Blogging Blue

In the 2006 elections, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee were pretty proud of the fact that they had candidates in almost all of the 99 Assembly races, but I couldn’t help but notice one race that had an unopposed Republican incumbent. That race happened to be the race in Assembly District 21, a seat currently held by incumbent Republican Mark Honadel. Maybe I’m a cynic, or perhaps it’s because I’m a Democrat, but I’ve never really been impressed with the job Honadel’s done representing the people of this district. Now I know the district has typically voted a little more conservative since the days of the Milwaukee County pension scandal, but I’m hoping the recent election of Pat Jursik to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is a sign that the district is starting to trend a little more liberal. If that is in fact the case, I’m hoping the Democratic Party can find a solid candidate to run against Honadel, because he’s done little to distinguish himself during his time in office.

The only problem here in the 21st is the seeming lack of Democrats who have the qualifications and ambition to attempt to unseat Honadel. If not one single candidate could be bothered to run against Honadel in 2006 - a year that heavily favored Democrats - then I’m just not sure a candidate can be found. I hope I’m wrong and the Democrats can identify a good candidate, because I think Mark Honadel’s seat in the Assembly is ripe for the taking by the Democrats in 2008.

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It’s well established I’m no fan of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and that I think he’s done a horrible job of managing Milwaukee County during his time in office. Recently, I happened upon an entry by capper over at folkbum’s rambles and rants lamenting the current state of our county’s parks system, especially in comparison to other counties in Wisconsin. That entry spurred a number of comments, including some interesting comments by Patrick from Badger Blogger, who said:

I didn’t realize that it was county governments job to employ as many people as possible instead of being good stewards of the tax dollars they have taken from us… silly me.

I chimed in to the discussion by challenging Patrick to cite just one concrete example of how Scott Walker’s stewardship of our tax dollars has improved life for folks here in Milwaukee County. After all, our parks system is wilting on the vine (no pun intended), the mental health complex is an absolute nightmare, and the House of Corrections is a ticking time bomb of poor employee morale due to horrible working conditions and inmate overcrowding. These are just a few examples of how Scott Walker has mismanaged Milwaukee County during his tenure as County Executive, and I’m hard-pressed to come up with anything positive that has happened in Milwaukee County that can be directly tied to Scott Walker’s leadership.

What’s worse, Walker hasn’t seemed to learn any lessons from the current state of the county, as he’s proposed a budget that not only includes raises to the costs of regular bus and paratransit rides as well as hikes in admission to the Milwaukee County Zoo, but also the elimination of 81 park maintenance jobs as well as the closure of the county’s work-release center. What’s worse, the budget proposed by Walker assumes the county will get state funding that’s not yet approved. According to the MJS, Walker said he picked what he thought were good guesses on what the deadlocked Legislature might ultimately provide. Walker has already said if he’s wrong and comes up short in state aid, he’ll propose even more county budget cuts.

Taking the entire situation into consideration, I can’t help but wonder how exactly life here in Milwaukee improved since Scott Walker took office, or how it will improve in the future under the leadership of Scott Walker. It’s time for Scott Walker to go, and 2008 seems like as good a time as any for the change to happen.

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Just last week, fellow blogger Dan Cody announced he’s going to challenge incumbent Lynne DeBruin for her seat on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors representing the 15th district. Though I’ve never met him, I know from what he’s written that Dan is a heckuva guy who’s really passionate about making his community a better place to live, work, and raise a family, and I’m glad to see he’s going to do more than just talk about what’s wrong - he’s going to take action.

Dan’s made it clear that he recognizes the fact that things need to change in our county government, because we simply cannot allow the continued decimation of our parks and transit systems, and I’m glad he’s willing to take up the fight against folks like Supervisor DeBruin, who’s been a willing accomplice in County Executive Scott Walker’s drive to completely destroy what’s left of our parks and transit systems. I look forward to seeing Dan out on the campaign trail, and I hope to be able to do what I can to help his campaign out.

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Last week Friday, Democrats in the State Senate offered to drop their universal health care plan if Republicans accepted higher taxes on hospitals and cigarettes and a 175 million dollar transfer from the Patients Compensation Fund. Senate Democrats have argued the tax increases - which would impose a surtax on hospital revenues and woulod raise the per-pack tax on cigarettes - are needed to pay future Medicaid bills and Gov. Jim Doyle’s plan to make sure every child has access to health insurance. In a big “f*** you” to Democrats - and Wisconsin’s kids - Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch flatly rejected the offer. Huebsch’s rejection of the Democrats’ offer should come as no big surprise, given his behavior during the entire budget process, but what I can’t help but wonder is if Senate Democrats finally gave up on trying to keep Healthy Wisconsin in the budget because of pressure from Governor Doyle, who made no secret of the fact that he didn’t support Healthy Wisconsin.

I’ll be curious to see how this whole mess plays out, because there’s only a few short days left before the state DPI is supposed to tell local school districts how much money they’re supposed to have for the next year, and without a budget, that’s going to be almost impossible to do.

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In a story that first came to light after yesterday’s Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission meeting, a new, unnamed candidate has been added to the list of candidates for Milwaukee’s soon to be vacant Police Chief position. The unnamed individual was apparently brought to the attention of the F&P Commission by George Kelling and Robert Wasserman, nationally-known police consultants who have been conducting a review of the Milwaukee Police Department. Not much is known about the candidate at this point, except that the individual is a current police chief, and Mayor Tom Barrett’s office - as well as the Fire & Police Commission - have already denied that this late addition could vault to the head of the pack among the finalists.

To be honest, I’ve never really been terribly impressed with most of the names on the list of finalists for Milwaukee’s top police job, so hopefully this new candidate is someone who’d bring a proven track record of positive results in the fight against crime. And heck, at least we can be sure the new addition is not Glenn Frankovis, and I think most rational folks would agree that’s a very good thing.

I’ve also heard a rumor from an unnamed source that the name added is either West Bend Chief of Police Kenneth Mueler or Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman. My money’s on Esserman, as he’s chief of a larger city and he’s got a proven record of solid results in reducing crime in Providence. Additionally, I believe he has ties to Kelling and Wasserman. If Esserman’s the mystery candidate, then I’d have to put him at the top of the list of finalists, provided he dots all the I’s and crosses all the T’s as he catches up to the other candidates.

Edit: According to All Politics Watch, Esserman says he’s not the guy that was added to the list.

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