Stone Cold Sell Out to Special Interests

Republican State Representative Jeff Stone is formally announcing a run for Milwaukee County Executive on Wednesday morning. Sadly I won't be there myself, but I hope that some member of the media asks him some of the questions that I have for him. For example, does he still support taking the airport away from the county? Will Stone continue to have special interests developing major county policy in secret for him?

All of the questions that I would have for Stone are related and they are based on a series of events in 2005 and 2006. During that time Jeff Stone trotted out the horrible idea of taking away Milwaukee County's successfully-run airport and handing it over to some newly created regional layer of government. Stone then attempted an end-run around Milwaukee County entirely by proposing legislation in Madison. That Stone effort was to enact the plan without so much as a vote from either the Milwaukee County Board or from the public (via referendum).

Later it was learned that the horrible plan was actually conceived by special interests and the business elites. That included both the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC) and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC). In fact the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that the actual draft legislation that Stone was pushing was literally written in secret by some of those special interests and their lawyers.

So is this the way that he intends to lead Milwaukee County? Can we expect these special interests to literally write his county budgets and his legislative proposals as well? Does he still think it is a good idea to give away Milwaukee County's most valuable assets without even a vote from the board or from Milwaukee County taxpayers themselves? I would certainly be interested in knowing his answers and I really do hope that a member of the media plans to ask him. Answers will let us know if Jeff Stone still plans to sell out Milwaukee County to his special interest friends.