Walker to Finley -- I've got your back;Well, I've got it up to a point . . .

Scott Walker's a great friend, but you might not want to be a a lifeboat with him if there's only one life jacket.

When Dan Finley, a fellow county exec from Waukesha County, was named to head the Milwaukee Public Museum, Walker was delighted, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker praised the choice of Finley, a fellow Republican with whom he has worked on several issues. Walker said he was given a heads-up by Schlifske that Finley was in the running, but had no role in the selection.
Finley said he had not consulted Walker on the move.

"It seems like an excellent choice," Walker said. "They need someone to get the finances and the fund raising under control."

For about 48 hours, there was a Finley lovefest. An inspired choice, the JS said. Public officials and community leaders praised the choice.

Then Finley suggested exploring a regional cultural district, which drew heavy flak from neighboring counties and people who were suspicious it would be a new taxing body. Walker? "Out of town and unavailable for comment" as the criticism of Finley's idea mounted.

Now questions are being raised about Finley's $185,000 salary, double what he makes as county exec -- whether that's appropriate for someone with no museum-related experience, especially at a time when the museum is struggling to stay afloat financially, and there have been staff and program cuts.

Finley's good friend Walker, finger in the political wind, didn't say Finley's salary was too high -- but suggested he give part of it back, suggesting $10,000 or $20,000 as the appropriate sum.

Walker said that a voluntary salary cut would give Finley the "moral authority" to order other spending cuts. Walker compared it to his situation; Walker returns $60,000 of his annual salary to the county. (Although Walker's pension was still being calculated at his full salary of $132,000 until his opponent, David Riemer, blew the whistle during the 2004 county exec race.)

Finley starts his new job -- without a contract -- on Monday.

Walker's role in the museum mess

Walker, meanwhile, continues to talk and act as though he had nothing to do with the museum mess, pointing fingers at the museum board and staff. The county, although contributing financially to the museum, was not involved in operational decisions, he says. It has gotten more involved now since floating a loan to bail out the museum.

But if the problem resulted from the board not being accountable and running amok, then Walker must take responsibility for allowing that to happen, in the heady days after he won the county exec's office in a 2002 recall. A Journal Sentinel story written June 25 explained:

As the museum's ambition waxed, county oversight waned. In August 2001, then-County Executive F. Thomas Ament and the County Board agreed to end the regular audits that had tracked museum operations since the partnership began. And during the power vacuum after the pension scandal that drove Ament from office in 2002, the museum pushed a major governance change through the County Board.

When the deal for the county spinoff of management was originally struck, all 27 museum board members were nominated by the county executive and needed County Board confirmation. The museum provided names for 12 of the appointments, giving it limited say. Ament had resisted altering that balance of power.

But when he was forced out in early 2002, the museum pounced, getting the County Board and newly elected County Executive Scott Walker to agree to a major change. Under the new deal, the museum board got to seat 18 members with no county review, with the rest being named by the county executive and County Board chairman.

The change gave the museum more say over its own fate,but diminished public oversight. Around the same time, the museum's dreams were expanding quicker than its purse.

The rest, as they say, is history.