IOOKIAPDI (It's Only OK If A Plutocrat Does It)

Yesterday, my esteemed colleague Jeff Simpson pointed out one of the greater overreaches of power by Scott Walker, in which Walker wants to have a free reign in selling off state assets without even the act of getting approval by the legislature or anyone else.

In the article that Jeff cited, this caught my eye and I had to read it numerous times:

"I think it's foolish, mindless and will have a very chilling effect on fundraising," said Milwaukee businessman Sheldon Lubar, who donated millions of dollars to help build academic buildings at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, and served on the UW System Board of Regents from 1991 to 1998.

Lubar said it never occurred to him that campus buildings he supported financially could ever be sold to a third party.

"I really don't think (Walker) thought this through and understands the negative impact this would have on the university," Lubar said.

Take a moment and enjoy the schadenfreude.

You see, Lubar is a member of the misnamed Greater Milwaukee Committee and a driving force behind the usurpation of power by his fellow GMC member, Chris Abele.

And in that usurpation, look at what he helped buy for his friend Abele:

Provisions that kick in immediately include shrinking the board's role in land sales, labor negotiations and contracts. The county executive can hire as many people as he wants for his office without interference.

The executive also gets sole authority over the county fish hatchery, child support department, operation of the Milwaukee Public Museum, harbor facilities and any work relief program. Abele will have the sole power to create any new county department. He'll have primary oversight of minority contracting, which has been under the County Board.

I have a news flash for Old Man Lubar.

 From where the people are sitting, these two power grabs look a lot alike:

• Both give too much power to the executive branch.  
• Both allow the executive/governor to sell public assets at their whim, regardless of the will of the people or the common good.  
• Both were driven by well-moneyed special interests.
• Both throw the doors wide open for corruption.

There are, however, two major differences.

Just as the Kochs have an undue influence on the decisions and actions of Scott Walker, Lubar has the same control over Abele.  However, Lubar doesn't have that same level of control over Walker.

The other difference is that Lubar has money invested in the public assets that Walker wants to sell.  On the other hand, Lubar is looking at profiteering off the assets he wants Abele to sell, such as he is doing with the destruction of the county grounds.

The thing that Lubar doesn't realize is that both Walker's proposal and the usurpation of power for his plutocratic pal Abele are wrong and should never be or have been.  He doesn't realize that it's still not OK even if it's a plutocrat doing it.

Which goes to prove that all the money in the world still can't buy a person the intelligence of a rock or the ethics of an alley cat.

But judging by the likes of Walker, Abele and Lubar, money can buy one more than their fair share of hypocrisy.

For Sale - Cheap!

By Jeff Simpson

We already know the republican legislature is for sale, either as an individual sale, or as a whole package.  Now Scott Walker wants the ability to start selling off our assets  - Cheap(and unaccounted for)!

  Gov. Scott Walker's administration would gain broad authority to sell state property - including prisons, highways, heating plants and university dormitories - under a plan legislators will take up Tuesday.
Proceeds would be used to chip away at the state's $8 billion debt, but the state entities that formerly owned the properties might not see any benefit from the sales. So, a dorm built with student fees could potentially be sold to pay down the debt for a highway expansion, or vice versa.
Critics say the plan that's part of the GOP governor's budget proposal could saddle the state with higher day-to-day costs - such as buying power and steam to heat prisons and dorms - after it sells the properties.
Under the governor's plan, the state also could negotiate sales with individual buyers without going through a public bidding process. Any sales would have to go through a "competitive and transparent process," though that process is not defined and includes no explanation of how negotiations with a single buyer could be competitive.
The plan has generated fierce opposition from supporters of the University of Wisconsin System, who say allowing the sale of UW buildings without the approval of the Board of Regents could be detrimental , especially if the buildings were paid for with the help of student fees or private donations. Currently, the regents have a say in the management of all UW buildings.

What is the worse thing that could happen with this? O yea:

Student leaders worry that student unions, such as the landmark Memorial Union at UW-Madison, could be sold and no longer controlled by the university. Student unions, built with student fees, are central to student life, as are residence halls that also potentially could be sold under the governor's proposal, said Matt Guidry, communications director for United Council of UW Students.

 No need to worry though:

 "Legislators have told us that selling these buildings isn't their intent," Guidry said. "We believe that's their intent today, but the next person down the road may feel differently."

 This group of republicans is ALWAYS up front, open, honest and transparent!  

This bill is so bad it has upset some of his major contributors(who also contribute to their favorite university). Sheldon Lubar, who has donated millions to the Universities of Milwaukee and Madison, and apparently has not paid attention to Scott Walker's Governance the last couple years, was not very happy:

"I really don't think (Walker) thought this through and understands the negative impact this would have on the university," Lubar said.

 Has walker thought ANYTHING through in two plus years?   Well, true to form, if a republican donor is unhappy, so is his/her employee:

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), co-chairwoman of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, said she was surprised the proposal would allow the sale of highways and prisons and believed legislators would change it to provide more legislative oversight.
"I'm very reluctant to give up any authority that the Legislature currently has," Darling said.

 The Democrats response, typically intelligent, thought out, logical and meek:

Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee), a member of the committee, said he opposed the plan.
"I don't think we should be rushing to have a fire sale on state property with no bid-contracts," Richards said. "That is not good long-term stewardship of state property."

Things to look forward to under republican rule:

Walmart  Memorial Union - $50/join, $5 entry fee when its not closed for private parties. 

Rent A Center Randal - where the Badgers can pay a lease to rent games on Sunday, while losing all revenue from Sky Boxes.

ABC Supply Dorms  where rent has tripled and security is a broken down phone in the hallway

Ronald McDonald Kohl center where the Badgers basketball teams will not be allowed to play a home game in January thanks to the long term commitment to Ronald McDonald on Ice (bring the kids)

You get the idea...but hey at least the money we get from selling our treasures will go to the Friends of Scott Walker campaign fund!  

We can give up some conveniences to help Scotty get elected President can't we?  

No County, For Old Men

Sheldon Lubar is an octogenarian multimillionaire who has many good and philanthropic things for Milwaukee County and the surrounding area.

He has also done many evil things.

He might not have intended for the evil things he's done to be evil, but that does not make them any less evil.

One of the most obvious evils he has visited upon the region is being one of the main people involved with the desecration of the county grounds and the threatening of the Monarch Trail - one of the few places in the country where the Monarch butterflies stop during their annual migration.

The pretense for this abominable action is to purportedly build an engineering school on the grounds.  They also plan on high end apartments, a motel a restaurant, a strip mall and who knows what else.  The thing is that no one but these money bags wanted the school there.  This was ramrodded through for no other reason that to profiteer off of the land and the taxpayers who are paying more and more into this foolish venture.

And to think that this guy who is soaking the taxpayers for tens of millions of dollars once complained of generous government giveaways. He must have meant government giveaways to the undeserving, like the poor and the middle class.

Lubar came out of his gold-plated ivory tower five years ago when he came out with the idea to "blow up" Milwaukee County government.  With his fellow Greater Milwaukee Committee members - most notably current Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele - he had commissioned the Public Policy Forum to device the best way to end Milwaukee County.

They are actively working to put their maleficent plan into reality as they hired State Representative Joe Sanfelippo to abuse his new role in state government to craft a bill which will gut the operating budget for the Milwaukee County Board.

In a gushing lovefest article about Lubar, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel inadvertently lays bare the real reason Lubar, Abele and the other plutocrats are seeking the end of the county board:

In a perfect world, Lubar says the board, now composed of 18 supervisors, would be sliced by two-thirds and the body would no longer act like "sand in the gearbox."

"I know the bill for the whole bunch of them is over $6 million and all they do is impede so we can't go forward," says Lubar, a driving force behind efforts to reform the board.

In those two lines, he really says a mouthful.

His idea of a perfect world is one where the Voter Fairness Act does not apply. His utopia is where minorities and poor people don't have equal or effective representation in government. After all, why should the pissant common person be allowed to have representation when it only serves to get in the way of their superiors, like Lubar.

Don't these people understand he's getting old and has an unknown amount of time to rack up even more wealth?!

What Lubar, Abele and the other plutocrats are dreaming of is a county board that has no analysts, no researchers and supervisors with no time to do the work themselves so that they will act like sockpuppets who will just rubber stamp whatever the plutocrats put before them. They don't want to be bothered with what is in the best interest of the community, of the poor or of the taxpayers. They only are concerned with what is for their interest.

Or to put it yet another way, the plutocrats want to put Montgomery Burns in charge of Springfield.

But their plan just might backfire.

If their puppet Sanfelippo can ever craft a bill that will gut the board and still pass legal muster, this could end up bringing everything to a grinding halt.

 What good representative of the people could vote for a bill - regardless what it is - if they don't have a factual, independent analysis of the bill, including the social and economic impact of said bill? I know for a fact that I could never trust Abele's word and would take any report presented by his people with a grain of salt.

The only way the plutocrats will have their rubber stamp board is if they buy a majority of the seats and have them filled with their own people. This could end up being very costly for them in the long run.

I've said this before, but if they were really, truly interested in saving money and in making government more efficient, they would look at removing the county executive's position.

But I'm afraid that their money- and power-fueled egos won't allow them to think that far ahead.

Lubar Campaigns For Benefactor

Sheldon Lubar has again trotted out his tired and inane idea of demolishing the Milwaukee County government. Of course, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Scott Walker are falling all over themselves in promoting this again as well.

I pointed out some nine months ago that this was simply a dumb idea. First of all, it would require a change in state law for this to happen.

But it is also fiscally irresponsible. At a time when every other governmental body is looking to consolidate their services, either through regional cooperation, or by towns contracting with their counties to provide services like law enforcement. The thought of eliminating one umbrella government and splitting up those duties among 22 different governmental bodies (19 municipalities, the state, a regional park authority and a regional transit authority) would only guarantee that taxes would go up, services would be more cumbersome and less efficient, and it does nothing to address the "legacy costs" that already have been incurred by the County.

So why would Lubar, an undeniably successful businessman, suggest such a ludicrous idea, much less blow the dust off of it and bring it up again and again?

James Rowen thinks that it only highlights Walker's failure as County Executive.

One Wisconsin Now takes the same point of view as Rowen, but they add one interesting tidbit:

Each of these massive failures were in part the result of mismanagement or ineptitude by Scott Walker and his administration, yet Sheldon Lubar, a former president and chairman of Charlie Syke's ultra right-wing Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, is putting the blame on the board, workers and unions -- the same groups Walker has scapegoated in budget after budget, and is threatening to continue doing so if elected governor.

And we all know who hold Charlie Sykes' leash.

While I agree with James and the fine people at OWN that Walker is an undeniable failure, I don't think that is why Lubar said what he said.

He's most likely doing it to benefit his benefactor, Scott Walker.

Instead of reading only the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Steve Schultze's lovefest for Walker, I also like to read news from nonpartisan papers, like the Business Journal, who also covered this event. While they covered Lubar's harping on Milwaukee County and praising Barrett's proposal to take over MPS like Schultze did, they reported on one other thing Lubar said:

With regard to promoting economic development through university research, Lubar said the community’s one shot may be the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences. The Freshwater Sciences School represents an opportunity for UWM and the city to put its brand on an emerging technological business sector, according to Lubar.

“We have to understand that the real engines of economic development in the world are not generous giveaways by the state, or clever advertising, but the development of outstanding research institutions that persons like Chancellor Carlos Santiago are struggling to accomplish here in Milwaukee,” Lubar said.

This raised a red flag for me, besides the fact that it's ironic that Lubar would complain about "generous giveaways." Lubar is one of the people that would benefit greatly from the proposed school and other land developments (such as a five-star restaurant and a posh hotel) that they want to build on the county grounds, which Walker wants to sell at about one third of its current value. Unfortunately, it appears that Lubar's group is going to still try to ram this irresponsible plan through, regardless of the cost to the ecological wonders there.

I just wonder if Walker's going to list Lubar's speaking fee as an in-kind contribution on his next campaign finance report. Aw, who am I kidding? Walker is never honest on those things.