After negotiating with four current county supervisors, State Representative Joe Sanfelippo has decided to hold his legislation for a referendum to destroy Milwaukee County government for a while…well sort of:
State Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-West Allis) said in an interview he’ll still introduce a bill in about a week that will call for a later referendum and likely include a major cut in the County Board’s budget.
He wants the Assembly to act on the measure soon, but would consider recommending amendments to the state Senate if the County Board enacts its own reforms that he considers adequate, said Sanfelippo, a former county supervisor. “I’m using the old trust-but-verify approach,” Sanfelippo said. “I’m proceeding with the bill but in a way that will allow time for (supervisors) doing some things on their own.
“If they don’t do it, the state’s gonna do it.”
Although on the face of it this sounds like Rep. Sanfelippo is playing nice with the county board, he’s still essentially holding a gun to their heads with threats of state imposed budget cuts and continued meddling by the state in county affairs if they don’t satisfy his personal agenda.
Interesting that County Executive Abele, Rep. Sanfelippo and the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel keep accusing the board of micromanaging county departments…when this smells just like micromanaging on their part!
Who from the county negotiated with Rep. Sanfelippo? According to this afternoon’s article on JSOnline, two of those involved were Supervisor Deanna Alexander and Supervisor Mark Borkowski.
Of course the delay wouldn’t have anything to do with the State Supreme Court race in April…wouldn’t want to invigorate Milwaukee County Democrats with another reason to get out the vote and possibly defeat incumbent conservative Supreme Court Patience Roggensack!
And of course it probably has nothing to do with the distinct possibility that the move to cut supervisor salaries in mid-term might actually be unconstitutional under the Wisconsin State Constitution?
See my earlier post on the constitutional issues as I see them!
Ed, thanks very much. I completely agree this is all about April 2.
This is off topic, but I think the timing of the DC Circuit’s “Recess Appointment,” decision and Harry Reid’s horrible decision on filibuster reform illustrates how naked the 99% are. As the post below makes clear, the two are intimately related. CFPB was intended to protect consumers from Wall Street. This ruling combined with filibuster failure is a huge win for Wall Street.
“Obama Recess Appointments Slapped Down by DC Circuit, CFPB At Risk”
“……The immediate effect of the court’s decision is, of course, on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Noel Canning was aggrieved by a decision of the NLRB and petitioned for review, the NLRB cross-petitioned to have its decision upheld. Fairly standard stuff – except the quorum on the NLRB Board was met only because of the fact Barack Obama controversially recess appointed three members in January 2012, as well as concurrently recess appointing Richard Cordray to be the Director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. So, three out of the five members of the NLRB Board were, according to Canning’s argument, not validly sitting and therefore their decision was invalid as to him…..
Here is the next glaring trouble spot from today’s Canning decision. Just yesterday, Obama formally nominated Richard Cordray for regular confirmation as head of the CFPB. It was a nice little ceremony carried on television and everything. And then Harry Reid, Carl Levin, Pat Leahy and the old school Senate Democrats went out and killed every possible ability for Obama to actually get Cordray through the Senate Republican filibuster gauntlet when they refused to meaningfully reform the filibuster (see: here and here).
Actions have consequences, and so do crustacean like inaction and fear as exhibited by the Old School Dems and the White House. You think the Senate No Men led by Mitch McConnell were obstructive of the CFPB and NLRB before? Just wait until now when they smell the agencies’ blood in the water.
http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/01/25/obama-recess-appointments-slapped-down-by-dc-circuit-cfpb-at-risk/
If you listen to Charlie Sykes, you “know,” that Reid, Leahy, are Levin union-thug loving “libs.” As this latest gambit reveals nothing could be further from reality. All they have to do to keep union support and appear less in the pocket of Wall Street and the elites is to stay 1/2 a step behind the Bradley Foundation.
Eliminating the County Supervisors as oversight is just another step in a much larger process.
If it weren’t for Sup. Lynne DeBruin, John Chianelli would still be in charge of the Mental Health Complex. That means Karl Strelnick, M.D. would still be billing Medicaid to assault his female patients. Violent males would still be impregnating women there. “Patients in Peril” http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/101910648.html