Thursday’s column by James Wigderson, I thought that was really hitting the nail on the head. He talks about the city administrator’s position and the council, I’ve talked to a lot of people who think that the city’s budget has become a runaway train ever since that position was batted."No Big Deal", Tim Schilke, Waukesha Freeman 8/22/07
At the same time, our council also made the brilliant move of eliminating the only position that was accountable for the public and that was the controller. People used to call him the watch dog. He seemed to keep things in check. I’d like to see a report that shows how much our city taxes have gone up and how much our bond rating has gone down ever since those position changes were made. Somebody needs to rein in the spending and all these unnecessary things like the transit center or the library addition or the fire house that was supposed to look like a fire hat, instead it looks like a big red shark fin with a number.
We don’t need fancy architecture, especially if the city residents are being taxed to the point where they can’t stay here. We need more aldermen like Kathy Cummings who is one of the few that goes to bat for us taxpayers.
Freeman columnist James Wigderson wrote a column on this topic last week, willingly including the same mistake: "Four of the hottest 10 years on record are now from the 1930s," Wigderson wrote. This statement is simply not true unless the qualifier "on record in the United States" is used.He also accuses global warming skeptics like myself of playing a game of "telephone" and not getting the facts straight. Sorry, Tim, I think it was you playing the game of "telephone" while I went directly to the original source of the correction. Also, since I don't think Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President of the Earth in the 1930s, and since I specifically referenced the set of data being corrected, have a raspberry - ppffllp'.
Two things readers of Schilke's column might want to keep in mind: 1) The data used for the United States is supposed to be the most accurate set used globally, but NASA still has to use a formula to correct for the inaccuracies. That formula was (last I checked) still not released to the public. 2) As I stated in the column in question, when Global Warming promulgators defend the data, they claim the recent correction was no big deal. Yet their whole theory is about tenths of a degree incremental change. Sorry guys, but I ain't willing to spend a trillion dollars and send us back to the stone age because you can't decide if it's the heat or the humidity. I'll just turn up the air conditioning a notch and drink a cold martini to feel better. Let me know when the bananas in Saskatchewan are in season. We'll make daiquiris.
Don't miss this month's issue of Milwaukee Magazine. Erik Gunn gave me good quote in "The Happy Warrior", an article about Waukesha's "liberal, peacenik, nuclear-freezing Democrat" Mayor Larry Nelson. By the way, the first person who told me Nelson could beat Nischke? Waukesha Taxpayer League President Chris Lufter, who is also quoted in the article. But back to numero uno, me.
James Wigderson, a conservative blogger and Waukesha Freeman columnist, says Nischke was weakened by the legislature's failure to pass the Constitutional amendment limiting property tax increases. "If the amendment had passed, she would have been able to tout that as a success," he says. "Because of her failure, all of her touting of it was a reminder to people why they didn't like Madison."I'm quoted elsewhere in the article, too. In addition to reading quotes from moi, the article I think gives a good feel of where the city is now politically. I'd pick a nit here or there, but it's really worth your time reading. Gunn also quotes State Rep Bill Kramer, WTL President Chris Lufter, Brian Nemoir from the Chamber of Commerce, Steve Shmucki, Rick Congdon, Joe Wineke, Dan Vrakas, Bill Huelsman and Jessica McBride. No aldermen were harmed in the writing of the article. Advice for Larry, ask for the picture on page 9 for your re-election brochure.
Another mistake: copying the Vrakas playbook, down to his proposal to cut the County Board. "At one point she even floated a trial balloon of reducing the number of aldermen," Wigderson complains, "not understanding that people look at their aldermen and county supervisors in a completely different way. Aldermen are personal."
The Nischke campaign, he adds, "just stumbled along with this sense of inevitability that a Republican would win over a Democrat. Nelson hit the doors a lot harder than she did."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel picked this blog post on the end of former Governor Tommy Thompson's political career as one of the "Best of the Blogs" last week. I'll give the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a hint. They could've quoted me without all the ellipses if they weren't so in love with Mike McCabe who repeated what they wanted to hear even though it had no basis in the truth. (btw, it's W-i-g-d-e-r-s-o-n Library & Pub.) Maybe this week.
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