Rewarding donors and punishing enemies is what Scott Walker does and he's good at it, too. His open war on Milwaukee just hit its peak when he signed a bill that limits the power and cuts the salary of the Milwaukee County Board.
Yes, that's the big, bad, intrusive state government dictating to a local entity, something that should have Republicans clutching their pearls and seeking out a fainting couch. Their arguments about "states rights" and "local control" just fall by the wayside when it comes to Scott Walker punishing the Milwaukee County Board that kept opposing a lot of Walkers extremism when he was Milwaukee County Executive.
Hypocisy, thy name is Scott Walker and every other Republican who violates one of the oft repeated GOP memes. Move along, nothing to see here they'd have you believe whenever one of their sacred tenets is violated by one of their own.
(County) Supervisors would lose power on contracts, labor negotiations and land sales under the measure. The County Board's budget also drops by two-thirds, though some staff and other costs previously counted as part of the board's current $6.6 million budget are excluded from a new funding cap for the board.
Supervisor terms will change from four years to two, starting with the 2016 elections, under the law.
And supervisor pay would drop by 50% to about $24,000 a year, if voters agree in a 2014 referendum. Only that provision is subject to voter approval.
Walker stressed the importance of the referendum as giving voters the power to decide whether to in effect reduce the job of Milwaukee County supervisor to part time.
The governor held up a pledge card he used when he was a candidate for Milwaukee County executive in 2002, noting that he had promised to work to cut the board to part time. He introduced a resolution to do that, but the board promptly voted it down, Walker said.
By signing the bill, Walker said he'd finally made good on the promise.
(information in italics is my addition for clarity)
Of course, no other county or municipal board in the state is affected by the new, shiny law. Only Milwaukee County. Just like his changes to the makeup of the Milwaukee Area Techical College (he changed the makeup of it's controlling board giving surrounding (Republican) County Executives and business leaders control of the Milwaukee property tax-funded school) last year, it only affects Milwaukee.
And just like the school vouchers which initially targeted Milwaukee Public Schools, stripping the most money per pupil out of that system when Scott Walker and his GOP majority State Legislature took a billion dollars out of education in 2011 through his "budget repair". Further expansion of vouchers is in trouble this year (those pesky charter schools were the #1 donors to the GOP in 2010 and 2012 and want a better return on their investment) as even Legislators who gleefully voted for the 2011 measures are singing a different tune now that it's "their" schools that are on the chopping block.
It's just a continuation of his War on Milwaukee on Steroids. Milwaukee is hated by Republicans, particularly those in surrounding suburbs who collect paychecks from their Milwaukee jobs, use city and county services and roads they don't pay a penny for while they're at work, and then escape to their lily white suburban paradises where they grumble endlessly about Milwaukee. I like asking them what they'll do for a job if they get their wish and Milwaukee becomes a ghost town, but I never get an answer.
And then, of course, there's racism. Republicans don't talk about "blah people" - they've learned that lesson. Instead, they use terms like "urban" or, here in Wisconsin, "Milwaukee" with a wink and smile to their supporters who know what it really means.
The Milwaukee County Board isn't taking this laying down:
County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic issued a statement calling the measure "an attack on the legislative branch of the most diverse county in the state." She said the measure provides for a "dangerous and undemocratic" consolidation of power in the county executive.
The County Board has voted to hire an outside attorney to review the legislation for a possible court challenge.
Walker scoffed at the notion of a court challenge.
"I've seen in the last two years how when the liberals don't like the results of what's passed (by the Legislature) in Madison, they go to the courts," Walker said. That was a reference to lawsuits challenging his Act 10 provisions eliminating most collective bargaining for public employees.
Of course, Scott Walker is among those Governators who has decided not to expand Medicare or put forth state health insurance changes for the Affordable Care Act because, you know, "big bad intrusive big gubmint" and "states rights" blah blah blah. But when it comes to a big bad intrustive gubmint HE controls, well ... then it's OK.
IOKIYAR. Move along. Nothing to see here.
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