SinceScott Walker left the Milwaukee County executive’s office to become governor,the Republican-dominated Legislature enacted a slew of laws that have boostedthe county executive’s power at the expense of the legislative branch. Now, theMilwaukee County executive has near-unilateral power to sell many MilwaukeeCounty assets, including the zoo, the airport and the Milwaukee Public Museum. Inaddition, the county executive can unilaterally enter into many contracts andonly needs the approval of the board for big contracts. The executive has thepower to appoint a commissioner for the Opportunity Schools and PartnershipProgram to take over Milwaukee Public Schools and privatize them. The executivealso appoints the Milwaukee County Mental Health Board, which now oversees thecounty’s behavioral health services and only reports to the county executiveand not county voters or the Board of Supervisors. Finally, supervisors’ paywill be cut dramatically after the spring election and it’s likely they’llbecome part-time representatives of the Milwaukee County voters.
MilwaukeeCounty Executive Chris Abele has supported these Republican-crafted changes andhe’s up for re-election this spring. He’s being challenged by three candidatesin the Feb. 16 nonpartisan primary. The top two vote-getters will appear in theApril 5 general election.
SteveHogan
Franklinresident Steve Hogan, an independent carpenter, is a retired 20-year Navyveteran who served as the commanding officer of the Milwaukee Naval ReserveCenter, which was awarded the Fleet Admiral Halsey Trophy for Best LargeReserve Center in the U.S. Hogan said he is running for county executive toprotect and preserve Milwaukee County’s infrastructure.
“It’sa legacy institution,” Hogan said. “It includes the parks, buildings, trunkroads and the people who go to work every day and do things that we never see.”
Hesaid his top issues are finding permanent funding for transit, fully fundingthe sheriff’s office and fixing the backlog of deferred maintenance in thecounty parks.
Hesaid he’d pay for these investments by “slashing the county executive’s staffand budget, for starters. I’d try to find out how the documents were signed inMadison for the $80 million Abele is spending on the [Bucks] arena and see ifwe could rescind that somehow.”
Hesaid dedicated funding for the buses could come from the sunsetting of the taxfor Miller Park.
Hesaid he didn’t like the concentration of power in the county executive’soffice.
“Hesold land for a dollar,” Hogan said, referring to Abele’s sale of the Park Eastparcel to the majority Bucks owners, which didn’t need approval by the countyboard. “He spent $80 million [on the Bucks arena] without asking anybody. He’sbasically moved the mentally ill people to neighborhoods and didn’t askanybody. I think he has too much power.”
Hogansaid he didn’t like what Abele was doing with the Opportunity Schools andPartnership Program.
“Iwould talk to the guy they appointed as the supervisor [Mequon-ThiensvilleSchool District Superintendent Demond Means] and I would look for somebody elseto do it who has experience with troubled schools,” Hogan said. “I don’t wantto take over schools. I would want to get people involved. I would get mentorsin those schools, books, for kids who are homeless and have single-parentfamilies, issues like that.”
Hesaid he would put any land sales or leases before the county board.
“Andif it was a really serious issue I’d put it out for referendum,” Hogan said.
Hogandoesn’t have a website.
JosephKlein
“Thelack of transparency and the fact that the state Legislature seems to beforking over new powers to him like he’s the viceroy of Milwaukee really upsetsme,” Klein said. “He plays into the hands of what the state Legislature isdoing. They’re treating Milwaukee, particularly the city but to some extent thecounty, like it’s a colony of the state.”
Kleinsaid his top issues are the high levels of unemployment and incarceration and fewjob opportunities in the central city.
“Ithink there’s a deep chasm between the communities of color in the city orcounty and the white population,” Klein said. “I was rereading Martin LutherKing’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and I was struck by the line ‘island of poverty.’I think that we have created these islands of poverty. What separates us areclass, race and culture and we need to do everything we can to get rid of thosedivides. Practically, that means we have to find ways to generate jobs in thecentral city, which I believe has to be taken with a kind of small businessapproach.”
Hesaid he would lobby the state Legislature to repeal the laws that strip awaythe power of the county board and believes that the new Opportunity Schools andPartnership Program is unconstitutional because it only applies to Milwaukee’spublic schools.
“Idon’t think it’s constitutional and therefore as per the oath of the MilwaukeeCounty executive I don’t think the county executive can do anything,” Kleinsaid.
Hesaid that if he had the near-unilateral power to sell or lease county land thathe would ensure that any transaction would go through the county board.
“Iwill accept an advisory vote by the county board, an up-down vote, on anyproposals to sell any land and that I will abide by that up-down vote,” Kleinsaid. “That gives it a chance to go through a public process.”
Tolearn more about Joe Klein, go to joeklein.org.
ChrisLarson
BayView resident Chris Larson is a state senator representing the county’slakeshore and southern communities, including Milwaukee’s East Side, SouthSide, the Third Ward, Walker’s Point, Bay View, St. Francis, Cudahy, SouthMilwaukee, Oak Creek and part of Franklin. He was a county supervisor from2008-2010, when he defeated state Sen. Jeff Plale in the 2010 Democraticprimary.
Hesaid he’s running for county executive because the county’s programs touch somany lives, yet the public has been shut out of important discussions.
“Ithink it is absolutely essential to have a county executive who is in touchwith the public and is not afraid to be out with people,” Larson said. “That’swhy we pledged to do a listening session in every community in the county andwe’ll do that as quickly as we can after taking office.”
Larsonsaid he’s most concerned about restoring parks in all parts of the county,prioritizing high-quality job creation, improving mental health services androlling back the power state Republicans gave to Abele to take over publicschools and to sell off county land without going before the county board.
“Ithink it’s important that we’re not selling off pieces of our community, piecesof our heritage, and losing them forever,” he said.
Hesaid the budget amendment that created the school takeover district was writtenso sloppily that under its current terms the program will end in a year.
“Thecounty should not have a role in deciding curriculum and choosing textbooks,”Larson said. “That’s just part of the divide and conquer strategy that Walkerand the Republicans have laid out. This legislation is designed to hurt publicschools.”
Hesaid he would ensure that land sales would go through a public process toensure that any deals are thoroughly vetted.
“Thisis wildly dangerous and that is one of the biggest reasons why I’m running—to makesure that the things that have been built up by the last generations will bethere for the next generation,” Larson said.
Hesaid he disagreed with Abele’s decision to put the county on the hook for $80million to support the Bucks arena, as well as Abele’s sale of Park East landto the majority Bucks owners for $1. He said the rationale for the $1 sale wastotally false.
“Thewhole justification that Abele had was that there is this big sewer pipe underit and [the developers are] going to have to pay to clean it up,” Larson said. “That’sa lie. The Bucks aren’t picking it up. The state is. How many other deals likethat are floating out there? We don’t know.”
Tolearn more, go to voteforlarson.com.
ChrisAbele
In2011 Chris Abele won a special election for Milwaukee County executive and wasre-elected to a full term in 2012. He formerly helmed his family’sphilanthropic arm, the ArgosyFoundation.
“Since being elected, we have reduced the county’s liabilities byhundreds of millions of dollars and restored services to a point where we areproviding higher quality services to thousands more people,” Abele emailed. “Weare not done. Milwaukee County should be a leader in solving the social issuesof the day. I intend on making this a priority for my administration.”
Hesaid the top issues he’d like to address in the next four years are moredirectly addressing pressing social issues such as the increase in homicidesand violent crime, racial disparities and the recent spike in heroin and opiatedeaths.
AlthoughGov. Scott Walker signed a number of Abele-backed laws giving the MilwaukeeCounty executive more power at the expense of the county board, Abele deniedthat there’s been a concentration of power in the county executive’s office.
“There is not a concentration of power in the countyexecutive’s office,” he emailed. “The county board still has the samelegislative power to set policy as it has in the past. In fact, I supportedseveral initiatives that took power away from the county executive’s office.”
Abele didn’t directly answer questions on how he would ensure thatland sales or leases would be publicly transparent.
Regarding the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program, heemailed, “In partnership with Dr. Darienne Driver, superintendent of MPS, Dr.Demond Means, commissioner of Opportunity Schools Partnership Program, weintend to improve the educational and life outcomes for kids living in Milwaukeeand attending public school. […] This program (not district) allows increasedservices to kids and families and opportunities to use proven strategies forreducing the achievement gap.” Abele provided no specifics.
He said he was committed to fixing addressing additional problemswithin the county.
“My goal at the county has never been just to restore services,pay down the debt and catch up on deferred maintenance,” he emailed. “My goalis to build the most nimble, effective and empowering county in the country. Ihave never thought that would be easy—I know it will be difficult.”
To learn more about Chris Abele, go to chrisabele.com.
