murphyslawletters

The best solution to the need to avoid providing incentives is to have a “competitive tax climate.” Businesses don’t make location decisions on just the relative cost difference in taxes, other more significant factors are at play, like workforce quality/availability, proximity to market and a broad array of cost factors. However, we have been involved in too many expansion and attraction deals, where it’s hard to separate Wisconsin or Milwaukee from its competitors. We do not have a bad tax climate for business (when strictly factoring the effective tax rate on a corporation), but add in the fact that we…

by Bob ChernowGrafton, Wis. There is a famous Harvard Business Journal piece written in the 1950s that those who operate our bus system should read. It is Theodore Levitt’s “Marketing Myopia,” and it asks providers to define what they are selling. Is McDonald’s selling hamburgers, or are they selling the ability to buy a standard product at a specific price in a setting that you can bring your family? Is Shell Oil selling gasoline or a product to get you from one point to another? The bus company does not get it. They have outmoded routes kept through the pressure…

By Terry Falk Milwaukee School Board Director When prospective Milwaukee superintendent Gregory Thornton was asked if he could handle a contentious teachers’ union, he pointed out that Philadelphia principals belong to the Teamsters’ Union, and when they went on strike, they had semis blocking the schools’ front doors. After being deputy superintendent in Philadelphia, Thornton was appointed superintendent of the Chester Upland school district. Its finances were in shambles, and its student achievement was even worse. In short order, he had that school district turned around and headed in the right direction. With additional deputy superintendent positions in Montgomery County,…

Mr. Murphy,   Since it has been decades since I served for eight years on the MPS Board; I question why you felt I should be included in your list of questionable members. Following are some of the judgmental calls that I have made through the years:   In 1971 when I first ran for the MPS Board, I was the only person saying that we had to address the integration of MPS and not wait for a court order. When elected, I was one of the coalition that elected Hal Jackson, the first African-American president of the Board .…

Dear Editor: I misspoke for the number of Hmong in China.  While China has the largest population of Hmong people, an exact figure is hard to determine. According to the 1990 census, of the 7.4 million Miao people, 5.4 million were recorded as speaking a Miao language. Of these, around 2 million spoke a dialect of the Hmong language. Currently, based on projected growth rates, along with the inclusion of previously overlooked dialects, the number of speakers of the Hmong language in China has been estimated to be around 2.8 million. Although, the exact number was never clear because there…

As a former student at UWM and past president of its Alumni Association, I am compelled to correct a number of items in your column about “UWM’s Radical Master Plan.” Here we go:   ·         Chancellor Santiago is not UWM’s first minority chancellor. The first was Clifford Smith, who as African-American descent. Chancellor Santiago is of Puerto Rican descent and proud of it. ·         Working with his staff and the UWM Foundation, Chancellor Santiago has stepped up efforts to increase minority enrollment, but he has also made it clear that he will not lower academic standards to do so. You…

As one of the “bold names” in your blurb about the Milwaukee International Film Festival, I feel that I have no choice but to point out the multiple inaccuracies in the story. I’ll start at the beginning- with your title: “Film Festival in Danger?”  At no point in your article do you maintain that the Film Festival is actually in danger of being suspended.  And rightly so- there will absolutely be a 2008 Milwaukee International Film Festival, and 2009, 2010, 2011- you get the idea.  You do a great disservice to the tens of thousands of Festival attendees when you…

Recent news reports about the Justice Louis Butler/ Michael Gabelman race referenced the last election in which an incumbent Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice was defeated. The winner in that race was my father, Justice Robert W. Hansen. I remember the 1967 election vividly, and the only similarity between the two elections is the outcome. As someone who believed in grass roots connections and an independent judiciary, my father would have been appalled at the recent campaign. My father loved a good, hard-fought political campaign, but he always approached being a judge and campaigning for election with a commitment to open…

August 24, 2007 Dear Bruce, This letter is to inform you that your recent article regarding Dan Bader and his role within the Greater Milwaukee Committee contains two glaring errors. One contains flawed analysis; the other is an unfounded accusation that should be corrected. First, your assertion that Dan Bader is not an “employer” is false. While correctly noting his presidency of the Helen Bader Foundation, apparently you are unaware of his role as Chairman of Granite Microsystems, which employs 120 people in Wisconsin and Shanghai. He is also a Director with Cedarburg Pharmaceuticals and Chairman of a Milwaukee-based private…

Dear Bruce: You better look closer into this male gap or “endangered male species” argument. First, the original male advantage was due to the effects of the GI Bill: A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found men dominated college campuses until the late 1970s through largely artificial means. The GI Bill after World War II made it easier for thousands of veterans to afford college, and the military draft throughout the Vietnam War created an incentive for men to enroll. The analysis by three Harvard University economists suggests the current gender enrollment gap would be larger…