Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Who's Behind The Milwaukee County Power Grab

Last week, I reported about the move by the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC) who had their pet county executive, Chris Abele, team up with State Representative Joe Sanfelippo (R-Teabagistan) to push a legislative bill that GMC had crafted that would all but eliminate the County Board.

Joe Sanfelippo
At the time, I pointed out how GMC would contract the Public Policy Forum to do a "report" on very specific questions, such as "what's the best way to break up Milwaukee County" instead of simply asking if it would be a good idea to break up Milwaukee County.

In a way, it's not very different from when MacIver Institute or WPRI come up with a "study" that just so happens to match one of Scott Walker's recent talking points.

I also told you how Sanfelippo's great claim to fame was sitting on the county board which he now wants to destroy, voting to raise to the rates the county paid his cab company instead of representing his constituents.

Sanfelippo's other claim to fame is supporting Tom Nardelli, a name that would be familiar to those following Walkergate.

When Sanfelippo had a press conference last Friday, he announced that he was dropping the bigger cost portion of his referendum, showing that this whole thing has nothing to do with saving money for the taxpayers, but rather was a blatant power grab.

Julia Taylor
Joining Sanfelippo at his press conference was Julia Taylor, president of the GMC, who said that one of the reasons the GMC had crafted this bill and was pushing for its passage was that the Milwaukee County Board didn't go along with the further cuts that Abele wanted to impose on county workers. Considering that there are already county workers eligible for income maintenance benefits like food stamps, there is no rationale reason for wanting further cuts.

But then again, Taylor is the person who went and testified for a comptroller (read Emergency Fiscal Manager - like the kind they had in Michigan). During her testimony, at about the one hour twenty minute mark, Taylor criticized former Chairman of the Board Lee Holloway for firing Tim Russell. Yes, the same Tim Russell who just pled guilty for embezzling tens of thousands of dollars and was intricate in Scott Walker's illegal campaigning out of the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

Man, these plutocrats and teahadists love their corrupt lackeys, don't they?

And speaking of corruption, I should point out that the dissolution of the Milwaukee County government is nothing new. Abele didn't start it; he's simply one of the tools being used to help end it.

If you want to know where it started from, I would suggest looking to ALEC, or at least one of their best sockpuppets:



Again, the goal is not to save the taxpayers money and it's definitely not to make the county government more representative. It's to allow the plutocrats and oligarchs easier access to the county's access, much like Walker and his cohorts are doing on the state level.

1 comment:

  1. Abele is the lesson in electing Superman. Portrayed as some kind of unicorn liberal rich guy, he has proven rich guys are pretty much all out for themselves, their money and their power. Next time the Democrats put up a candidate, I hope voters will remember what they got from Abele.

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