Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Walker dances to CRG tune, applies double standard, stifles dissent all in one blow

Score a trifecta for Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker.

In one short letter, he managed to (a) expose himself as a compete hypocrite, (b) show that when Citizens for Responsible Government says jump, he jumps, and (c) cross the line in telling a county employee he is not entitled to have a different opinion from the boss (Walker).

Based on a crowing, self-congratulatory press release from CRG and a scolding letter from Walker to Corporation Counsel William Domina, this is what seems to have happened:

CRG, which has delusions of statewide grandeur after playing a key role in Milwaukee County recalls a couple of years ago, was going through open records at the Waukesha school district on a recent referendum when it ran across an e-mail exchange between the school superintendent and Domina.

Domina, it appears, offered advice and help to supporters of the referendum. But he did it on his official county e-mail during working hours, which is a no-no. So the CRG vigilantes blew the whistle and turned the e-mail over to Walker, asking him to do something about it.

Walker knows a little something about sending e-mails from county addresses to support a referendum. He did that big-time in April, sending a massive number of e-mails asking people to vote for a county bonding referendum, which failed. Several county supervisors have filed a complaint against Walker for using county resources to take sides on the vote.

Walker thought it was OK then, but his letter tells Domina that "you should not have been engaged in this type of political correspondence on the Milwaukee County e-mail system."

Domina's worse transgression, however, was to contradict Walker. In one breath, Walker tells Domina it was inappropriate for him to comment on an issue outside of Milwaukee County, since he is the county's corporation counsel. In the next, he reminds Domina that Walker himself spoke at a meeting in Waukesha against the referendum. Hmmm, he was the Milwaukee County executive when he did that, wasn't he? (In fact, it was CRG that sponsored said meeting.)

So it's OK for the county exec to use county e-mail, but not the corporation counsel. (They were both wrong on this one. It is not OK in either case.)

Walker's letter says it's also OK for Walker to meddle in Waukesha school referenda. But it's not OK for Domina to have his own opinion or help the other side.

And why is that? Not because Domina works for Milwaukee County, but because Domina owes his job to Walker, who appointed him as corporation counsel.

For political appointees at the city, county, state or federal level, the expectation is that you never publicly disagree with the boss, who gave the job. But that is generally understood to be about policy, not about which way to vote in some referendum in the next county. Walker runs a very tight ship, and he doesn't like disagreement from his subordinates.

And he doesn't like being embarrassed in front of his friends at CRG, who were at their peak of power when he won a recall election to become exec. They are in decline now, and could barely muster 25 people to attend a county exec candidate forum last spring in Milwaukee. But Walker still dances to their tune.

8 Comments:

At 3:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Walker is a hypocrite - plain and simple.

 
At 9:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a life long Republican, I am appalled at the the behavior of Republicans in Wisconsin. Scot Walker displays a behavior that both Reagan and Goldwater would find disgusting. Walker supports CRG who makes a living out of bashing Republicans? Scot Walker should leave the Republican Party and join the Libertarian Party.

 
At 5:55 AM, Blogger Jay Bullock said...

I don't think the Libertarians would have Walker; I know a few, and they have standards.

 
At 8:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Walker's and CRG's core political strategy is the politics of personal destruction. They do not debate the issues, they attack the person. They have the support of Milwaukee Talk Radio and local rags like the Waukesha Freeman. They coordinate their personal attacks on people who end up on CRG's political enemies list. The Republican Party will fall because these attacks are most successful on Republicans. Ronald Reagan would have never refered to a fellow Republican as a RINO. The CRG people have control of the Milwaukee County Executive and the New Berlin School Board. Both entities are in deep financial trouble because of their unwillingness to pay for services they are politically unable to end. FOR WALKER, THE NEW BERLIN SCHOOL BOARD, AND CRG, BS RULES!

 
At 3:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I could post anonymously, but am not afraid to stand behind my comments. Sure seems as if the Doyle Machine is mighty worried about Scott Walker (full disclosure, he's a client). Bill, what on earth would you Blog about without Walker? Seems like more than half your posts are focused on trying to tear him down.

However, judging from the Governor's current standing in the polls and Walker's ability to eat in to the traditional Dem base, your comments are predictable, if not insightful or accurate. Keep up the work. Always good for a chuckle or two, and it keeps you in shape for Reimer's run in the '07 Special Election....

 
At 1:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

CRG in decline? Walker in CRG's pocket? CRG makes its living beating up Republicans? Somebody should stop smoking the banana peels. Let's take a look at a few facts.

1. CRG has gone statewide and now has 12 affiliates in 10 counties. With our latest success in Waukesha we have irate citizens across rhe state calling to get in on the action. Does that sound like decline?

2. Perhaps I should publish a list of all the things Walker HAS NOT done at our request. How about his not implementing Six Sigma at the county level after we gift wrapped free consulting and training from local business and academia. Of course, I do not expect liberals to even know what Six Sigma is. Better head to Google boys and girls. Oh, and when you get there add "City of Fort Wayne" to your search terms to discover how they used Six Sigma to save millions and create huge improvements in service quality.

3. Perhaps many have forgotten that CRG got its start taking out Democrats as they held all the positions of power in the Milwaukee area. Now that we have gone statewide we naturally have turned our attention to a number of Republicans as they hold power in the state. Name another organization that has held BOTH major parties accountable by FIRING the bad actors on both sides of the aisle.

It must kill all the partisan hacks that we do not discriminate based on party. We only discriminate based on results. He is far from perfect, but, like it or not Walker has delivered on his major promise to hold the line on taxes. Please, no baloney on the sham that Doyle has foisted on us. Keeping two sets of books, raiding segregated funds, borrowing, and shifting taxes to local government do not count (Yeah, I know, McCallum and Thompson did much the same but they are gone. Doyle is not).

Two last pieces of advice.

1. ALL politicians are suspect. It is the nature of the beast. Don't fall in love with any of them as they will eventually break your heart.

2. Stop looking to bask in the reflected glory of your favorite politician. Create your own glory. Take it from someone who fell victim to this foible early on and learned. Remember, they work for us. Don't let them use party allegiance to divide and conquer us. This goes for taxpayers forced to pay for waste and corruption as well as service users forced to accept poor quality service. The dirty little secret is that there is enough money to hold the line on taxes AND provide first rate services. But first we have to eliminate the waste and corruption.

And, one last parting shot at all the anonymous cowards slinging mud at CRG - sign your name ya weenies. Sheesh, if you have problem with us try talking to us. Hell, we even helped Joel McNally's wife retain $244,000 in county funding for one of her pet projects. Imagine that, conservatives agreeing with and helping liberals. What next, dogs and cats living together? People finding out that behind the rhetoric and ego we really are pretty much all the same? Oh no, what a nightmare!

Regards,


Chris Kliesmet
CRG Network

 
At 4:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The New Berlin recall effort seems to be a motive for other goals.

New Berlin recaller Douglas Dehler has admitted that the real reason for the recall is the fact that he wants a tax increase referendum.

What Mr. Dehler seems to miss completely is that this board has simply done what it promised to do.

When these four board members ran for office, they promised to take care of our buildings within the regular budget and without tax increase referendums. That is what they have done since they were elected.

Now Dehler wants to recall them for this?

Doug Dehler is a trial lawyer who specializes in health insurance lawsuits. The article also indicated that Dehler lives in Wauwatosa. Why would a liberal trial lawyer from Wauwatosa start a recall in New Berlin? He wants to increase property taxes for all of us in New Berlin, yet he wouldn't even have to pay those taxes himself because he lives in Wauwatosa!

The recall is clearly an attempt by a left-wing extremist who cannot accept the democracy we have here in New Berlin.
If Mr. Dehler really wants people to pay higher taxes, maybe he should contact the Wauwatosa School Board where he lives and ask them to foot the bill.

Matt Thomas
New Berlin
Former School Board member

http://thewholetruth.50megs.com

 
At 1:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

People who remember Marc Duff from when he was a state
representative, might wonder how Duff could be so liberal now.

Check out this photograph:

http://thewholetruth.50megs.com/Duff%20%26%20Hoffman.jpg

This is Marc Duff hugging his running mate Kathy Hoffmann when they both ran for the school board on the ulta-liberal union ticket in 2004. Together with Alan McGinty and Kyle Kramer, both of whom were convicted of campaign finance violations for taking money from the teachers’ union, Duff and Hoffmann ran as a bloc of four to give the union total control of the New Berlin School Board. The person’s
head you can see in the middle is Janie McGinty, Alan’s wife.
The liberals who lost the elections in 2005, 2004, and 2003 are upset. They are upset the people of New Berlin have spoken at the ballot box.

This is School Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Duff.

http://thewholetruth.50megs.com

 

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