The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Takes Up Writing Creative Fiction

When Patrick McIlheran completed the ultimate hypocrisy of leaving the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to become a part of the big government bureaucracy he spent years raling against, I thought that might be the end of the paper's venture into producing creative fiction.

Wow! I could never have been any more wrong!

Their county reporter, Steve Schultze, teams up with some county officials and does quite the admirable job of picking up where PaddyMac left off. His article is such a convoluted mess of opinion, unexplained facts, half-truths and unchallenged lies, it boggles the mind and makes one wonder where to even start addressing such a miasma of misinformation. It's enough to make C. S. Lewis jealous.

Schultze starts out with saying that Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele (pronounced: Walker Lite) hasn't ruled out pay cuts or lay offs to balance a $51 million deficit.  But nowhere does he say when this deficit was discovered, if it's actual or merely projected, or what caused this alleged deficit. Considering this is the first time it's being mentioned, a little background would be nice. Journalistic even.

Then Schultze forgets he's a reporter and gives us an op-ed paragraph:

The new state law, which took effect Wednesday, paves the way for changes that in the past would have been difficult if not impossible to achieve. The county's largest union, District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, made an unsuccessful 11th-hour push to get a new contract before the legal cloud blocking implementation of the bargaining measure was lifted.

Schultze forgets to mention a few things with that opinion. Things such as:

• The unions have a federal lawsuit that is still very much in play.
• There's already been a federal ruling in favor of collective bargaining rights, whether they be public or private unions.
• There is growing evidence that Walker's "tools" aren't all Walker tried to pretend they were.

Schultze then delves into the various things that Walker's bill will allow the county to do to protect the special interests, with a surprising accuracy, but then mentions the furloughs.  What he doesn't mention about the furloughs is that they have been found to be illegal and that the county needed to cease and desist immediately and reimburse the employees with back pay for the disallowed forced time off without pay.  Nor does he mention that this finding was sustained when the County went back to WERC to appeal the ruling.

Schultze then brings Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo into this land of make-believe and quotes him as saying:

Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo, the chairman of the County Board's Personnel Committee, said he didn't expect the state law to usher in drastic changes for workers, though he acknowledged workers view the pension and health care payments as significant.

A twenty percent cut in pay is not significant? Would someone let Sanfelippo know that we don't all own taxi cab companies for which we can vote an increase in taxi funding for every time things get a little tight.

Schultze then starts talking about the possibility of privatization. He specifically mentions the security guards being privatized. Brilliant move there by Abele and company. After all, it worked so well last time they tried it, with the less than zero savings and the convicts the private agency hired.

What Schultze doesn't mention is that Abele and company are also looking at privatizing the entire Child Support Enforcement program. This won't help much, considering that child support enforcement actually brings in more money for the county tax payers than it uses, giving the county to support other programs or help pay off some of the debt. Now that extra money will be going to some CEO or board as profit instead of giving the tax payers some relief.

To round off this fiction comes Chairman Lee Holloway with this line:

County Board Chairman Lee Holloway sought to reassure employees they'll be treated fairly without union contracts. He said he wants to appoint a special committee that includes workers to review county work rules to see what changes might be needed. Holloway also wants the rules to apply to all workers. Under the previous system, unions sometimes had different rules than nonunion employees.

"I won't let anybody beat up on union people," Holloway said.

Do I really have to point out that Holloway has not voted in the unions favor in years and with the aid of his new pal, Sanfelippo, chose to screw over not only the unions but also the tax payers just a couple of weeks ago?

Having Holloway say that he's going to take care of the workers is probably about as comforting as when he says he's going to take care of his rental properties.

About the only truthful thing in the article comes from Kurt Zunker, president of Local 882, who pointed out that people aren't feeling very safe right now (emphasis mine):

The prospect has demoralized many of those workers, and several hurriedly retired last week, said Kurt Zunker, president of the AFSCME local that represents the guards, as well as parks and highway workers.

"They're panicking," he said. "You get jerked around so many ways, what do you believe anymore?" Many of the guards fear losing their jobs next year, as well as benefits this year, Zunker said.

Indeed, the route Abele is taking will lead him to greater problems than trying to balancing a spreadsheet. Then again, it may be what he wants, considering that he is part of a group that is trying to "blow up" Milwaukee County, or at least put it under state receivership, like they're doing in Michigan.

I think the only group that might be happy with the course of events lately are the trial lawyers as people's rights continue to get trampled on and as people start suffering real harm from the faulty policies the county is taking on.

Holloway, Sanfelippo Need to Step Down From Their Chairmanships Immediately

Milwaukee County Supervisors Lee Holloway and Joe Sanfelippo again proved themselves to be bad leaders whom we can't afford anymore  

They gambled with tax payer money and now they both need to step down from their respective chairmanships and let the grown ups do the work of cleaning up their mess.

Read all about it at Milwaukee County First. 

Primary Primer: Another Way To Make Scott Walker, WISGOP Hear Your Voice

With all of the hullabaloo that Scott Walker has caused with his egregious and malicious power-grabbing and union-busting proposal is the fact that Tuesday is Primary Election Day.  This is also a powerful way to send a message to Madison by electing people that will work to stop and even reverse the damage that Walker and his cronies have caused and want to cause.

Supreme Court


There are four contenders for this seat.  The incumbent is David Prosser, who has been bought and paid for by the same people that gave us Michael Gableman and Scott Walker.  Due to his obligation to these special interests, he's turned a blind eye to Gableman's unethical lying.  And if that isn't enough to not vote for Prosser, it turns out that he likes to go soft on child molesting priests as well.

That leaves Joel Winnig, Marla Stephens and Joanne Kloppenburg.  Winnig won me over when I read how he took it to the vile Gableman.  However, after giving it some thought, I believe the best choice would be Joanne Kloppenburg.  Not only is she independent and willing to be thoughtful to the law, she is also willing to hold culprits like Gableman accountable.

Another reason is that it is safe to assume that WMC has, through talk radio and puppet groups like Wisconsin Club For Growth, enough people will be duped into voting for Prosser.  I believe that Kloppenburg is the best choice to overcome the smear job that will start on Wednesday.

 Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 18


There are three contenders for this spot,  Roy Korte, Christopher Lipscomb and Pedro Colon.  A lot of people that I respect are backing Colon, either out of name loyalty or some other reason.

This is where I am going to buck the trend and recommend Christopher Lipscomb.  I believe that Colon will have too much mud on him for that he might get bogged down in the general election.

Lipscomb also has the experience that would make him worthy and qualified to take it to the bench in Branch 18.

County Supervisor District 10


There are two very respectable candidates in this race of many, Eyon Biddle and Cavalier "Chevy" Johnson.  I believe that the constituents of District 10, as well as all of Milwaukee County, would be well served by either of these gentleman.  However, if I were a voter in that district, I'd have to give the edge to Eyon Biddle.  As I said, they are both good men, but Biddle appears to be a little more experienced in the body politic and would have a better shot at hitting the ground running.

County Supervisor District 14

As with District 10, I am not a voter in that district.  However, I would give the hands down vote to my good friend Jason Haas.  I've known Jason for a few years and I am quite impressed with his devotion to making Milwaukee County the best it can be, especially in these trying times.  Jason is already showing a willingness to look outside the normal routine of things to find new revenue streams, such as increasing tourism, both with County residents and visitors with his "SuperPass" plan.

Milwaukee County Executive

There are currently five people vying for the unenviable position of having to start cleaning up Scott Walker's mess in the county while simultaneously dealing with the mess he will be throwing at us from Madison.  It will take someone with a clear vision of where they would like to take the county and a willingness to take the county to that place.

The five people who think they are that person is Ieshuh Griffin, County Board Chairman Lee Holloway, State Representative Jeff Stone, philanthropist Chris Abele and former State Senator Jim Sullivan.  I will start out by saying that not one of these candidates have completely won me over.

Ieshuh Griffin, once one can get past her unfortunate decision to label herself with the slogan "Not the whiteman's bitch," does appear to have a good grasp of county issues and some ideas on how to solve them.  Unfortunately, she will present a good idea and then say something totally whacked, like that the Court System is out to get black people.

Lee Holloway obviously has the knowledge of the county ways and needs and how to meet those needs.  However, it's pretty clear that Holloway is unelectable.  First, he has the albatross of the pension scandal around his neck.  Secondly, he's made some questionable decisions, such as the hiring of Renee Booker as Director of the Department of Administration or for becoming too chummy with Walker while he was county executive.  Holloway's problems only increase when one takes into consideration the problems with his rental properties.

Jeff Stone is Scott Walker's heir apparent.  He is also a rather drab, boring man.  He hopes to gain his office by appealing to the extremists and those who just weren't paying attention for the last eight years and thought Walker was a good leader.  He also has the advantage of having talk radio practically begging voters to support him, even though they can only do it in a half-hearted sort of way.  But besides being a Walker crony, Stone paints himself in a worse light by saying that he would follow Walker's footsteps.  I'm sorry, but I for one have had more than enough buildings falling down, female patients at the mental health complex being raped and enough of people kicking the fiscal can down the road.

I've had the opportunity to meet Chris briefly a few weeks ago.  He is an affable young man and is easy to like.  He has a wonderful skill of putting people at ease and making it seem like he is really listening.  And therein lies one of the rubs against him.

I would rather have someone that actually listens to the people and not to just himself or to his group of wealthy friends.  When it comes to ideas, he comes up very short on specifics or even ideas that will actually do much to save the county.   For transit, his idea is to shuffle some routes around and move some times.  However, it's already been shown that our transit system is already at near maximum efficiency.  His other plans may sound populist, but also have very little meaning.

Even more disturbing was the news that came out today that the Greater Milwaukee Committee, of which Abele is a leading member, introduced a new plan for Milwaukee County.  Their plan, which I will parse at a later date, is basically raising our taxes, cutting our services, taking away our representation and, like Scott Walker, take away some of our basic rights.

I tried to like Chris Abele. I really did. Many of the people whom I hold in the highest of regards are in support of him.  But I, for the life of me, cannot see what his appeal is.  Yes, he has lots and lots of money, and he is, more likely than not, able to buy his way past the primary.  But when it comes to ideas, he seems to be overly vague about what they are, and the ones that you can discern aren't very promising.

That brings us to Jim Sullivan, who I will be voting for in the primary.

I have not always agreed with Sullivan, such as his pushing for the desecration of the county grounds.  However, I had a chance to speak with him for a short time.  He impressed me with a clear cut, defined vision of what he saw for Milwaukee County and how to get from where we are to where he would like us to be.  Sullivan is realistic enough to know that we aren't going to survive just by cutting things.  He told me that is what Walker did due to his blind ideology and that is why the county is in such bad shape.  It's hard to disagree.

He wants to join with the County Board to push for a sales tax just for the transit system.  He said that the problems with the last one is that they were trying for too much at once, which spooked off many law makers. He also pointed out that that the Board and Walker were giving mixed messages to law makers, allowing them to mess things up as they wanted to.

As for mental health services, he wants to increase community-based services, much as was recommended by the Public Policy Forum report.  He also recognized the need for a facility to house the people that couldn't be safely moved into the community.

He also would like to start fixing the parks system which has been neglected for so long, but he said that will have to wait until we can get the economy moving back in a positive direction.

In my opinion, Sullivan beats the rest hands down.  He might not be able to flood the TV and radio airwaves like Abele, but he does have a clear and defined vision, which is worth much more to someone like me, who wants the best for their community.

Sullivan Picks Vital Topic As Campaign Theme

Jim Sullivan, candidate for Milwaukee County Executive, has picked a vital theme for one of the main planks of his campaign - the failing transit system:

Today, Jim Sullivan announced a plan to save our transit system and lower Milwaukee County residents property taxes.

Sullivan will enact the referendum passed by Milwaukee County voters in 2008 and create a dedicated funding source for Milwaukee County Transit System. Dedicated transit funding will allow the county to invest in public transportation and will save property taxpayers thousands of dollars by taking transit off the property tax rolls.

"Milwaukee County is in dire need of a renewed, vibrant transit system and property tax relief. This plan will provide both," candidate for Milwaukee County Executive Jim Sullivan said. "A revitalized transit system is an investment in our community that will attract business and create jobs across our County. I call on all of my opponents to join me in standing up for real solutions to restore our disappearing transit system."

Sullivan for Milwaukee released a petition today, "Save Our Transit," calling for the dedicated funding source that Milwaukee County voters supported in the 2008 referendum.

Jim Sullivan is a common sense leader fighting for working Milwaukee County residents to create jobs, revitalize Milwaukee County services and infrastructure and to ease the tax burden on working families.

The online petition takes only seconds to sign.

I had an opportunity to chat with Sullivan a few weeks ago, and he told me that this was one of his top concerns.  He called the transit system the "lifeblood" of Milwaukee County.  He accurately pointed out that without a healthy transit system, any efforts to restore the regional economy would be greatly hampered, if not impossible.  Sullivan further stated that with a healthy transit system, other things, such as economic development and increased revenue for things like the parks and maintenance of county buildings would become available.

Sullivan also said that one of the main reasons that the transit sales tax failed in the state legislature for the past two years is because Milwaukee County officials were presenting mixed messages to the legislators.  While the County Board actively pursued a viable remedy to the ailing transit system in the form of a dedicated sales tax, former County Executive Scott Walker was more concerned with his political image and how such a sales tax might affect his gubernatorial campaign.  Sullivan said he would work with the County Board to present a unified front and a consistent message in an effort to put pressure on state legislators to do the right thing and honor the people's will.

Sullivan strongly emphasized that his plan would adhere to the original intent of the referendum and not only provide a dedicated funding source for the transit system, but would also give home owners a much needed break by taking the transit system off of the tax levee.

To further exemplify his support for transit, he told me that he had taken the bus to the first debate, which was held downtown.

The only other candidate that has advocated for fixing the transit system is the beleaguered County Board Chairman, Lee Holloway.  However, even Holloway has shown a wavering support for the sales tax.

Ieshuh Griffin has stated opposition to the sales tax, but has not proffered any other solution that I am aware of.

Jeff Stone has also expressed opposition to the sales tax, and like Griffin, doesn't offer any alternative solutions.  Given that Stone has nothing but praise for the way that Walker mismanaged the county, I would not look to him to have a vision, much less a plan.  He is much more likely to let the transit system, as well as our regional economy, go to hell in a hand basket, just to preserve Walker's false image of being a leader if nothing else.

Chris Abele has also expressed opposition to the dedicated sales tax.  I had the opportunity to chat with Abele as well, and had asked him the question of how to fix transit.  His simplistic answer was to simply reconfigure the routes and times of service to increase their efficiency by having them "go from where the people are to where the jobs are and have them go when they're most needed."  I didn't even bother to point out that Milwaukee County has transit riders from all over the region, not just inside the county, that utilizes the transit system to get to all different points of the county.  His stated solution would be the equivalent of picking winners and losers as far as workers as well as businesses.  If you happen to live in an unfavored part of town, or have your business in an area that is deemed not to be of sufficient value, under Abele's plan, you would be out of luck.

Another concern is that Abele has also touted a plan to save tax payers $2 million in taxes in short order, but never goes into specifics on how he would do that.  However, Abele is also on the board for the Greater Milwaukee Committee, which commissioned the Public Policy Forum to conduct a very specific study regarding county finances and the results of various privatization plans.  In this study, one of the possible scenarios outlined (Scenario 3, for those following along at home) would correspond to about $2 million is projected savings.  This option would include spinning off the transit system, as well as the airport, the zoo and the parks, into special districts/ separate taxing authorities with their own.  Given Abele's first TV commercial, in which he is touting these studies that he and the GMC commissioned, there is no reason to believe that this report won't be among his plans for Milwaukee County.

I don't see the need or the appropriateness of having four more unelected taxing authorities to oversee any of these functions.  The problem is not the management of any of the systems, but simply the lack of funding.  By allowing these programs to go under the auspices of independent bodies, it not only takes any say away from the tax payers, but greatly increases the risk of having their taxes skyrocket.

In summary, we have five candidates with different plans when it comes to the Milwaukee County Transit System:

• Ieshuh Griffin opposes a dedicated funding, but offers no other solutions
• Jeff Stone not only opposes the sales tax, but is more than willing to help the transit system, and the economy with it, to the breaking point
• Lee Holloway is taking the spaghetti approach, flinging everything out there in hopes that something will stick
• Chris Abele would spin off the transit into an unelected taxing authority, with the only option to be to raise property taxes to the detriment of home owners and no guarantee of better service.
• Jim Sullivan would join with the County Board to put pressure on the state legislature and the governor to finally provide a dedicated sales tax as voters called for more than two years ago, which would not only restore the transit system but give tax payers a much needed break.

Obviously, the best choice would be Sullivan's, which would provide ample funding to get the transit system, and subsequently the local economy, back to healthier times as well as give a break to home owner's across Milwaukee County.  And while you're at it, don't forget to sign the petition for a better transit system and a better, job creating economy.

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Actions

Milwaukee County Executive Lee Holloway wants to use a car rental tax to bolster the county's transit system.

This will be sure to get the right wingers in full bay as they express their outrage.

But the reality is that this will probably never even make it past the Board, much less the state legislature or Scott Walker.  What they should do is keeping pushing for the dedicated sales tax to bolster the regional economy, lower the property tax and get people to work.

Busy Day At The Courthouse

A number of things happened at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on Tuesday.

Some of it was newsy, some noteworthy, and some just plain nuts.

Milwaukee County Executive Race Finally Heats(?) Up

The candidates for Milwaukee County Executive, with only three weeks until the primary, are finally showing signs of life.

Jim Sullivan has been going around the county campaigning in the old-fashioned way, actually meeting with the voters, listening to their concerns and priorities and offering up his ideas.

Jeff Stone has sent out the first mailer that I've heard about, and the first message he sends is that he would be the one that will save Milwaukee County from "99 days of runaway Holloway."  Too bad for him that it will be only 30 days of Holloway as County Executive, and that Holloway didn't do any running away.  Unless, of course, Stone thinks that Holloway's cleaning out the Courthouse of Walker's corrupt cronies and taking measures to get the airport straightened out is outrageous, which he might since he somehow thinks that Walker had done well as County Executive.

Chris Abele, keeping as ambiguous as ever, ran the first TV ad.  About the only thing he said in it was to make the claim that he saved the county some $200 million on the questionable pension obligation bond scheme.  But even that isn't without controversy,  Holloway is contesting that claim, saying if the County had followed this advice when it was given, the results would have disastrous.

But for Abele and Holloway to be fighting over the questionable and unpopular pension obligation bonds seems to make as much sense as the Skipper and Gilligan fighting for taking credit for shipwrecking the Minnow.

I certainly hope the race takes a turn for the better and soon.

Furlough Fest 2011

Last Friday, a little after five in the afternoon, Milwaukee County Executive had his new Director of Administration, Renee Booker, issue a memo informing county workers that many of them would be required to do another 26 furlough days in 2011.

Judging from the comments on the JSOnline story, as well as at least one conservative blogger, people are reading much more into this than there really is. They're not Holloway's fault.

The fact is that the furloughs were built into the illegal budget crafted by Scott Walker, and foolishly adopted by the County Board, last fall.

As County Executive, Holloway is required by law to faithfully carry out the budget as it was adopted, furloughs and all. If Walker had only done that during his tenure, Milwaukee County would not be as fiscally bad off as it is now.

A Good County Executive Is So Hard To Find

Six weeks ago, I took a preliminary look at the potential field of candidates for Milwaukee County Executive. It was a heady time, when people were looking forward to starting to heal after a decade of abuse and neglect.

But then, a couple of weeks ago, Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that philanthropist Chris Abele was going to get into the race. This bombshell of an announcement changed the entire landscape of the race, but not necessarily for the better. Abele is a multimillionaire who also runs a multimillionaire charity group called the Argosy Foundation. Abele is known not just for his charity work, but is also a contributor to many political campaigns, with the vast majority of his beneficiaries being Democrats. It was reported that Abele was ready and willing to drop at least one million of his own money to fund his campaign, and that he was hoping to raise another half a million in donations.

When his candidacy became known, other candidates, mostly from the left side of the aisle, started dropping out like flies. Sheldon Wasserman said he wasn't going to run. John Weishan said he wasn't going to run. Joe Czarnezki dropped out. Johnny Thomas dropped out. Sue Black never really got in before she got out. Dan Diliberti dropped out. Marina Dimitrijevic, whom I thought to be one of the best candidates, dropped out.

A few notables either chose to stay in or to join in the race despite Abele's presence. These include Republican Jeff Stone, Jim Sullivan and Lee Holloway. There is also a field of a half a dozen or so lesser known names, including the controversial Ieshuh Griffin, who apparently can't make up her mind what she wants to run for.

When one looks at the four better known candidates, one finds that it leaves a lot to be desired.

Chris Abele

Chris Abele, who only made his formal announcement this afternoon, is really starting off on the wrong foot. Outside of being a millionaire by the graces of good inheritance, there is little know about him. He makes only vague statements of "bold and innovative reform," but won't offer anything of substance. Even his website is devoid of any information and is utterly useless unless one is in the habit of donating to or volunteering for a candidate just for the heck of it.

Abele also has some questionable allies, namely Sheldon Lubar, who is a strong advocate for the wholesale destruction of Milwaukee County, even though this would only serve to raise taxes and greatly reduce services. Lubar said that he is supporting Abele because "Chris and I agree that there are some specific changes that are needed, and we have a man who's governor who knows what they are better than anyone else."

Abele did tell the media today that he is open to further privatization (read higher taxes for lesser quality service). He also mentioned that the would consider consolidating services with other municipalities, which is not as bad. He also said that he was opposed to the dedicated sales tax to bolster the parks and the transit systems, but offers no other solutions on how to stop their slow deaths.

I also find it more than a little off-putting that a candidate that won't present any stances on any issues, is personally wealthy, and possibly wants to finish the destruction that Walker had started would send out mass emails begging for money, especially to those he would harm the most.

Until Abele can come up with something - anything - that would let people know where he stands, and if that thing is polar of what the signs indicate about him, he is not really worth consideration for county executive.

Jeff Stone

Stone is currently a Republican in the State Assembly for the Greendale area. He is also Scott Walker's chosen heir apparent. Stone returns the love by saying that he would continue where Walker left off, namely, bankrupting and killing off the county, regardless of how many people it hurts or even kills. But lacking even as much as Walker's vanilla personality, Stone is more like Walker Lite than anything else.

Stone's only claim to fame is the failed attempt at a back door privatization of the airport. Stone, backed up by the conservative paper, makes claim that he never tried to privatize the airport. he only wanted to take control of it away from the county and give it to a private entity. Yeah, that's a big difference. That's like saying he wasn't driving a car, he was driving an automobile.

With the county literally crumbling around us, we don't need a guy who would only try to exasperate the problems we are currently facing.

It will be interesting to see how Stone does in the race though. He has Scott Walker's war machine which is still running from the November elections. However, Walker has become so unpopular on a local level that he lost Milwaukee County in that election by a 62-38 margin. I don't see how a Walker wannabe will fare much better.

Jim Sullivan

Sullivan is the former State Senator for the Wauwatosa area. While in the Senate, he did a few good things, like giving Wisconsin an uniform policy against smoking in work places. But despite his good deeds, he still managed to lose to Leah Vukmir in November's election. That is not an easy task, even with the Republican surge across the state.

However, there is reason to doubt Sullivan's worthiness to run the county, since he was also a player in making a push for the sale and pillaging of the county grounds, endangering one of Milwaukee County's greatest treasures, namely the Monarch Trail. Not only that, but this gift to the private land developers will now cost Tosa residents $12 million in the form of a TIF. That is something that can't be popular in the current political climate.

Sullivan could have be a good candidate, but he doesn't have much time to ensure which candidate he is going to be.

Lee Holloway

It is nearly impossible to living in Milwaukee County and not know who Lee Holloway is. Holloway is the Chair of the Milwaukee County Board, and at the moment, he is also the interim County Executive. Holloway says a lot of the right things, such as how he wants to make the county grow, get a dedicated funding source for the transit system and the restoration of full service at the airport.

However, during the last few years, Holloway has repeatedly let the county down. When he's had the opportunity to stand against Walker and Walker's path of destruction, Holloway had instead chosen to stand side by side with Walker. Not only did he fail to protect the county and its tax payers, but he gave Walker a handy foil to push the blame at when things went sour, as they inevitably would.

Holloway also has the issue of his private property and his failure to maintain them properly. To make things even worse, these properties are the homes of people with chronic mental health problems. He already lacked a lot of support in the suburbs, and this has alienated a lot of the city voters and the black community.

***

What Milwaukee County really needs is a strong leader with bold, progressive ideas of how to re-establish the county as a leader after a decade of one scandal after another, and one detrimental decision after another. It needs someone who would work hard to restore the transit system, reverse the decline of the parks and strengthen the safety net for its most vulnerable citizens.

It also looks like Milwaukee County will have to wait another year before it might have that person.

Time To Buy Stock In Charmin*

First, it was the courthouse bathrooms being filthy and poorly stocked.

Now it's the airport's bathrooms.

Fortunately, County Executive Lee Holloway is taking action to correct the airport situation. And it won't even cost tax payers a dime.

But given Scott Walker's apparent aversion to clean or stocked bathrooms, and given that he will become Goobernator on Monday, this is the time to buy stock in Charmin and the other toilet paper manufacturers.

Just think of how many rolls people will be buying if they work or have business in a state building. Heck, just the number of travelers that will need toilet paper for the rest areas will double your money in the first year.

*I get a ten percent commission from all proceeds for that hot stock tip.

Hang On To Your Hats, Kids

Things are about to get real interesting in Milwaukee County.

Conservative Grouse As Milwaukee Starts To Heal

Now that Scott Walker has formalized what he did eight years ago, which is abdicate his responsibilities as Milwaukee County Executive, Lee Holloway becomes the first African American county executive.

He started out with some bold moves in righting the ship, including getting rid of some of Walker's operatives who have aided in ruining the county. Included among those who were separated from their employment were Steven Kreklow, who created two illegal, deficit-laden budgets and Tim Russell, who lied on his resume and is the subject of a John Doe probe, and by all accounts is in pretty deep trouble.

In other words, Holloway got rid of people who wasted tax dollars or who might have broken the law. Even though Holloway was fully in his right to do these things, conservatives aren't happy about it. Owen Robinson called it an abuse of power. Fred Dooley labeled it "thug rule."

And here I thought conservatives were supposed to be against squandering tax payer money and for law and order.

Go figure.

When Is A Slum Lord Not A Slum Lord?

Lee Holloway, Chairman of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, has gotten himself once again into hot water for not maintaining his properties. His noncompliance with making necessary repairs has forced city building inspectors to bring him and his wife, Lynda, to court over the issue.

To make matters worse, many of these properties are involved with the housing program for people with mental health issues.

Pundits from the right and the left and even from somewhere in between have called him a slum lord. It would be hard to argue with any of them on this issue.

Even though the tenants of his properties are suffering from his neglect now, at least Holloway will be the one taking it in the wallet when he has to pay whatever penalties there may be, not to mention the cost of still having to fix the properties and bringing them up to code.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the county's other giant slum lord.

Scott Walker, who had the responsibility for the last eight years of being the landlord and caretaker of the properties owned by Milwaukee County has also been dropping the ball.

And the people, like Holloway's tenants have suffered. People needing treatment at the mental health complex have been living in "shoddy conditions." Parts of county buildings, from the Courthouse to the airport to O'Donnell Park have been falling off, sometimes with tragic results.

Yet, where Holloway is rightfully scorned and chastised for his failure, Walker gets elected governor. And to make it an even more bitter pill to swallow, it is the tax payers, not Walker, who will have to pay for the lawsuits and the repairs.

Go figure.

More Fallout From The Bader Tweet

Lee Holloway, the Chairman of the Milwaukee County Board, and a victim of Team Walker's racist ways, issued the following statement:

“It’s unfortunate that the decision was made to publicly connect a Soul Train video with the proposed high-speed rail line. The video was not appropriate in this context and demonstrates that some of the staff members working for Scott Walker are naïve and unsophisticated. This behavior also diminishes the importance of public transportation in our community.

“As Chairman of the Milwaukee County Board, it is my duty to denounce actions that reflect poorly on Milwaukee County. I expect Scott Walker to immediately issue a public apology for the behavior of his political staffers. He should personally admit that this was a mistake so we can all move on to more pressing issues facing Milwaukee County.”

Eugene Kane, columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, also opined on the matter. The key takeaway part of it comes at the end of his piece on the issue:

It would be easier to dismiss the gaffe as an honest mistake if not for the fact neither Republican candidate for governor seems to be making much effort to court African-American votes. Walker's hard-line stance against government spending pretty much ensures he's not going to make any promises to help low-income black residents in a city like Milwaukee.

It's hard to find many black people at all in any of the recent political ads by either Walker or Mark Neumann.

If that's what's ahead for black voters, it would at least be comforting to know the Republican candidates understand the need not to let clueless aides send out snarky messages that could be construed as racist. It will also be interesting to see what Walker has to say about this flap the next time he appears on local black radio, which I hope he does soon.

After all, the governor is supposed to represent everybody in Wisconsin, even the ones who used to watch "Soul Train" for the music and not the politics.

I am glad that these men aren't listening to the white, conservative Walker supporters who keep insisting that they don't have the right to feel that Team's Walker's actions were offensive.

Public Safety vs. Political Spin

As most people are aware, last week a tragic event took place when part of the facade on the O'Donnell Park parking structure fell, killing a fifteen year old boy and injuring two others.

At Milwaukee County First, I discuss the difference in the ways that Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker handled the issue at the very sensitive first few hours.

Sadly, while Holloway was concerned with public safety, Walker made it appear that he was more concerned with how this would impact his gubernatorial campaign, and went into immediate damage control spin mode:

What makes Walker’s accusations even more egregious is that the first thing Walker did was to check in at the courthouse to see if there was any deferred maintenance. At the press conference that occurred shortly after the tragedy, after appropriately expressing his sympathy for the victims, Walker felt it necessary to keep repeating that there was no deferred maintenance that he was aware of. It was as if his first concern was that he didn’t get blamed for this catastrophe.

Regardless of whether this tragedy was caused by poor design, faulty construction, deferred maintenance or something else, the only responsible action would be to inspect all of the county-owned buildings and structures, especially given their history, before anyone else is injured.

For Walker to argue for anything else would make one wonder if he is really concerned about the public safety or if he is just worried about how this might effect his gubernatorial campaign.

Walker's Republican opponent for the Republican nomination (yes, Walker backers, there still is a primary), Mark Neumann did not do himself any favors with the press release he issued:

“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.

“Government’s legitimate functions include providing safe infrastructure for its citizens. This concern must be paramount.

“It is clear that along with this latest tragedy, the county courthouse, the Zoo Interchange, and the Hoan Bridge, a number of structures in Milwaukee County are in various stages of disrepair. A full investigation and safety review is absolutely warranted, particularly for structures and facilities that have already been flagged for critical problems.

“This is heartbreaking. Sue and I are deeply sorry to hear of this terrible loss and the families are in our prayers.”

First of all, Neumann could have easily waited until this week before issuing the release. If he wanted to issue a release right away, it would have been much more appropriate to simply express his condolences. To add the jabs at Walker and Tom Barrett was needless and rather boorish at the time of the release.

On the Democratic side, Tom Barrett did it the way a political candidate with any level of statesmanship would. His press release was short and simple and had none of the political superfluity of his Republican opponents:

I extend my sincere sympathy to the family of the victim and to the individuals injured in this very tragic accident. The Milwaukee Fire Department and the Milwaukee Police Department have performed admirably at the scene. We also have City engineers at the scene. I’ve directed all City departments to provide Milwaukee County with any assistance necessary.

To further show his class, when he appeared on WTMJ 620-AM radio Friday morning, he repeatedly, and firmly, stated that he would not comment on the incident except that the City of Milwaukee was prepared and willing to offer any assistance needed as the investigation into the tragedy progresses.

It's been said that a person can be judged by how he or she acts in time of distress or crisis. If so, the behaviors of these four elected officials in the hours after this critical incident certainly speak for themselves.

Two Press Releases, Two Blunders

It was reported today that Mitchell International Airport had another recording breaking month in March. Good news all around, I think anyone would agree.

Leave it to politicians to mess it up.

Scott Walker sent out a press release touting the numbers, and accrediting it to his business buddies in the airline business. Overall, it's not a bad release, and one that would be appropriate for a community leader.

Except there is one hitch. At the bottom of his release, Walker included this language:

General Mitchell International Airport is owned by Milwaukee County and operated by the Department of Transportation & Public Works, Airport Division, under the policy direction of the Milwaukee County Executive and the County Board of Supervisors. The airport is entirely funded by user fees; no property tax dollars are used for the airport’s capital improvements or for its day-to-day operation. For more information on Mitchell International, visit www.mitchellairport.com.

Again, in itself, not bad. But it takes on a whole new light when shown in the context that he won't commit to keeping this wildly successful airport in the public sector. Instead, he is still talking about privatizing it, even though such schemes have been shown to be utter failures around the nation.

County Board Chairman Lee Holloway saw through Walker's game, and also sent out his own press release, which was a little more self-serving:

Our success should be credited to those who provide policy direction and administration for the airport, including Supervisor Michael Mayo, Sr., Chairman of the County Board’s Transportation, Public Works & Transit Committee, and Airport Director Barry Bateman. They are both doing a wonderful job. Credit should also go to AirTran Airways, Republic Airways (Midwest and Frontier) and Southwest Airlines, which have all added service during the past year. AirTran recently established a hub in Milwaukee, second only to Atlanta. Republic is moving maintenance jobs here and expects to grow its Milwaukee hub further.

“This competition, combined with steady oversight from Milwaukee County, are key reasons for Mitchell’s success. This is why I have opposed attempts to sell the airport to an outside vendor. The County Board is effectively managing the growth of our airport. I am pleased that attempts to lease the airport to a private firm have been unsuccessful, because we may not have seen the same results.”

Again, besides being on the self-serving side, Holloway missed one key reason for the success: The county workers who make the Supervisors and Directors look good and keep the airport a place where all the airlines want to do business.

Just saying.

You Knew What He Was When You Picked Him Up

JSOnline is reporting that Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway and AFSCME Executive Director Rich Abelson tore into Scott Walker on Monday for his laying off of 76 workers last Friday.

I would expect Abelson to protest it and to take action against it. After all, it is his job to protect the union jobs as much as possible, even in these rough economic times. I would also dare to say that he is fully aware that some lay offs may happen, but if they do, he wants to make sure that proper protocol is followed and that he soon to be displaced workers get the best out of a really bad situation.

But I don't rightly know if Holloway has that much right to complain. He knew who Walker was before he got chummy with him.

There are a lot of old fables dealing with this sort of thing. One is Aesop's old story of the farmer and the snake. Native Americans also have a similar story, with this variation having it being a little girl that is betrayed by the snake.

Probably the most accurate fable, however, is the story of the scorpion and the frog. The scorpion cons the frog into giving him a ride across a river, but halfway across, the scorpion stung him in the back, dooming them both to death. As they were about to die, the frog asked, "Why?" The scorpion replied, "It's because that's who I am."

Holloway, after eight years of fighting Walker tooth and nail on every budget, should have known who Walker was and that he should not trust him as far as he could throw the courthouse. Walker has given the Board an irresponsible, out-of-whack budget year after year, and the Board has repeatedly been forced to be the adult in the situation and make it into a feasible, if not always popular, one. The Walker would make his usual grandstanding about vetoing parts or all of it and the Board would go about trying to restore as much as they could.

For some reason, this year was different. Walker proposed a budget that had a $32 million hole built right into the middle of it. Instead of either rejecting the proposed budget out right, like they should have done, or at least accepting it and then blowing it up to start all over, the Board took it as it was and tried to tinker around the corners in an effort to fix it. That would be like trying to bail out post-Katrina New Orleans with a teaspoon. Holloway and Supervisor Elizabeth Coggs, Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee, then made a big deal out of sitting down with Walker each week to discuss where the budget is. All they were doing was giving Walker political cover for when the fecal matter struck the air circulating device.

And after eight years, Holloway should have already known that Walker never accepts responsibility for any of his screw ups. Walker is more than willing to try to steal the credit for things he had nothing to do with, like the 2007 budget with its large surplus, which he had vetoed in its entirety because he was "unable to fix it with his veto pen." But he never accepts responsibility.

He will blame Governor Doyle and the State as a whole. He will blame the County Board. He will blame the unions. But he will never, ever look in the mirror and admit that he screwed up. Again.

Perhaps Holloway was feeding into the lies and misdirection of Walker's and others on the right because he thinks Walker has a serious chance of winning the governorship. That would allow Holloway to take over as County as the new county executive. Maybe Holloway just got tired of fighting after eight years and thought he and the rest of the Board would let Walker reap what he sows.

But whatever the reason, for Holloway to now cry foul and gripe about the lay offs is more than just a little self-serving, disingenuous and hypocritical. He knew as well as anyone who Walker was when he cozied up to him. He can't complain now that Walker reverted to his true nature and stabbed him and the rest of the Board in the back.

The worst part of it all is that not only is Walker stabbing the County Board in their collective back, damning both himself and them to deep political troubles, but they are going to take the rest of down with them.

ADDENDUM: Not surprisingly, the "liberal" MJS did not print this story in their morning paper. Will they go to no end to cover up for him?

The PPF Report And Subsequent Fallout

The Public Policy Forum came out with their much ballyhooed report on the sustainability of Milwaukee County. They also discussed ways on how to dismantle, or at least partially dismantle, the county. They did next to nothing on how to fix the problems.

Needless to say, this has caused, and is sure to cause, much discussion. Here are some of the more pertinent links, in no particular order:

• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's coverage of it.
• Rob Henken, President of the PPF, posted his explanation of the report.
• The Business Journal's coverage of the report.
• Rob Henken's take, again, this time via WisPolitics.com.
• Greater Milwaukee Committee's press release.
• Milwaukee County First's very preliminary analysis.
• County Board Chairman Lee Holloway's press release.
• Business Journal again, this time covering Holloway's take.
• The Editorial Board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel showing that they really don't know what they are talking about.
• Milwaukee County First calling out the MJS-EB and making some realistic suggestions to get the ball rolling.
  

Elected Officials Not Included In This Change

I received the following email from Milwaukee County through their eNotify system (emphasis mine):

THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR NON-REPRESENTED EMPLOYEES

 If you are a Union Represented Employee, you may disregard.

Pension Benefit Changes Effective January 1, 2010

At its December 17, 2009 meeting, the County Board adopted Resolutions effecting
Pension Benefit changes for non-represented employees as follows:


New “Normal Retirement Age” for employees who become members of the Employees’
Retirement System (ERS) after January 1, 2010

· The normal retirement age for non-represented employees becoming ERS
       members after January 1, 2010 is 64 years of age or 55 years of age with
       30 years of service.

· Non-represented employees who became ERS members before January 1, 2010
       will maintain the normal retirement age of 60 years of age or 55 years of
       age with 30 years of service.

· Elected Officials and non-represented Deputy Sheriffs are not included in  
        this change.

Reduction in Pension Multiplier to 1.6% for ERS service credit earned after 
January 1, 2010

· Non-represented employees who are currently ERS members or will become
       ERS members in the future will receive a pension multiplier of 1.6% for
       years of service on and after January 1, 2010.

· This change does not impact the multiplier percent earned by non-
       represented ERS members prior to January 1, 2010.

· Upon retirement, ERS will calculate individual benefits based on a
       formula that assures credit for service earned at the appropriate
       multiplier:  2.0%, 1.6% and/or 1.5%.

· This ordinance change does not apply to Elected Officials.
If you have questions regarding this communication, please contact
ERS at 278-4207.

No wonder Chairman Holloway, Supervisor Coggs and Scott Walker are so cozy lately. They're in cahoots to protect their own pile of treasure.

Walker, Through Vetoes, Shows His Inability To Lead

Scott Walker issued his vetoes today, and they are absolutely mind-boggling in their ineptitude and utter foolishness.

First, Walker vetoed a resolution calling for a study into the viability of providing health care benefits to the domestic partners of eligible county employees. Supervisor Chris Larson decried this veto, claiming that it will treat some county employees as second class citizens. My friend and fellow board member at Milwaukee County First, Jason Haas, points out the potential cost, if benefits were to ever be granted, is minimal, especially when contrasted to the gain it would provide for Milwaukee County.

This move by Walker is just another example of Walker's bigotry and his pandering to his extremist right-wing base, disregarding such quaint notions such as equality and promoting the county back to leadership status.

But then Walker really shows how his ideology and political aspirations have caused him to lose all contact with reality and that he is nothing more than a hypocritical fraud when it comes to leadership.

Some of the vetoes that Walker did to the amended budget were completely predictable, even if wrong-headed, like his profiteering privatization schemes, expecting non-negotiated concessions from the unions and discriminating against the poor, the needy, the disabled and the elderly.

It has been shown that the privatization that he insists on pursuing doesn't save the tax payers one penny, but in fact actually ends up costing more than if the jobs had been kept in the public sector. That doesn't slow Walker down though, because union-bashing is one of his handful of campaign stump speeches. Besides, he can steer those contracts to his campaign donors.

But to eliminate things like the pools, the community centers, mental health services, park maintenance, and the Community Justice Resource Center shows that Walker no longer has a moral compass to guide him. These vetoes show that he is more than willing to step on anyone, but especially the most vulnerable of our citizens, in order to pursue his myopic and monomaniacal pursuit of the governor's chair.

Also inexcusable is Walker's veto of the preservation of the farm and fish hatchery. The farm and fish hatchery costs tax payers absolutely nothing, as even the pro-Walker local paper points out:

... Eliminate the county's Farm and Fish Hatchery in Franklin, which is run with inmate labor. No savings.

but provides invaluable services by allowing the Hunger Task Force to feed hundreds, if not thousands, of hungry Milwaukee County citizens.

So if it costs nothing, and yet provides such a valuable service, why would Walker veto this, and not embrace it like most politicians would? The answer is twofold. Walker believes this will play well with his base, which usually doesn't want to be bothered with trivia like the truth. But it also is just another perennial attempt by Walker to open up this land for development, and maybe score himself some big campaign donations.

But the most baffling and most telling, but not most egregious, example of Walker's inability to be an effective or responsible leader is his restoration of the parking meters along the lakefront.

As I pointed out last week, while observing the County Board voting on the amendments, the parking meters makes no sense whatsoever:

Much to the joy of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and all lovers of the parks and the lakefront, the proposal to put parking meters up along the lakefront was roundly defeated. The clincher to its defeat was the fact that implementation of said plan was to raise $450,000, although it was pointed out that there was no explanation on how Walker’s staff came up with that number. In exchange, UWM informed the Board that it would cancel its lease for parking with the County, resulting in a loss of $94,000. UWM also would end its contract for U-Pass, the bus shuttle service, which is worth $2.3 million dollars.

There is no way under the sun that anyone can call foregoing $3.2 million dollars of guaranteed revenue for a hoped for $450, 000 as being fiscally responsible. The fact that Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Steve Schultze didn't call him out on this is another example that investigative reporting is indeed dead.

These vetoes by Scott Walker are not holding to his campaign pledge of fighting taxes. Nor are they politics as usual, as County Board Chairman Lee Holloway states.

They are just another showing of his cynical and hypocritical posturing in his perpetual chase of the governor's seat, and that he will go to any extreme, even doing unconscionable harm to the most vulnerable among us in this pursuit.

Please call your County Supervisor today, and tell them that Walker cannot be allowed to run his campaign off the backs of Milwaukee County anymore.