That was a nice hissyfit that Governor Doyle, Mayor Barrett and his buddies threw yesterday.
In Milwaukee, Doyle stood outside the downtown fire station with Mayor Tom Barrett, Common Council President Willie Hines Jr., Police Chief Nannette Hegerty, Fire Chief Douglas Holton and others to say the GOP budget would force huge property tax increases or deep cuts to police and fire service.
These government officials must be counting on Wisconsin taxpayers being total idiots. Either that or they are counting on folks having a really, really short memory.
In the last several weeks and months alone, Wisconsinites have been treated to complete and total failure of their local and state governments on the front pages of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other papers in the state.
As Governor Doyle and Milwaukee government throw their temper tantrum and snivel about $28 million worth of cut backs to Milwaukee in the Assembly Budget, the ink is barely dry on this story from July 2nd-
As the end of its budget year approached last week, Milwaukee Public Schools had not spent more than $50 million slated to be used for the 2006-'07 school year.
Administrators say that if they hadn't spent the money by June 30, it would have hurt MPS in the future because of state school aid rules - with Milwaukee property taxes rising as a result. So they unloaded some big payments at the last moment, including $37.8 million to prepay costs such as debt service expected in 2007-'08.
That $50 million worth of taxpayer money that Milwaukee government officials were scrambling to spend. Apparently government officials could not waste the money fast enough.
Speaking of wasted taxpayer dollars, perhaps Mayor Barrett and Chief Hegerty, the officials throwing a temper tantrum yesterday, can explain why millions and millions of dollars have been wasted in Milwaukee-
Milwaukee police are racking up far more overtime than officers in similar-size cities with smaller police departments - enough overtime to pay the salaries of nearly 400 more officers, according to an audit released Wednesday.
There is another $29 million wasted by government officials.
Not to be completely outdone, Doyle's government has wasted over $100 million in failed computer programs-
An analysis this week showed how state agencies have fouled up more than $100 million worth of projects intended to improve their computerized data systems.Millions upon millions upon millions have been wasted and Governor Doyle and Milwaukee officials and now they are throwing a temper tantrum because some folks have the gall to stop them from wasting even more.
Enough is enough!
Until Governor Doyle and Milwaukee officials start properly managing our tax dollars, why should any single Wisconsin resident agree to giving them more money to mismanage?
Governor Doyle and local officials can continue to stamp their feet and throw a their temper tantrums all they want. However, they continue to look real foolish doing it. Grow up, people!
Government officials work for us!
Until these can prove to be responsible, respectful and are able to properly manage taxpayer dollars, there is no reason that Wisconsinites should continue to throw away good money after bad.
Edited: to remove Hines from this list of taxpayer dollar abusers- see comments
11 comments:
As I said in my previous post, continue to fill the troughs and the hogs will continue to eat.
Wow! You're blaming CC President Hines for the MPD overtime. Talk about irony. Do you realize that Hines ASKED FOR THE COMPTROLLER AUDIT??!! Do you realize that Hines is the one breathing down the neck of MPD -- he's a thorn in their side! -- exhorting them to be financially accountable. Your ignorance is truly breathtaking.
I think you mean, "stomp their feet." I've never heard: "stamp their feet."
Maybe stomp would work better- to each their own.
By the way- Hasn't Hines been CC president since 2004? Yes- I do hold Hines accountable- it's is his job to oversee the taxpayer's money. An incredible amount of money was wasted for way too long.
It's like letting someone rob the same bank year after year before doing something about it.
Yes, since 2004 -- he is still in the midst of his first term. So what? The Fire and Police Commission is the body charged with oversight (supposedly...they're all part-time and most Milwaukeeans don't pay attention to them anyway), and I really consider the mayor accountable, as well, because he is the one who appoints the F&P Commission.
The Common Council does not have oversight of MPD. But as Sykes, James T. Harris and a host of other conservatives have been pointing out over the past few weeks, Hines has taken it upon himself to audit MPD -- HE'S THE ONE WHO UNCOVERED THE FACT THAT MILWAUKEE COULD HAVE 400 EXTRA OFFICERS IF THEY WERE MORE EFFICIENT.
Where do think you got the information about MPD's wastefulness from? You got it from Larry Sandler's article in the Journal Sentinel, right? Where do you think he got it from? Answer: Hines!
You take a cue from your mentor McBride and be a little more discriminating in your rebukes. Don't paint all of Milwaukee's elected officials with the same broad brush. They're not all the same; they don't have the same responsibilities; and they have VERY different approaches to government.
Fair enough- I will remove Hines from the list.
However- the facts don't change- $29 million wasted by Milwaukee officials. Problem still needs to be fixed.
Wow, I'm impressed by your humility and willingness to get the facts right.
You must be a Christian. ;)
Yeah and that same Hines is also running for mayor. That is right, he went from a Milwaukee stiff to a caring kind celebrity (CNN). Where was before???
Where was he before???
Nice blog you have here. Thanks for adding another conservative light to the web :). I am trying to get a conservative digg alternative going called GOP Hub (GOPhub.com). Anything you can do to help get the word out would be awesome. Plus you can post links on it to any articles you write here on your blog. At any rate, have a great weekend and keep up the good work!
Money won't necessarily fix Milwaukee.
Things will change when 5,000 central city residents march on city hall and demand action on crime in their community.
Things will change when the Milwaukee Police Department cleans out the dead wood and corruption from the top on down. How can the police department police the city with it can't even police itself?
Of course, the governor shares in this blame. He cut prosecutor positions, ignores high turnover and chronic understaffing (which his own administration admits is a problem) and is the best friend a criminal ever had. Think about it. If the governor properly funded prosecution, then maybe those prosecutors might go after corrupt politicians. Perish the thought!
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