Will lattes float the county's sinking ship?

Voters of Wisconsin, meet Innovator Scott Walker, the Man Who Thinks Outside The Box.

Looking at an $80-million hole in the Milwaukee County budget for 2007, Walker proposes -- a new coffee shop in Juneau Park.

Who knew there was that kind of money in lattes?

Going boldly where no others have dared, Walked declared in his State of the County speech:

"If it takes a coffee shop in every park to keep them open, then I'm all for it," Walker said. "If it works in Central Park, we should do it here."

There's a little more traffic in New York's Central Park than in Juneau Park, but you gotta think big, I guess.

To be fair, Walker also proposed some bigger ticket items, among them, to "turn back" mandated programs - such as courts - to state government unless they are fully funded by the state.

That should be easy, don't you think? The state government is rolling in dough, and would no doubt be eager to pay for the court system. Why didn't anyone think of that before?

Of course, if Scott Walker is governor in 2007 -- which is about as likely as me being the new county executive -- there could be a little problem getting that done.

You see, Walker has already promised that he would freeze taxes and hold the line on spending. That doesn't leave a lot of room to be taking back any programs. If he were governor, he'd just tell the new county executive to suck it up and think about opening a custard stand in the courthouse.

Walker's real goal -- besides successfully taking the focus off how big a financial mess his administration is in -- is to just get past the fall election before Milwaukee County goes into receivership. If he's governor, it'll be someone else's problem. And if he's still the county exec (which he is certain to be), he can always blame Tom Ament.

UPDATE: Great Minds Think Alike Department: Cory Liebmann opines on the subject. Dan Cody of Left on the Lake chimes in, too.

UPDATE TOO: Seth Zlotocha points out that Walker also proposed expanding his Harley ride freebies.