Last night, I posted about the disappointing editorial in yesterday's newspaper. This did not go unnoticed by the editorial board, who posted something on their blog, mentioning my post.
Unfortunately, they missed the mark again. They provide a link to the stories regarding the death of Christopher L. Thomas, Jr., but that wasn't the point of my post. Yeah, well I've got my own archive as well. Two of them in fact. One from here, and one from there.
First of all, it is not the editorial board that does the reporting.
Secondly, I had congratulated Mr. Stephenson in my post on the work he has been doing.
Thirdly, my complaint was on how they gave a pass to State Senator Alberta Darling. They still didn't address that issue.
However, I will wait until I can view their promised video of their discussion on said editorial, before I go further in that regard. However, it would be nice to know why I'm still banned.
In other developments, the steering committee held a special meeting today. Denise Revels Robinson once again promised to do a thorough investigation and make changes to improve the system. Of course, she says this every time a child is killed or severely harmed while under the Bureau's supervision.
Also, playing the same drum beat, Darling promised to introduce legislation to make the system more transparent. Too bad she didn't think of doing in this at any time in the last ten years. At least it seems she's dropped the pretense that she is going to fix the system. I don't think people were buying that story anymore.
I still hold that to start to seriously work on fixing the system, one of the first things is that they need to fire Revels Robinson. The state legislature and Governor Doyle then need to take a serious look at the system, and start passing laws that actually mean something constructive.
But even more alarming than Revels Robinson and Darling playing the same old song, is the news that the case worker that was supposed to be managing he case for Christopher and his sister, is STILL assigned to the little girl's case! Now maybe you understand my skepticism regarding what anyone from the Bureau or the State says about this. There is no reason in the world why that case was not transferred to another worker.
Well, there is one. Sheer incompetence by the Bureau.
Friday, December 5, 2008
The Circle Gets Smaller
As my usual readers know, I love my northern castle. It gives me and my wife to renew ourselves and our relationship with each other. We are more relaxed. We are able to talk in a way that we don't often get, what with the usual grind of the work-a-day world. It is good for my soul. Usually.
Sometimes, life has a way of intruding, even up there.
Three years ago tomorrow, on December 6th, or next door neighbors, Richard and Geraldine, were involved in a head on collision. Geri died instantly. Richard hung on for seven weeks before succumbing to his injuries.
I took their deaths pretty hard. Not only did they take care of Grandpa when he lived up there, but they helped us out. A lot. Richard was a regular Bob Vila and any project that he turned his hand to would come out as good as any professional could have done.
But what hurt most was that they were our friends. Whenever we were up there, we would usually spend our evenings together, playing table games or just visiting. We became so close that my wife and I would semi-jokingly refer to them as Mom and Pops. We didn't know how much our friendship meant to them until after they had passed. His brothers and sisters told us with pride of our nicknames for them, and how glad that they were that we took over the land from Grandpa.
Well, after they died, there was a long probate battle, and when the dust, and the case, settled, the land went to Richard's brother, Dave. Dave was more than a bit reserved at first. I don't know if it was just in his nature, or part of his long history with the military, or something else. But, as most people do, he eventually warmed up to us, and while not as close as it was with Richard, we developed a friendly relationship. He was kind enough to let me store some of our bigger stuff in his garage, when ours collapsed.
But this friendship was destined to become even more short lived. David died on Tuesday after a short battle with cancer. Given the proximity of dates, it made both losses all the greater.
And to make matters worse, Dave and Richard's sister, Diane, and her husband, have decided that they are going to stay in Appleton permanently.
My wife and I are going up there this evening. The weather forecast calls for snow and bitter cold. I have a feeling that the cold will be sticking around for a while, in more ways than one.
Good bye, David. Say "Hi" to Richard and Geri for us, would you?
Sometimes, life has a way of intruding, even up there.
Three years ago tomorrow, on December 6th, or next door neighbors, Richard and Geraldine, were involved in a head on collision. Geri died instantly. Richard hung on for seven weeks before succumbing to his injuries.
I took their deaths pretty hard. Not only did they take care of Grandpa when he lived up there, but they helped us out. A lot. Richard was a regular Bob Vila and any project that he turned his hand to would come out as good as any professional could have done.
But what hurt most was that they were our friends. Whenever we were up there, we would usually spend our evenings together, playing table games or just visiting. We became so close that my wife and I would semi-jokingly refer to them as Mom and Pops. We didn't know how much our friendship meant to them until after they had passed. His brothers and sisters told us with pride of our nicknames for them, and how glad that they were that we took over the land from Grandpa.
Well, after they died, there was a long probate battle, and when the dust, and the case, settled, the land went to Richard's brother, Dave. Dave was more than a bit reserved at first. I don't know if it was just in his nature, or part of his long history with the military, or something else. But, as most people do, he eventually warmed up to us, and while not as close as it was with Richard, we developed a friendly relationship. He was kind enough to let me store some of our bigger stuff in his garage, when ours collapsed.
But this friendship was destined to become even more short lived. David died on Tuesday after a short battle with cancer. Given the proximity of dates, it made both losses all the greater.
And to make matters worse, Dave and Richard's sister, Diane, and her husband, have decided that they are going to stay in Appleton permanently.
My wife and I are going up there this evening. The weather forecast calls for snow and bitter cold. I have a feeling that the cold will be sticking around for a while, in more ways than one.
Good bye, David. Say "Hi" to Richard and Geri for us, would you?
Walker's Trend For Downward Spirals
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an article about how Milwaukee County is going to set a record for money paid in overtime this year. It even comes with a nice chart to show the breakdown.
The departments having the most money spent is the House of Corrections, Behavioral Health Division (mental health complex) and Human Services (economic support).
It is disappointing, but not surprising. This is the pattern that County Executive and Chief Weasel Scott Walker has sent since he first took office in 2002.
I pointed out 15 months ago, at folkbum's, that the House of Correction was severely short staffed. Not only did this constitute a very unsafe environment for the guards and inmates, it also set up the need for recording breaking and budget breaking overtime.
Today's article points out that HOC was short 50 officers until the County Board got all over Superintendent Ron Malone to fill those spots and another 27 positions. Malone claims he did that in May, but then allowed the lapse to grow back to 50 workers since then.
Now that Walker's thrown his hand-picked superintendent under the bus, Sheriff Clarke has come in and found that many of the new hires have been working without ever being formally trained and certified for the job. Now he has ordered that the officers go through several hours of training just to keep the facility certified:
The extra overtime became necessary after Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. ordered completion of previously delayed staff training by the end of the year.
That's led to a return to forced overtime shifts for some correctional officers while others attend training classes so the lockup can maintain its state certification.
Guards are cramming in 48 hours of training - two years' worth - during the first three weeks of December to accommodate Clarke. He already runs the jail and will take over management of the House of Correction in Franklin and downtown work-release center in January.
The training was put off over the summer because of a large number of job vacancies, said House of Correction Superintendent Ron Malone. He also wanted to avoid assigning large amounts of forced overtime then because he was under pressure from the County Board to halt the practice, Malone said.
Just like with HOC, Walker has continuously short staffed the mental health complex, which also had an exceptional amount of injurious and cases of worker burn out.
He has also willfully sabotage economic support and the public aid call center in an effort to privatize it and garnish favors with the private sector. He will of course need to rely on them for political and financial support if he even wants to have a slim chance of making it to the primaries.
Not only are the workers get shafted by getting all of this overtime forced on them, but so are there families. So are the people that the workers are supposed to be servicing, due to longer wait times and workers that are so tired that their efficiency suffers. So are the taxpayers who paid their taxes so that these vacant jobs could be filled. Instead, they get less services as well due to cut backs to make up for the overages.
But the real kicker in the article comes near the end, when Walker tries to explain why the overtime is about to set a record:
Walker said ongoing difficulties in filling nurse jobs at the county's Mental Health Complex have contributed to continued high use of overtime there. Behavioral Health Division Administrator John Chianelli said his division had made some progress in recruiting nurses but has had difficulty in staying fully staffed. His division had $3.6 million in overtime costs by Nov. 1. That's $1.3 million more than the division's overtime budget for the year.Gee, I can't imagine why there would be any difficulty filling these spots. Doesn't every one want to work in a job
[...]
In seeking every possible savings, Walker said: "We're looking under every stone and pebble."
- where they face unbearable amounts of forced overtime due to staff shortages,
- where they face an unacceptably high risk of being injured again due to staff shortages,
- where they run a high risk of being falsely blamed and fired for doing their job to the best of their ability even without the proper training and equipment, and
- where, every fall, the boss threatens to lay them off and privatize their jobs.
But if Walker was really serious about looking for ways to make things better, instead of looking under stones and pebbles, maybe he should look in the mirror.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
MJS Editorial Board Fails To Support Foster Children
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's editorial board sounded off on the murder of Christopher L. Thomas in this morning's paper. Overall, they did fairly well. But not surprisingly, they came up short when it came to putting all of the pieces together.
The editorial starts out well:
Sigh.
They must not even read their own paper. As I stated over a year ago, the system is screwed up to the point that it will be damn difficult to get it back to a functional program again. In that post, I talked of one of the many, many shortcomings of the child welfare system. Namely, the refusal of the state to adequately support foster parents. And in that same post, I cited a couple of paragraphs from this MJS article, noting that Darling is on the oversight committee.
I'm starting to feel like a broken record, or to be more up-to-date, a scratched CD, but Darling has NOT stepped up to fix anything. She created this mess. She was supposedly overseeing it for the past ten years. And just like Denise Revels Robinson has repeatedly done every time a foster child is killed, Darling wrings her hands, states that some thing has to be done to fix the system, and then crawls back to whatever cave she lives in until the next time she feels there's a chance to get some publicity.
Can anyone tell me just what in the world Darling has supposedly done for the foster children in Milwaukee County in the past ten years? I can not think of one substantial thing that she has done. She says that foster parents deserve better pay, but then votes down any chance for that to happen. She says that the kids need services like therapy and medical care, but then refuses to provide funding for this to happen. The list goes on and on. She just provides lip service, but nothing of substance.
And before commenter Dan or Dad29 have a chance, I will say this: Doyle is just as responsible. While he does not micromanage every office of every state department or division or bureau, he must have heard about this story by now. I find his silence to be disheartening and very disappointing.
But Doyle is not the one on the advisory panel having direct oversight of the Bureau. Darling is that one. And Doyle is not the one who is seeking every opportunity to get some face time on TV or in the papers to grandstand the issue. Darling is that one too.
To go after Revels Robinson, and not Darling, is akin to blaming the helmsman of the Titanic for hitting the iceberg, but exonerating the captain who had ordered the reckless behavior in the first place.
For the editorial board to give kudos to Darling for her abject failure to do her job, and even more so, for her hypocrisy, is absolutely disgusting.
All this shows is that the powers that be at MJS are not really the liberals that the right wants us to believe or that they don't have one whit of understanding of what's really going on or both.
For what it's worth, I do want to commend Journal Sentinel reporter Crocker Stephenson for his diligent efforts to get some answers regarding Christopher's tragic death.
The editorial starts out well:
So far, so good. In the third paragraph, however, they show their cluelessness on the whole situation (emphasis mine):The tragic case of 13-month-old Christopher L. Thomas Jr. - who police say died at the hands of his aunt while in foster care - has taken on Orwellian overtones. As protesters outside a Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare office demanded Wednesday, the bureau must be held accountable in Christopher's death.
That means state officials in Milwaukee need to respond to the public's outrage and demand for answers. In particular, Denise Revels Robinson, bureau director, has to stop stonewalling.
Madison officials have responded to questions, but attempts to reach Robinson by the Journal Sentinel's Crocker Stephenson, who has led the reporting on this story, continue to be met with silence. Gov. Jim Doyle and the state Legislature need to get involved - as state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) already has - to make sure that the bureau starts talking, is held accountable and changes its ways to lessen the odds that this will happen again.
Sigh.
They must not even read their own paper. As I stated over a year ago, the system is screwed up to the point that it will be damn difficult to get it back to a functional program again. In that post, I talked of one of the many, many shortcomings of the child welfare system. Namely, the refusal of the state to adequately support foster parents. And in that same post, I cited a couple of paragraphs from this MJS article, noting that Darling is on the oversight committee.
I'm starting to feel like a broken record, or to be more up-to-date, a scratched CD, but Darling has NOT stepped up to fix anything. She created this mess. She was supposedly overseeing it for the past ten years. And just like Denise Revels Robinson has repeatedly done every time a foster child is killed, Darling wrings her hands, states that some thing has to be done to fix the system, and then crawls back to whatever cave she lives in until the next time she feels there's a chance to get some publicity.
Can anyone tell me just what in the world Darling has supposedly done for the foster children in Milwaukee County in the past ten years? I can not think of one substantial thing that she has done. She says that foster parents deserve better pay, but then votes down any chance for that to happen. She says that the kids need services like therapy and medical care, but then refuses to provide funding for this to happen. The list goes on and on. She just provides lip service, but nothing of substance.
And before commenter Dan or Dad29 have a chance, I will say this: Doyle is just as responsible. While he does not micromanage every office of every state department or division or bureau, he must have heard about this story by now. I find his silence to be disheartening and very disappointing.
But Doyle is not the one on the advisory panel having direct oversight of the Bureau. Darling is that one. And Doyle is not the one who is seeking every opportunity to get some face time on TV or in the papers to grandstand the issue. Darling is that one too.
To go after Revels Robinson, and not Darling, is akin to blaming the helmsman of the Titanic for hitting the iceberg, but exonerating the captain who had ordered the reckless behavior in the first place.
For the editorial board to give kudos to Darling for her abject failure to do her job, and even more so, for her hypocrisy, is absolutely disgusting.
All this shows is that the powers that be at MJS are not really the liberals that the right wants us to believe or that they don't have one whit of understanding of what's really going on or both.
For what it's worth, I do want to commend Journal Sentinel reporter Crocker Stephenson for his diligent efforts to get some answers regarding Christopher's tragic death.
Would You Like Fries With That?
From JSOnline's AP feed:
A Vero Beach man faces a domestic violence charge after authorities said he assaulted his girlfriend with a cheeseburger. An Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest report said a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend got into an argument as they sat in a car in front of their home.The report said the man would not let the woman out of the vehicle, so she threw his drink out of the car. In response, the man allegedly grabbed her arm and smashed the cheeseburger into her face. The pair got out of the car, and authorities say the man again took the McDonald's sandwich and put it on her face.
The man was released on $1,000 bond Wednesday.
I do believe that would be considered aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Then again, given the high sodium content in MickeyD burgers, perhaps the charge should be:
Aggravated Salt In a Deadly Weapon.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
They Should Not Be So Surprised
The DNR came out with the number of deer slaughtered in this year's gun hunting season. It comes complete with a handy little chart (pdf) that breaks it down by county and compares the numbers to last year's slaughter.
The numbers are much lower than last year. The number of bucks killed is 21% lower, and the number of antlerless deer killed was down by 18.5%. As I've stated before, I cognitively understand the need to cull the herd, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. So I find some small satisfaction that not as many Bambis were caught up in the hunters' bloodlust. My wife was even happier than I was.
But not everyone was happy. Lance Burri, the guy at Badger Blogger Alliance, and maybe only one or two other sites, grieves for the lessened bloodshed, as do many other once-a-year Rambos.
I really do not understand why they are surprised or disappointed.
After all, doesn't everyone know that during a recession, bucks are scarcer and harder to come by?
The numbers are much lower than last year. The number of bucks killed is 21% lower, and the number of antlerless deer killed was down by 18.5%. As I've stated before, I cognitively understand the need to cull the herd, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. So I find some small satisfaction that not as many Bambis were caught up in the hunters' bloodlust. My wife was even happier than I was.
But not everyone was happy. Lance Burri, the guy at Badger Blogger Alliance, and maybe only one or two other sites, grieves for the lessened bloodshed, as do many other once-a-year Rambos.
I really do not understand why they are surprised or disappointed.
After all, doesn't everyone know that during a recession, bucks are scarcer and harder to come by?
Privatization vs. Profiteering vs. Accountability
Yesterday, I pointed out that the workers responsible for the mishandling the case of Christopher L. Thomas, Jr., and the harassment of the foster parents who had wanted to adopt young Christopher, were employed by a private agency. Said agency "provides these services" under a contract with the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare.
I also stated in an earlier post that I felt that the privatization of the child welfare system removed accountability from the system.
Nick Schweitzer might argue that this isn't real privatization, and per his definition, he would be correct. This would be profiteering. Nick's version of privatization would not occur in this field. The service agency would have to charge either the biological parents to have their kids removed, or charge the children, who usually don't have that kind of money. Not to mention all the ethical quandaries of whether said agency was snatching kids for their safety, or for their profit margin.
For the sake of convenience, I ask Nick to overlook the semantics for now, and call it by its common term of privatization instead of the more accurate profiteering.
Dad29 feels that I was wrong that the privatization removes accountability. He feels that it is more of an issue of the failure to demand accountability. Dad is wrong. Just this morning, concerned citizens organized a small protest demanding that accountability. Unfortunately, that will probably not do the trick by itself. I don't see Denise Revels Robinson, director of the BMCW, or the heads of the private agencies falling to their knees and begging forgiveness.
Privatization removes accountability in various ways. One of the first and most common ways is that it opens the door to a lot of finger pointing. The Bureau will blame the agency for not doing its job. The agency will blame the Bureau for not giving it the necessary resources or funding, causing them to take untenable positions. The Bureau will blame the agency, claiming poor management. The agency will return with the accusation that the Bureau set them up for failure.
Meanwhile, nothing gets done, and more children get hurt and/or killed.
But the finger pointing doesn't always go very far either. This is because, like a den of thieves, they don't want to make too much noise in an effort to blame the other because of the risk of self-incrimination.
The agency doesn't want to tick of the Bureau because they represent the agency's gravy train. The Bureau doesn't want to tick of the agency because they make an effective foil from them having to take ownership of their own systematic flaws, which were created by the bureaucrats and the politicians in Madison. The politicians don't want to make too much noise because then they would lose their politically popular myth that privatization saves tax payer money.
So the agency will blame the Bureau, and the Bureau will blame the agency. Then they will both hide behind the cloak of confidentiality, and not release the real facts of the case. Meanwhile, the politicians will either ignore the problem and hope it goes away, or they will grandstand that they will fix the problem to gain some brownie points with the voters, then they will sit on their thumbs until the story gets lost in the next issue of public outrage, like the next bailout, for example.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: While I can understand the popularity of the myth that privatization saves money, it doesn't. Furthermore, there are some things, like the life of a child, that shouldn't be weighed against the bottom line of a spread sheet.
I also stated in an earlier post that I felt that the privatization of the child welfare system removed accountability from the system.
Nick Schweitzer might argue that this isn't real privatization, and per his definition, he would be correct. This would be profiteering. Nick's version of privatization would not occur in this field. The service agency would have to charge either the biological parents to have their kids removed, or charge the children, who usually don't have that kind of money. Not to mention all the ethical quandaries of whether said agency was snatching kids for their safety, or for their profit margin.
For the sake of convenience, I ask Nick to overlook the semantics for now, and call it by its common term of privatization instead of the more accurate profiteering.
Dad29 feels that I was wrong that the privatization removes accountability. He feels that it is more of an issue of the failure to demand accountability. Dad is wrong. Just this morning, concerned citizens organized a small protest demanding that accountability. Unfortunately, that will probably not do the trick by itself. I don't see Denise Revels Robinson, director of the BMCW, or the heads of the private agencies falling to their knees and begging forgiveness.
Privatization removes accountability in various ways. One of the first and most common ways is that it opens the door to a lot of finger pointing. The Bureau will blame the agency for not doing its job. The agency will blame the Bureau for not giving it the necessary resources or funding, causing them to take untenable positions. The Bureau will blame the agency, claiming poor management. The agency will return with the accusation that the Bureau set them up for failure.
Meanwhile, nothing gets done, and more children get hurt and/or killed.
But the finger pointing doesn't always go very far either. This is because, like a den of thieves, they don't want to make too much noise in an effort to blame the other because of the risk of self-incrimination.
The agency doesn't want to tick of the Bureau because they represent the agency's gravy train. The Bureau doesn't want to tick of the agency because they make an effective foil from them having to take ownership of their own systematic flaws, which were created by the bureaucrats and the politicians in Madison. The politicians don't want to make too much noise because then they would lose their politically popular myth that privatization saves tax payer money.
So the agency will blame the Bureau, and the Bureau will blame the agency. Then they will both hide behind the cloak of confidentiality, and not release the real facts of the case. Meanwhile, the politicians will either ignore the problem and hope it goes away, or they will grandstand that they will fix the problem to gain some brownie points with the voters, then they will sit on their thumbs until the story gets lost in the next issue of public outrage, like the next bailout, for example.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: While I can understand the popularity of the myth that privatization saves money, it doesn't. Furthermore, there are some things, like the life of a child, that shouldn't be weighed against the bottom line of a spread sheet.
It Could Be Worse
Like a lot of other people, I have to park my car outside year round. So, like a lot of other people, on Monday morning, I had to scrape a thick layer of ice and frozen snow off of my windows.
And like many other people, when I got out of work tonight, I again had to brush the snow and scrape the ice off of my car's windows. While I was brushing and scraping, I realized that even though it was cold and the snow was blowing right into my face, I was in a good mood, and was enjoying doing that chore.
I took a moment to reflect on why that may be, since normally it is something that is not on the list of favorite chores. Within a moment, it dawned on me.
I realized that no matter how onerous the chore is of scraping ice and brushing snow of the car, it could be worse. I know that for a personal fact.
After all, have any of you tried to scrape or brush a garage off of your car?
Eating Liberally Tonight
Eating Liberally is tonight. Alas and alack I shan't be there. I'll most likely be shoveling snow liberally.
But don't let my absence keep you from going and enjoying good food, good people and good conversation!
Jason Haas has the details.
But don't let my absence keep you from going and enjoying good food, good people and good conversation!
Jason Haas has the details.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
BMCW: Screw The Public!
I've written an ongoing series of posts of the tragic story of Christopher L. Thomas, Jr., the little baby boy whose short life was filled with being taken from his mother, bounced from home to home to home in his short life, only to end up with his aunt who would become his murderer. Tragedy even follow Christopher into death, with a fight at his funeral.
To make matters worse, those that cared about Christopher are now being punished.
Crocker Stephenson, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported this morning on how Robert and Darlene Logan, the couple that had been former foster parents to Christopher, and wanted to adopt him, are now being punished, harassed and maligned by the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare. The Logans only crime, as far as I can tell, is that they wanted to help with Christopher's funeral. Since they didn't get any response from the BMCW, they contacted the paper. The BMCW apparently finds that to be intolerable.
The article tells of how the Bureau wouldn't let the Logans adopt Christopher, but not the reason why the Bureau said that they couldn't. To be fair, the investigation into a potential foster home is rather intensive and intrusive. They look into the past of every person in the home. They look at their financial situation, their demeanor, their health, their room space, and everything else. The Bureau may have found something way in their past, or a financial concern, or some health concern that made them think that the Logans were not fit to be an adoptive resource.
I can give the BMCW that much of the benefit of the doubt.
What comes after that is unforgivable.
When Darlene Logan continued to press her case, the worker started to question her mental health and ordered her to take a psychological evaluation (which was paid for by the tax payers). They also suspended their license, pending the results of the evaluation.
The psychologist found no reason for the Logans not to be foster parents.
Despite of this, the Bureau still hasn't reinstated their license. To make things worse, the Bureau is trying to recoup almost $2,500. That would be about the entire amount that they were paid for taking care of Christopher.
From the article:
After reading the article this morning, I emailed Mr. Stephenson with some questions, including which worker was the one who order the psych eval and the fines, why were the Logans denied the chance to adopt and the rationale for the recoupment letter.
He was kind enough to tell me that it was the licensing worker who ordered the eval, and that no reasons were given for the denial and the recoupment.
I feel I need to point out that both the foster worker and the licensing worker work for the same private agency, which is a subsidiary of Children's Hospital. It is unclear if the private agency has undertaken these punitive actions on their own, or if it was under the directions of Denise Revels Robinson, director of the BMCW, who still hasn't spoken to the public or the media about this case, as she has done in the past on other cases. It is really beyond me why this woman hasn't been fired yet.
What is equally alarming is the deafening silence from the elected officials. State Representative Josh Zepnick has started an investigation. State Senator Alberta "Do Nothing" Darling has used the tragedy as a chance to grandstand and do some publicity seeking. Governor Jim Doyle has been silent, as has been Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. Of course, I don't expect anything from Walker, who is too busy running for governor - again - and wouldn't want to alienate any potential campaign contributors by bad mouthing a private agency.
It will be interesting to see if anything develops from the protest that is being planned for tomorrow morning.
To make matters worse, those that cared about Christopher are now being punished.
Crocker Stephenson, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported this morning on how Robert and Darlene Logan, the couple that had been former foster parents to Christopher, and wanted to adopt him, are now being punished, harassed and maligned by the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare. The Logans only crime, as far as I can tell, is that they wanted to help with Christopher's funeral. Since they didn't get any response from the BMCW, they contacted the paper. The BMCW apparently finds that to be intolerable.
The article tells of how the Bureau wouldn't let the Logans adopt Christopher, but not the reason why the Bureau said that they couldn't. To be fair, the investigation into a potential foster home is rather intensive and intrusive. They look into the past of every person in the home. They look at their financial situation, their demeanor, their health, their room space, and everything else. The Bureau may have found something way in their past, or a financial concern, or some health concern that made them think that the Logans were not fit to be an adoptive resource.
I can give the BMCW that much of the benefit of the doubt.
What comes after that is unforgivable.
When Darlene Logan continued to press her case, the worker started to question her mental health and ordered her to take a psychological evaluation (which was paid for by the tax payers). They also suspended their license, pending the results of the evaluation.
The psychologist found no reason for the Logans not to be foster parents.
Despite of this, the Bureau still hasn't reinstated their license. To make things worse, the Bureau is trying to recoup almost $2,500. That would be about the entire amount that they were paid for taking care of Christopher.
From the article:
"All I wanted was for Christopher to be honored, to have a decent funeral," Darlene Logan said Monday.This is completely inexcusable. It also shows the lack of accountability that happens when something like this gets privatized.The Logans' situation grew more complicated this weekend, when they received a letter from the bureau stating the couple had been overpaid while caring for a foster child placed in their home from late June to early September. The letter demanded repayment of $2,474.38.
The Logans said Monday that they believe they were paid the correct amount for taking care of the infant girl. Calls to the bureau to straighten out the matter have not been returned, Bob Logan said.
Early Monday, Bob Logan said he did not want to believe the bill was in retribution for speaking to the newspaper about Christopher.
But Monday afternoon, as the Logans were trying to talk to somebody about the alleged overpayment, their caseworker's supervisor called to say their license remained on hold while the bureau reviewed the psychologist's 4 1/2 -page report and while bureau lawyers reviewed the Logans' contact with the news media.
"They are so vindictive," Darlene Logan said.
"I think they should be more concerned about the care they provide than what people say about them," she said.
Phone calls on Monday by the Journal Sentinel to the caseworker, her supervisor and the supervisor's supervisor were not returned.
After reading the article this morning, I emailed Mr. Stephenson with some questions, including which worker was the one who order the psych eval and the fines, why were the Logans denied the chance to adopt and the rationale for the recoupment letter.
He was kind enough to tell me that it was the licensing worker who ordered the eval, and that no reasons were given for the denial and the recoupment.
I feel I need to point out that both the foster worker and the licensing worker work for the same private agency, which is a subsidiary of Children's Hospital. It is unclear if the private agency has undertaken these punitive actions on their own, or if it was under the directions of Denise Revels Robinson, director of the BMCW, who still hasn't spoken to the public or the media about this case, as she has done in the past on other cases. It is really beyond me why this woman hasn't been fired yet.
What is equally alarming is the deafening silence from the elected officials. State Representative Josh Zepnick has started an investigation. State Senator Alberta "Do Nothing" Darling has used the tragedy as a chance to grandstand and do some publicity seeking. Governor Jim Doyle has been silent, as has been Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. Of course, I don't expect anything from Walker, who is too busy running for governor - again - and wouldn't want to alienate any potential campaign contributors by bad mouthing a private agency.
It will be interesting to see if anything develops from the protest that is being planned for tomorrow morning.
Joe Rice: Screw The Taxpayers!
I've already pointed out how County Board Supervisor Joe Rice had squandered tax payer money on sending out a flier filled with misinformation in an effort to keep them from getting property tax relief.
Now, Bruce Murphy, in his most recent column, highlights how Rice has broken campaign pledges to give back part of his salary. On top of that, he is setting himself up to partake of the pension benefits that has put the County in dire straits already. From the column:
Now, Bruce Murphy, in his most recent column, highlights how Rice has broken campaign pledges to give back part of his salary. On top of that, he is setting himself up to partake of the pension benefits that has put the County in dire straits already. From the column:
When he first ran for office in 2004, Rice promised to donate $1,000 per month of his salary to a community cause. (Rice said he would earmark it for “parks work.”) He also promised to accept only half his salary. This meant he would have given $48,000 to charity and $101,360 in salary back to the county during his first term in office. In addition, he promised to turn down any pension or fringe benefits.
I’ve made numerous attempts to contact Rice to find out if he lived up to any of these promises, all to no avail. So I asked Harold Mester, spokesperson for the County Board, to check county records. Mester tells me Rice draws the same salary as every other supervisor.
Rice did apparently turn down health insurance, as no deductions were taken for this in 2004, but beginning in 2005 he began accepting health benefits. In 2007, he added dental care and since then has continued to get coverage for both dental and health care.
Rice did sign a waiver of the 0.5 percent pension sweetener for public officials, but has never signed a waiver for the rest of the pension, so he remains eligible for the fringe benefit as well.
I e-mailed this information to Supervisor Rice, asking if he had any corrections to make to this information, and once again was greeted with silence.
In more than 25 years of covering public officials, I don’t recall anyone who made more generous promises of a giveback to taxpayers and the community – or who failed so completely to inform the public of how he lived up to his pledges. In short, the situation seems quite newsworthy.
It is no wonder that he has lined all of his votes up with Walker. They have the same kind of cavalier attitude towards the people of Milwaukee County.
If you wish to contact Supervisor Rice, and tell him he wants to start keeping his promises, and to get his hands out of our wallets, you can find his contact information here.
Scott Walker: Screw The Poor!
Milwaukee County Executive Scott "The Weasel" Walker (pictured on right) has been trying desperately to privatize anything and everything he can, in an effort to garner political and financial favors from the private sector as he gears up for the next phase in his perpetual gubernatorial campaign.
Included in his irresponsible, myopic decisions was to privatize the public assistance call center. He had willfully chosen to understaff the call center, guaranteeing poor service. His goal was to make the county workers look bad so that the board would be willing to go along with his privatization plan. He didn't care who he hurt, as long as he got his way.
His pretense was to save tax dollars. But we found out last month, it has now cost Milwaukee County taxpayers money, as they lose out on money coming in from the state, since he has shown he doesn't know how to manage the county, nor can he hire people that are capable of managing their department.
Today we learn that Walker is still purposely shorting the call center, having only seven of twenty-four positions filled. It's not like he didn't have the money to fill the positions. After all, he has purposely had 717 positions that were fully funded remain vacant. And despite not spending all that money, he claims that there is a deficit. He has yet to explain to the taxpayers what he did with all that money.
According to the article, Walker's plan is to have 28 people being paid a starting salary of $27,000, just to answer the phone. That's it. Answer the phone and take a message. He would then have ten UW-Milwaukee employees do the actual work that people need. That is one third of the number of workers that the County Board proposed to have that could actually help people instead of paying someone $13 an hour to take a message, but not help anyone.
Even Walker admits that his scheme would not save the taxpayers one red cent. Would any Walker fans tell me how he is being fiscally responsible when he would tax people the same amount of money, but give them one third the service for it?
Keep in mind that Walker is about to officially kick off the next phase of his perpetual gubernatorial campaign. He already has a long way to go to even make it out of a primary successfully, much less make any headway in a general election. Xoff and Dan Cody show that point. I don't know how much success he thinks he is going to have when the transit system fails, throwing the local economy in the tank. And that is also not mentioning the fact that most upstaters look poorly on anyone coming out of Milwaukee.
Walker may not have noticed, but the country is in the middle of a recession, which has been going on for a year. People are losing their jobs, and their health care. And even the ones that are fortunate enough to stay employed are finding it harder and harder to get basic needs. Does Walker really think that he is even going to maintain any level of local popularity as more people are going to come looking for help putting food on the table, keeping their homes heated, and making sure that their families get proper health care, only to find out that they can't even get through on the phone?
Contact your County Supervisor and tell him or her that they need to stop letting Walker sell out our poor and needy, just so he can get a few more bucks in his campaign coffer. If Walker doesn't want to be the adult, they will have to do it for him. Again.
Monday, December 1, 2008
First The Left, Then The Right, Then The World!
Sometimes, life gets so funny you can't help but laugh.
Nearly a year ago, Fred Dooley of the misnamed Real Debate Wisconsin dubbed me the "king of the hate left." My friends and I had some fun with it, but it quickly ran its course and everyone moved on. On occasion, it would pop up again, here or there, but that was about it.
But over the course of the last three days, three things happened that just make me shake my head in disbelief.
First, not that I put much stock into it (even though I am the Wisconsin editor), BNN's algorithm has put this site as this week's most influential liberal blogsite. I personally could rattle off several others that I would put above my stuff, but what the heck, I'll enjoy my 15 nanoseconds of fame.
Also, over the weekend, my good friend, Billiam, offered me an invite to join his website. (Yes, I checked, and no, he wasn't under the influence of a mind-altering substance nor did he have a concussion.)Now, for those not aware, besides writing here, I also contribute at folkbum's and at Whallah! Both of these sites are rather liberal. Billiam is a conservative Christian. But, we have become friends, and even though we might not agree on politics very much, we do have some common beliefs, like what is truly important in life. We are able to see beyond our political differences and be good friends.
I have taken that invitation, but have not posted anything yet. I have an idea, but I need to think it through first. I don't want to embarrass myself when I'm "behind enemy lines." It is worth noting that Billiam has also signed on our mutual friend, Other Side, who is even more liberal than me. It should prove to be a grand experience.
But the funniest thing, both in the odd type of funny and the funny type of funny, was an email I received today, inviting me to join a whole blogging network. But not just any network, but the NetRightNation, which apparently is an aggregate for conservative bloggers, and is part of the conservative group Americans for Limited Government. I'm almost tempted to join, just to see how far I get before their heads explode or I get the boot, whichever comes first.
So, while Jay Bullock is going around collecting bloggers, I'm going around collecting blogs. (Now accepting invites - Email me.)
First, I've conquered the left, now I'm working on the right. Tomorrow, it's the world!
Nearly a year ago, Fred Dooley of the misnamed Real Debate Wisconsin dubbed me the "king of the hate left." My friends and I had some fun with it, but it quickly ran its course and everyone moved on. On occasion, it would pop up again, here or there, but that was about it.
But over the course of the last three days, three things happened that just make me shake my head in disbelief.
First, not that I put much stock into it (even though I am the Wisconsin editor), BNN's algorithm has put this site as this week's most influential liberal blogsite. I personally could rattle off several others that I would put above my stuff, but what the heck, I'll enjoy my 15 nanoseconds of fame.
Also, over the weekend, my good friend, Billiam, offered me an invite to join his website. (Yes, I checked, and no, he wasn't under the influence of a mind-altering substance nor did he have a concussion.)Now, for those not aware, besides writing here, I also contribute at folkbum's and at Whallah! Both of these sites are rather liberal. Billiam is a conservative Christian. But, we have become friends, and even though we might not agree on politics very much, we do have some common beliefs, like what is truly important in life. We are able to see beyond our political differences and be good friends.
I have taken that invitation, but have not posted anything yet. I have an idea, but I need to think it through first. I don't want to embarrass myself when I'm "behind enemy lines." It is worth noting that Billiam has also signed on our mutual friend, Other Side, who is even more liberal than me. It should prove to be a grand experience.
But the funniest thing, both in the odd type of funny and the funny type of funny, was an email I received today, inviting me to join a whole blogging network. But not just any network, but the NetRightNation, which apparently is an aggregate for conservative bloggers, and is part of the conservative group Americans for Limited Government. I'm almost tempted to join, just to see how far I get before their heads explode or I get the boot, whichever comes first.
So, while Jay Bullock is going around collecting bloggers, I'm going around collecting blogs. (Now accepting invites - Email me.)
First, I've conquered the left, now I'm working on the right. Tomorrow, it's the world!
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