Lobbyists Wrote AB 85 & I'm Waiting for the MJS Editorial

Earlier this week we found out that the Greater Milwaukee Committee's lobbyists were literally in the room helping write Rep. Joe Sanfelippo's legislation to undermine the Milwaukee County Board (AB 85).  Most people that were paying attention expected as much but Dan Bice's column verified those strong suspicions and provided us with actual documents to prove it.

When I reacted to the news that GMC's lobbyists were in the room helping write the legislation, I compared it to a very similar incident that blew up in 2006.  That was the time that some of the very same players and interests were busy writing secret legislation to by-pass county officials and even county voters.  That legislation involved lifting a very successful Milwaukee County asset and suddenly making it a regional entity. They were plotting and planning for years behind the scenes to accomplish their goal without input from local/county leaders, any real stake holders or even the public.

Fortunately when this secret legislation was made public in 2006 it quickly blew up on the special interests that were behind it.  Even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board, who (naturally) supported the actual idea, chastised the special interests for their secretive tactics and anti-democratic methods.  Here is a sample of what the MJS Editorial Board said at the time (all emphasis below is mine):

If a college political science class is looking for a classic case of how not to accomplish something worthwhile, the proposal to create a regional airport authority fits the bill to a T. People that should have known better, namely private business interests and state lawmakers, missed the runway by a mile. In drafting the proposal to create the authority, they needlessly burned political bridges and, in effect, thumbed their noses at local democratic representation.

The MJS Editorial Board then agreed with a the statement that the 2006 move was "the most anti-democratic proposal that has come through here in a long time."  They go on to state they they are puzzled at why this legislation would be forged behind the scenes. They then chide the special interests saying that going behind local elected officials backs is a lousy way to try to achieve their goal. They conclude the editorial by saying that although they believe that the idea is worthy of pursuit, they say that next time it should be done, "openly and with all stakeholders represented."

Now that we know that some of the same players and special interests are involved now with planning and writing AB 85, where is the strong editorial from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board? If they were willing to take these same special interests to task over the single issue of a regional airport (one that they actually agreed with) then how can they not comment on the same tactics being used for a much bigger and all encompassing piece of legislation?  AB 85 doesn't just threaten one Milwaukee County asset, it seeks  to overturn our entire system of county government.  Someone besides GMC and their lobbyists should have been invited into the room on a bill with such sweeping ramifications.  And the MJS Editorial Board should show some intestinal fortitude and take the same stand for local democracy that they took back in 2006.

I'll be waiting and I hope it is not in vain.

Sorry But City of Milwaukee Residents Do Matter

During the current Madison-based effort to undermine the Milwaukee County Board, I've repeatedly heard supporters using many of the exact same talking points.  One of the talking points that has repeatedly gotten under my skin is the touting of referendums in 10 suburbs. Supporters have used those votes to strongly suggest if not outright state that Milwaukee County voters support their agenda in a big way.  That particular use of the referendum results are totally disingenuous in my opinion. 

Let me be perfectly clear that the views of the voters in those 10 suburbs most certainly do matter.  But let me also be perfectly clear that the largest constituency in Milwaukee County (speaking strictly numerically) matters much more.  And that group of people would be City of Milwaukee residents. Yet you wouldn't know it based on some of the declarations that we hear from the professional spin machine that has been retained to push this special interest agenda.

Today the latest MU Law Poll was released.  In it they reported that folks in the City of Milwaukee favored a full-time County Board 54-37%.  That double digit level of support in what is obviously the most population dense portion of the county most certainly does matter.  It would be nice if supporters of the special interest legislation would acknowledge that simple fact before declaring victory. But perhaps they are cynically banking on the assumption that City of Milwaukee residents wont be engaged enough.

A few parting points:

• I'd expect that the numbers in those referendums would have been much different if they included all of the broad and sweeping measures found in AB 85. However the supporters of AB 85 wont let Milwaukee County voters have a real say on the entirety of the bill before it is actually forced upon us. 
• If you would have had a similar referendum in those same 10 suburbs asking about reducing just about any elected officials pay to a part-time level I suspect that you would have found support for it.  So to pretend that this is some damning piece of data against Milwaukee County supervisors in particular is again disingenuous at best. 
• Not only has the 10 referendum talking point been repeatedly used but even extremely weak items like a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel online poll has been circulated by supporters of AB 85. Here is an example from Sen. Lena Taylor's records. I suspect that it was sent to her from the GMC front group Smart Government Inc.  Please don't tell me that anyone is making a decision about this legislation based on such weak and worthless info.

Shine More Light on Milwaukee County Legislation

Newly elected Representative Joe Sanfelippo had barely found his new state office and he was already announcing a list of fully formed legislative proposals to turn everything upside down on his former colleagues in Milwaukee County government.  Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and his various operatives rushed as if on cue to support the new Republican state legislator.  And surprising exactly no one it was quickly revealed that the elite business interests running the Greater Milwaukee Committee already had a small army of lobbyists, a front group and a spin machine in place.

Given the early and well coordinated effort it was no surprise that supporters began pushing all of the same talking points and reading from the exact same (sometimes very disingenuous) script. I don't personally have a problem with a real and actual discussion about policy in Milwaukee County but I don't like the outside meddling that seems to be built into the DNA of this latest effort.

Sorry but I'm just not a fan of the elaborate behind-the-scenes plotting and planning by big dollar benefactors and big business special interests. I'm not a fan of fully formed front groups being hatched out of nowhere and slick PR firms being retained to "educate the public" long before most of us even know exactly what is being proposed or the possible consequences.

So if we in Milwaukee County are going to be forced by Big (state) Government and others into having this discussion then it should at least be a full and an open one. We should not simply have to settle for carefully formulated talking points and the well funded efforts of a few elite special interests and individuals.

For my part, I want to understand more about what exactly may have brought us to this point.  What has been going on behind the scenes and who has been involved in all of this careful and expensive planning? What does that information tell us about the possible motives at the root of the effort itself?

To hopefully find some of these answers I've filed a number of open records requests with a variety of public officials that have publicly forced this issue in the first place.  Most of the officials have at least initially responded to my records requests and some with a notable and welcome amount of speed.  Time will tell, as I work with them to obtain various public records, exactly how open each elected official will be to such scrutiny.

After three full weeks only one public official has failed to even acknowledge receipt of my open records request and sadly that is my own state Senator Lena Taylor (See UPDATE Below). It is still a mystery to me as to why she was so quick to sign on to this legislation.  There certainly is no groundswell within her district for this legislation, so I am very interested in reviewing the public records that I've requested from her.  Some have already speculated about her quick support of this legislation but I am withholding judgement at this point.  However doing things like ignoring open records requests into the matter will only feed those kinds of theories.

Those that are pushing this Milwaukee County legislation the hardest should be the first to allow the sun to shine on all aspects of it.  Only then can we have the full and substantive discussion that Milwaukee County residents actually deserve.

UPDATE: I just was informed second hand via Twitter that Senator Taylor is putting the records responsive to my request in the mail today.  If this is true I appreciate it very much and look forward to getting them.