Why I Voted For John Weishan For Milwaukee County Register Of Deeds

Due to COVID-19 and Trump's absolute failure in addressing the global pandemic and because of the Wisconsin Republicans not only failing but making the issue worse, my wife and I took the wise route of requesting absentee ballots for the upcoming elections early on. We received, filled out and mailed in our ballots a month before next week's election on August 11. 

When we received the ballots, it was a bit anti-climatic to find that the only contested primary race was for the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds. Not the sexiest race to be sure. The race is between the "incumbent" Israel Ramon and Milwaukee County Supervisor John Weishan. 

Ramon was appointed to the position of May 2019 by Governor Evers at the strong urging of  Chris "Boss" Abele.  The previous Register, John La Fave, stepped down in disgrace during a federal investigation into questionable dealings with two companies, Superior Support Resources, Inc. and Fidlar technologies. Earlier this year, La Fave entered a guilty plea in his dealings with Superior Support Resources.  These dealings were as corrupt as hell:

La Fave, in short, has agreed to plead to orchestrating a scheme to set up a personal slush fund so he could pay vendors of his choosing without having to abide by county rules. It does not appear that he pocketed any of these funds. 

The charging document puts it this way: "At La Fave's direction, Business A held much of this money on account for La Fave to use outside of the county budgeting and procurement processes." 

In his deal with prosecutors, La Fave has agreed to admit that he "obtained and attempted to obtain at least $89,000" through the scheme. That sum amounts to a special fee, similar to a bonus, that Business A was paid for its role in managing the invoices for third-party vendors. 

The documents do not identify the contractor, but it must be Superior Support Resources Inc., a Brookfield company that processed documents for his office. An affidavit for a federal search warrant last year said La Fave asked Superior Support for false invoices over several years.

Fidlar is still under investigation. 

Despite Fidlar's possible involvement with another corrupt scheme with La Fave, Ramon approached the Milwaukee County Board last year asking for more money to give to Fidlar. Wisely, and following precedent, the request was shot down first by the Finance Committee and then by the Board as a whole.

The Milwaukee County Register of Deeds won't have the funds to complete a contract with Fidlar Technologies after the County Board declined to release the money because of the ongoing criminal investigation into the dealings of the office's former leader.

"This, I think, is a terrifically dangerous vote, if we vote for this," said Supervisor James "Luigi" Schmitt, chair of the county finance committee, during Thursday's meeting of the County Board of Supervisors.

Schmitt cited the ongoing investigation and said the board has stopped contracts over much less serious matters.

Now, I'm not accusing Ramon of any misdeeds like those his predecessor made, but to make such a request is very unwise and ill-advised.  It continues to cast a cloud on the Register of Deeds Office when they can least afford it.

This is why I voted for Weishan in this primary.  We need someone who has shown discipline and has a thorough understanding of how the County works.  He will be able to restore integrity to that office and build the confidence that is so desperately needed now.

Despite Ramon's claims of restoring integrity and transparency, he has failed in the year and a half that he has held that position.

I encourage you, Milwaukee County voter, to ignore the establishment protecting one of its own and make the the wise decision of casting your ballot for John Weishan.

Abele Comes Clean: He Ain't No Democrat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gee, how noble of him.

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

What Has Act 10 Cost You - The Milwaukee County Edition

Let me start this post with two sentences that I never, ever thought I would say in my life, especially as a public sector worker:

The first one is:

Thank you, Scott Walker!

Ooh, that was painful!  OK, the next one is:

Thank you, Chris Abele!

Ugh! I'm never going to get rid of this rotten taste in my mouth!

No, I haven't gone stark raving mad.  I actually have a valid reason for those statements.

To explain, let me remind the gentle reader of something that I have reported on in the past, which is how Walker's Act 10 would have a particularly detrimental effect on Milwaukee County taxpayers:

In 1991, Milwaukee County enacted the "Rule of 75," which meant that when an employee whose age and years of service totaled 75, they were eligible to retire with full pension benefits. However, this rule only applied to non-union represented employees or represented employees that were hired in 1993 or earlier. Represented employees weren't eligible for full benefits until they reached the age of 60 or 64, depending on their date of hire.

When Act 10 was enacted, AFSCME, the union representing public sector workers, chose not to play the Republicans' union busting games and didn't bother holding a vote to recertify. Their contention was that only the unions could decertify themselves and AFSCME wasn't about to do that. Thus, Milwaukee County chose to not recognize the union and claimed that all of its members were now non-represented.

This meant that over 1,000 employees suddenly became eligible for the Rule of 75.

Recognizing this loophole, the county then passed a resolution which basically said that if the employee wasn't eligible for the Rule of 75 then, they weren't eligible for it now.

AFSCME filed a class action lawsuit, arguing that the previously represented employees were now eligible. In other words, the county was trying to have it both ways.

AFSCME had won that lawsuit in 2016.

As I had predicted at the time, Abele appealed it. He lost a second time in 2017.

So Abele then appealed it again to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I'm sure that Abele thought it would be a slam dunk for him, given how friendly he is with the conservatives, especially his "special friend," Rebecca Bradley.

I would have loved to see his face when the Supreme Court issued their decision in favor of the workers. Especially when the court's ruling was written by Bradley herself:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court delivered a victory Tuesday to a group of Milwaukee County employees, allowing them to take advantage of early retirement benefits that county officials say they didn't mean to give them.

The 5-2 decision is expected to worsen the county's long-term pension liability by $6.8 million, according to a 2016 report. That would force the county to contribute more than $800,000 a year for 20 years to cover the liability.

So, you can see, while I would have much preferred to have had my rights as a worker left intact, there was a silver lining to the whole debacle. To make it even sweeter for me, because of Abele's stalling tactics, not only was I eligible to retire, I was eligible for a modest backdrop - sorry Daniel Bice and Mark Murphy, not enough for you to start frothing at the mouth like you like to do - but enough to make up for a large hunk of the money Walker and Abele stole from me over the past seven years.

Last Friday, I retired as a Milwaukee County worker of more than 24 years.

All that said, as a taxpayer, I am considerably less than thrilled about this course of events.  According to the paper, the cost of all the eligible people retiring would be about $7 million dollars.  I would love to know how Abele came up with that number since there is no way for him to really know.  The County irretrievably lost parts of workers' records in 2013, when Abele, through his negligence, set the Courthouse on fire. He has no way of knowing even who is eligible to retire due to the ruling, much less how much it might cost. 

Clarke: All Hat, No Cattle, And An Abundance Of Manure

When he was Milwaukee County Sheriff, David Clarke wasn't very good at his job. There were at least six deaths at his jail in just over a year. He pulled almost all of his deputies off of highway patrol. Instead of doing his job, Clarke spent most of his time traveling the country - and to Russia - to give paid speeches and to stump for Trump.

Having an approval rating in the 30s and facing almost certain defeat in next year's election, Clarke suddenly resigned to take a job in Trump's cabinet. But this quickly got shut down by General John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff. So Clarke ended up being a special consultant to Trump's PAC. There's no knowing if he's actually doing any consultation work, since he is still extremely busy making an ass out of himself on Twitter.

For example, when Congress woman Fredrica Wilson started calling out Trump for disrespecting the grieving family of a fallen soldier, Clarke jumped into action:

The Dem Party gives license to black members of Congress to go after President Trump because if he responds they’ll just call him racist. pic.twitter.com/yuNrSk0Udf

— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) October 19, 2017

Hmm, that doesn't explain all the other people calling Trump out. Unless Clarke thinks that Senator John McCain and former President George Bush are black congresswomen.

Clarke's defense of his master turns into comic relief a few days later when Clarke killed irony with one tweet:

.@realDonaldTrump calling Frederica Wilson “whacky” is putting it mildly. The woman is a buffoon. Look at her. https://t.co/GlpIyCTAqY pic.twitter.com/ov3gFCtmjC

— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) October 20, 2017

Yes, this is coming from a guy who wears an ill-fitting cowboy hat himself and a chestful of fake medals. At least Rep. Wilson has a reason to wear her hats. Clarke's only reason is that he's trying to be more like a white conservative.

If you thought that was the ultimate faux pas, you would be wrong. There's more. There's always more.

Clarke topped off the week with this doozy of a tweet, which I decided to screencap before he deletes and/or changes it:

Surely, the gentle reader will recognize that the picture of a crying Obama was from when Obama was discussing the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, where 20 children and six teachers were gunned down in cold blood.

To make things worse, this isn't the first time Clarke has used that picture and exploited these deaths for a cheap political shot. In 2016, Clarke used the same picture to claim that black voters were rejecting Obama to vote for Trump:

That is definitely the signs of a sick, twisted mind.

This shameless exploitation of such a tragedy makes his typo seem trivial, when he says that Trump has the "metal" instead of mettle.

On second thought, maybe Clarke is just a graduate of the Trump University School of Tweeting.

Clarke Declines Job That Was Never Offered

One month ago, David Clarke made the big announcement that he had accepted a job with Trump's Department of Homeland Security and would leave Milwaukee once and for all by the end of June. However, Homeland Security was quick to state that no such announcement was made:

Sr. positions are announced when made official by the Sec. No such announcement w/ regard to the Office of Public Engagement has been made.

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 17, 2017

As time grew on, speculation that Clarke was never offered the job grew. On Friday, three days after Clarke met with Trump's staff to grovel for the position, Homeland Security repeated themselves:

But when Clarke put out the news of his appointment on his own last month, it quickly drew a rebuke in an agency tweet that said "no such announcement" had been made. Agency spokeswoman Jenny Burke repeated the language of the tweet almost word for word Friday.

"The position mentioned is a secretarial appointment. Such senior positions are announced by the department when made official by the secretary," Burke said in an email. "No such announcement with regard to the Office of Partnership and Engagement has been made."

:Late Saturday, the Washington Post broke the news that Clarke has turned down the job he was never officially offered:

Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke has withdrawn his name from consideration for an assistant secretary position at the Department of Homeland Security, an adviser to Clarke confirmed to The Washington Post on Saturday.

"Late Friday, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. formally notified Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly that he had rescinded his acceptance of the agency’s offer to join DHS as an assistant secretary," said Craig Peterson, an adviser to Clarke. "Sheriff Clarke is 100 percent committed to the success of President Trump and believes his skills could be better utilized to promote the president’s agenda in a more aggressive role."

[...]

"The sheriff is reviewing options inside and outside of government," Peterson said. "Sheriff Clarke told Secretary Kelly he is very appreciative of the tremendous opportunity the secretary was offering, and expressed his support for the secretary and the agency."

I would take that to mean that Clarke is now putting his hope on getting a paid gig at Fox News and/or becoming a professional speaker at right wing nut job events.

If that falls through as well, Clarke is up for reelection next year, although he has yet to announce whether he will or not. But Clarke is probably kissing all the ass he can at Fox News because he has dwindling chances at being reelected.

Clarke's approval rating in Milwaukee has dropped all the way down to 31%. Adding to his misery is that he has lost a lot of his dark money supporters, both in Wisconsin and across the country, due to his fanatical Trumpism.

On top of that, Clarke would be facing a formidable opponent, Earnell Lucas. Lucas used to be a ranking officer with the Milwaukee Police Department before becoming the Supervisor of Security for Major League Baseball. (Except for the Cubbies winning the pennant last year, there's been no acts of terror at a baseball game.) Lucas is already receiving a lot of support from Democrats and independents.

In the meantime, please say a prayer for us in Milwaukee. We're gonna need all the help we can get.

David Clarke 'Murica's Sheriff!

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By Jeff Simpson

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, like a spoiled child, is upset that others are getting more attention than he is.   That has led to as many appearances on Fox News as he possibly can(rumor has it he is still the Milwaukee County Sheriff and still being paid by the Milwaukee County taxpayers).  
As Capper pointed out recently, Clarke took to the safety of twitter to call for pitchforks and torches. While some people were upset that he was calling for basically armed resistance, what I saw was someone who did not understand that when people come with the pitchforks and torches, they will not be standing with him, they will be coming for him.

They will come for the people who are making $132000/yr with Cadillac Benefits who never seems to show up at his job because he is too busy promoting himself.   While he is busy flying to New York to be on Fox news or flying to Florida to campaign for The Donald, he has neglected on thing - his job!

While Terrill Thomas was a prisoner in the Milwaukee County Jail, he never made it out of the jail.  Terrill's death was ruled a homicide and the cause was dehydration.  Yes under Sheriff Clarke's rule, a human being was denied water for days until he finally died.

David Clarke apparently has not gotten enough attention for that because he went back to the safety of twitter:

With @megynkelly tonight 9PM ET. All hands on deck. @realDonaldTrump needs all guns firing at Mrs. Bill Clinton right now. pic.twitter.com/TRHepinOFh

— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) November 1, 2016

All guns firing on the presumptive 45th President of the United States.   Not done by some hate filled, racist, Charlie Sykes regular but by the SHERIFF of Milwaukee County!

But wait, there's more!

Calling for shooting of Hillary Clinton was not enough, he needed to also call for her beheading!

David A. Clarke, Jr.Verified account‏@SheriffClarke

Guard against over confidence. Keep your boot on the neck of the Clinton campaign. She's a snake. To kill a snake you cut off its head.

But Wait there is even more yet!   Recently, the whole Cliven Bundy clan, was acquitted.   A quick rundown of the situation, Cliven Bundy was a cattle rancher who decided that he did not have to pay his bills and when the Federal Agents showed up, it turned into an armed standoff.

As many have pointed out, not just anyone can pull a gun on federal officers and live to tell about it.  What did America's Sheriff have to say about that?

The good guys, "We the People" are the winners here. Bureau of Land Management bullies ranchers into giving up land. https://t.co/IBHyypsUJs

— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) October 28, 2016

Who are these "We The People" on the Bundy ranch?  

The man and woman said to have shot and killed two police officers and a third person in Las Vegas Sunday bragged that they had been involved in the recent standoff with the federal government at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch, neighbors of the pair have told local Nevada papers. And early reports suggest the couple may have been motivated by anti-government extremism.
The couple shot two Las Vegas police officers who were eating lunch at a pizza restaurant, then minutes later killed a third person at a nearby Wal-Mart. The woman then killed the man before turning the gun on herself, in what police have said was an apparent suicide pact.

Is David Clarke really the role model and public servant the people of Milwaukee want?  It is time to hold the Sheriff accountable for his actions:

David A. Clarke Jr., Sheriff
        821 West State Street, Room 107
       Milwaukee, WI 53233
      (414) 278-4766

@SheriffClarke

 sheriff@milwaukeecountywi.gov   or Or

Abele To Pikachu: Pay Up Or Get Out!

Milwaukee County is facing a crisis!

I'm not referring to the racial unrest after another police shooting. I'm not talking about the fiscal crisis caused by Milwaukee County Emperor Executive Chris Abele giving away hundreds of millions of dollars in county assets to billionaires like the owners of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Oh no, the problem that Milwaukee County faces is much bigger than that.

The crisis is that people - members of the public - are using the public parks to socialize and recreate by playing Pokemon Go! The horror of it all!

Milwaukee County's parks director has sent a letter to the company behind the gaming sensation "Pokemon Go," asking it to comply with a county ordinance that requires a permit for game play in the public spaces, WISN 12 NEWS has learned.

So far there's been no reply, parks director John Dargle said, adding that he's only asking the CEO of Niantic to do what any organization must do when it organizes an event on park land.

"We're asking them to submit a permit so that we understand who is the contact (and) how we can get a hold of them if this should get out of hand," Dargle said.

Until that permit is obtained, Niantic "must deactivate and removal all Pokemon GO sites, including Poke stops and Gyms within Milwaukee County parks," the letter said.

Here is a copy of the pay up or get out letter.

Dargle goes on to say that it has caused a number of complaints about congestion, litter and people in the park after hours.

But Dargle's boss, the plutocratic Chris Abele, accidentally tells the real reason for this turf war (emphasis mine):

"Everybody likes fun recreation. The parks are there to be used by the public, but when it starts interfering with other people's ability to enjoy their own park, when there's more trash, you know, we have to get serious about it," Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said.

Additionally, entrepreneurs like artist Anandah Bohl have seized upon the opportunity presented by the game by selling fan art to the throngs in Lake Park. Niantic makes money through in-app purchases.

"Parks wants a cut of that revenue so we can help catch up on deferred maintenance," Abele said, adding that it's illegal to operate a business without a permit.

In other words, because Abele has been lavishing gifts to his fellow wealthy elites, he has no money left to take care of his real duties, like fixing the long-neglected parks.

So far, Niantic has not responded to the county's ridiculousness. Don't hold your breath that they ever will. Not only because it is so absurd that it doesn't deserve an answer but because Abele doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Just a month ago, Abele invited the community to all of the parks to participate in a "PokeNic," a Pokemon Go based event. He even gave the people all of the hot spots in the parks where the Pokemon are most commonly found.

The Pikachu Crisis is so huge that they have even scheduled a town hall meeting on September 2.

Please pray for us and that we might survive this calamity - Chris Abele that is, not the Pokemon thing.

The High Cost Of Walker's Act 10

Earlier this year, Scott Walker and the other Republicans were doing victory tours around Wisconsin, bragging that Act 10 - a Right to Work law aimed solely at public sector workers - had saved taxpayers some $5 billion over the past five years. Of course, these claims came from cherry picked data and fudged math and didn't stand up to any type of analysis.

In reality, Act 10 didn't save any money. It merely shifted the burden onto the counties and municipalities. And despite that, state spending has been increasing, despite the drop in revenues and the supposed savings.

But in Milwaukee County, Act 10 did not only not save any money, it is proving to be extremely expensive.

In 1991, Milwaukee County enacted the "Rule of 75," which meant that when an employee whose age and years of service totaled 75, they were eligible to retire with full pension benefits. However, this rule only applied to non-union represented employees or represented employees that were hired in 1993 or earlier. Represented employees weren't eligible for full benefits until they reached the age of 60 or 64, depending on their date of hire.

When Act 10 was enacted, AFSCME, the union representing public sector workers, chose not to play the Republicans' union busting games and didn't bother holding a vote to recertify. Their contention was that only the unions could decertify themselves and AFSCME wasn't about to do that. Thus, Milwaukee County chose to not recognize the union and claimed that all of its members were now non-represented.

This meant that over 1,000 employees suddenly became eligible for the Rule of 75.

Recognizing this loophole, the county then passed a resolution which basically said that if the employee wasn't eligible for the Rule of 75 then, they weren't eligible for it now.

AFSCME filed a class action lawsuit, arguing that the previously represented employees were now eligible. In other words, the county was trying to have it both ways.

Recently, the Honorable Stephanie G. Rothstein issued her decision in the matter, ruling for AFSCME, and agreeing that these 1,000 employees were indeed eligible for the Rule of 75:

Rick Badger, executive director of AFSCME Council 32, announced today that the Union has received a favorable decision from a Milwaukee County Circuit Court in its ongoing battle on behalf of Union members who work for Milwaukee County. Judge Stephanie G. Rothstein issued her 10-page decision dated May 27, granting Union members additional early retirement benefits on terms previously available predominately to non-Union employees.

Noting that Act 10 “prohibits bargaining over all subjects except for ‘base wages’,” Judge Rothstein determined that the County’s Ordinance, passed on Sept. 29, 2011, granted the Rule of 75 to employees who were hired prior to January 1, 2006, so long as they are “not covered by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.” Previously, Union employees were granted the benefit only if hired prior to 1994. The Judge decided:

[U]pon the effective date of Wisconsin 2011 Act 10, there was no collective bargaining agreement in effect, or executed, or even being negotiated; there was no status quo protection existing under MERA with regard to “conditions of employment;” and therefore there was no pre-existing legal obligation between the parties as it related to conditions of employment beyond wages. Therefore, because no collective bargaining agreement was in effect, the plaintiffs were not “covered by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement” as used in Ordinance 11-15 for purposes of evaluating their eligibility for the Rule of 75.

Badger said that the Union continues to insist that its members be treated fairly. “This case demonstrates yet another consequence of the state’s demolition of collective bargaining. When the county is left to its own unilateral actions, the give and take of collective bargaining is gone,” Badger said.

The process the county used led to them granting benefits in an ordinance change that the county argued to the Court was meant to ensure that employees “would not be eligible for the Rule of 75.”

Mark Sweet, an attorney at Sweet and Associates, LLC, representing the Union, noted that the Court cited longstanding Wisconsin Supreme Court precedent in holding the County to the language it enacted in the ordinance. As cited by the Court, “It is the enacted law, not the un-enacted intent, that is binding on the public.”

This would mean a cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars to the county's pension fund.

Ironically, the current county executive, the conservative "Democrat" Chris Abele, is known to sing the praises of Act 10, and how it saved the county so much money. It is not known if he still feels that way now.

It is a sure bet that the county will appeal this decision all the way to the state supreme court, which has been known to ignore the law and rule in the way that their conservative funders want them to rule. But then again, the conservatives love to stick it to Milwaukee, so who knows how this will end up.

But for now, there are a lot of very happy county employees.

The actual court ruling can be seen here.

Abele's Friends (With Benefits)

Last year, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris "Boss" Abele spent nearly two million dollars of his daddy's money to send out a barrage of mailers and run incessant commercials. The plan was to crush his opponent, State Senator Chris Larson, in the primary and cruise on to buy the general election.

But things didn't turn out the way Abele wanted.

Despite being outspent by a margin of more than 20:1, Larson won the primary outright.

Now, Boss Abele, in a sign of utter desperation, has gone completely negative, running a poorly run commercial trying to, of all things, to tie Larson in with Scott Walker.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Abele is trying to say that Larson, who led his fellow senators out of state to delay the Act 10 bomb, and who has steadfastly stood against the constant Republican assault on Wisconsin, was in cahoots with Walker.

Even funnier was Abele trying to present himself as "one of us."

This ad is taking a page right out of the Karl Rove playbook of attacking the opponent from one own's weakness.  You see, it's not Larson that is chummy with Walker and the other Republicans.  It's Abele that is in bed with them.

While Abele was falsely denying any consideration of a run for governor, he had this to say about his buddy:

"I ran because I wanted to make a difference in in the county. And frankly, I’ve got a good working relationship with the governor and I think between where his politics are and what he’s doing in the state and what I’d like to do at the county I would like to get as much positive out of that and productive change as possible.

[...]

But in office, Abele has emphasized his desire to work cooperatively with Walker.

And Walker isn't the only Republican that Abele is cozy with.

Three years ago, when the extremely right wing radical Rebecca Bradley was running in her first election, she had Abele's endorsement and support:

In other words, she has been and is bad news for the Milwaukee County court system.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that some other people that want bad things to happen to Milwaukee County would support her.

People like Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who wants to make Milwaukee County a plaything for himself and his uber-rich friends at the Greater Milwaukee Committee, even though Abele has proven himself to be exquisitely inept at doing the job he's got now.

Now, given, Abele's endorsement might have stemmed from the fact that he and Bradley were more than just friends.

But the same can't be said for State Representatives Dale Kooyenga and Joe Sanfelippo. Abele gave both of these rabid Teapublicans campaign donations in return for favors rendered. Kooyenga wrote the bill giving Abele the authority to take over and privatize Milwaukee Public Schools. Sanfelippo is the one that pushed through two of Abele's other power grabs - usurping power from the county board and taking away the mental health system from the people's purview.

And for Abele, sometimes donating to Republicans just isn't enough.  So he holds fundraisers for them, like he did with Deanna Alexander.

It's not only right wing politicians that Abele is chummy with. He also loves him some of that right wing corporate media. A fine example of this is when Abele used county email to have a whinefest with Aaron Rodriguez, the anti-union and pro-education privatization calumnist for the local paper.

Furthermore, the dark money propagandist group, Media Trackkkers, has done repeated hit jobs on Larson. The gentle reader should wonder why this right wing group would help Abele by going after Larson if Larson was such a good friend of Walker's. If you said that it's because Abele is the Walker Mini-me and not Larson, give yourself a pat on the back. You got it right!

As a last note, it is important to be an informed voter. So keep in mind that despite Abele's desperation and histrionics, Larson is tied in with neither Scott Walker or dark money special interests.

Abele, on the other hand, is very cozy with Walker and the other Republicans. However, the plutocrat Abele, with all of his daddy's money, is not only tied up with the dark money special interests, he is one.

Abele Still Doesn't Get Racial Inequality

Milwaukee is one of the most racially segregated communities in the nation. With elected "leaders" like Milwaukee County Emperor Executive Chris Abele (who likes to refer to himself as "Boss Abele"), it's not hard to see why.

The plutocratic Abele is facing a tough opponent in this spring's election in State Senator Chris Larson. In a debate on Monday, Abele showed just how out of touch he is with the African American community when he said that he was helping them by improving the programming and the food service at the Milwaukee County House of Correction (an extension of the Milwaukee County Jail) and by improving child support enforcement.



What makes Abele's comments even more egregious is that he said the same damn thing last fall, when he was presenting his proposed 2016 budget to the county board.

The fact that six months later, if improving the prison system is still his go-to answer for how he is helping African Americans, even after all the backlash he got from his comments last fall, well, to only goes to show that Abele just doesn't care about the black community. Along with this is the fact that since Abele lost the City of Milwaukee, where the largest African American community in the state is, he has written them off and just appealing to the conservative and predominately white suburbs.

Regardless of his reasoning, it is just more proof that Abele needs to go.

Cross posted from Crooks & Liars

Abele: Make The Poor Pay For Bucks Arena!

Last summer, Scott Walker and his little mini-me, the plutocrat and Milwaukee County Emperor Executive Chris Abele, wanted to help build a new Bucks arena. Even though the new owners are worth more than $5 billion, Walker and Abele promised that the taxpayers would pay for half of the arena.

When Walker couldn't get the deal done with his fellow Republicans, Abele stepped up with a truly maleficent idea:

When this plan appeared to be dead in the water, in comes Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, a plutocrat who just happened to buy a $2 million condo next to the proposed development site, with an even worse idea. Abele's plan is to increase the county's share of the cost by handing over cases of uncollected taxes and court fines to mercenary debt collection agencies, who would add 15% to the money they collect from already indigent people. On top of that, Abele would sell county-owned land worth $9 million to the Bucks owners for a buck.

Even with Abele promising to stick it to his poorest constituents, Walker and the Republicans couldn't come up with enough votes to get the deal passed. So the Republicans did something that was almost unheard of in Wisconsin - they reached across the aisle to ask the Democrats for their help.

To get enough Democrats to vote for this bill, State Senator Chris Larson got everyone to agree to take out the part about sticking it to the poor. Thanks to Abele, Milwaukee County was still on the hook for $4 million per year for 20 years for the arena, but it did not have to be built squarely on the backs of the poor.

Now fast forward to this past Friday.

Abele paid off a couple of Republican and a couple of Democratic state legislators to reintroduce that portion of the deal. But this time, he made it even worse by making the burden on the poor $5 million per year instead of the previous $4 million.

Not only did Abele stick it to the poor even more, but he had the legislators rush the bill through as fast as they can. He did this partially because this is the last week the state legislature is in session - for the rest of the frickin' year.

Abele also had the bill rushed through because he might not be in office long enough to see it through otherwise.

Abele is up for reelection this year and is facing a very strong opponent in Larson, the same guy that fixed the Bucks deal last year. In fact, Larson pulled an upset victory over Abele, who had outspent Larson by more than a 20-1 margin.

I really don't know how Abele thinks that attacking his own constituents is going to help his chances. Then again, Abele, who is willing to spend more than $5 million of his own money in an effort to buy his reelection, probably doesn't care.

Abele Sandbags Public School Takeover Because Elections

In Milwaukee County, there is a classic battle going on for the seat of Milwaukee County Executive. On one side is the well-moneyed rich, spoiled brat who thinks he can just buy his reelection. On the other side is a wildly popular state senator who is actually progressive and has one helluva grassroots campaign going on.

The incumbent is Chris Abele, son of billionaire John Abele, who feels that because his daddy is rich, he's better than the rest of us. Abele's five years in office has led to the dismantling of civil service protections, repeated efforts to bust the unions (both public and private), the removal of checks and balances in county government by concentrating power in his hands and the takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools.

Abele was rather proud of his working with the Republicans in the state legislature to make sure that he would become the education privatization czar in Milwaukee. For years, Abele and fellow millionaire, Sheldon Lubar, openly said that they were targeting the Milwaukee Public School Board in an effort to privatize the school system. Now that the Republicans gave him what he wanted, he couldn't stop bragging about how great he would make things.

What Abele didn't count on was how unpopular his takeover plans would be. In the face of increasing criticism, Abele is trying to downplay his takeover agenda. Sadly for him, Abele and his allies keep committing gaffes that reveal that he has no intention of scaling back his plans.

His hand-picked Commissioner for Decommissioning Public Schools, Demond Means, scheduled his first "listening" session at a private charter school. After an immediate and large amount of blow back, Abele and his commissioner rescheduled the session for a Milwaukee Public Park. (In what I am sure is pure coincidence that about the same time, Abele's head of corporation counsel said it was OK to have political events at county parks.)

The real giveaway came from Abele's friend, Republican State Senator Alberta Darling, who coauthored the bill giving Abele the power to privatize the Milwaukee school system. In the video below, she came out and said that Abele is waiting until after the April election before fulfilling his role in the takeover of the Milwaukee Public Schools:



On the other side of this takeover his Abele's opponent, State Senator Chris Larson, who, as seen in the video at top) is not only standing with the Milwaukee teachers and parents, but is willing to lead the way to taking it to Abele, delivering petitions with over 800 signatures opposing Abele's takeover.

As the gentle reader can see, this race is much, much more than just an election about good government versus a corrupt plutocracy. It is also about the future of our children.

Cross posted from Crooks and Liars

Larson Would Restore Civil Service Protections In Milwaukee County

Even as State Senator Chris Larson was trying to stop the state Republicans from returning the state to an era of political patronage, he is fully aware of the fact that Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele has already done that in Milwaukee County.

In a press release, Larson has vowed to restore integrity to Milwaukee County government by restoring the civil service protections that Abele destroyed:

State Senator Chris Larson (D – Milwaukee), a candidate for Milwaukee County Executive, is in Madison today fighting to protect Wisconsin workers against a bill that would gut civil service protections. This bill will consolidate power and streamline corruption in Scott Walker’s government.

But it should be noted that incumbent Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has already gutted civil services for county employees.

After Act 10 mandated that only wages could be collectively bargained, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that protected other important employee rights, including seniority, the evaluation process, weakening progressive discipline, and other due process protections.

Starting with the passage of Act 203, which gave the County Executive unilateral control over the Behavioral Health Division, Abele has asserted that this ordinance is no longer in effect. Within two months–from December, 2014 to February, 2015–thousands of public servants became subject to the same rules as political appointees.

The weakening of civil service protections can lead to cronyism and corruption. Larson said, “Wisconsin families are tired of politicians like Walker and Abele who continue to erode workers’ rights, wages and protections. As County Executive, we will work to restore civil service protections that ensure workers are hired based on what they know and not who they know.”

Since Abele changed the civil service code for the county, morale has dropped and turnovers have skyrocketed. There has been notable patterns of retaliation against workers, denials of due process for targeted workers and a conspicuously large amount of the most senior workers being harassed to the point of being unfairly fired and/or forced to retire. Labor strife has also increased as favored workers - especially new hires - are started at the top of the pay scales, making more money that workers that have been there for ten years or more.

Milwaukee County is even more corrupt and in disarray under Abele than it was under Walker, as hard as it is to imagine.

It is good to see Larson making cleaning up the government a priority.

Abele Leaves Homeless Out In The Cold

As anyone in Wisconsin can attest to, the state is in the middle of a second dangerous cold snap.  In Milwaukee, the severe cold has already claimed the life of a young woman who was not dressed appropriately for the weather.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have to try to survive outside in this cold weather, day in and day out?

Sadly, too many Milwaukeeans have to do just that.

Despite Abele's outlandish claims that he has cured homelessness, there are still scores of homeless people that have no escape from the dangerous cold except for homeless shelters.  Yet Abele had refused to restore hundreds of thousands of dollars to help fund these homeless shelters.  Fortunately, the adults on the Milwaukee County Board overrode Abele's greed and restored the funding themselves.

Yet even that is proving to be not enough and groups are scrambling to open more shelters to deal with the growing number of homeless.

Unbelievably, denying funding to the homeless shelters wasn't enough for Abele.  His war on the poor continued when he sent out county workers to take away and throw out all the belongings of people living below bridges and in other homeless camps.

There has to be a better way.

Thankfully, there is.

Chris Larson has vowed to step up the county's efforts to help the homeless by creating more shelter beds.  Furthermore, Larson said he would pay for them by getting rid of Abele's Hollywood bodyguards, cutting the extravagant raises that Abele has given his cronies (just to keep them from quitting on him) and freezing the county executive's budget.

But for Larson to be able to do these things, we need to get him elected.  Please help support Larson.  You can find ways to help by visiting his website.

And remember to vote in the primary on February 16 and the election on April 5.

It is time to Toss the Boss.

Chris Abele's Uncas Avenue Scandal Explodes

Last month, I reported that Milwaukee County Executive Emperor Chris Abele was planning on placing sex offenders in a quiet south side community even though he had promised the people in that neighborhood that he would do no such thing.

State Senator Chris Larson, State Representative Chris Sinicki, County Supervisor Jason Haas and City Alderman Terry Witkowski have been fighting very hard against this happening.

In recent days, more information has come out that shows that things are much, much worse than anyone had previously thought.

Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express dug into the story and learned a number of alarming facts.

Not only did Abele falsely promise that no sex offenders would be placed in the group on West Uncas Avenue, but the owner of the group home, Karl Rajani, had made the same false promise.  On top of that, Rajani tried to smooth the way by offering to pay off members of the community.

Needless to say, when elected officials that represent that area learned that Abele was going to place these sex offenders there, they were outraged.  From Kaiser's article:

Witkowski said he heard from neighbors that sex offenders would be placed on Uncas Avenue and that he contacted Abele for more information. He said he didn’t get a solid response from the county until after he called a press conference in November.

“This is the worst example of government I’ve ever seen as far as secrecy and not involving the public,” Witkowski told the Shepherd.

Supervisor Haas, who represents the area on the county board, said he found out about the facility after the fact and the board doesn’t have the ability to vote on it.
“This was done utterly in secret,” Haas said.

Kaiser also learned that the three-year contract to house the two sex offenders and two other patients being ousted from the mental health hospital was worth $5.5 million and was awarded in a no bid process.

Last week, residents of the West Uncas Avenue neighborhood attended the Milwaukee County Board's Health and Human Needs Committee.  While the residents were able to express their concerns, their anger and their frustration, they came away empty-handed.

Abele had had State Representative Joe Sanfelippo and Senator Alberta Darling ram through legislation that took away all authority the county board had over the county's mental health services.  The control of the county mental health services - and its budget - to an unelected Mental Health Board, populated with Abele's political appointees.

The citizens were told that the Mental Health Board was scheduled to take up this subject on Thursday, December 17.

The chairwoman of said board is Abele's disgraced former head of corp counsel, Kimberly Walker, who had been fired for gross incompetency and unethical behavior.  Walker told Kaiser that she would not allow public comment on the matter.

At the board meeting, even though the Uncas Avenue group home was the last item on the agenda, it was manipulated to be heard first so that any concerned citizens that showed up later would not even get to learn what happened, much less have any input.

But there's more. There's always more.

It was learned that the two sex offenders had been telling staff at the mental health complex - nurses, nursing assistants and doctors - that they were planning on reoffending once they were placed in the community.  It might have been that these statements were made to manipulate their situation and an effort to keep them from being placed in an unfamiliar and possibly unsafe situation.  But as with suicide threats, it needed to be taken seriously.

In an effort to alert the Mental Health Board to these newly found facts, Dennis Hughes spoke out at the meeting, telling board members of the threats being made by the offenders.

For his trouble, Walker had him escorted out of the room and then arrested (emphasis Kaiser's):

The Uncas Avenue facility was the last item on the agenda.

But Board Member Duncan Shrout moved that it be heard first. So even if Uncas Avenue residents had been allowed to speak, they would have been caught off guard and likely wouldn’t have been there to speak at 8 a.m.

The discussion was relatively superficial, which I’m sure was by design. Colon assured the board that all state, local and federal laws had been followed.

Board Chair Walker never told the board that Supervisor Dimitrijevic had made her request for public discussion. Nor did any board members bring up the fact that BHD administration had misled them on the $5.5 million contract. Nor did they discuss Uncas Avenue neighbors’ concerns about sex offenders living on their block.

So the board voted to table the issue.

And that’s when Hughes stood up, demanding to speak about the “imminent threat to public safety.”

And that’s when security moved in on him.

So that’s the true story of what happened this morning.

Again, for wanting to warn of a danger to public safety, Abele's political appointee had him arrested and hauled off. That is not an example of representative government. That is pure fascism.

To summarize, Abele gave a no bid contract worth $5.5 million to a group home to house sex offenders, even though he had told neighbors and their elected officials that he would not place the offenders there.  Then when someone speaks out to warn of an imminent danger to public safety - that the offenders were already planning to reoffend - they get arrested and carted off to jail.

Sadly, there's still even more.

People who have been following this situation closely have informed me that there were two other registered sex offenders listed as living at the mental health complex who are no longer listed as living there.  There current whereabouts are unknown except to Abele and his inner circle.

Now doesn't that make you feel better?

Any pretense that Abele is concerned about public safety or the wishes of the constituents he supposedly represents can be thrown out right now.

Just like his friend and mentor, Scott Walker, Abele is a firm believer in what you don't know won't hurt his campaign.

Who Has Abele Placed In Your Neighborhood?

For more than two years, AFSCME and the mental health professionals at the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division have been warning about the dangers associated with Chris Abele's plan to privatize the mental health system and close the mental health complex.

The Milwaukee County Board heeded these warnings and wanted to put safeguards into Abele's plan to relocate all the patients into the community.  Because of this and his desire for no accountability or public knowledge, Abele ran to his old buddy, Republican State Representative Joe Sanfelippo.  After slipping Sanfelippo a few bucks, he got his privately owned state rep to push through a law taking the board out of the loop and creating a puppet board to rubber stamp Abele's plans.

Earlier this year, Abele's secrecy and dishonesty started causing problems.  The citizens of Franklin started protesting a group home opening in their community.  They cited concerns about who might be housed in the group home, whether there would be adequate supervision and security and other such things.  Instead of doing the proper education, Abele and the private agency have threatened to sue the City of Franklin to force them to allow the group home.

But it doesn't end there.  As with all things Abele, there is more.  There is always more.

Apparently, in an effort to avoid another fiasco like the one in Franklin, Abele adapted a new modus operandi, namely, lying about what he is doing.

On Wednesday, Milwaukee Alderman Terry Witkowski and State Representative Christine Sinicki held a press conference accusing Abele of opening another group home which will house sex offenders, despite his assurance that this wouldn't happen:

Ald. Terry L. Witkowski on Wednesday accused Milwaukee County officials of covering up a plan to place sex offenders in a community-based residential facility in a quiet south side neighborhood.

The facility at 429 W. Uncas Ave. could open as soon as Friday, with two sex offenders scheduled to move in, said Witkowski, who was joined by more than two dozen neighborhood residents at a news conference in front of the home.

Witkowski said he received assurances from the county's contractor for the facility, Matt Talbot Recovery Service Inc., and its president, Karl Rajani, that no sex offenders would be placed in the home.

But Wednesday, Witkowski said Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services Director Hector Colón called him and said two sex offenders would be placed there.

State Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee) joined Witkowski at the news conference and also said she had been misled into believing no sex offenders would be placed in the home.

"This is a residential neighborhood with a park and a lot of young children," Sinicki said.

"We were baldfaced lied to about this."

I find it interesting that the agency that owns this group home is the same one that caused the ruckus in Franklin. It should give one pause to wonder what kind of deal Abele made with this agency.

Abele's staff won't say whether the two sex offenders are on the state's sex offender registry. He then tried to assure people that the two people would not violate the city's law restricting where sex offenders can live.

But given how Abele lied about whether sex offenders were going to be placed in this group home, who would or could believe him on the type of sex offenders he placing there?

These stories should raise a red flag for anyone living in Milwaukee County or in the Southeast region of Wisconsin.

Given Abele's secrecy and outright lying, how can anyone be sure of the safety of their own neighborhood?  Who has Abele placed in your neighborhood without telling you or your local leaders?

Having sat in on some of the meetings with AFSCME to discuss this, I can advise the gentle reader of one thing they can be sure of us.  These aren't isolated incidents.

Sheriff Clarke Writes His Own Rules

By Jeff Simpson

As Republican front runner Donald Trump says "We are a country of laws".

Even a simpleton like Scott Walker gets that.  He knows that since he has a hard time following the laws, he did the next best thing - changed them so he did not have to follow them anymore.

How ever Milwaukee Countys favorite fake cowboy and Justice Rebecca Bradley's top supporter, Sheriff David Clarke, has decided his job is to enforce some laws but not abide by them.

Taxpayer funded Sheriff David Clarke, taking time away from appearing on Fox News,  could not be bothered to park his taxpayer funded SUV on the taxpayer funded street where instead, he parked in the taxpayer funded handicap parking spot.   However there is no story here because Clarke ordered a taxpayer funded police Captain to go park his SUV for him.  The Captain was not aware that he was the Sheriff's personal valet so the SUV never was moved.



Sheriff Clarke though knows this was wrong and will immediately begin an internal investigation into why someone would not follow an order to wait on him.   To our freinds at RightWisconsin, do not worry, Clarke's entitlement is still intact.

As for our gentle readers who are saying to themselves - "Wait I would get a hefty ticket to pay".

Again, Clarke addressed that problem:

When I came out of the Veterans Day event and noticed the vehicle still there and found out that my order was not followed, I ordered a county citation be written on the vehicle. Citation # 755472.
I paid the fine of $35 and since the city parking fine exceeded that ($200) I made a personal donation to an organization that works with the disabled.  That $235 total exceeds the city parking violation. I would rather the money go to a private org working with the disabled than to government. I have copies of all receipts.

I am sure that next time you or I receive a ticket, we can just pay the same amount to any private charity of our choice, no questions asked.  

Who can blame Sheriff Clarke anyway, why would he want any of his hard earned money to go to the Government, it is not like he benefits from it!




Watch these pages for the next event in Milwaukee when they give away free horses.  I wonder if Sheriff Clarke is related to Craig T. Nelson?  

When DINOs Fight, No One Wins

Woe is to Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee County is in ground zero for a three way power struggle.

In one corner is Milwaukee County Executive Emperor Chris Abele. Abele is a plutocrat's plutocrat who feels that because he got hundreds of millions of dollars from his daddy, he is everyone's superior. He wants things done his way, right or wrong, and he will go after anyone who dares to tell him "no." A prime example is when the Milwaukee County Board changed one of his budgets, he stomped his silk-stockinged feet and paid off some Republican state legislatures to change the law allowing him to consolidate an unprecedented amount of power into his hands.

In another corner is Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, the darling of Faux Newz who has yet to find anything too bizarre for him to utter. His latest and greatest egregious statement was saying that the Black Lives Matter movement would join forces with ISIS in order to destroy the United States. No, really, he said that.

It should be noted that Abele and Clarke are more alike than either would care to admit. Both are right wing nut jobs that pretend to be Democrats. And like the right wingers that they are, they both are austerity enthusiasts, unless it pertains to themselves, of course.

Despite their similarities, or maybe because of them, Abele and Clarke have been feuding for years. For years now, Abele would endanger public safety by cutting Clarke's budget, forcing Clarke to lay off deputies. Clarke would endanger public safety by, well, by being himself and shooting off his mouth.

In the third corner is the Milwaukee County Board, who are simply trying to do their best with their weakened positions to keep the county moving forward and maintaining as much as good government policies as they can.

Which all leads up to the current situation.

The county board was forced to file a lawsuit against Abele because he refused to attend meetings to discuss his proposed 2016 budget, as is required by law. They are also suing Abele to clarify who has the authority to set limits on how much Abele can pay his aides. This stems from Abele giving one of his hatchet men a $50,000 a year raise.

And that is where the inanity really sets in.

Clarke decided he wanted to be as petty as ever and personally serve Abele with the papers.

When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's political gossip columnist, Dan Bice, probed into the incident, Clarke responded like the pompous ass that he is:

Process servers or law enforcement officers provide defendants with all the relevant papers letting them know that they have been sued.

Since when did the sheriff add this to his list of duties? And, more important, who asked him to do this with Abele?

Not Lipscomb.

"The chairman did not ask the sheriff to serve the county executive," said Bill Zaferos, spokesman for the County Board.

Zaferos said Lipscomb's staffers let the sheriff's office know that the board chairman was filing a lawsuit and that it needed to be officially served to Abele. Clarke's No. 2, Inspector Richard Schmidt, then came and picked up a copy.

Clarke then confirmed — in his distinctive style — that he decided on his own to play process server to Abele.

"Danny boy," Clarke wrote in an email, "you are mistaken. NOBODY directs Sheriff Clarke to do ANYTHING. I think you know that."

The sheriff didn't stop there.

"Sheriff alone decides what he does or doesn't do," Clarke wrote. "By state constitution, he doesn't take direction from other county officials and that includes Abele. He is accountable to the voters, the people of Milwaukee Co and they spoke last November by a 79-21 margin.

"Hope this answers your question."

Abele's spokeswoman's response was even more bizarre. In an effort to deflect attention away from Abele's misdeeds, she instead brings up Clarke's bizarre statement about BLM and ISIS:

Asked to respond, Abele spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff confirmed that Clarke made a visit to the county exec's office, though she was intentionally fuzzy on the details.

"I'm not sure whether the sheriff attempted to serve papers on the county executive before or after he called Black Lives Matter activists 'subhuman creeps' on Fox News, or how often he personally serves people," Baldauff said via email.

"But it's probably just a coincidence that he attempted service the very same day the County Board gave him $4 million to spend however he wants with no accountability."

By the way, that $4 million that she was whining about was restoring half of the cuts Abele gave the Sheriff's Office's budget, showing that he puts his own pettiness before public safety.

And does Abele really want to bring up anti-Black comments when he recently said he is "helping" the African American community by improving the jail, boosting child welfare and adding more mental health services?

While all of these theatrics might make a great soap opera, trust me when I say it's not much fun to live through.

Sadly, the next election for Clarke isn't for two more years. We can always hope that he quits to become a full time Faux Newz puppet, er, pundit, but why would he give up a six-figure job that he doesn't even have to show up for?

The good news is that Milwaukeeans can do something about Abele next year when we elect State Senator Chris Larson as the next county executive, a true progressive rather than a plutocratic putz.

Larson To Take On Boss Abele!

Chris Larson (the good Chris)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Abele (the bad Chris)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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