Of the 29 items that County Exec. Walker vetoed and sent back to the Milwaukee County Board yesterday, my Supervisor, Lynne DeBruin, who represents the west side of Milwaukee and eastern parts of Wauwatosa, sided with him on at least 12 of them.
In fact, the roll call of Borkowski, Cesarz, De Bruin, Rice, Sanfelippo, Schmitt voting to support the County Executive became one of the more commonly heard lines of the day. Supervisors Borkowski, Cesarz, Rice, and Sanfelippo are the conservative block of the County Board, it’s troubling to see my own representative on the Board continue to side with the conservative members of the Board and the County Executive.
Case in point: Sup. De Bruin voted against funding for the Community Justice Resource Center. She voted against recreation and exercise equipment for the King and Kosciuszko Community Centers, important community centers for senior citizens. She voted with the conservative block again and again throughout the day. Voting to raise bus fares to the highest in the nation??
It’s unfortunate to be sure to see a representative continue to be so out of touch with their constituents. The 15th district that I live in voted overwhelmingly for Gov. Doyle in 2004 and for Barack Obama in 2008, yet we are represented by someone who votes more like George W. Bush or Mark Green.
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
How many times has George Bush voted?
Excluding on Election Day, of course…
I seem to recall you ran for election in the district as an unapoligetic liberal against the centrist DeBruin and a farther-right candidate.
How’d you come out in that one?
$50,000 for excercise equipment, with this County’s financial problems. Really Dan? Is that really a priority right now?
As for the election, I appreciate you bringing it up you’re trying to make a point, but propping up the results of last spring’s election, which you have very little understanding of, don’t prop up your points.
As for the equipment: yes. Because taking care of seniors is a priority for me.
What did I not understand about the election?
Spending and causing property taxes to increase doesn’t help seniors, does it?
Mike, not following you. Personally, I’ll happily pay an extra dollar a month in property taxes to support senior services in Milwaukee County.
You apparently see any and every tax as a negative, probably due to where you’re at ideologically.
I am someone who can see the benefits that taxes provide, in this case, keeping community senior centers open, timely snow removal and keeping bus fares from going any higher. When all that’s asked of me is to pay an extra $12 in property taxes this year to make that happen, I’ll happily do that.
“You apparently see any and every tax as a negative, probably due to where you’re at ideologically.”
Probably. But then are you immune to ideology?
Still waiting to hear what I got wrong on the election…
My ideology doesn’t have anything to do with this, unless you count supporting senior services as an “ideology”.
I’ve always just considered that the right thing to do. If you want to call doing the right thing an ideology in this case, have at it.
As for the election, thanks for the reminder.
So I didn’t get anything wrong on the election then.
I didn’t think I did.
Dan, you can support “senior services” while also supporting “prioritizing inteligently”. Give all the woes our County faces, this investment (paltry as it was on the grand scheme) simply cannot be credibly called high, or even medium priority.
GC, I continue to respectfully disagree with your opinion that the outcome of last spring’s race was based simply on who ran as what. Perhaps I’ll have the opportunity to delve into that in more detail with you some day over a beer.
However, one thing I won’t disagree with you on is that I stand up for what I believe in, and believe in what I stand for.
Thanks as always for your comments…
Fair enough. I give you credit for putting yourself out there and running, that takes a lot of guts.
I just hope that at some point you’ll agree that the County’s problems (some of their own doing, some of the State’s) require significant prioritization that makes things like excerise equipment at a community center a luxury.