Murphy’s Law

Across the state, it has been headline news that Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch has refused to debate Democratic candidate Tom Nelson. A story by the Associated Press on Oct. 5 was picked up by many newspapers and TV and radio stations. But one week later, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has still not reported this to its readers. The media, of course, routinely pushes candidates from either party to debate. The La Crosse Tribune did an editorial calling on Kleefisch to debate. It also noted that you can’t find any details of her stands on the issues at her…

It’s no secret that professional sports is a boon to newspapers in terms of attracting readers and revenue. Even when the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was fat with classified ads in the 1990s, it did everything possible to promote the idea of a new, taxpayer-financed stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers, including lobbying the state legislature to support it. Now that the JS has hit lean times, it is even less likely to raise questions about a bailout for a pro sports team. Which brings us to the new study released last week by the Green Bay Packers. The study concluded the team…

Talk about a classic case of abuse of power by an attorney.In one of the sleazier examples of multitasking, Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz sent 30 racy text messages to crime victim Stephanie Van Groll and referred to her as a “young, hot nymph,” while prosecuting her boyfriend for nearly strangling her to death. Facing heavy public pressure, Kratz has now said he’ll resign. But still unsettled is the question of why the Office of Lawyer Regulation declined to pursue any discipline against Kratz after the issue was brought to its attention. The state’s OLR uses district committees mostly…

As the election for governor heats up, you’re going to see exaggerated, if not downright misleading, claims by both parties. That’s to be expected. But when the media mindlessly jumps aboard, that’s a big problem. Within days of the massive flood that hit Milwaukee, Republicans began bashing Mayor Tom Barrett as “the state’s biggest polluter” responsible for “dumping billions of gallons of waste” into Lake Michigan. The theme was also taken up by radio talker Charlie Sykes, who in the past has emphatically denied he gets his talking points from the Republican Party. On Aug. 4, the Citizens for Responsible…

Two weeks ago, a Business Journal story reported that some firms are discontinuing their luxury suite deals with local pro sports teams. One “firm” had for years enjoyed the trifecta of luxury boxes: Aurora Health Care was paying for suites at Miller Park, the Bradley Center and Lambeau Field. Yep, Aurora bought itself the ultimate ticket to Brewers games (where suites went for as much as $100,000 a year), Bucks’ and Marquette Golden Eagles’ games ($100,000-$200,000) and Packers games ($68,000 to $154,000). How is it that most Wisconsin companies couldn’t afford so much luxury but Aurora could? Perhaps it’s because…

The story was told to me years ago by a close observer of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, the elite group of business leaders. Back then, the GMC wielded considerable power and was often consulted to approve of civic projects. The project in question was O’Donnell Park, a new structure that would be built at the end of Wisconsin Avenue. It was 1987, and Milwaukee County Executive William O’Donnell had set the goal of creating some way of linking Wisconsin Avenue with the lake. The area just below the east end of Wisconsin Avenue had long been an eyesore and at…

Little has been written about the fact that state Sen. Jeff Plale (D-Milwaukee) faces a primary challenge from Milwaukee County Supervisor Chris Larson, but it shapes up as one of the more interesting September races. This is a brash effort by certain liberal Democrats to expel a party member they feel is too conservative. “Clearly, Larson is aggressively attacking me as not liberal enough,” Plale says. Larson adds some specifics: Plale is pro-life while Larson is pro-choice; Plale opposed the climate change bill, which Larson (“I’m an environmentalist”) would have supported. State Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) adds another liberal commandment…

The collapse of a concrete panel at the O’Donnell Park parking structure and its resulting fatality has gotten considerable coverage from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but the newspaper has missed most of the backstory. The irony is that William O’Donnell himself – the former county executive the structure is named after – is as much to blame as anyone for the faulty construction. The newspaper has reported, accurately, that the building’s architect, Jordan Miller, was not on the original list of architects for the job. But they have wrongly – and repeatedly – blamed this on Dave Schulz. Yes, Schulz…

In the last couple weeks, we’ve seen the dispiriting spectacle of layoff notices going to nearly 500 Milwaukee Public Schools teachers. This includes some excellent ones let go simply because they have less seniority. This will mean even bigger average class sizes – and further declines in quality – for a district already struggling badly. And a clear culprit is the teachers union. The union has always been more concerned about its veteran teachers, more worried about pensions than starting salaries for new teachers. Union officials have argued that this “career ladder” will attract new teachers, but that’s nonsense: What…

Call him a demagogue or just a fool, but Waukesha Mayor Jeff Scrima has badly hurt his city’s efforts to solve its biggest problem. Waukesha faces a looming water shortage as well as radium-tainted wells. Its only viable solution is to buy Lake Michigan water from Milwaukee. To that end, Waukesha filed an application with the Wisconsin DNR to gain this water under the Great Lakes Compact. But the DNR rejected the application – largely due to Scrima’s many comments suggesting Waukesha could find other remedies. Under the rules of the compact, a city can’t apply for the water unless…