Consider an invitation-only meeting, before a public one, in which appointed officials and perhaps a few corporate executives meet to discuss public financing of a deal mostly benefiting a few. One can say two things, with reasonable confidence, about a meeting like that. First, no one attends a meeting of that kind to dissuade others…
Politics
City, Government Spending, Local Government, Politics
Whitewater’s Common Council Meeting for 10.15.13 (City Manager, Budget Perspective)
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s budget season for local governments across Wisconsin, including Whitewater. Presentations beginning in October will conclude with a vote in November. A few introductory remarks on that process follow. City Manager, Cameron Clapper. City Manager Clapper has two tasks, not one: daily management the city’s local government, and normalizing the way his administration describes local government’s functions. In…
Free Markets, Politics, Weird Tales
Do Rally Monkeys Really Spark Market Rallies?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Financial Times, there’s a post that has a video of a rally monkey, and the possibilty of a market rally if there’s a House-Obama compromise on the debt-ceiling (and perhaps on the shutdown, too.) Well, a political pact might spark a rally, but what role does the monkey, himself, play? Most likely none,…
City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government, New Whitewater, Planning, Politics, Taxes/Taxation
A Review of Whitewater’s Economy is Like Peeling an Artichoke
by JOHN ADAMS •
Artichokes, of course, symbolize the idea of multi-layered things, of peeling back an exterior to discover an interior truth. Whitewater’s economy is like that – one needs to peel away layer upon layer of happy-talk headlines to address the truth of our present condition. (In a way, the only indubitable success those headlines assure is…
Politics
‘More Than Sharks Love Blood’
by JOHN ADAMS •
How does one explain politicians like Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer, or Mark Sanford? They’ve kept returning no matter how risible their revealed conduct. Their particular motivations are known (if then) only to their families or therapists. It’s possible, though, that a suitable political explanation is available. In the American version of House of Cards, Congressman…
Local Government, Politics
If Policy Goes Bad in Three Basic Ways, What Should Be Done About It?
by JOHN ADAMS •
If policy goes bad in one of three principal ways, then are the solutions to errors as easily stated (and brought into effect)? (See, from yesterday, The Three Ways Policy Goes Wrong.) Most of the time, there are. If the errors are from bad information or bad ideas, then positive change isn’t so hard. One…
Local Government, Politics
The Three Ways Policy Goes Wrong
by JOHN ADAMS •
How does public policy go wrong? I’m sure the answer’s not complicated. There are a few principal ways, with all else being derivations: (1) bad information, (2) bad ideas, or (3) bad motives. So either knowledge is poor, theory is poor, or ethics are poor. I’ve organized the possibilities this way in order of severity,…
City, Local Government, Politics
About those four (or five) Common Council applicants
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tomorrow night, Whitewater will choose between four (or perhaps five) qualifying applicants for an appointment to an open council seat for Aldermanic District 1. There are two quick points worth making. First, there were five applicants, but only four written submissions received by the clearly-stated deadline. (The fifth application helpfully advised, in the would-be politician’s…
City, Local Government, Politics
More about ‘Scenes from Whitewater’s Failing Drug War’
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve had both emails and a conversation with a journalist about yesterday’s post, Scenes from Whitewater’s Failing Drug War. I’ll summarize some of the topics of those messages and my replies. Shouldn’t the UW-Whitewater chancellor receive deference? I’m not sure what to make of this. It’s all-too-clear that Chancellor Telfer receives ample deference, and from…
Local Government, Planning, Politics
Common Council 4.16.13: The New Council
by JOHN ADAMS •
Common Council begins a new year, with four of its members sworn into office last night, and officers selected for the year ahead. By overall composition, it’s probably the most talented Council in memory, and certainly since I’ve been writing (2007). One hopes this works out well. In 2008, I wrote about the Planning Commission…
City, Elections, Local Government, Politics
Assessing Whitewater’s April 2, 2013 Vote
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a quick analysis of local political results. Precinct detail is available online for Walworth and Jefferson Counties, and statewide totals (including limited local information for Whitewater) is available online at the Journal Sentinel. Singer-Crone At-Large Contest. The only citywide council race finished 724-452 (12 write-in votes). That’s 61%-38%-1%, in a city that mostly picks…
City, Elections, Local Government, Politics
Local Politics: The Singer-Crone Council Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
One often looks at two candidates and thinks: if only they could both lose. Other times, as now, one looks at two candidates, and thinks: it’s a shame they can’t both win. The latter situation is preferable, and it’s the one in which Whitewater finds itself with an at-large council race between Patrick Singer and…
City, Elections, Politics
Whitewater’s Candidates for April 2nd
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve posted earlier about a March 16th candidates’ forum in Whitewater. This post continues a discussion about the upcoming election, in which candidates for council aren’t the only candidates on our local ballot. A few additional remarks appear below, about the races and candidates. Unopposed is a bad thing. Most of our races, for common…
City, Elections, Local Government, Politics
Local Politics: Sideshows
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s in transition. Part of this is a shift – slow but inexorable – in the political culture of the city. (See, along these lines, New Whitewater’s Inevitability and Horses and Automobiles, Contemporaneously.) There’s more than one way to wage a local race, and our city is getting a taste of the difference between a…