He’s doing it again. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is interjecting his Boston family’s money into the Democratic primaries to bolster some of the most conservative candidates against both their progressive and mainstream challengers. For example, Abele claims to be putting between $200,000 and $300,000 into the sheriff’s race in support of Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt, who was second in command to his mentor, former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark.
Like his former boss, Schmidt appears to be a very conservative Republican cut from the same cloth as Clarke, while, like his former boss, claiming to be a Democrat and running in the Democratic primary. If there are any questions about Schmidt’s views, you need to understand that he is also a conservative Pentecostal minister and has about a hundred religious discussions online. This is pretty severe stuff—including submitting to your spouse when there is domestic violence and extreme anti-abortion language. Check them out for yourselves.
Why is Abele doing this? It’s all about his insecurities and his need to control. If he buys a weak candidate an election, he owns them. Just look at the record of elected officials he heavily funded in the past and this becomes clear. Also, he wants individuals who will follow his questionable views of governing and support his efforts to continue to consolidate unchecked powers in his position as county executive.
Understanding that, we shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that Abele is willing to put six-figures into Schmidt’s election since Abele—like Schmidt and Clarke—has been governing like a Republican although elected as a Democrat. Abele, for example, has been trying to privatize everything he can get his hands on. He worked with Republican legislators a few years ago to pass a bill that would enable him to begin to take control of some of our Milwaukee public schools. After a lot of pushback from the public, his efforts at trying to seize public schools from the elected school board failed.
Using the GOP to Weaken Milwaukee County
Also, it is not a coincidence that the majority of Abele’s elected official allies are right-wing Republicans. Actually, since day one, Abele has been governing with the help of outstate Republican legislators—many of whom have publicly expressed their contempt for Milwaukee County and are happy to thwart the wishes of the Milwaukee County voters. These outstate legislators pass legislation to override the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors or simply take the power from the board and give it to the county executive.
|
|
Early in his first term as county executive, Abele had his Republican legislator friends—to many of whom he had written big checks—pass legislation to diminish the checks and balances within Milwaukee County government and consolidate most of the power in his own hands. For example, these outstate Republican legislators gave Abele the power to sell any and all of the Milwaukee County real estate properties—except those clearly designated as parks—with the approval of only one real estate expert. Since Abele can choose that sole real estate expert, this means he can singlehandedly choose to sell off the county courthouse, for example, if he decides to.
Even with all his enhanced powers, Abele still continues to run to his right-wing legislative pals in the Republican-controlled state legislature for further help when he is at odds with our county supervisors, which is all too often. Unlike Abele, county supervisors get elected by going door-to-door and listening to their voters. They know their constituents, they know their constituents’ needs, and they can truly represent them. Abele often has ideas—like installing parking meters in parks—that are at odds with the majority of the voters in Milwaukee County. As a result, he uses the powers given to him by his Republican legislative allies to try to override the wishes of the voters.
Abele has never been popular with the voters in Milwaukee County, but he has successfully used his family money to essentially buy his election victories. Abele made it very clear to his political consultants in his first election that there was no way he was going to go door to door and listen to the voters. Instead, Abele’s strategy for getting himself elected (and for helping his allies win elections) is to put a significant amount of money into a campaign through what is called an independent expenditure and buy a lot of negative and divisive advertising that uses distorted facts and various half-truths to discredit opponents.
In Abele’s last election, he spent more than 20 times what his opponent, State Sen. Chris Larson, spent and ran negative ads that distorted Larson’s record. Abele was able to win in the general election when he put in $4 million despite losing to Larson in the primary. So, if you begin to see some sleazy ads in the next week or so, there is a very good chance that it has been bought with Abele’s family’s money.
Chris Abele wants control. When Abele-funded candidates win elections, who do you think they will be responsive to: their constituents or the guy that bought them their job? Unfortunately, Abele is using money to buy elections and pervert democracy in Milwaukee County.
