a statement that none of those cases had been confirmed as sex assaults by the Sheriff's Department or the Milwaukee County district attorney.

There have also continued to be many incidents of physical aggression and at least one case of severe self-mutilation. Yet, despite the serious threat that some of the people pose, Abele is continuing to actively pursue his plan to move them into the community, even though there are insufficient resources to keep them or the public safe.

It's not only in the provision of services that Abele is failing miserably.

He is also apparently a very bad boss, as evidenced by the fact that no one wants to work for him.

Of course, the reluctance to work for him stems from his tendency to fire people on a whim, as he did with Sue Black and Frank Busalacchi. Even when Abele does have someone who is willing to work for him, he can't inspire them enough to even get them to move to Milwaukee County to do so.

So now he has at least three major positions unfilled in his cabinet. To fill the Parks Director position, Abele has had to resort to hiring a headhunter firm. But to make matters even worse, he couldn't find a local firm to handle the job and is pumping $23,000 in county taxpayer dollars to Harrisburg, PA to find someone willing to work for him.

Apparently job creation isn't a priority for him either.

One of the few people willing to work for Abele is Patrick Farley, who almost lost his job when it tried to frame former county supervisor Johnny Thomas for bribery. That's sure to help bring good candidates in for all of the openings.

The thing that is truly baffling about this is that despite all these failures, Abele and his colleagues at the Greater Milwaukee Committee are trying to cripple the county board and concentrating even more power in the hands of a person who can't do his job as it is. Well, I suppose it's not really all that baffling. They want an incompetent fool like Abele to have full power so as not to impede their pillaging and profiteering off of the county taxpayers.

Ed Heinzelman at Blogging Blue nailed it on the head with this money quote:

And the fight over the form our future county government will take comes down to power…of the executive branch over the rule making (legislative) board. And what would be the purpose of all that on the part of County Executive Abele and his cohort if the board wasn’t ‘checking’ their own personal agendas?

Indeed, the board might not be perfect, but that is more due a handful of the supervisors as opposed to the board itself.

Likewise, the county is not in the greatest of shape. But for those Abele acolytes who want to lay the blame on the board, they would do best to remember that if it weren't for the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, things would be much, much worse.

Abele Refuses To Commit To Taxpayers

I pointed out last week that the GMC members who formed a land development group called UWM Foundation had reneged on their promises to protect the natural habitat of the county grounds as they set it up for profiteering, er, I mean development.  Instead of preserving anything, they hired a company from Illinois to come up and cut down dozens of century old trees.

Eschweiler Buildings

If you want a full accounting of the saga of how the people of Wauwatosa and Milwaukee County have been repeatedly ignored and betrayed by Scott Walker, then Wauwatosa Mayor Jill Didier and the part time Wauwatosa Common Council, the Riverkeepers have an excellent summary.

In a nut shell, what happened is that the protests of the people were ignored in favor of the false promises of prosperity and the lure of big money and the grounds were sold for a song.  Then as things progressed through "vetting" from the Wauwatosa Common Council, more and more land was ceded to the developers.  To make things worse, the Tosa Common Council gave the developers $12 million in the form of a TIF.  And that was on top of the more than $5 million given to the developers by the federal government.

As soon as the deal was done, the developers started to change things.  Instead of restoring the Eschweiler Buildings as promised, the developers, claiming poverty, started the process to sell that land to yet another developer that wanted to tear these nationally recognized historic buildings down.  After catching too much flack, they decided they might be able to save one of the buildings - for a price.

Not they're trying to drive that price even higher, by sticking the county taxpayers with the bill for their profit taking:

Milwaukee County may be asked to take a haircut on the $13.55 million agreed-upon price for selling a large chunk of the County Grounds in Wauwatosa for a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee development in order to pay for preservation of the historic Eschweiler buildings, county supervisors were told Monday.

Wauwatosa City Administrator Jim Archambo said the city was grappling with how to meet a shortfall of $2.5 million to $6.55 million to restore five historic buildings on the site designed by noted architect Alexander Eschweiler. The century-old structures were originally used for the Milwaukee County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy, and efforts to save the buildings were a key part of the sale negotiations some four years ago.

The county sold the buildings and an 89-acre parcel to a UWM Foundation affiliate in 2009 and has collected $5 million toward the purchase price so far. A second $5 million payment is due in 2014, with four additional annual payments of $887,500 made from 2015 through '18.

The evil County Board of Supervisors, who the GMC wants to destroy, are pointing out that the developers knew what they were getting into before they made the deal and that they made a deal with the taxpayers and ought to be expected to keep their end of the bargain.

Chris Abele, who is personal friends with the developers, who could pay for the land out of their own money if they wanted to, wasn't as ready to stand up for the taxpayers:

Brendan Conway, a spokesman for County Executive Chris Abele, said it was too early to speculate on whether the county might agree to take less money for the property.

How the heck is it to soon to expect that the developers keep their end of the bargain?

Abele is third from left, happy to
destroy the county grounds
for his rich friends.

 Well, for Abele, he is hoping that this can wait until the county board gets hamstrung so that he can give a break to his buddies for their support in his power grab.  With a greatly weakened board, he figures he can get anything he wants passed.

Furthermore, some of the developers, like Michael Cudahy, have already said that they want other parts of county property, such as the lakefront, for development as well, so they can really clean up at the taxpayers' expense.

I don't understand how anyone would want to get rid of the group of people looking out for their best interest in favor of consolidating power in the hands of one person who is only looking out for the special interests.  But then again, the only people I see really supporting this power grab are the ones beholden to Abele and the GMC.