Why Kathleen Eilers Was Rejected As BHD Director

In June, the Milwaukee County Health and Human Needs Committee rejected Kathleen Eilers as the new director of the Behavioral Health Division.  The reasons for their rejections was pretty clear:

James "Luigi" Schmitt was the only committee member to vote for Eilers. Supervisor Michael Mayo Sr. said he voted to deny confirmation to Eilers only because she was brought in to help close the units.

"You're a hired gun," he told Eilers, a description he repeated four times.

Mayo said the patients at Hilltop, the unit devoted to people with mental illness and intellectual impairments, are "our most vulnerable."

"We don't have a plan for them," Mayo said.

Supervisors said they were unhappy with Eilers' refusal last week to provide detailed information about state and federal inspections of the complex. Eilers said she declined the request for information "because I didn't think we had the information ready."

Eilers claim of not having the information ready fell apart when it learned that the information had already been given to the media.

Despite the showing of strong opposition to Eilers, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele stuck with her, claiming he could find no one else that wanted to work for him. That claim is perfectly understandable, considering how many of his previous staffers he's thrown under the bus, mostly for not kissing the Imperial Ring the correct way.

 Furthermore, Abele's agenda is not to downsize the mental health complex, but to closed it all down altogether. Abele claims that our most vulnerable citizens will be protected by a community-based safety net, even though he keeps cutting holes in this net by cutting services.  Who would want to come in to that disaster knowing that they would be out of work again in a couple of years, if not sooner.

Last week, the County Board voted as a whole on Eilers' nomination and, as it should be, they rejected her nomination.

Abele and his minions immediately played the victim card, claiming the Board did it only out of spite of his plutocratic power grab.

Supervisor Peggy Romo West corrected that false assertion with this press release:

Supervisor Peggy Romo West issued the following statement regarding a vote by the County Board to reject the appointment of Kathleen Eilers to Milwaukee County Behavior Health Division (BHD) Administrator:

“Kathie Eilers should have been brought in as a consultant, instead of administrator, to assist BHD with the Hilltop Unit Closures now taking place. However, the County Board made it abundantly clear that the new BHD administrator should be someone who is committed to working with state and federal surveyors to address the immediate issues at BHD while creating and maintaining an environment which is safe and healing for our consumers.

“By continually bringing forward and confirming appointees who make short-term commitments, we are perpetuating the lack of accountability that has been allowed to continue for years. It is far past time that the Milwaukee County Board makes this clear: We are not a rubber stamp. We have expectations and we demand accountability at BHD.

“The board has expressed to the County Executive in the past a strong desire to make Mental Health redesign a priority. I am disappointed the County Executive did not hear us. With this vote, we sent the message it is no longer acceptable to address reports of abuse or deaths of patients with what has become the standard reply by the administration: ‘This is why we are moving to a community-based model in the next two to three years’.

“Patients should not have a different set of expectations for treatment or experience at BHD than they would at any other area hospital. They should not have to worry about sexual, physical or verbal abuse during their visit. However, this is the reality that has been allowed to continue at BHD.

“We must do all we can now to protect the patients we currently have and looking down the road two to three years out is clearly not the answer as our state and federal survey and citations show.”

I would be not at all surprised if more issues surrounding the mental health complex and Abele's deplorable treatment of our most vulnerable citizens arise in the near future.

Buresh, Ortiz Show Real Conviction

As it should be in any given election season, communities are having debates between candidates for any contested race, to give the voters a chance to know who each candidate is and what they stand for.  This allows the voter to make an informed decision at the voting booth.

Or so the theory goes.  Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way.

Sometimes, there will be a candidate like Scott Walker, who appears to be simply unable to tell the truth and routinely misinforms the voters about who he is and what or who he stands for, i.e. union busting.

Sometimes, there will be candidates like Bill Buresh and Sylvia Ortiz, who are are running against incumbent Milwaukee County Supervisors Marina Dimitrijevic and Peggy Romo West, respectively.

Unfortunately, Buresh and Ortiz would rather play dirty politics and snipe at the opponents from the bushes, using deception and misdirection rather than talking about the issues.  Case in point is an upcoming debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters, in which Buresh is a no show:

Because Bill Buresh, who is running for the Milwaukee County Board District 4 seat, has elected not to participate and because there is no challenger for Milwaukee County Board District 14 seat, the incumbents will share the stage during the portion of the forum featuring the local county board races. 

So why would a serious candidate turn down the opportunity to make their case and win some votes?

The unethical Aaron Rodriguez slips up and tells us the real reason:

Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic took issue with opponent Bill Buresh declining participation in a County Candidate Forum.  On her Facebook page, Dimitrijevic wrote: 

"Just found out that my opponent has also declined to participate in the Candidate Forum sponsored by neighborhood groups serving the south side on March 20th. Seems there was a claim that some how these neighborhood associations are biased. Layton Blvd. West Neighbors, Voces de La Frontera, and the Southside Organizing Committee cannot make candidate endorsements as they are non-profits." 

Although Dimitrijevic is correct, Buresh didn't claim that these associations endorse candidates.  Sylvia Ortiz, candidate for the 12th district, declined the forum as well citing that all but one of the board members of the Southside Organizing Committee had either contributed or supported her opponent.  Buresh and Ortiz declined the forum because the host and sponsors support their opponents.  In the interest of transparency, Marina Dimitrijevic and Peggy West should have just hosted the forum themselves.

In other words, they refused to attend because they didn't want to hear from or answer questions of people that weren't necessarily in line with their candidacy.  That's some real conviction in their positions!

However, this does raise a serious question that all the voters in those two districts need to consider: Do they want a supervisor who will represent all the people in the district or one that will only work with the people that agree with them?

I think we've seen enough of the latter kind of "leadership" with Scott Walker and we all know how well that's not working out for anyone.

Furthermore, I would just add that even though I don't live in either of those districts, and have disagreed with both Dimitrijevic and Romo West on a fair number of issues, they have always listened and had a dialogue with me.  They never took their ball and went home, refusing to discuss the issues, like Ortiz and Buresh are doing.