In the spring of 2011, there was a special election to fill the position of Milwaukee County executive after Scott Walker was elected governor. The race was between then-Republican state Rep. Jeff Stone and Chris Abele. Jeff Stone is a decent man, but he was the Legislature’s champion of voter suppression laws, such as the voter ID requirements, and he would be a continuation of the Scott Walker policies. Chris Abele, on the other hand, made many, many promises that he would govern as a progressive and that he was a Democrat. We had some serious questions about Abele and we expressed them at the time, but given the choice, we asked our readers to support Abele because he was supporting the policies that were better for working people in Milwaukee County.
We were wrong.
We have never had to do this before in our 34-year history, but the Shepherd Express apologizes to our readers for what turned out to be a poor recommendation. “WE SINCERELY APOLOGIZE TO YOU, OUR READERS.”
Not only has Chris Abele carried on Scott Walker’s policies, but unfortunately he has moved into new and very anti-democratic territory beyond what Scott Walker would probably have ever done. Many observers feel that he has shown himself to be a bit fast and loose when it comes to the truth on many issues. Much of what he promised in his first campaign he either ignored or did the opposite of what he promised. Also, he has demonstrated some very serious character issues that even surprised some of Abele’s biggest critics.
In that same endorsement, we also promised that “we will monitor his administration very carefully and provide you with a critical analysis of what is happening at the county level.” Over the past five years, we have done that. Now, with an election a couple of weeks away, we, the citizens of Milwaukee County, can vote to begin to undo the damage done and begin to move our county back to the honest, transparent and intelligent government that our grandparents and great-grandparents created for us.
The Personal and the Policies
There are two areas that we would like to explain about Abele—the personal and the policies—which are separate but also inextricably linked. We have talked to some of the people who have worked with Abele over the past five years and some who still do. All of the people we spoke to demanded that they be off the record for fear of reprisals from Abele because of his position and wealth. These are some of the people who know him best, and this is a summary of their opinions.
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Many of the individuals felt that Abele is one of the most insecure individuals they have ever met. He constantly has to tell you how smart he is and how rich he is. The general impression is that when everything you have ever done in your life, including getting elected to public office, is because of your family’s wealth, you never develop the confidence that people who have to struggle and succeed on their merits gain through that process. This insecurity creates serious problems when you have a position like county executive, because if you are always trying to get the approval of certain wealthy and influential individuals, you are often working against the interests of the average Milwaukee County resident.
An often spoken opinion was that Abele is totally arrogant. He is probably the only elected official who refuses to be held accountable and who seems to have absolutely no respect for his constituents. Many people implied that he would not stoop so low as to knock on constituents’ doors and stand on their front porch and listen to their concerns. He seems to try to avoid any kind of public hearings and any kind of contact with average working people where he might have to answer a voter’s questions.
Some argue despite his insecurities and others argue perhaps because of his insecurities, he views himself as much smarter than the people of Milwaukee County. This despite his failure to complete his college education for whatever reasons—and it certainly wasn’t for a lack of money. As several people commented, he feels that the people of Milwaukee are lucky to have him here and that they should just let him reshape Milwaukee County and not get in his way. If this includes tearing down our Mitchell Park Domes, so be it. One demonstration of this fact that he doesn’t want the public getting in his way is that he worked with the Republican-controlled state Legislature and his mentor Scott Walker to essentially prevent the locally elected Milwaukee County supervisors, who actually do knock on their constituents’ doors and do listen to their concerns, from doing their job of being a check and balance on the county executive’s authority. No public official should have such unchecked powers.
To be very clear, we certainly are not anti-wealthy people. We have always respected people like Herb Kohl and Michael Bloomberg, who earned great fortunes and have tried to use much of their money to help average working people. Abele, some of his associates and former associates say, is different. Yes, they say, he has a foundation and gives money to nonprofits but he basically uses his foundation money to benefit Chris Abele. Much of the money that his foundation has spent was to position Abele in the community. For example, he was active on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee. He contributed to the Boys & Girls Club and we all agree that they do wonderful work, but people are quick to point out that their board was essentially a “Who’s Who” of the Milwaukee business community, the people Abele is always trying to impress.
We could go on and on, but how does all this personal stuff affect the way the county is currently governed?
Consolidation of Power in One Person’s Hands
If there’s any single issue that defines Abele’s tenure as Milwaukee County executive, it’s his quest to consolidate power in his own hands. He never campaigned on this issue but he made it the hallmark of his administration and his power grabs threaten to destroy county government and make government ripe for corruption. A too-strong, unaccountable county executive can use his or her powers to strike deals with insiders and strip the county of our valuable publicly owned assets.
Abele began by working with conservative suburban Republicans and Scott Walker to push what would become Act 14 through the state Legislature. The bill cut the duties of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and gave them to the county executive. Act 14 builds on years of right-wing radio hosts’ attacks on Milwaukee County supervisors because they stood up to Scott Walker and make their decisions in public, where debates can get messy, but that is what a functioning democracy is all about.
As a result of Act 14, Abele, a very distrusting and a secretive man who shuns the public, can rule the county from behind closed doors. The public and county supervisors are shut out of the decision-making process.
In addition, last summer, Abele convinced his ally, state Rep. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), never known to be friendly to Milwaukee, to surreptitiously slip into the state budget a last-minute amendment that would have given Abele near-total power to sell off county assets, including the zoo, the airport and the Milwaukee Public Museum. Abele needs to get the OK of either the independently elected county comptroller or just one real estate expert from the municipality in which the asset is located.
This was even too much for the right-wing Legislature, so lawmakers whittled back Abele’s outrageous request, but they gave him near-total power to sell off county land that isn’t zoned as park land. But as we’ve discovered this winter, 43 parks around the county aren’t zoned as park land—most of them in the suburbs—so they are not protected from Abele’s power to sell off our public lands.
But that’s not all. After the county board opposed his plan to downsize the Mental Health Complex before there were adequate services in the community, Abele returned to the state Legislature to push through a bill creating the Milwaukee County Mental Health Board, which took over the supervisors’ oversight of the Behavioral Health Division. The Mental Health Board is made up of appointed “experts” in the field but members don’t face the voters and are only accountable to Abele.
Even worse? Abele is seeking even more power. As the Shepherd reported last year, state Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) apparently wants to introduce a bill at Abele’s urging that would give the Milwaukee County executive almost total power to rewrite the county budget without public oversight or a vote by the board. This power grab ought to outrage every Milwaukeean. No person—no matter how well-intentioned or popular—should have that much power over a $1.4 billion budget of our taxpayer dollars. This bill is so dangerous and leaves the county open to such easy corruption that it should never see the light of day.
Sweetheart Deals for Public Assets
We aren’t sure why Abele seems to have an unquenchable thirst for power, but we do know what he can do as the king of Milwaukee: sell off county assets to his friends in secret, without a competitive bid, and starve county government of valuable resources.
Thanks to Alberta Darling’s last-minute budget amendment, Abele needs just one other person’s signature to sell off county buildings and land, as long as that land is not zoned for parks. County supervisors aren’t allowed to vote on a land sale in public, nor does the public even need to be made aware of the sale when it’s in the works.
Abele’s already gotten caught trying to sell off or privatize county assets for less than their market value. Abele engineered a sale of the Transit Center parcel to a developer for $500,000, a pittance for a lakefront property Downtown. He accepted a no-bid, lowball offer from Northwestern Mutual to purchase O’Donnell Park, one of the most valuable parcels of land in the city. Supervisors wisely spiked the deal and crafted a better one with the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Perhaps most notoriously, Abele negotiated in secret to put the county on the hook for $80 million for the Milwaukee Bucks arena. He also threw in the county-owned Marcus Center, which the state can take over without compensating the county for our investments in the facility, as well as nine acres of Park East land for $1, even though it’s valued at $8.8 million, and on top of that we taxpayers will have to pay millions for remediating the site.
To pay for the $80 million over the next 20 years, Abele sought to go after delinquent property taxpayers in the suburbs; the City of Milwaukee’s property owners wouldn’t be affected by his scheme since the city has its own debt-collection program. Abele’s strategy unfairly burdens those who are already struggling, would result in more foreclosures and destabilize otherwise stable communities, and isn’t sustainable in the long run. We’re glad that legislators realized Abele’s plans were so toxic even they wouldn’t touch it.
What’s so galling about Abele’s sweetheart deals with his friends is that he argues that he can’t invest in the county because the county can’t afford it—similar to Walker’s argument that “we’re broke” and that therefore he had to gut the rights of public employee unions and make historic cuts to public education at all levels.
For example, last summer Abele vetoed funds to repair the Mitchell Park Domes, calling the maintenance funds “irresponsible.” Now he argues that the Domes are too expensive to repair and might need to be razed. He apparently doesn’t appreciate this beloved Milwaukee landmark or respect the generations of Milwaukeeans who built up the county. He also vetoed a small cost-of-living increase as well as a living wage ordinance for low-paid county workers and contractors, again saying that the county can’t afford to pay its workers a decent wage.
But think about it; it’s commonsense: If Chris Abele were more forthright and a better negotiator and would get market value for the excess parcels of land that the county rightly should sell off through a competitive bidding process, the county would have more money to invest in its workforce and to take care of our assets. Pretty simple. Instead, Abele’s record of trying to help the wealthy gain more assets and holding the wages down for the average public employee hurts the economic growth in the county.
Escaping Accountability
A terrible side effect of Abele’s quest for near-unilateral power is his lack of public accountability. He has more power at the expense of a the weakened board, so he can maneuver around county supervisors and avoid their oversight. He refuses to show up to important public hearings to explain his plans and answer any questions from the public. That lack of public accountability permeates his administration. When a public entity like Milwaukee County has a budget of well over a billion dollars, it is vitally important to have a strong system of checks and balances.
Take, for example, the all-appointee Mental Health Board. For all of their talk about being “community focused,” Mental Health Board members appear to ignore the community and receive almost all of their information and direction from the Abele administration—the very people the board is supposed to oversee. The board has no staff and so the Abele administration can control the flow of information it receives. The Abele-backed bill creating the board only requires it to take public testimony once a year and it’s only scheduled a handful of opportunities for public testimony since launching in 2014.
In December 2015, the board went so far as to have union rep Dennis Hughes arrested during a meeting when he spoke about how patients who are sex offenders and were soon to be released from the county’s mental health hospital were talking about preying on teen boys once they’re in the community. The board chair, Abele ally Kimberly Walker, shouted him down and called in security to arrest him. As the Shepherd can report exclusively, Hughes fought the ticket in court last Thursday. Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanrahan fined him $100 for disorderly conduct, even though he said Hughes had “the purest of motives” for trying to warn board members about the dangers posed by sex offenders. By the way, the Abele administration did release at least one sex offender into the Uncas Avenue neighborhood on Milwaukee’s far South Side.
Republican legislators also gave Abele his own school district, the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program, which allows him to take over public schools, hire a schools czar, fire the teachers, and sell off the publicly owned schools to national, for-profit charter school operators. The county has no role in K-12 education, but Abele, who was unable to graduate from college, has somehow managed to take charge of taxpayer-funded schools with no public oversight or accountability.
Alienating African Americans
One of the most disconcerting aspects of Abele’s campaign is his attempt to portray himself as a friend of African Americans and Latinos. His record in office couldn’t be further from this image.
In 2012, Abele allowed his top aide, Patrick Farley, to wear a wire and try to entrap then-County Supervisor Johnny Thomas into taking a campaign bribe. Farley is white and Thomas is African American. At the time, Thomas was the chair of the powerful finance committee who was running for city comptroller and was seen as a rising star in local politics.
Thomas was charged with two felonies and had to end his campaign for city comptroller. But Farley’s set-up was so weak that a jury found Thomas not guilty after just an hour of deliberations. Despite being totally and completely exonerated, Thomas paid a high price for coming into contact with Abele and after restoring his good reputation he’s running for city comptroller again this April.
Thomas isn’t the only high-ranking African American county official to be harmed by Abele. As the Shepherd reported exclusively last month, Interim Director on Aging Jonette Arms filed a racial discrimination suit against Abele for treating her differently than his other top aides. Arms became interim director last summer, when longtime Aging Director Stephanie Sue Stein, who is highly respected in the community, recommended Arms as her successor upon her retirement.
But Abele hasn’t promoted Arms. We can’t say for sure that Abele isn’t promoting Arms because she is African American. But as Arms points out in her complaint, Abele has no other African American department heads in his administration and she is being treated differently than all of them. Abele can do better and he should do better.
Abele faces another racial discrimination complaint from Doris Ellison, an African American certified nursing assistant at the county’s mental health hospital. Due to the hospital’s downsizing, Ellison lost her full-time, first-shift position and is now working the third shift for the first time in her 26-year career with the county. Ellison alleges in her complaint that her treatment violates a 1980 federal court order that attempts to remedy the county’s former racist hiring practices. We’ll see if the billionaire’s son can get away with ignoring a federal court order intended to help African American workers.
Adding insult to injury, Abele signed on to the pending Office on African American Affairs, proposed by Supervisor Khalif Rainey, to generate positive headlines when he needed them. Abele gave a disastrous response to Rainey’s question last fall asking the county executive how his budget helped African American Milwaukeeans. Abele said that he’d included better programming at the House of Corrections and more funding for mental health, his fatherhood initiative and other social services. Abele’s comments were rightfully blasted for being out of touch, insulting and “worthy of talk radio.” Nevertheless, Abele has given the same response in other forums, showing that he just doesn’t get it.
That said, he is willing to use the Office on African American Affairs for his own purposes. While Rainey’s proposal ensured that the office is independent, Abele’s version places it within his administration. In that way, Abele can potentially kill off the office so that it won’t make him accountable for his mistreatment of Thomas, Arms, Ellison and other African American employees and officials.
We’re asking Milwaukee County residents to simply look at Abele’s record as Milwaukee County executive. After reviewing his record, including the items we highlighted above, it is clear that we called the race terribly wrong and why we are apologizing for our endorsement of him when he launched his bid for office in early 2011. We never could have imagined that Chris Abele, allegedly a Democrat, would be Scott Walker on steroids. In two weeks we have a chance to change things.
