Despite plea from County Supervisors, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson might not agree with Milwaukee County Board governance

Supervisors Lipscomb and Stamper co-author a very impassioned editorial in today's paper to push back against the proposal to cut the pay of Milwaukee County Supervisors. (here and here)

The proposal afoot is tantamount to an illegal recall of representatives elected less than a year ago. The Founding Fathers feared the kind of power grab that's being proposed in Madison. They created a system to balance power.

This latest, ill-advised distraction comes when all lawmakers, at every level, should be laser-beam focused on our economy rather than engaging in political games, of which voters are sick and tired. – jsonline

The laser-beam focus on jobs sounds great and would carry a lot more weight coming from the County Board if they hadn't pulled crap like changing the title of a department administrator to spite the County Exec. Where was the focus on jobs then? Or when it was meddling in the proposal for a new office tower at the transit center?

I don't think James Madison and Thomas Jefferson had the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors in mind when they envisoned representative government and a three tiered form of government, but that's just my opinion.

I would also add that Milwaukee County, or any Wisconsin County, government is not a check and balance structure like State or Federal government. The County Board is not a "branch" of government which provides a check to the Executive "branch". It's a policy body meant to supervise the departments in County government.

And then there's this line:

No one should believe that this effort will end with this current proposal. The restructuring would allow draconian cuts to programs that help our most vulnerable and the privatization of our county's jewels – transit, the airport, parks and the zoo – all without fully equipped checks and balances.

The fact is that draconian cuts and political apathy have affected all those services with a "full time" County Board in place! It always frustrates me when members of the County Board hold up parks and say, "We've got to protect them!" when at the same time they refused to put any meaningful resources into protecting them. Our County Parks have been neglected for 30 years with the current governance structure. It's outrageous to argue that if the pay of Supervisors is cut then the real damage to parks will happen.

It's already been done. This and previous Boards have whistled dixie while throwing up their hands with a "Well there's nothing we can do!!" attitude while it's happened.

The current board comprises dedicated Milwaukee County citizens who have served you and made your voices heard.

Finally, I would say that Supervisors like Lipscomb and Stamper are examples of good County Supervisors who go above and beyond for their constituents. Unfortunately, the bad apples they work with tarnish the group as a whole. When you have elected officials like my County Supervisor David Cullen who do nothing other than collect a paycheck, it should be no wonder why people like me are frustrated.

It's one of the reasons I'm on board with cutting the pay of County Supervisors. I've argued my position about why I feel that should be the case, and despite the impasssioned pleas of those who will be most affected, the voters of Milwaukee County should have their voices heard.