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(WisPolitics) Milwaukee Notes November 4, 2009 
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Milwaukee Notes QUOTES OF THE WEEK This is nothing short of an attempt to get Mayor Barrett in this governor's race while Democrats in Wisconsin are sucking air. -- State GOP Chair Reince Priebus, dismissing President Obama's visit to talk education in Madison as a "ruse" to pressure Barrett to get into the governor's race. We're here to talk about education. -- Barrett after the president's speech, saying he didn't talk about the guv's race with Obama. I needed to get their attention to show how serious we were about having a balanced budget. -- Milwaukee Co. Exec Scott Walker on Madison station WTDY's "Sly in the Morning" on the layoffs he announced Friday. Walker later that day backed off after the County Board took up his offer to cut spending instead. Either he was lying then, or he's lying now. This is not a game. The fact is that these employees indeed received layoff notices. A true leader would not play games with our community's core services and the lives of 180 families for personal, political gain. -- County Board Chairman Lee Holloway and Supervisors John F. Weishan Jr., Christopher Larson, Theo Lipscomb and Johnny Thomas in a joint statement decrying Walker's bluff.
BARRETT LEAVES OBAMA EDUCATION SPEECH WITH BOOST DESPITE NO MENTION OF MPS Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he and Obama didn't talk about politics or the governor's race, and they didn't talk specifically about the proposal for mayoral control of Milwaukee Public Schools. But he said Obama's speech to a Madison middle school audience left little doubt about what direction the president would like to see MPS go. "I think his message today was right along the lines of what we've been talking about, and that is you've got to close failing schools ... there has to be dramatic reform," said Barrett, who traveled to Madison for the speech. "If this is going to work for our children, it can't be done by embracing the status quo." Barrett continued, "I think the mere fact that he's here in Wisconsin he knows, the secretary of education knows, that this debate is going on. He wouldn't be here if he wanted to stay away from that debate." Barrett said he's "hopeful and confident" there will be a special legislative session on the MPS takeover and that mayoral control will be crucial component of the state's Race to the Top application.. "The governor has indicated that he wants the Legislators to act on this," Barrett said. "I think that there is interest by a number of legislators, and I think that interest will grow. ... I think for the legislators who were here, I think they're going to go back to the Capitol and say, 'let's follow the president's lead.'" Barrett said he has had conversations with many legislators about governance change, and he sees varying degrees of opposition and support for the proposal. "At the end of the day, this is all about improving the performance of the students in Milwaukee Public Schools," he said. "My gut tells me that it's still in play, that there's still work that needs to be done. It's not finished yet, but it's never over 'til it's over."
BARRETT GUV DECISION 'IN THE NEAR FUTURE' Barrett also told reporters he expects to make his decision about entering the race for governor "in the near future" and that he continues to talk over the possibility with his family. He also said that his annual city budget is being finalized this week, and he's continuing to focus on the MPS governance change. "We've got a lot going on right now, and I think the people of Wisconsin and certainly people in Milwaukee want me to continue doing that job as well," he said.
GRIGSBY SEEKS ALTERNATIVE BECAUSE MPS TAKEOVER TALK `TEARING MILWAUKEE APART' Rep. Tamara Grigsby, one of the leading critics of the plan to have Milwaukee's mayor take charge of appointing the MPS superintendent, said she's working on a legislative proposal to reform the district without mayoral takeover. Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, said her proposal will look at best practices in other places to improve the performance of MPS students. "I don't support the status quo in any way," Grigsby told Milwaukee Notes. "It's not enough to say, 'no, we don't like this' ... we have to have an alternative," she said. She said once MPS governance is changed, the superintendent will be accountable to the mayor and not to the people and the children. Mayoral takeover could lead the district down the path of political whims, she said. "In general in other places the mayor has appeased the needs of his highest voting wards which also don't tend to be the most low-income communities," she said. Grigsby continued that Milwaukee faces a myriad of other issues that need to be addressed, issues that need a mayor's full focus. "I've always said I refuse to pit pupils, potholes and police against each other in one budget," she said. "I think the mayor has enough on his plate." Grigsby said she thinks Barrett has done good things for Milwaukee, and he is a "very, very viable candidate for governor." But the mayoral takeover issue is "tearing Milwaukee apart," she said. "I am concerned about us (Democrats) at a time when we have to come together and coalesce around our candidate that this could be one of the things that distracts from that. And I'm hoping that we can come to some common place so that does not impact the next election," she said. Listen to the Grigsby interview: http://wispolitics.com/1006/091104Grigsby.mp3
COLÓN SEES OBAMA BACKING MPS TAKEOVER Rep. Pedro Colón, D-Milwaukee, who like Grigsby was at Obama's speech today, said it was "explicitly clear" that when the president talked about drastic changes, he was referring to a governance change in MPS. "I thnk legislators who are thinking we don't need to drastically change things in Milwaukee and we're still going to get Race to the Top dollars are greatly mistaken," said Colon, who will be the lead Assembly author of the MPS governance change bill. He said the bill should be out of drafting as early as Thursday. Obama didn't address the divisive issue of the mayoral takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools directly, but he did say one of the challenges states must take up to compete for Race to the Top is drastic change at low-performing schools. That includes a leadership change when necessary, he said. "We'll look at whether they're willing to remake a school from top to bottom with new leaders and a new way of teaching, replacing a school's principal if it's not working, and at least half its staff -- close a school for a time and then reopen it under new management, even shut down the school entirely and ... send its students to a better school nearby. "There's always excuses for why these schools can't perform," Obama said. "But part of what we want is an environment in which everybody agrees -- from the governor to the school superintendent, teachers, principals, and most importantly parents and students -- that there's no excuse for mediocrity. And we will take drastic steps when schools aren't working."
LAWMAKERS POISED TO APPROVE WISCONSIN SHARES CHANGES The Legislature's budget committee has signed off on a package of reforms for the troubled Wisconsin Shares program that includes barring people convicted of offenses like child abuse from receiving a license to provide child care. The vote clears the way for full Legislature to approve the bills this week. Under the bill, child care providers would be required to undergo background checks every three months, rather than every four years as is current law. Annual background checks would also be required for any workers at a facility or any non-client residents who live on the premises of a child care facility. The bill also would bar anyone facing certain criminal charges from getting a child care provider license. It also gives the licensing agencies the power to revoke child care licenses for providers who have been convicted of a serious crime or to suspend licenses of providers who have a serious crime charge pending. Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, the Assembly author of the legislation, said the process to reform Wisconsin Shares has been the "most bipartisan" she has encountered in the Legislature. She said she and Dem Sen. Bob Jauch of Superior worked with Republican members and incorporated their input. "This is not the same bill that I originally drafted," she said. "What we have in front of us is a little more punitive for my taste. But I recognize this is a building where compromises happen and this is a building where we all work together for the overall good of our children." Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, said the bill could be even tougher and that Democrats discarded too many Republican ideas. Vos presented an amendment to the committee that would have provided $1 million for local law enforcement to root out fraud in Wisconsin Shares. Vos' amendment failed, with critics saying some counties were already spending less than the state was giving them for fraud investigations. "Giving someone a bone and saying it's bipartisan is not the same as actually sitting down and trying to find that common ground on the dozen amendments we have," Vos said. The legislation is the last in a series of bills that have come through the Legislature this fall following the uncovering of fraud in the $350 million Wisconsin Shares program, which pays child care costs for low-income individuals and families so they can return to work. Also passed was the Responsibility in Child Care Act, which holds liable any individual with a 20 percent or more ownership interest in a child care business for any penalties imposed by Department of Children and Families, the state agency that oversees Wisconsin Shares.
PALIN TO ADDRESS ANTI-ABORTION CROWD FRIDAY Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's speech at a special fall fundraiser Friday for Wisconsin Right to Life will benefit the organization's Education Fund, which helps pay for efforts like TV ads. The speech also will be closed to the media, and there will be no recording devices allowed inside the event at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park. WRTL legislative director Sue Armacost declined to say how much the group paid to have Palin attend the event. She said tickets are selling for $30 and the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park is set up for a capacity of 4,500 people, though it could be expanded. Selling 4,500 at $30 a piece would bring in $135,000. The WRTL Education Fund is a 501c3, and the group won't have to report how much it made off the event. "She's not coming in as a political activist," Armacost said. "She's coming in as a pro-life leader who will be speaking to the pro-life issues." Armacost said she believes it will be the first speech Palin has made to a right-to-life group since resigning as governor of Alaska this summer. The 2008 GOP veep candidate is scheduled to begin a book tour next month. State Dem Party Chair Mike Tate criticized the event today for being closed to the media and recording devices. "At least it is safe to assume that she will stick with the same misrepresentations and blatant disregard for the facts that she became famous for in the first place," Tate said in a statement. "This Friday's Milwaukee appearance is just another celebrity event in an echo chamber of the same old ideas." See details of the event: http://wispolitics.com/1006/091020_WRTL_Palin.pdf
NEUMANN CHALLENGES WALKER TO JOINT APPEARANCES Even with a joint appearance on statewide TV set for Sunday, GOP guv hopeful Mark Neumann is challenging primary opponent Scott Walker to a joint town hall appearance in each of the state's eight congressional districts by March 31. The Nashotah home builder said though the state primary isn't until Sept. 14, eight joint appearances is "reasonable" given the amount of voter interest and that for the first time in more than 25 years the governor's seat will be open. "We found that most of the people in the state don't know who either one of us are, and the people who do know who we are are not understanding what the differences are between us," Neumann told WisPolitics.com. "The idea here would be to get us both in to a joint setting where we can both present our visions for the future of Wisconsin, and then let the people decide who their candidate should be." The challenge got a cool reception from Walker's campaign, which noted the two have already appeared in public together on several occasions, including an event in Waukesha Monday night, and have more events planned, including a joint appearance Sunday on "UpFront with Mike Gousha.'' "As we get closer to the election next fall, we'll work on a more formalized schedule," said Walker campaign manager Keith Gilkes. See the Neumann campaign's press release: http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/091103Neumann_challenge_release.pdf
NAMES IN THE NEWS Longtime Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter ALAN J. BORSUK has joined the Marquette University Law School as a senior fellow in law and public policy. Borsuk worked 37 years for the Milwaukee newspaper before leaving in July. He was the paper's education reporter for the last decade and continues to write a Sunday column. See the announcement: http://www.marquette.edu/omc/newscenter/recent.php?subaction=showfull&id=1256568911&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1 Gov. JIM DOYLE is seeking applications to fill a vacancy on the Waukesha County Court created by the retirement of Circuit Court Judge ROBERT MAWDLSEY. See the release: http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=175647
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