Courthouse Proud! Feel The Burn!

Last July, due to Chris Abele's agenda of austerity, some ancient electrical equipment at the Milwaukee County Courthouse got too hot and caught on fire.  Eight months later and they are still not done recovering from the fire.  And as the elapsed amount of time piles up, so does the cost of the clean up and repairs.

Sadly, as I have been reporting all along, Milwaukee County taxpayers are going to have to pick up at least some of the bill.  So far, the taxpayers' share is in the neighborhood of $2 million, but that seems like that is a hopeful estimate:

The disclosure of the need for additional repairs that will fall on taxpayers drew criticism from supervisors at a meeting of the County Board's judiciary committee.

"We have been told time after time after time that insurance would cover everything," Supervisor Mark Borkowski said. He said he would base any future votes on paying for fire costs on those assurances.

County Executive Chris Abele said "every dime" of fire costs would be covered by insurance, during a Feb. 14 press briefing in a courthouse basement room where massive new electrical components had been installed.

Courthouse repair costs through March are now estimated at $17.5 million, all expected to be covered by insurance, said Don Tyler, the county's administrative services director. Tyler said he couldn't rule out additional costs beyond that figure.

Abele's people are quick to point out that the $2 million hit to the taxpayers isn't directly related to the fire. The cost is due to other areas of deferred maintenance and neglected repairs that came to the surface because of the fire. This isn't surprising considering that the fire was caused by deferred maintenance and neglected repairs.

During this fire and its aftermath, Abele has shown himself to be more and more like his predecessor and mentor, Scott Walker.  With Abele, as it is with Walker, there's more.  There's always more.

This time, the more is having incompetent and/or corrupt staff ripping off the taxpayers.

Problems started immediately when Abele's head of risk management, Cindy van Pelt, felt that her two week vacation was more important than handling this emergency.

Van Pelt's replacement and safety director, Dennis Dietscher, was arrested for suspicion of funneling county money to his personal roofing business.  Since his arrest last month, Dietscher has been on paid leave from his more than $75,000 job. (It does make me curious why Dietscher is allowed to have a paid suspension when one knows damn well that Abele would not afford such a consideration to a rank and file worker.)

Along with Dietscher, a salesman for Universal Restoration was arrested.  The significance of this is that the salesman used to work for Dietscher's side business.  On top of that, Universal Restoration was given a no bid contract for the clean up of the courthouse.

It's starting to look like they were cleaning up more than just the courthouse.

Another burning question - excuse the pun - is whether Dietscher and his buddy got a couple of those fancy "Courthouse Proud" t-shirts.  After all, per Abele's spokesperson, Brenda Conway, one had to "earn" those shirts.

Maybe Abele should see if his connections could donate some more of those shirts to him.  He could then sit outside the courthouse trying to sell them to help pay for the costs of his fire.

He could even call it a fire sale.

Some Days, An Emperor Just Can't Get Any Respect

On Thursday, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele woke up with a smile on his face.  He just knew that this was going to be a great day.

He was scheduled to meet his good friend, President Barack Obama.  Abele had been telling people for days how Obama has been consulting with him on how to raise the minimum wage and it would be good to get some national attention in case he decided to run against Russ Feingold to take on Senator Ron Johnson.

Then, after meeting with his good chum he would return to the Milwaukee County Courthouse to watch his lackeys work the County Board's Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee so that he could get several million dollars to his corporate pals and then really stick it to both the low wage workers in the county as well as those pesky county workers themselves.

Yes, it would be a grand day indeed, and well worth giving up his usual routine of spending the morning at Collectivo and the afternoon at the University Club with his fellow plutocrats of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, toasting each other and congratulating themselves for being masters of the universe.

Still smiling in anticipation, Abele stretched and got out of bed.  He decided not to show up his BFF Obama and so when he slipped out of his silk pajamas, he decided to put on a suit instead of his usual ermine robe.

Little did he know just how wrong he was.

When he got to the airport to wait for good old Barry, he was glad to see the snow had not started falling yet.  At the expected time, Air Force One landed and the President disembarked with US Congresswoman Gwen Moore.

But as his good friend Barry Obama was acknowledging the various local dignitaries, he got to the Emperor and called him County Executive Chris Abila.  Not only did the President screw up his name he got the title wrong.  Even worse, it showed everyone that he was lying about his closeness with Obama.

The last part was the worst.  He was counting on using that charade to keep the Board from passing that horrible resolution that would require county employees and anyone working for a company that contracts with the county or gets money from the county to get paid a living wage.  Well, not quite a living wage, since it was only 100% of the poverty level.

Regardless, he was hoping to distract the supervisors with this fake out, hoping they would settle for the sub-poverty rate of $10.10 per hour, even though he secretly knew that even that small increase was not likely to happen.

After doing his stint with Obama and still trying to keep a positive outlook, he had his chauffeur drive him to the courthouse so that he could listen in on the committee meeting as they stuck it to the little people and help his corporate pals out.

But even that went wrong.

He quickly learned that a large number of the unwashed masses of common workers were crowding the committee room to push for the living wage.  He felt anger and dread wash over his body as the committee foolishly listened to those commoners and voted for the living wage, 7-2.

What was wrong with these supervisors?! Didn't they know that might cut into the many millions of dollars his friends stood to gain as he privatized and/or sold off every part of the county he could?!

Abele's - or rather - Abila's day just kept getting worse.

He had sent his top man in to get the committee to approve a pay out worth several millions of dollars to give to the companies that were still cleaning up the mess left from Abele's fire last summer.  He was hoping that the supervisors would be gullible enough to believe him when he said that the check from the insurance companies would be in the mail.  In a few months.  Maybe.

To Abila's disbelief, those rubes called supervisors balked at giving the insurance companies free loans - or maybe even gifts - by holding it over until next weeks meeting of the whole board.

Oh, well.  Abila consoled himself with the thought that he would soon have his Crosswalk plan in place.  He was very proud of his Crosswalk plan.  Not only did he take $5 million from the county workers to help increase the surplus to $14 million, but now he was going to take away their rights like seniority, grievances, vacations and fair work conditions.

But Abila's jaw fell to the floor as that uppity Supervisor Dave Cullen immediately moved to have the issue tabled until the call of the chair (that's legalese for putting his scheme in indefinite resolution purgatory) and called for the vote.  Those rotten upstarts then proceeded to vote it into limbo unanimously.

How dare they!  Abila was so upset that he stomped around his throne room for a whole two minutes, until he got too tired and had to sit down.

Don't they know who he is? He's Emperor Abila, er, Abele.  How dare these fools stand up for the commoners and the little people!

Sighing, Abila regained his composure somewhat and vowed to take his revenge on those uppity supervisors, especially that rotten chairwoman, Marina Dimitrijevic.  And then he would be able to do what he wanted with those miserable serfs.

Abila let out another deep sigh.

Some days, an emperor just can't get any respect.

Author's note: To make it satire, some fiction was added - Abele's robe is really sable, not ermine.

Abele's Courthouse Fire Becoming An Eternal Flame

Last July, due to Abele's deferred maintenance and austerity measures, the Milwaukee County Courthouse suffered a lot of damage when some outdated and poorly maintained electrical equipment caught on fire.

Since then, the costs of the clean up and repairs have run well over $10 million dollars and is expected to top $15 million before it's all said and done.

Even more worrisome, it appears that the insurance companies might have stopped paying for Abele's fire altogether and Abele is expecting the taxpayers to cover the cost of his ineptitude:

But the bills have been piling up since Nov. 1, the last time the fund made a payment on the courthouse fire claims.

"Now they've taken a pause," Tyler said. The state fund halted payments for the fire recovery work about three months ago, pending the outcome of an investigation into the cause of the electrical fire.

Tyler is seeking County Board approval to pull $4 million from a county contingency fund to cover work completed in 2013 but not yet paid for, he said.

He also wants board authority for spending another $3 million on repairs made this year through March. Tyler didn't specify what county account that money would come from.

Local contractors shouldn't have to wait any longer to get paid, Tyler told members of the County Board's Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee.

He called his county funding request "a belt-and-suspenders strategy," in which the county money would be available to pay fire-related bills until the insurance money arrives.

Tyler said he was assured by the state insurance commissioner at a meeting last week that the county's fire costs would be covered.

But, he added, "I can't put a guarantee on it."

Gee, now I can see why Abele is so desperate to make sure his political appointees get paid so lavishly! That is some high-grade lying and question-dodging right there!

The fact that the insurance companies are putting their checkbooks away shouldn't surprise anyone.

As noted above, the fire was the result of not replacing or even properly maintaining outdated electrical equipment. On top of that, Abele had important evidence "accidentally" destroyed to try to cover up his failure.

Supervisor Michael Mayo put it quite succinctly on what's going on and what needs to be done to protect the taxpayers from Abele's incompetence and maleficence:

Mayo also questioned whether the County’s insurance companies have stopped paying for repairs because the cause of the fire has yet to be determined. He said media reports indicated key components of the electrical system disappeared after the fire, making it difficult to determine the cause.

“Are they trying to cover for the fact that these components are missing and the insurance companies turned off the money spigot?” he said. “They say they want to pay small vendors who have worked to repair fire damage, but what they are really doing is making sure the big boys get paid. In the past they’ve never shown concern for small business. But when they owe big contractors, they want to make sure they pay them.

“I question the need to make these fund transfers, and I hope the Board will demand more transparency from this administration before we approve them. I want to make sure taxpayers are not on the hook for the costs of this fire.”

Indeed, it's time for Abele to live up to his thus far empty boasts of being accountable by, y'know, actually being accountable.  Telling us what is really going on and taking responsibility for the consequences of his actions and inactions would be a good place to start.

Taxpayers Could Still Be On The Hook For Abele's Courthouse Fire

On July 6, 2013, there was a fire in the Milwaukee County Courthouse.  Officially, no one is admitting to having a clue as to the cause of the fire, but they have ruled out arson.  But by a report that was done earlier in the year and by the words of Chris Abele himself, it is fairly common knowledge that deferred maintenance led to the fire.

We learned about six weeks ago that the county taxpayers could be on the hook for at least part of the $10 million cost of the fire due to the shabby maintenance and lack of safety equipment.

Now we are learning that not only has the cost of the fire continued to climb, and not only is Abele and his staff still lying about the fire but now it appears that evidence crucial to the investigation was "accidentally" destroyed:

The missing equipment still remains a hot topic between two insurers county officials hope will cover virtually all the fire's costs. The issue also has prompted renewed criticism by county supervisors that Abele's administration has botched its handling of the fire issue.

The circuit breakers — each about 3 feet high and 3 feet wide and weighing up to 1,400 pounds — were dismantled and scrapped by a county employee within a few weeks of the fire, according to county officials.

The breakers were mistakenly "red-tagged" for disposal by one of the county's two property insurance companies or a subcontractor overseeing the investigation into the cause of the fire. Equipment damaged in the fire and intended to be preserved was supposed to be marked by blue tags.

[...]

But some county supervisors fear the destroyed equipment could cause trouble in getting the fire costs fully covered.

"The issue is between the insurance companies" and whether they balk at paying a portion of the county's fire claim based on foul-ups by county officials, said Supervisor John Weishan Jr.

He faulted Don Tyler, Abele's top aide, for his handling of the fire recovery and for a lack of candor in responding to supervisors' questions.

"I've asked and I didn't get a straight answer" to the question of who was responsible for throwing out the fire-damaged electrical components, Weishan said.

Abele said: "We've shared every bit of information that we can, when we've been able to, with the (County) Board."

Fire repair costs through the end of last year were estimated at $13.5 million and are expected to rise several million more before the job is completed. The county has so far received $9.5 million from the state's Local Government Property Insurance Fund, the county's primary insurer.

The fund, however, has a $1.8 million cap on claim payouts. The state fund has paid out far in excess of its cap on the expectation it could recover the excess cost from a secondary insurer, Lexington Insurance Co.

I find it hard to believe that these pieces of equipment were "mistakenly" tagged wrong and destroyed.  The pieces are just too big to be missed and not recognized for what they were unless it was done by a lay person, such as one of Abele's administrators.  Some who are familiar with the courthouse's electrical grid said that the only thing that surprised them is that this didn't happen sooner.

I am glad that the paper appears to be staying on top of this story.  Maybe they'll even look into the number of higher level people in Abele's Department of Administration who are taking sudden retirements or, as many of Abele's other top people are doing, looking for other jobs.

A Gimme For The Plaintiffs

Scott Walker has returned to the scene of the crime.

Walker has returned to the Milwaukee County Courthouse to serve jury duty.  He was originally supposed to have served six months ago, but that was postponed when the courthouse caught on fire thanks to deferred maintenance by himself and his successor, Chris Abele.

But just as it was in the eight years Walker was county executive, he is unable to step foot in the courthouse without mucking things up.

He was picked for two jury pools.

The first one was for a murder trial.  Walker was not picked to serve on that jury.

The second was for a civil law suit regarding a personal injury.  Walker was picked for this jury, but it didn't take him long before he created another miscarriage of justice by being found out that he received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the CEO of the insurance agency being sued:

Gov. Scott Walker remained on a jury in a personal injury civil trial Tuesday, despite having received campaign donations from an executive of an insurance company that is a defendant in the case.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Kevin Martens noted someone had disclosed to him that the governor had received donations from a Secura executive. The judge made his remarks before jurors were brought into the courtroom.

Walker received $2,000 in donations from Secura CEO John Bykowski from 2009 to 2011, according to a campaign finance database maintained by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. The five Bykowski donations to Walker all were made while Bykowski was a Secura executive.

Fellow progressives jumped on this, assuming the worst, in that Walker would automatically side with the defendant. That is, by the way, a very reasonable assumption, given Walker's track record.

However, looking at the big picture, it's an automatic gimme to the plaintiffs.

Best case scenario, the jury finds in their favor and they get the money they were seeking.

But if the jury would decide against them, they have an automatic reason for calling a mistrial. This is especially true considering this issue was not brought up during the jury selection process.

Now, if the plaintiffs happened to have signed a recall petition, well, that's a whole other story.

And for the record, I do not have any confirmation that he visited his old office suite, reminiscing about things like where the secret router was hidden.

But I did hear that Walker and Abele, did compare notes on the most effective ways to bust unions and destroy the democratic process.

Abele's Courthouse Fire Cost Over $10 Million and Counting

On July 6, 2013, electrical equipment in the basement of the Milwaukee County Courthouse caught on fire.  It is being reported that the cost for the clean up is now over $10 million and the bills are still rolling in:

The $10.2 million billed so far by Universal Restoration Services of Menomonee Falls covers mainly costs of cleanup and extending temporary power to the courthouse complex, which includes the courthouse, the Safety Building and the Criminal Justice Facility.

An itemized list of work done by subcontractors lists carpet cleaning and replacement, duct cleaning, furniture moving, building guard houses near the blocked-off portion of N. 10th St. adjacent to the courthouse, and elevator maintenance.

What is also very interesting is that they are still not officially coming out with a cause for the fire:

Meanwhile, investigations into the cause of the fire have been launched by the state Insurance Commissioner, firms involved in installation or maintenance of the old electrical system, and several insurance companies hoping to limit their losses related to the July 6 blaze.

No one was injured in the fire, which broke out on a Saturday when the building was nearly vacant and was confined to a small basement room.

Arson was ruled out as a cause by the Milwaukee Fire Department within days of the fire. Other causes — including faulty electrical equipment or installation, or shoddy maintenance — are a focus of the investigation, said Don Tyler, director of administrative services for the county.

If such flaws are discovered, insurance companies are likely to seek reimbursement from contractors involved in earlier electrical work, he said.

Don Tyler, Chris Abele's Director of Administration said that "he's confident the state's Local Government Property Insurance Fund will cover all the county's losses. He declined to estimate what the full cost of the fire ultimately will be."

That is very different from what he said just two months ago (emphasis mine):

Under questioning by supervisors, Tyler said it was possible some costs of the fire may not be covered by insurance if it's shown that the courthouse electrical equipment wasn't properly maintained.

Heck, even the Emperor himself admitted that the system was outdated and sorely in need of maintenance:

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

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

I would say so.  Abele had a report in his hands from months before the fire which clearly stated the equipment was not up to snuff and needed replacing, yet Abele did nothing to resolve the issue:

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

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

Aging electrical components should be replaced, the report said.

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

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

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

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

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

But even without the report, the fact that they had to have giant fans blowing on the electrical equipment to keep it from overheating should have been a clear sign that things were not as they should have been.

Abele likes to boast about seeking out efficiency wherever he can, saving the taxpayers money and being accountable.  But this alone shows that he does none of those things.  We need to rid ourselves of him as badly as we need to rid ourselves of David Clarke.

Courthouse (Not So) Proud

While he was Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker was notorious for his willful neglect of county

property and had racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance and repairs.  His successor and protege, Chris Abele is keeping the tradition of letting things go to rot while he lounged at his favorite coffee shop and/or exclusive club.

The most recent reported result of this unhealthy adoration of austerity occurred on July 6, 2013, when the Milwaukee County Courthouse caught on fire.  It was quickly apparent to everyone but Abele's most ardent apologists that Abele was busy plotting with his fellow plutocrats at Greater Milwaukee Committee on how to usurp control of the county, which caused him to first delay getting an inspection done of all county buildings and then willfully failing to act on the recommendations from the inspection.

Initial reports claimed that the damage was only half a million dollars. That number quickly grew to $2 million and the majority of the courthouse had to be closed for two weeks.  Even as Abele started to reopen the courthouse, it was pretty obvious that it was not ready as that the power was insufficient to keep the building cooled off during a severe hot spell, causing workers and visitors to become ill.

It is being reported now that the damage from the fire has climbed to $6 million and that it's sill climbing. Don Tyler, Abele's Director of Administrative Services has finally admitted that the insurance might not cover the full cost of the repairs and clean up, but sandwiched that admission between a couple of lies (emphasis mine):

He said he could not estimate how high the eventual damage amount will be.

Tyler also said he had no information on the cause of the fire. That's under investigation by a firm hired by the state insurance fund, he said.

County auditors also are conducting a review of the cause and costs of the fire.

Under questioning by supervisors, Tyler said it was possible some costs of the fire may not be covered by insurance if it's shown that the courthouse electrical equipment wasn't properly maintained.

Supervisor Gerry Broderick suggested that deferred maintenance "and not replacing malfunctioning parts" played a role in the fire.

Tyler called that "pure conjecture." He said nothing had been turned up yet on the cause.

Tyler was either lying when he said that Broderick's statement was pure conjecture or he was calling his boss a liar, since it was just days after the fire broke out that Abele admitted that it was the faulty equipment (again, emphasis mine):

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

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

It should be noted that Michael Horne, reporting for Urban Milwaukee, points out that there had been previous concerns about the archaic electrical system in the courthouse:

The Milwaukee County Courthouse was closed for two days after an electrical fire on July 6th. But signs of hazardous conditions in the downtown complex should have been evident as early as June 21st.

On that day, Court Commissioner Barry Slagle, who was presiding at his desk in the criminal intake court in the criminal justice facility, received a tremendous electrical shock when he reached forward to adjust his microphone.

Underscoring the seriousness of the situation, Slagle has not returned to work, nearly three months after the accident. Circuit Court Administrator Bruce Harvey confirmed the accident, as did other court officials, including a judge. Asked if Slagle is OK, Harvey said, “I will not comment on the medical condition of court officials,” but confirmed that Slagle has not been back to the courthouse since the accident.

On a final note, I would point out that when Abele finally did open the courthouse, even though it was obviously not done being cleaned and repaired, Abele tried to distract the public from remembering his role in the fire by having a pep rally-like event, having banners and t-shirts with the words "Courthouse Proud" and a mock up of the Blue Fist which became popular during the Act 10 protests. At the time of Abele's self-serving and tainted fanfare, Dave Eisner, contract administrator for AFSCME District Council 48, made it clear that this was not a smart move by Abele:

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

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

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

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

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

I had a chance to speak with Eisner on Thursday evening. I asked his opinion of the latest round of news regarding the courthouse ongoing state of repair. Eisner said, and I quote:

I say it's still a a buncha crap.

Indeed.

My suggestion for Abele would be to redo the logo from fists to a row of hands doing a facepalm. Not only would it be appropriate for his bungled leadership leading up to and after the fire, but it would also serve as an appropriate backdrop for when he delivers his proposed budget next week.

Questions Abound In Courthouse Fire

As the gentle reader knows, on July 6, 2013 there was a massive fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Most of the courthouse was shut down for a week due to the damage and inability to keep the building adequately powered during that time.

The local paper is now reporting on some new evidence that has come out which really answers nothing.  The gist of the article is that there is still no explanation for a 24 minute delay in the reporting of the fire to the Milwaukee Fire Department, which Zach Wisniewski at Blogging Blue has pointed out.

But other questions which are just as pertinent, if not more so, also still remain:

• Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele still has to be forthcoming with the cause  of the fire, even though he's already admitted that the electrical equipment which caught on fire was outdated and in desperate need of replacement.
• Why is the county doing the investigation and not a neutral party with expertise in the field, such as the Milwaukee Fire Department?
• Why was Cindy van Pelt, the risk management director, on vacation for two weeks after the fire?
• Why did Abele fire van Pelt just as the county was putting in a huge insurance claim?

This is starting to smell of a cover up, similar to the one Scott Walker pulled with the tragedy at O'Donnell Park while he was running for governor.