Wisconsin Economy Improving

Candidate Barrett’s Wife Allegedly Engaged in Politics On Taxpayers’ Dime

Well, well...

A Media Trackers open records request revealed that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s wife, Kris Barrett, who taught at Dover Elementary used her Milwaukee Public School email account to twice lobby Democratic lawmakers and a third time to recruit fellow teachers to campaign against County Executive candidate Jeff Stone. The use of a taxpayer funded email account for such political purposes is a gross misuse of resources and forbidden by the Milwaukee Public Schools Employee Code of Ethics as well as the MPS Staff Acceptable Use Policy.

I deeply anticipate Mayor Barrett’s condemnation of this alleged illegal activity and his demand for prosecution.

GAG Lawyer Says Governments Can Ban Guns At The Polls

Personally, I don’t think that the law includes election sites as a “special event,” nor do I think that was the intent of the provisions. After all, elections are normally regularly scheduled events. They aren’t “special.” Still, such an interpretation is not wholly unreasonable. If the DOJ upholds the interpretation, then hopefully the legislature can clarify the law before the taxpayers have to defend a lawsuit about it.

Madison - State election officials say local governments can ban concealed weapons at all polling sites, from city halls to assisted living homes.

Government Accountability Board attorney Mike Haas writes in a report that Wisconsin’s concealed carry law contains a provision that allows organizers to ban concealed weapons at special events. Haas writes that an election qualifies as a special event.

Town Bans Texting While Walking

The next step...

Avid texters beware: Fort Lee, N.J. police said they will begin issuing $85 jaywalking tickets to pedestrians who are caught texting while walking.

“It’s a big distraction. Pedestrians aren’t watching where they are going and they are not aware,” said Thomas Ripoli, chief of the Fort Lee Police Department.

Ripoli said the borough, which is home to approximately 35,000 residents, has suffered three fatal pedestrian-involved accidents this year. He hopes his crackdown on people who display dangerous behavior while walking will make his town safer, but not everyone is on board with the idea of issuing $85 tickets.

“...half a liter of urine per swimmer per day.”

That’s a lot of pee.

Peeing while swimming in a lake may not just be taboo – it could also be lethal, for the fish.

At least that’s what a group of anglers contend, blaming swimmers for the 500 dead fish that have turned up in a picturesque German lake near Hamburg, The Local reported.

“Swimmers who urinate in the lake are introducing a lot of phosphate,” Manfred Siedler, a spokesman for an angler’s group, told Bild newspaper. “We’re calculating half a liter of urine per swimmer per day.”

Man to Set Fist Pumping Record

You go, man!

A 34-year-old unemployed man from Ohio attempted to set a Guinness World Record over the weekend by fist pumping for 17 hours straight.

James Peterson began the attempt on Friday morning, according to the Akron Beacon Journal, and was scheduled to end at 3 a.m. local time Saturday. Peterson, a self-described fist-pumping “veteran,” was accompanied by a pair of videographers on his quest for the record—which included stops at bars in and around the Univ. of Akron.

“I did this on St. Patrick’s Day but it was not documented,” Peterson said, telling the paper that he super-glued his right fist closed “to ensure I maintain perfect fist formation.”

Milwaukee’s Air Service is Declining

I’ve certainly felt this.

Even more dramatic has been the erosion of nonstop destinations as Milwaukee lost the hub status it held during the glory days of Midwest and, briefly, under Frontier.

Little more than a year ago, carriers flew nonstop from Mitchell to 54 destinations. Frontier’s latest announced cuts will take the nonstop total to 36.

The casualties include several small cities, but also larger destinations such as Indianapolis, San Antonio and San Diego.

“There are definitely fewer choices,” said Neil Christensen, corporate accounts manager for Modern Travel Services in Germantown. “Even on cities where you have nonstops, there are fewer choices.

Fewer routes, higher fares

Among the remaining 36 flights, 12 have lost competition and have just one airline flying the route.

It stinks. I had a flight to Indianapolis on Frontier in a few weeks that was canceled. Now there’s no way to get there without a layover. For that, I’ll just drive it, and no airline gets my fare.

What Are Your Plans, Barrett?

I’ve heard this justification repeated over and over again.

“I try to help people understand that when Walker ran for office he did so in a dishonest way,” Salt said, citing how the governor didn’t talk publicly during the campaign about his intent to eliminate collective bargaining, even though he knew it would be a hugely controversial issue.

Let’s accept, for the sake of argument, that the assertion is true AND is a reasonable justification to engage in a historic recall effort. I know, I know, but for the sake of argument, bear with me.

If it is justifiable to recall a sitting governor for not spelling out in detail every policy action they may take over the course of four years in office, then we should expect to see exactly what Barrett’s first budget would look like, right? And we can assume that he won’t advance any policy initiatives he hasn’t already shared, right? And anything Barrett does in the future for which I can’t find a policy position on his website right now would be a justification to recall Barrett, right?

It would seem so.

West Bend’s Downtown Theater Sold

Good news. Let’s hope they can do something with it.

PRESCOTT INVESTS IN THE DOWNTOWN   MAY 11, 2012         By JUDY STEFFES

WEST BEND – There’s a new owner for the historic downtown West Bend Theatre.

Matt Prescott purchased the building, 125 N. Main St., Friday afternoon; the asking price was $196,900 and he closed at $100,000.

“Nothing like a decrepit old building to get you going,” he laughed.

This is the fourth property purchase downtown for Prescott and business partner Eric Nordeen. Over the past year the pair also invested in 111 N. Main (Baird building), 262 N. Main St. (Le’s Bridal), and 105 N. Main (Portrait’s Today).

“I see the theatre as an asset to the downtown,” said Prescott.

“I just wanted to take a chance, control an important part of downtown and see what we can do to make it better.”

Prescott, 37, made clear he will keep the West Bend marquee but he does not intend to restore the theatre to its historic status. Instead, he simply wants to demo the newer additions inside, hollow it out and get it back to the configuration of the old theatre.

“I want to stabilize it, get the roof back in shape and clean it up – so we know what we’re sitting on and see what uses people might come up with,” he said.

The downtown theatre has been on the market for a while. The asking price and assessed value ($175,000) have declined considerably and many interested parties have walked away.

Acknowledging the building had seen better days Prescott admitted the venture makes him nervous.

“I’ve driven past it a million times and never ever considered walking through it,” he said. “I understand it’ll take quite a bit of work but the other day I saw the listing again and thought I’d take a chance.”

Mayor Kraig Sadownikow praised the sale of the movie theatre as another example of the positive momentum building in West Bend.

“This community has worked hard to be able to offer award winning quality-of-life features, outstanding educational systems, and a say ‘Yes’ to business attitude,” he said.

Over the past few years there have been many noticeable investments in the downtown including the 2009 remodeling of the old Chicago and Northwestern Railroad depot, the widening of the Highway 33 bridge, reconfiguring of Veterans Ave., sale of the Washington House and the Ziegler building, and the construction of a new Museum of Wisconsin Art.

Sadownikow defines it with one word: opportunity.

“A city is just a couple buildings and some trucks, a community is what we create when we work together toward a common goal,” he said.

“The recent success and positive future outlook for the downtown area takes all of us to be successful.” Sadownikow compared the community’s downtown to the core of an apple.

“If you let the core rot, the entire apple goes bad. For decades we all have invested time, energy, and money in our downtown to ensure our core is solid.

“We have more work to do, however, these recent examples of success are just the beginning of what will be a stronger downtown,” said Sadownikow.

Josephine Minskey is the Executive Director of the Downtown West Bend Association.

She expressed total enthusiasm when told of the sale. “Yes. Finally!” said Minskey.

The West Bend Theatre had been on the block and through a variety of realtors the past four years.

Although the building had been for sale, the DWBA made an investment to keep the iconic cinema marquee lit year round.

“Nearly everyone who lives here has memories of the theater in better days,” said Minskey.

“It speaks to a time when downtowns were the hub of social activity. The West Bend Theatre is a key piece of downtown revitalization and the new owners will be in good company with others who are investing in the future of downtown through building renovation,” she said.

Last year over $37 million was invested in Wisconsin Main Street Communities, which are small to mid-sized cities like West Bend.

Minskey believed the investment dollars are an early indication that the focus is shifting back to downtowns- to local property-and-business owners.

“The Museum of Wisconsin Art will forever change the landscape downtown,” she said.

“It has been the catalyst for so much other growth and development like construction of the pedestrian bridge, façade improvements and riverbank revitalization.

“We are going to look back on this time as the beginning of a great, new phase of development for Downtown West Bend,” said Minskey.

“alcohol was a factor”

Ya think.

Sheriff’s Lt. Dale Wisnewski says a deputy arrived to find the car stuck in the field, and a 25-year-old Birnamwood man trying to free it. The man was naked from the waist down and had been covering himself and the car with mud.

The deputy used a Taser on the man when he resisted arrest. The man was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting.

Wisnewski says alcohol was a factor.

Dems Politicize Mother’s Day

Huh. I didn’t realize that Ms. Brickerman spoke for all mothers. Somehow I suspect that there are a few mothers out there who are quite happy with Walker’s performance.

In response, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Maggie Brickerman, co-chair of the Party’s Women Against Walker group, stated, ““It’s too late for Scott Walker to win back women voters. His actions have proven he’s not on the side of mothers in Wisconsin.”

Obama and Wright (again)

So much for the myth that Obama was unaware of Wright’s racist rants.

“Did Obama himself ever make an effort to see you?”

“Yes,” Wright said. “Barack said he wanted to meet me in secret, in a secure place. And I said, ‘You’re used to coming to my home, you’ve been here countless times, so what’s wrong with coming to my home?’ So we met in the living room of the parsonage of Trinity United Church of Christ, at South Pleasant Avenue right off 95th Street, just Barack and me. I don’t know if he had a wire on him. His security was outside somewhere.

“And one of the first things Barack said was, ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do any more public speaking until after the November election.’ He knew I had some speaking engagements lined up, and he said, ‘I wish you wouldn’t speak. It’s gonna hurt the campaign if you do that.’

Barrett’s Gender Gap

Well, well... how will Barrett explain this? Or will he bother?

Women working in the office of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett make significantly less per year than men working for Barrett according to data provided by the mayor’s office to Media Trackers. Just two weeks after launching a television ad critical of Governor Scott Walker’s (R) so-called war on women, employment data from Barrett’s office shows the existence of a gender pay gap that greatly exceeds the disparity that is said to exist statewide in Wisconsin.

Among current employees, Barrett pays women an average of $17,645.19 less per year than he pays men working for him. Records from the mayor’s office released in March show that not including Barrett there are three men and nine women who work full time in the mayor’s office.

GOP Convention Doesn’t Endorse Senate Candidate

This is a good thing. The media spin in this article is off base.

GREEN BAY — None of the four Republican candidates for U.S. Senate was able to capture 60 percent of support at the state party convention Saturday, meaning no one will get the party’s official endorsement.

The vote was an especially tough blow to former Gov. Tommy Thompson — who was first elected to public office in 1966 — as he was eliminated in the second round of voting after getting just 18 percent support. It also served as a stinging rebuke to political newcomer Eric Hovde, who was eliminated in the first round of voting with 16 percent.

Frankly, with all of the necessary attention being paid to the recall elections, we haven’t had a chance to fully evaluate these candidates yet. Republicans should be pleased to have such a stong pool from which to choose, but there will be time to dig in after June 5th.

Alleged Child Abusers Seek Donations for Legal Defense

Wow. A word comes to mind… it’s not a pretty one.

The parents of a 15-year-old girl who are facing felony charges for allegedly starving and torturing the girl and keeping her in a basement have set up a website seeking donations from the public to pay their lawyers.

The girl’s father, Chad Chritton, 41, and stepmother, Melinda Drabek-Chritton, 42, “have been falsely accused” of abusing the girl, the website states, and “the government wants to make Chad and his wife felons and subject them to imprisonment.”

The site contains a number of pages that argue the couple’s case and asks that as site visitors read the information they “remember that Chad is an eight-year Army veteran who was honorably discharged and served his country well and that neither he nor his wife has ever been arrested before for anything.”

District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said he had no comment about the site.

The girl’s biological mother, Heidi Carr, said in a statement that the website is “just an attempt by the defense to try and lie their way out of this horrible crime.”

She wrote that Chritton and Drabek-Chritton are putting the girl “through hell by calling her crazy and a liar.”

Chritton and Drabek-Chritton were arrested on Feb. 10, four days after the girl was found walking on a street near the family’s home on Treichel Street on Madison’s Far East Side, barefoot and dressed in pajamas.

When the girl was found she weighed 82 pounds, the weight of the average 9-year-old child, abuse expert Dr. Barbara Knox testified at a preliminary hearing. She said that the child had suffered “serial child torture.”