Blaming Scott Walker

Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker has a history of blaming everyone else for the problems in county government.

During his reelection campaign last year, Walker blamed his troubles on ex-Exec Tom Ament, the county board, state government, Gov. Jim Doyle, and Walker's opponent, former state budget director David Riemer.

It was so pathetic that Riemer even had some fun with it, demonstrating the "Scott Walker coat of arms" -- crossing his arms in front of his chest with index fingers pointing the blame in both directions.

Now there's another county budget crisis -- the second in two years. Here's how the Journal Sentinel described it:

Milwaukee County's already bleak financial picture darkened considerably Thursday, with word that its tax-freeze 2004 budget is likely to close as much as $3 million in the red, and that looming problems in the '05 budget might prompt emergency cutbacks in social service programs.

The budget bombshell came amid a litany of reports of financial mismanagement, late-breaking disclosure of shortfalls, and departments stretched thin by retirements and budget cuts. It would mark the second successive deficit budget for County Executive Scott Walker and the County Board.

Walker, of course, blamed everyone else. And now he's found an apologist, Charlie Sykes, who writes a column taking the Walker line and blaming everyone else, starting with -- you guessed it -- Tom Ament. Anyway, Sykes says, the state's budget deficit is a lot bigger than the county's, so what's the big deal?

Well, Sykes has no trouble blaming Jim Doyle for the state deficit, even though he inherited it from some spendthrift Republicans named Tommy Thompson and Scott McCallum, and has already made great strides to fix the problems they left him.

Walker is the county executive, running for governor on a platform of fiscal responsibility and tax freezes. Repeat -- Walker IS the county executive. He is responsible for the mess, which is unprecedented.

The deficit is primarily due to management failures in programs like Family Care," which unexpectedly needed a property tax levy bailout last year after management shortcomings caused state officials to withhold payments and demand funds back," the JS reported. Family Care was $4.2 billion in the whole last year.

The rent assistance program, because of what the JS described as "a fumbled leadership transition," left a $775,000 deficit.

There's more, and yes, the county board probably deserves at least some of the blame. There is more than enough to go around. But Tom Ament has long ago left the building, and trying to pin it all on him just won't work any more.

The real question for the voters: If Walker can't run a $1 billion dollar government, why would we think he could run a $22 billion one? The original JS story.