It’s official: Chris Abele is a more radical county executive than Scott Walker.
Abele is succeeding where Walker failed. Abele has conspired with GOP legislators to strip the Milwaukee County board of pretty much every power they have.
Last night, on pages 23 and 24 of a 24-page catchall budget amendment, the Milwaukee County board was reduced to rubble. The county executive would be able to take over all authority over land sales and transfers. The board wouldn’t be able to approve contracts or have input on requests for proposals. The board would be prohibited from adopting a policy that conflicts with the county executive’s authority.
Wow.
This is way worse than what’s been rumored. Yes, I know this needs to be passed by both houses of the Legislature and be signed into law by Walker. It'll happen. It shouldn't, but it will.
Now, you may wonder why anyone should care. The board is dysfunctional, right?
Well, let’s think about this for a second.
The executive branch crafts its proposals in secret. The executive is not required to hold public hearings on, say, requests for proposal. That happens in the legislative branch, where policies are debated in public.
What will the public ever know about land sales, "transfers," leases and contracts? This is merely inviting corruption.
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Next, think about this sort of concentration of power in one person’s hands.
It’s not a good thing. I don’t care who the county executive is.
Already, Abele is planning to hand off the Marcus Center building to the state-run Wisconsin Center District. The county owns it, county taxpayers poured millions of dollars into it. For insurance purposes, the building is valued at $77 million, according to data provided to me by Supervisor Gerry Broderick.
Yet Abele would hand off this $77 million asset to the Wisconsin Center District and stick the county with the center's debt.
No wonder why the suburban Republicans love him.
This billionaire’s son is destroying the county in ways that Walker could only dream of.
Along with the unconscionable shredding of the state's open records laws in the same budget provision, Wisconsin isn't just open for business. It's open to corruption.
