Abele Wants To Give Away War Memorial Center, O'Donnell Park

When Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive, he would willfully fail to maintain county assets, spending the money that was meant for repair and maintenance to cover his budget shortfalls. Sadly, the worst case scenario did happen and a boy lost his life when a facade on O'Donnell Park fell on him.

Another consequence of Walker's willful neglect was that the Milwaukee Art Museum and the War Memorial Center were at odds with each other, fighting over the scraps that they were able to get from Walker and the county.  It was the precursor of "Divide and Conquer."

After years of contention, Milwaukee County, under the direction of then-Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic and Supervisors John Weishan and Gerry Broderick, a deal was struck between the county, the art museum and the memorial center.  They brokered an agreement where the county  would give the two entities about $1.5 million per year for ten years so that they could fix up their respective buildings.

Milwaukee County Executive Emperor Chris "Boss" Abele was none too happy and called the deal "bullshit."  Supporting these two entities would slow down his plan of giving away these county assets to his wealthy friends.

Things were going swimmingly for three years until Tuesday, when Boss Abele dropped a bomb on the veterans who make up the executive board of the War Memorial Center.

Abele sent his Director of Administration, Teig Whaley-Smith, to the board meeting and told them outright that Abele was looking to give - not sell, but give - the ownership of the War Memorial Center and O'Donnell Park to the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM).  In exchange, the art museum would pick of the cost of maintenance and repairs for the two buildings as well as their own.

Needless to say, this is not sitting well with the veterans.  They were comfortable with the county - a public entity - being their landlord.  They are not comfortable at all with a private agency assuming that role.

If MAM were to become the owners of the War Memorial Center, they would have the last say on what could and couldn't be done.  If they didn't like a statue on the grounds, they could have it removed.  If they decided to double or triple the rent, they could without needing anyone's permission.

Taxpayers should be equally upset about the proposed deal.  From what Whaley-Smith told the board, the art museum would be able to keep the revenue from the parking structure at O'Donnell Park, which would be enough to pay for its own upkeep and then some.

Not only is Abele willing to again give away county assets, but now is ready to also give away sources of revenue, even as he whines that there isn't enough money to take care of the assets he hasn't given away yet.

It should also be noted that thanks to the power grab by Abele, with the assistance of his Republican friends in the state legislature, he could do this deal without any input from the county board or the public.

Abele, as part of his campaign, likes to claim that he is working for Milwaukee County.  How he claims this while giving away county assets and revenue streams without input from the public - or without even letting the public know - is breathtaking in its egregiousness.   It's almost as outrageous as his claims that he supports the veterans.

Abele Continues To Use Veterans As Political Pawns

A couple of days ago, I pointed out that even the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - which just adores Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele - had to tell Abele to grow up, suck it up and just sign off on the deal between the War Memorial Center and the Art Museum.  The agreement would allow the two entities to finally address some long neglected maintenance and repair issues.

Just about everyone in the entire community is behind this agreement but Abele.  And instead of just doing the right thing, Abele keeps showing himself to be an overgrown spoiled brat.

The latest from the Emperor is how it would be better to spend the disputed $300,000 on direct services for the veterans instead of repairing some old building meant to honor them.

This is a false choice.  There is no need whatsoever that it has to be either the War Memorial Center or services.

First of all, because of his excessive gouging on the workers - more than twice what Scott Walker is doing to state workers (and that's still not enough for him) - and cutting vital services, Abele has a "surplus" of tens of millions of dollars.

In other words, Abele's got more than enough money.  He just doesn't think that the vets are worth spending it on.

Secondly, even if he doesn't want to touch the surplus, he wouldn't have to.  He could first rescind the exorbitant pay raises he gave to his staff.  Hell, just the raises that he gave to his Chief of Staff, Amber Moreen, and his Director of Human Resources, Kerry Mitchell, alone would cover 20% of the $300,000.

And if you throw in the fact that he can't keep half of his office and department head slots filled for more than a few months at a time, there is surely a lot of unspent money that could go to fill the gap.

The other problem with Abele's attitude is that even if all the parties that had made the agreement stipulated to his demands and gave up that money, you know damn well that Abele wouldn't spend a dime of that on the veterans.  He would use that money to help pay for his plutocratic pals develop some county land or to pay for the courthouse fire and all the damage it caused.

Now if Abele was smart, he would sign the agreement and then match the amount in funding for services for veterans.  He's got more than enough money to do so.

But Abele is not smart.  He will continue to pout and have his temper tantrums about being told "no" again.  And when it's said and done, the agreement will be approved, whether because he finally signed it or because the County Board overrode his veto.

The only thing that this will accomplish for Abele is to prove once again that he is a self-serving plutocrat who doesn't care about the veterans unless he can use them.

MJS Tells Abele To Sign War Memorial Deal

Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele is losing his war against veterans and art lovers.

Poor darling.

Abele haz a sad.  He haz to grow up.
Photo by Mike De Sista

When the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center and Milwaukee Art Museum had reached an apparent impasse in negotiations, Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic brought in former Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske to mediate.  She managed to get all the parties involved to reach an agreement.

However, Abele, being the acolyte of austerity that he is, made it clear that he would rather push the veterans into the lake.  He called the deal "bullshit."  He tried to sabotage the deal.  When he realized that he was the odd man out on this - and after he spent months crapping on the county board - he suddenly wanted to compromise.  Maybe he'd settle for just pushing some of the veterans into the lake.

Thank goodness that the adults in the room - the county board - held fast and stayed the course for doing what is right.

Now even the distinctly Abele-friendly editorial board at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is telling Abele to grow up and sign the deal already:

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele seems to have run out of options on a deal for a new governance structure and fiscal support for the War Memorial and the Milwaukee Art Museum. He has asked County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic to compromise on the deal so that it would provide less public support over a shorter period of time, but she has said the deal approved 18-0 by the board last month already is a compromise. He has threatened a veto, but that 18-0 vote practically guarantees an override vote by supervisors.

Furthermore, a veto would only prolong this fight for a few more weeks and could unnecessarily delay implementation of a $25 million renovation plan. To move matters forward and in the interest of county amity, Abele should simply sign the deal.

Like Abele, we would have preferred a different deal — but we can live with this one, worked out over 18 months with the help of Marquette University professor and former Supreme Court justice Janine Geske, who was brought in by Dimitrijevic to help resolve some key differences.

The deal does create a better balanced and more efficient governance structure between the two bodies, as well as several other entities that were under the War Memorial umbrella, such as the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. It also provides a set funding level of taxpayer support for the two entities at $1,586,000 for 10 years — about $1.1 million for the Art Museum and the rest for the War Memorial.

Much of that money will be used to help pay for utility costs and routine maintenance at the War Memorial, which has been deteriorating. Coupled with $10 million pledged by the county for major maintenance issues and the $15 million the Art Museum plans to spend on a major renovation, the funding will help restore the War Memorial to a building in which all county residents can take pride.

The guaranteed 10-year support and partnership with the county may also help reassure donors that their money will be well-spent, as Dimitrijevic has argued.

Furthermore, the nearly $1.6 million is not out of line with the average $1.5 million in annual support the county provided from 1999 to this year.

So the deal makes sense on several levels, and prolonging a hopeless political fight over the issue appears fruitless.

The fact that Abele still hasn't signed the deal and that even the paper has to scold him into doing so shows that Abele has a lot of growing to do - both personally and professionally.

It also shows that despite what his ghost writers (yes, there is more than one) would have you believe, Abele's concern does not lie with the people of Milwaukee County, but rather how he and his plutocratic pals can exploit it.

Oh sure, NOW Abele Wants To Compromise

For months, the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center and the Milwaukee Art Museum had been at odds regarding the space that they share.  Years of neglect had left their shared building in horrible shape and in need of millions of dollars of repairs.

In order to allow the two entities to reach an agreement, the Milwaukee County Board asked former
Supreme Court Justice Jeanine Geske to step in and mediate between the two.  This agreement was finally reached to the point where all sides were satisfied.

Well, almost all sides.

True to his nature, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele started throwing one of his tantrums and threatened to blow up the agreement out of his hostility towards the County Board.

Undaunted by Abele's spoiled brat routine, the County Board approved the agreement in an unanimous vote.  Abele decried this and said that this support for the veterans and for the art community to be "bullshit."

But now Abele has found that his foolish posturing and inane temper tantrums have put him in a corner on this issue.

If Abele signs the agreement, he will look weak and ineffective to his plutocratic pals at the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

On the other hand, if Abele vetoes the agreement, that is sure to be overridden, probably unanimously. This will not only make Abele look weak and ineffective, it will also show his pettiness.

So with his back to the wall, Abele now wants to compromise:

In the face of an almost-certain veto override, Abele suggested in an email to County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic Friday that she work with him on a compromise figure and a shorter guaranteed funding period.

"If we could do this, perhaps we could even find money to spend on actual services for veterans," Abele wrote.

You'll never guess what Abele did when County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic said that he should just do the right thing and sign off on the agreement.

That's right!

Abele through another tantrum:

"She can talk all she wants on harmony," Abele said, reacting to Dimitrijevic's urging Abele to agree with the board's stance. "I sent her an email and asked about compromise on this and haven't heard back from her."

As Dimitrijevic points out, this agreement is already a compromise between all the parties. The only person against it is Abele. His refusal to just suck it up and do the right thing, even if he doesn't want to, is another sign of his immaturity and the fact that - like the overgrown child he is - cannot stand being told no.

Not only his Abele's tantrum an insult to veterans and to the art community, it's an insult to every voter in the county.

Just a few months ago, as Abele was actively pursuing his power grab through Act 14, the County Board offered him a compromise, which was them ceding almost everything he wanted anyway.  Even though Abele would have gotten almost everything he wanted, he refused to accept this compromise, saying it wasn't enough.

But now that the shoe is on the other foot, Abele has suddenly seen the light and is a fan of compromise.

I personally wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw the burned-out courthouse.

For the record, Abele's opposition to supporting the vets isn't related to his adoration of austerity - at least not completely.  Abele has a much more cynical use the War Memorial Center and art museum.  He wants to lump those - along with the public museum and possibly the zoo - into a group to push for a "cultural-based sales tax," most of which would be used to build a new basketball arena.

By having a long term agreement where the county is providing long term support for these two entities puts a definite kink in those plans.

And Abele really wants to watch the Bucks in his the new arena.

Abele Calls Support For War Memorial, Art Museum "Bullshit"

During the tenure of Scott Walker as Milwaukee County Executive, he was infamous for refusing to do proper maintenance and upkeep on county-owned facilities and property.  The results of his negligence ranged from cornice falling of off the courthouse to the tragedy of O'Donnell Park, where a facade fell and killed a boy and seriously injured two others.

One of the more seriously neglected buildings was the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center, which is also home to the Milwaukee Art Museum.  Water damage and other issues of neglect was not only threatening the building, but also valuable piece of art.

After nearly a year of struggling to reach an agreement between the War Memorial Center and the art museum on who would be responsible for what, the County Board asked former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jeanine Geske to step in and help mediate a resolution.  Geske's effort did not go to waste and agreement was made.  Several members of the board held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the agreement. This is from their press release:

Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, along with Supervisors Gerry Broderick and John Weishan, today announced that a new agreement between The Milwaukee Art Museum and The Milwaukee County War Memorial, Inc. will help ensure the long-term vitality of the buildings and grounds of both organizations.

Under the compromise, the War Memorial Center/Milwaukee Art Museum will receive $1,586,000 per year from the County from 2014 through 2023. This includes an investment of $1,100,000 to the Art Museum and $486,000 to the War Memorial. The annual funding commitment ends after the ten-year period, but the other portions of the agreement could extend for up to 84 years.

County capital improvement funding of $10 million between 2013 and 2017 will supplement the Art Museum’s planned private funding of $15 million for a total $25 million investment in improvements to the publicly-owned portions of the War Memorial and Art Museum buildings and grounds.

Supervisors Weishan and Broderick, members of the Committee on Parks, Energy and Environment, praised the accord.

“This is a historic agreement because not only do both organizations benefit, but all of Milwaukee County benefits,” Weishan said. “This is especially a victory for veterans because the pact promises to keep the War Memorial as a tribute to their selfless actions in service to our country.”

Broderick said the pact would help preserve both institutions for generations to come.

“This agreement is the product of leadership and vision by all who were involved,” Broderick said. “The Art Museum is a true jewel that is known world-wide as a symbol of Milwaukee, and the War Memorial honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Dimitrijevic said that she was pleased to help assuring the pact was reached when she asked former Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske to mediate talks after the two groups had reached an impasse.

“I believe that having Justice Geske mediate the discussion between the two groups was a key to reaching this historic agreement,” she said. “This is a win-win-win for the Milwaukee Art Museum, the War Memorial and the taxpayers of Milwaukee County. It's time to come together and make a long term commitment to our veterans and arts community. This investment will pay off for generations to come."

A special meeting of the Finance, Personnel and Audit committee will be held to consider the measure Thursday at 8 a.m. in the Courthouse before sending it to the Board at its 9:30 meeting.

Milwaukee County Emperor, who is no stranger to deferred maintenance, such as that which caused the Courthouse to catch on fire, is also opposed to the plan to restore the center and museum.

Between stamping his feet, screaming and holding his breath in his ongoing temper tantrum, Abele took time out to say he would veto the support for the veterans center and art museum.  In fact, Abele made it abundantly clear on what he thought of the deal in an interview with the Daily Reporter:

But Abele said he is committed to reducing the county’s support of the memorial and museum. Through negotiations, he said, he repeatedly told the museum and memorial they should not expect the county to continue contributing much money to their operating budgets.

He bolstered that, he said, by referring to the 2011 audit, but, he added, the museum and memorial seem not to have taken his comments to heart.

“Not only are they not more efficient,” Abele said, “they’re getting more expensive. … At what point do we kind of call bullshit?”

It should be noted that Abele is purposely misconstruing the findings of the 2011 audit done by County Auditor Jerome Heer, who had this to say about it:

Heer said when he wrote the 2011 recommendations, he was less concerned about continuing budget commitments to the museum and memorial than he was about the shape of the complex they occupy.

“Our No. 1 priority was to get the deferred maintenance addressed,” he said. “The nature of who funds it or how long they fund it is secondary.”

Showing the level of Abele's misrepresentation, Heer also said that he has no objections to the increased funding.

Abele had also lamented that he did not know where he would find an extra $300,000 out of the $1.4 billion county budget.  May I suggest that the exorbitant pay increases he gave to his cronies and the made up jobs he created for political favors would just about cover the increased money.

Given the level of incompetence and/or corruption we've seen from Abele's administration - from his spokesman to his corp counsel - the money would be put to better use in restoring the War Memorial Center and art museum.

Abele Takes Anger Out Against Veterans Memorial Center, Art Museum

Because of years of neglect during Scott Walker's reign as Milwaukee County Executive, the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center and the Milwaukee Art Museum have suffered greatly. The building is in great need of repair and maintenance.

Partially because of the big bill involved with the work that needs to be done, there has been some contention between the two entities on who was responsible for what and who controlled what.

To help mediate between the two, the Milwaukee County Board brought in former Interim County Executive and retired Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske to mediate between them.

Even has Geske was working on brokering an agreement, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele tried to interfere with the negotiations by changing the players in the middle of talks. Unsurprisingly, Abele lied about being asked to do this, even though no one had.

Fortunately, the Board shut down his efforts at manipulations and soon thereafter Geske was able to help the two parties reach a tentative agreement.

But suddenly, just days before Independence Day, Abele does the only thing he knows how to do and has yet another temper tantrum about the agreement. Holding his breath and stamping his feet, he is threatening to blow up the whole agreement:

Abele's stance on money "is jeopardizing the entire deal," said County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic. "The people of Milwaukee County are ready to make a significant, long-term commitment to protect these treasures."

She compared Abele's position to a groom who gets cold feet on his wedding day and said it had angered museum and War Memorial officials.

In a June 25 email, Deputy Corporation Counsel Mark Grady apologized to museum and War Memorial negotiators for the county backing away from funding levels under discussion.

"I sincerely regret this late change in position that you are receiving from me," Grady wrote. "I expect this will generate much angst," he wrote.

Abele claims that is opposition is based on an extra half million dollars and making a long-term commitment.

Funny thing is that Abele has no problem with spending that much just to give his cronies in his administration in taxpayer-funded bonuses. He also doesn't have an issue spending many times that much to allow his plutocratic pals in the Greater Milwaukee Committee to profiteer off the county grounds or off the former lake bed where O'Donnell Park is.

It is far more likely that this is Abele lashing back at the County Board for once again showing him up in the leadership and maturity departments. And even more likely than that is that his fellow plutocrats in the Greater Milwaukee Committee would rather profiteer off that land as Abele sets about privatizing assets such as the parks and the War Memorial Center.

It's all but certain that the County Board will try to stop any efforts by Abele to sabotage the preservation of these two entities and the buildings and lands where they are sited.

And don't think for a minute that the veterans haven't noticed that Abele is trying to give them the shaft either. Take a look at what a small group he could draw for a ceremony honoring veterans a few weeks ago:

And it should be pointed out that the group also includes his employees, like County (less than) Supervisor Deanna Alexander.  Any fewer people and it might as well be a Charlie Sykes' book signing event.

Abele really needs to grow up and start acting like an adult instead of a spoiled little brat.  Then he can also go back to school and learn how government works.

Sigh.

Given his track record, what Abele will probably do instead is go to Representatives Joe Sanfelippo and Dale Kooyenga, give them another boatload of cash, and ask them to draft a law outlawing veterans and art.