Channel 12 once again proves why it is gaining a loyal following among Milwaukee residents who want more local news from their TV stations instead of “gotcha” sensationalism that several other stations provide. Even if it’s in high definition.
As I and several others pointed out earlier in the week, Scott Walker’s own campaign website criticizes the Governor for our forcing jobs out of Wisconsin, was in fact developed by an out of state firm. Hard to have credibility with that issue if you aren’t willing to put your money where your mouth is.
Channel 12 ran a piece about the web site last night you can watch here.
As the guy from Layer One Media pointed out, the excuse the Walker campaign gave that his website was “too complex” for a Milwaukee firm is utter nonsense. Then the campaign says the website was “cheaper” with the Ohio firm anyways. So which is it? Either a local firm couldn’t do it, or they were more expensive. As you can tell from the answer Walker gives in the interview, he doesn’t even seem sure himself.
Not that it matters. When you’re making a huge deal in your campaign about “keeping jobs in Wisconsin”, you need to walk the walk.
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
I’ve been talking to my contacts in the business, and so far I can’t find *anyone* in state his campaign even gave a chance to bid on the site. There was a California firm in the mix for a while, but I can’t find even one WI firm that was even invited to the party!
Wow, that is pathetic.
First – I know the guys at LayerOne Media, and the Walker site is NOT too complex for them. Nor any other agency in the Milwaukee area, and CERTAINLY not state-wide.
Secondly, to say that what you’re asking for is “too complex” for a local firm is a slap in the face to the our local web industry! Way to promote us, Scott.
Finally, if it was “cheaper” to go out of state, I’d like to see what the final price tag was, and what local/state firms actually got to bid on the project. Is that kind of information publicly available?
So you’re suggesting that the guy went with a more expensive firm who wasn’t as experienced as the local firm? Only government organizations do that kind of nonsense.
I’m suggesting that it’s the cover-up that gets you in trouble, not the crime. Actually, I suppose a crime would get you in some trouble, too.
I’m just saying that it’s ludicrous to suggest that he couldn’t find someone in state for the reasons given.
I hate to speculate on what the actual reasons were.
But I will!
Scenario (A): donor/staff has a friend/family member in Ohio who works for Midnet Media, and no WI firms were ever considered.
Was it public money? If not, point out the hypocrisy (and act surprised that a politician is a hypocrite), but don’t act like he did something wrong by spending his money.
We ARE pointing out the hypocrisy!
The fact that he outsourced the site is one thing. You’re right – it’s his money. If he wants to give work to someone in Ohio, that’s his prerogative. That said, he should probably stop spouting off about keeping jobs in Wisconsin.
I’m more upset about the second issue. The campaign’s response when they got called out was – at best – insulting to the local web industry. At worst, it gives potential clients the impression that we’re incompetent and overcharge.
No, you went a step further than hypocrisy and accused corruption, which doesn’t even make sense because it was his money.
No, I didn’t accuse him of “corruption”. I hypothesized a scenario where it would have made sense to them to go out of state. Once again, it’s their money to do with as they please. It’s not unheard of to lose out on a web project because “the boss’ nephew knows how to use Dreamweaver”. I think that’s called nepotism, not corruption.
Decided to do a little digging… The site itself is run on Drupal – an OpenSource CMS. So it’s not like Midnet Media spent a month developing a solution specifically for Walker. The “contribute” section of the site is a 3rd party module (“eZcontribution.com”) that is literally plug-and-play.
BTW, it’s a Drupal site. So much for complex. Forget the larger agencies, like FullHouse and Hanson Dodge, etc., I know several 1-2 person firms in town that could knock something like that out pretty quickly.
First of all Dan, as a fellow Washington Heights resident (Hi Mount), I am glad to have found your blog. As the “guy from Layer One”, I am happy to see the support from you and from others in my field. Thank you. You never know how the edits made after filming will portray a viewpoint. I am satisfied with the news story that aired on WISN because it hit my main two points home: 1) The site is not complex. Any of the agencies (or freelancers for that matter) in Milwaukee or Wisconsin that I respect could have executed this project. 2) Although the news story appeared to show otherwise, we were never given a chance to bid/pitch for this project and I don’t know who was.
As a milwaukee web design agency that is putting out good work by some very strong, passionate people, we are frustrated that this project went around us to the new “hot-bed” of web design in the nation, Minster, Ohio. You know, small business is often used as a political beach ball in campaigns. Small business creates real jobs and real opportunities for people. That said, we also bear the brunt of downturns in many ways. Despite the economy, we are doing well and growing but real projects are precious. Sad that a Milwaukee firm didn’t even get a chance. Not only are we based in Walker’s county, 80% of our 20 employees live there. I am disappointed to see once again that this politician lives up to the cliché of talking the talk but not walking the walk.
I own one of the larger web dev/media firms in Milwaukee, and I can tell you right now we were never even approached by Mr. Walker or his campaign to develop or work on this site. So while he’s saying Milwaukee firms were too expensive, the truth is that he never talked to any of them. I would know.
Also, as several others have pointed out, the site is a template based cut out that could have been done by a one person show. All the “features” are plug-ins.
It’s a joke, but I suspect the only ones who are laughing are located in Ohio where they charged a pretty penny for a template plug in site that anyone could do.
For obvious reasons, don’t use my real name or email please Cody.
Plus, you’d think they’d run it through the W3C validation process at least. FAIL.
Doomed from the get go as Drupal and it’s various contributions (plugins) are encoded as XHTML, whereas this template specifies HTML.
Even correcting for this error (as the link above does) several mistakes should be avoided by even a novice designer:
failure to provide “alt” descriptions for images making the site difficult to use for the visually impaired
use of “i” tags rather than “em” tags to denote italics
use of “b” tags rather than “strong” tags to denote emphasis
use of capitalized letters in tag names and attributes
use of outdated image maps vs. more robust interactive styling
To name a few.
And don’t even get me started on the CSS validation.
Given that this is a prepackaged CMS, though customized, I can’t imagine the site taking longer than a 40 hour week. Web work can be easily had for $40 an hour right now, so if the tab topped $1,600.00, Mr. Walker got had.
40 hours? Once again, the people here demonstrate they have zero understanding of what is going on behind the scenes when developing these applications. Once again, people here count lines of code as the only software development cost. That method was debunked a couple decades ago…
Do all the Milwaukee firms believe this site would take 40 hours to conceptualize, implement, test, and release? If so, I don’t blame Walker for going elsewhere.
And while I’m sure Layer One is supremely capable, to insist it’s the customer’s fault that the customer didn’t find you is a bit odd and seems to indicate very little understanding of how this kind of work gets sold. This isn’t like flipping open the phone book to find a plumber. If you had the chops, had experience proving you had the chops, had a marketing strategy that had your name out there, and were competitively priced, the customer *would* have come to you.
I hear a lot of complaining, but I don’t see one person explaining WHY this guy passed on Milwaukee firms. Are you suggesting he just hates Milwaukee workers?
Hate to be the devil’s advocate here…
The one thing I’d say there Matt is that the firm who did get the work didn’t “develop” anything, especially an application. They took the available components and snapped them together. There’s a small amount of custom work, but this site isn’t something that would need 5 people working for 6 months to get live.
Dan, I agree that it’s not a 30 man-month job, but it’s also not a 40 hour job. Also, it’s very possible that the Ohio firm proposed leveraging Drupal and Wildfire while the other players proposed custom development.
In my mind, the question is still: why would he go out of his way to pay more for less, when he’s using his own money? Call him a hypocrite, sure (and he is), but to suggest that Walker knew about local firms who could have done it better and cheaper and still decided against it just doesn’t pass the smell test.
Matt, for Walker to suggest that there were no local firms who could have done it (too complex!) or done it cheaper not only doesn’t pass the smell test, it stinks.
The story about the Ohio firm has been out for a few days. The uproar today is because of their ridiculous response.
I’m not sure how it’s impossible for a non-WI firm to do the project for cheaper.
You may be right on that point. Had he bothered to look locally we might have found out. From what I’ve been reading on the internets, nobody in town was even given that chance.
But if you want to focus on that point, go right ahead. As I said, I’m more concerned about the response.
Zero understanding of what is going on behind the scenes when developing these applications? Have you ever done a Drupal site? You are not developing an application, you are installing one. It works out of the box. That’s the point. Assuming the client is providing the artwork and content, it’s just a matter of creating a unique template — that’s designing one page into which the different contributions (or components, modules, plugins with other CMS’s) will fit. Nope, 40 hours doesn’t seem unreasonable.
If you’ll put that in writing, I have a ton of work I could send your way…
I would never assume to know what went into building someone else’s site/app. There’s a lot more to things than X hours spent at the keyboard coding (or “installing”). We don’t know what any of the specs, requests, revisions, etc… were – to throw out a $1,600 price tag isn’t realistic.
This is not a limited problem. Review the upcoming finance report from Scott Walker’s campaign and you’ll find he’s using many other out of state vendors too.
This bothers me a little. Since I go out of my way to spend my in my locale, which often costs me more than buying from Amazon, I would like a straight answer from the Walker campaign on this.
More than likely, someone on his staff handled the whole thing; I find candidates are usually clueless about these detail items. If that’s the case, come out and say it. Say you delegated the task to someone who thoughtlessly took it out of state, or give your superb reason for outsourcing the job.
It is unfortunate that Scott’s site was done outside Milwaukee, but remember: There isn’t a politician anywhere who doesn’t use political consultants. Often these consultants will use the suppliers they have experience with and who have gotten good results for them in the past. So, perhaps the decision was made by a consultant. Radio spots and voice-over talent for campaigns is often produced out of state using talent that know specifically how to read the copy that gets results. Also, in politics, many things are done out of state so as to control the leaking of information. In this day and age, one can not be too careful.
I can only suspect that the Ohio job was payback by a consultant, which is the way that world works as we’ve learned from the actions of our our new national administration.
Well, as the CEO of a company that does sites for conservatives (based in Brookfield, WI), I can assure you that this really makes me mad.
Not only can we easily handle what they might have needed, I know for a fact we have a lot more functionality and are probably cheaper that than what was paid for this thing. We handle tons of races across the nation, and it just goes to show that someone didn’t even think to look locally first.
Seems like the techno-geek beehive is in an uproar. How silly to try and link corruption and Walkers decision to spend his own money in his own way. Quite a stretch folks.
Perhaps he chose a firm that he felt was trust-worthy… after seeing what was posted here, I can see why he would shy away from the firms that you liberal folks are associated with.
Perhaps his campaign staff had previous dealing with the firm and felt comfortable choosing them. I imagine that you want to be quite sure of ethics and reliability of a company when you are headed into a gubernatorial race with one of the dirtiest politicians in America.
Whatever his reasons, I hope that you folks are not implying that, as governor, you are obligated to buy only Wisconsin products and services with your private dollar. Does Doyle pass that test? Doubtful, as Doyle went out of state for the very website that is supposed to promote Wisconsin tourism. Your outrage at Walker is dwarfed by the hypocrisy of your lack of outrage at Mr. Doyle.
I can’t speak for everyone, but MY outrage is aimed at Walker’s response. Yes, it was incredibly hypocritical of him to use an out-of-state firm, especially considering that
but the point is that (a) he didn’t look to local firms, (b) claimed that the project was too complex for local firms, and (c) then changed the story and said local firms were too expensive.
But if you want to trot out the “but he did it too!” argument, be my guest.
Yes, I really hope Governor Doyle uses an in-state firm when the time comes, but I doubt that he’ll badmouth the local industry if he doesn’t. And if he does, you can bet that we’ll be just as upset with him as we are with Walker.
Wisconsin Democrats are NEVER just as upset with Doyle as they are with Walker. If they were, I’d be reading more about his utter lack of integrity and leadership…..The left in this state are so obsessed with Walker as County Exec, or Gubernatorial candidate that they fail to comment and rightly criticize the most hypocritical and untrustworthy politician this state has to offer. (Just an FYI, that’s Jim Doyle).
Sean, thanks for contributing your insightful comments to this conversation. Your generalizations have really made me rethink why it is that I’m upset about an issue that directly affects me.
You’re welcome. BTW, I wasn’t generalizing; I believe I was very specific as to my feelings about Gov Doyle’s propensity to lie, cheat, cajole and steal from the Wisconsin electorate. I can’t help it that the Democratic party in this state just marches in lock step with him and then is offended when that hypocrisy is brought up. I have a hard time believing that Walker’s use of, and subsequent excuses for, utilizing an out of state tech firm for his website actually “affects” you. My presumption is, it is just one more “excuse” for the left and Democrats in this state to attack Walker…..Seriously, to worry about who Walker uses for his website or any excuse he gives for that website, is a colossal waste of time.
Yeah, calling Doyle “the most hypocritical and untrustworthy politician [in] this state” was quite specific.
I don’t know what industry you’re in, but I make a living at this (web dev). Walker’s use of an out-of-state firm doesn’t directly affect me. But when he proclaims to the media that local web firms aren’t capable of / charge too much for what he needed, that *does* affect me.
Especially considering the economy, our elected representatives should be doing everything they can to *encourage* local business.
Bryan,
“But when he proclaims to the media that local web firms aren’t capable of / charge too much for what he needed, that *does* affect me.” – Fair enough. His questioning the abilities and where-with-all of local web developers was insulting and thoughtless.
As it relates to elected representatives doing everything they can to encourage local business – I agree (to a certain extent), but where that line is drawn is where you and I probably differ.
His explanation was stupid and he should be criticized for it.
Who? Walker and his website, or Doyle and his 6 year administration?!?!?
I was referring to Walker. The issue with Doyle is offtopic (except in your head where everything is partisan). If we were talking about Doyle (and we’re not), I would say the same.
Off topic from the original post? Maybe, but appropos to the discussion? Yes. Especially when someone makes the statement “Yes, I really hope Governor Doyle uses an in-state firm when the time comes, but I doubt that he’ll badmouth the local industry if he doesn’t. And if he does, you can bet that we’ll be just as upset with him as we are with Walker.”
Partisan? Really? I guess you haven’t read my comments on other posts that carefully. I don’t trust or believe 90% of what any politician has to say or blindly back any politician based off of ideology…but I’m glad to know that someone else knows what’s going on in MY head.
Based on your other reply “His questioning the abilities and where-with-all of local web developers was insulting and thoughtless.”, it sounds like we’re in agreement, so I must have misunderstood your objection to my comment.