The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part CLII

The Wyndham Hotel, the second biggest one in Milwaukee, is closing down after going into foreclosure and being sold:

The 508-room Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel & Convention Center, a sprawling south side landmark property, will close, likely in late December, according to a notification sent today by Fairfax, Va.-based Crescent Hotels & Resorts to the Wisconsin state Department of Workforce Development.

The hotel is located at 4747 S. Howell Ave. near Mitchell International Airport. Previously the hotel operated under the Four Points by Sheraton flag and was converted to a Wyndham hotel in 2007.

Crescent Hotels & Resorts, which manages the hotel, told state officials that all 133 employees at the hotel will lose their jobs when the hotel closes on or about Dec. 22.

Those poor families are going to have a terrible Christmas.

To be fair, Scott Walker can not be given full credit for this job loss. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele's austerity measures is just as much to blame as Walker's.

And to think, just a year or two ago, Mitchell Airport was setting record numbers every month for greater and greater number of people coming through there. Now there's not enough people coming to Milwaukee to keep one of the concourses of the airport open or keep the hotel open.

So, Mr. Walker and Mr. Abele, tell us again how your agendas are working.

Should Milwaukee County Privatize Mitchell Field.?

In a word; NO.

Hot Rod A-Rod Throws A Rod

Ah yes, what would life be like without Aaron Rodriguez, self-purported journalist and blogger at The Hispanic Conservative, giving me easy posts to write on a busy night?

Anyway, my friend, Anna Landmark, writing at One Wisconsin Now, notes how suspicious it is that Walker was announcing the cause of the tragic incident at O'Donnell Park lat month:

Even though the investigation into why the concrete slab fell from the O'Donnell garage, killing a teenager, isn't complete, and lawsuits may be pending, Scott Walker has declared what happened and who is to blame: the slab wasn't hung properly.

As far as I know Walker doesn't have an engineering degree (nor even any degree at all), he isn't leading the investigation, and he has a very good reason for sloughing any responsibility for this off of his shoulders as quickly as possible.

To declare in advance of the completion of the investigation screams of political posturing and a total and callous disregard of the severity of the situation.

Some commenter from Germantown took umbrage at Anna pointing out the fact that Walker is a Marquette drop out. The commenter goes on to say that despite the fact that Walker is over a year from graduation, Marquette should just give him his degree. Apparently, Walker's followers feel that this "his time" for that as well. Of course, they feel that it is "his time" to be governor, even though he is not qualified to be either a college graduate or governor. Talk about an entitlement attitude...

This is where our friend Aaron goes and puts his foot in his mouth. As you read his comment, remember, the post is about the tragedy at O'Donnell Park:

Honorary degree? Wouldn't that be something.

I think Walker's "lack of a degree" provides a perfect narrative of how degrees are essentially useless certificates in today's world.

Here we have a guy who has done a good job with the county (national gold medal parks, strengthened the county's bond rating, record breaking international airport, and so on), thus showing that one doesn't need a degree to make a success of one's life.

Yeah. I would have thought that someone who purports themselves to be a professional journalist would have a little more sense, not to mention tact, than to brag about how wonderful the parks are in a story about a park structure that killed a boy and maimed a woman. I mean, it's bad enough that Walker was making this into a political story from day one, Aaron didn't need to further prove that Walker and his supporters are only interested in the gubernatorial race, and not the public welfare.

And it would be wrong of me not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance in all of the parks.

To add to his shamelessness, Aaron then brings up a couple of other of Walker's talking points which have already been proven to be falsehoods.

One of these falsehoods is the "strengthened bond rating." While that is technically true, what Walker and his acolyte don't mention is that came at the expense of the capital funds, which Walker raided to give himself cover on the budgets. Of course, those capital funds were supposed to go to thinks like inspecting and maintaining the infrastructure, including O'Donnell Park. It also doesn't mention that mammoth structural deficit that Walker has built up.

A-rod also throws a rod when he mentions the "record breaking airport." It is only doing as well as it is due to the millions of dollars of stimulus dollars thrown into it. But even with all of this money, Walker tried his darnedest to screw that up by laying off airport maintenance workers, even though he didn't save tax payers one red cent by doing so. Of course, Walker's political grandstanding of laying off those workers helped create a situation where another young man was injured by a part of the airport falling on his head.

Mmm. A guy who purports himself to be a journalist, but cannot even handle simple honesty or tact. I wonder if he knows Patrick McIlheran.

Another County Building, Another Falling Wall, Another Injury

This time it's the airport.

The fiber concrete wall board fell on Saturday. Scott Walker showed his usual brand of leadership by campaigning on Sunday.

Two Press Releases, Two Blunders

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

Leave it to politicians to mess it up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just saying.

Walker Slashes Security, Parks, Maintenance

There are lots of breaking news going on around Milwaukee County this afternoon.

I have heard learned that Scott Walker has just given lay off notices to more than 70 county employees this afternoon. So much for his promise to try to avoid lay offs and to maintain services.

These workers include all of the security guards at the courthouse, children’s courts and city campus. Word is that Walker already had contracts in place with a private agency, which the County Board had rejected due to not being cost effective. That would raise a red flag on why Walker is still pursuing something that is a total waste of money.

Also being given notices of lay off to all of fleet maintenance which includes three mechanics and one maintenance worker. These are the people that keep the county cars and trucks in working condition. If you see a county vehicle after the next two weeks, you may want to show proper precautions since they will no longer be properly maintained.

Also being laid off are several workers at the airport, including six maintenance workers, a clerk messenger and a telephone receptionist. This is an obvious set up for a future attempt at privatizing it. The County Board has already made it perfectly clear that they would not allow this to happen, so this will only leave Walker with egg on his face.

Other workers include at least 26 park maintenance workers. These people are the front line workers who do the maintenance at the pavilions, cut the grass, maintain the ball parks, repair broken equipment among other duties. So if you have an event planned in a county park, or you belong to a baseball or softball team, be prepared to come early to cut the grass and pick up the trash before your event or game.

I checked with some members of the County Board and this was breaking news to them as well. So much for his garbage of being willing to work with the Board in resolving the County’s financial woes which Walker created.

UPDATE: More information: Because the way unemployment compensation works for governmental lay offs vs. private sector layoffs, the lay offs could actually end up costing tax payers $1.3 million more than if the workers were allowed to keep their jobs. And that is not counting the inevitable legal costs coming because Walker did it in the wrong way. Again.

One other thing that I have just learned this afternoon is that there was an all day arbitration hearing today regarding the privatization of the housekeeping staff at the Behavioral Health Division. The crux of the issue at hand is that Walker had shown clear intent to privatize the service by sending out RFPs early in 2009 and started on contract negotiations well before the privatization was approved by the County Board. He did this all without talking with the unions to try to find ways to economize the services, as required by the contract that he signed himself.

The decision might not come for a month or so, but if the unions are successful in their arbitration, the privatization contract would have to be set aside, the former housekeeping staff would have to be returned to their positions, complete with full back pay. Furthermore, Walker would be prevented from any further privatization of this service for at least 180 days and not without first sitting down with the union to look at ways of streamlining the system and proving that the union workers could not do it at a comparable cost to the taxpayers.

Obviously, Walker has decided that the title “county executive” really means “king”, and that we are all nothing more than his serfs to do with as he sees fit, even if it means diminishing our quality of life, raising our taxes, and giving our money to his campaign contributors. It also goes to show that Walker does not have the best interest of Milwaukee County citizens and tax payers in mind, but are only using us as pawns for his political aspirations. This sort of malfeasance must stop and stop soon, before he bankrupts all of us.

Cross posted at Milwaukee County First

Crazy Talker Walker

Scott Walker has a knack for coming up with some really bad ideas that, if allowed to happen, would only harm Milwaukee County.

Sometimes the County Board doesn't catch on in time, and the bad things happen, like when Walker wanted to privatize the call center, but only ended up sticking tax payers with a bigger bill when the state took over. Or selling the county grounds to a private development company for much less than what the land was worth. Or Walker's ever-morphing attitude towards federal stimulus dollars. If they followed Walker down his fantasy-paved path, they would be out $40 million dollars of revenue.

Sometimes the County Board is able to see through Walker's smoke and mirrors, and prevent the bad things from happening, like when Walker wanted to move the mental health complex to the old St. Michael's Hospital.

The County Board had just proven themselves again when they didn't jump on board with Walker's plan to privatize the airport. Instead they ordered a study to be done on the feasibility of following through with Walker's misguided privatization scheme.

It's a damn good thing that they did, too.

From JSOnline's All Politics Blog:

Nearly all applications for privatization under a federal law have been withdrawn , including the proposed privatization of Chicago's Midway Airport, according to a review by Mitchell Airport Director Barry Bateman.

One airport that was privatized, Stewart Airport in Newburgh, N.Y., reverted to public ownership. The only airport listed as still actively considering privatization was New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport.

Of course, I've been saying it was a dumb idea for a year and half. Others, like Greg Kowalski, also noted that privatizing the airport makes no sense.

Walker is undaunted in his insanity:

Walker has said he'll revive his push to privatize Mitchell as a means of shifting airport revenue to subsidize county buses, which face multimillion dollar shortfalls in the coming years. He's said the county could get $500 million or more by leasing long-term airport operating rights to a private firm.

So, instead of doing something positive for Milwaukee County, like supporting the sales tax referendum, which would have given a dedicated source of revenue for the transit system, the parks, and EMS, as well have provided much needed property tax relief, Walker felt that it would be better to follow an unrealistic pipe dream in privatizing the airport. When his plan fell through, as it inevitably would, we would be in a legal tangle over the airport and have a destroyed transit system.

I think that some of the County Board Supervisors said it well enough:

"This isn't in the realm of reality" for Milwaukee Mitchell Airport, said Supervisor John Weishsan Jr.

County Executive Scott Walker's support for exploring privatizing Mitchell was dismissed by Supervisor Toni Clark as "crazy talk."

Even if investors could be found to purchase operating rights to Mitchell, the result would be higher fees to airlines and consumers, said Supervisor Christopher Larson.

Given Walker's propensity for boneheaded ideas, instead of making a video about Big Talker Walker, the original artist should have made one called Crazy Talker Walker.

Walker: Stimulus Flip Flop #37,582

From this morning's story on how Doyle vetoed the sales tax that was designed to help preserve Milwaukee County's transit system:

Walker said the county can get through 2011 without a major crisis in transit funding, thanks to an infusion of federal stimulus funds to be used to purchase new buses. He'll continue to advocate for privatizing the operation of Mitchell International Airport as a way to generate revenue to pay for transit, he said.

With the way Scott Walker flip flops regarding his position, or lack thereof, on the stimulus dollars, I wouldn't be surprised if the old joke about the ever-changing Milwaukee weather will soon become:

If you don't like Scott Walker's stance on stimulus dollars, wait ten minutes. It'll change.

And as for privatizing the airport, I am surprised he is still harping on that, given all the problems they are having at Midway. Then again, on second thought, I guess I'm not surprised.

Walker Flies Into Another Ethics Problem*

I have been periodically harping about Scott Walker's taxpayer funded campaign bike ride that is due later this month. I questioned how deep Walker's hypocrisy ran to criticize two county supervisors for a non-campaign related trip and claim the county is in a fiscal crisis, only to turn around and spend tax dollars on this trip.

Well, it turns out that there is naught to fear, gentle reader. Scott Walker has removed any ethics concerns about using tax payer dollars for this ride.

Instead, he has flown face first into a greater ethics problem.

Last week, Xoff made mention that Walker now has two sponsors for his bike ride: Air Tran and ChooseMilwaukee.com are going to pick up the tab. Xoff cites a blogpost in the local paper's website on June 11th as the initial source of information.

In his post, Xoff also raises some interesting points and questions such as who gets the naming rights; that Walker's secretary is handling the coordination, but is only using her personal email and phone number; that ChooseMilwaukee.com is a branch of the MMAC; and whether Air Tran and ChooseMilwaukee.com will also be picking up the salaries of Walker and the staffers that will be going along for the ride.

Then he hits closer to home than he realizes with this:

AirTran, incidentally, has just a small business relationship with Milwaukee County, which owns Mitchell Field, where AirTran operates. See any possible ethical conflict there?

Actually it is more than that.

Air Tran was recently attempting to get expanded space at Mitchell Airport. This matter was in front of the Milwaukee County Board's Transit Committee on March 4, 2009. It was approved unanimously (pdf, item #8, top of page 5).

The proposal then was approved by the entire board on March 21st.

Sometime between March 21st and May 21st, when Air Tran announced their expansion at Mitchell International Airport, it had crossed Walker's desk and he signed off on it.

Now, just weeks after Air Tran's announcement of their benefit from their business with the county, it is also announced that they are picking up the tab for Walker's campaign ride.

That little stunt flies in the face of the Milwaukee County Code of Ethics. In fact, from the Milwaukee Code of General Ordinances, section 9.05(2)(a) strictly forbids an elected official to gain from or accept any financial gain or anything else of substantial value for personal benefit or for the benefit of any family member or organization they may belong to. That would include Walker and his governor's campaign.

*And yes, I really, really wanted to title this post "Weasels On A Plane."

Another Reason Not To Privatize The Airport

Greg Kowalski, at Metro Milwaukee Today, discusses the news of Southwest Airlines coming to Milwaukee. He makes quite the astute observation at the end of his post:

Lastly, to insert some politics into this, Southwest’s entry at Mitchell is a primary reason as to why Mitchell International shouldn’t be privatized, as Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker wants so badly. The airline’s entry at our airport shows that there are reasons to fly out of Milwaukee, and that Milwaukee is becoming a bigger part of Chicagoland travel. If Mitchell can expand by adding a larger runway and perhaps adding more gates and another concourse, you could see an airport that could take on Midway Airport and impress over 10 million people within 150 miles of the airport. Privatizing isn’t a good option for both reasonable travel and positive investment at the same time.

Besides the fact that privatizing the airport would be a risky venture as illustrated by the problems they're having at Midway, this only goes to show that Walker is a bad county executive and would be an even worse governor.