Milwaukee City Hall
Last week, The City of Milwaukee Election Commission began what is likely to become a year like no other. It faces not just the usual batch of presidential year primaries and general elections, but also a possible primary and general recall election for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
Additionally, staff must train poll workers in the intricacies of the state’s new voter ID requirements. (For example: You can vote even if your ID has an old address on it.)
A good deal of valuable time must also be devoted to dealing with Ieshuh Griffin, judging by a visit to the commission’s 5th floor City Hall offices on Thursday, January 5th. Griffin, who ran for county supervisor and county executive simultaneously last year, is switching to city politics this time around, hoping to get on the ballot for mayor and 6th district alderman.
Armed with a handwritten document on lined paper, she made it clear to the clerk that she had a whole host of complaints about something, probably having to do with one or another of her quests for office.
Meanwhile, Jason Hargis, who works with the ACLU as a community organizer, was dropping off some corrected nomination papers for his quest for the 7th aldermanic district seat now held by Willie Wade. He said the neighbors there are concerned with rising crime.
While this was going on, a young man and woman came by to register to vote at their new Milwaukee addresses. The young woman also applied to be a poll worker. This requires filling out an application and waiting for an initial telephone interview, she was told. When the clerk saw that the “speaks Spanish” box was checked, she assured the young woman that this is a highly sought-after skill.
While this colloquy was going on, a woman in a blue suit wheeled a cart heavily laden with freshly printed blue flyers explaining how to get a free state ID card. The woman was Sue Edman, Executive Director of the Election Commission and a former cop who is not afraid of pulling her own weight, plus that of hundreds of pounds of brochures. Meeting the young new registered voters, she was told that they would be happy to distribute some of them during their walks through Riverwest, Brady Street and all the other romantic nooks and crannies of this city.
“You’ll really distribute these?” Edman asked, and handed the woman two bundles. She really will.
The Election Commission is also the repository for candidates’ Campaign Finance reports. Since 2004, when candidates were first able to file these reports electronically, very few have done so, electing to only file the required paper documents.
For the most recent election cycle, [“July 2011 Continuing Report”] only four campaigns filed electronically – those of Mayor Tom Barrett, School Board Member Peter Blewett, Ald. Terry Witkowski and aldermanic challenger Jan Pierce, who had raised some $10,000 in his quest to unseat incumbent Tony Zielinski.
It takes a trip to the paper files, doled out just 3 candidates at a time, and to be inspected only under the watchful eye of a clerk, to find out that Zielinski’s $127,000 campaign war chest included a $29,000 loan from himself. His July report listed a $13,000 check to the candidate from the committee as “Repayment of a Partial Loan,” whatever a “partial loan” might be. We will find out by next month, when the January campaign statements are due, whether Zielinski will be able to retire the remaining $16,000 debt thanks to his donors, who seem to run an awful lot of gas stations and convenience stores.
Ald. Bob Donovan, who will face a number of challengers as a result of redistricting, probably could have spent some campaign funds on Spanish language lessons, which might be needed to carry his new turf and to better debate his opponents. His most significant recurring expense occurred at the hospitable McKeirnan’s Tap (2066 S. 37th St.), where he spent a total of $754 at three campaign events, a most encouraging sign in an era when free beer from candidates has generally long gone down the drain. Ald. Nik Kovac paid $2,839 for “fundraising work” to an outfit called HSG at 3029 S. Superior St., while Jim Witkowiak has remained in perpetual campaign mode, dealing out regular four-figure checks to Les Johns and Atty. Vince Bobot for their assistance.
MORE INTERESTING NEWS
Glenn Adamson, who curated the Milwaukee Art Museum’s 2003 “Industrial Strength Design: How Brooks Stevens Shaped Your World” exhibition and other shows during his sojurn in this city, is now the Head of Research at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and, as such, holds one of the most significant museum jobs in the world. … Former Milwaukeean Ayad Akhtar, who now lives in New York, has released American Dervish, his first novel. It is set in this city in the 1980s. … The New York Times is giddy about the upcoming reopening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art American Galleries noting that furniture is now displayed on platforms “as if they were carefully curved sculptures, instead of showing in a domestic setting like furniture in the period rooms.” Puhleeze – 18th century period room recreations are so 20th century. The Milwaukee Art Museum abandoned that practice some time ago, when the curators from Chipstone shook up the American Collection, along with much of what we think of American furniture and the standard by which it had been judged. It’s nice to know that the provincials in Manhattan are catching up with our trends.
