Whitewater’s public comment periods are lawful rights worth defending, and there has never been a time when respecting public comment – humbly and gratefully – has been more important for the city. Since June, there have been three meetings during which Whitewater’s current council president has deprecated public comment, or wrongly set the order of…
Wisconsin
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Whitewater & Walworth County’s Working Poor, 2020 ALICE® Report
by JOHN ADAMS •
The 2020 ALICE® report, on those who are “asset limited, income constrained [yet] employed” is now available. These latest data were collected before the recent recession – one can be sadly confident that hardship reaches farther now. For Wisconsin, 11% of households were below the poverty level, and 34% (including those below the poverty level) were…
Courts, Law, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Supreme Court: Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embedded below is the decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm. On a 4-3 decision, Wisconsin’s highest court has ruled that the Safer at Home order is unenforceable. (Readers have asked me via email me over the last week how the court might rule. I have replied to each message that…
Courts, Elections, Law, Legislature, Politics, Public Health, Wisconsin
‘This Principle Is More Important Than Winning’
by JOHN ADAMS •
In the New York Times, Justice-elect Jill Karofsky writes I’m the Judge Who Won in Wisconsin. This Principle Is More Important Than Winning (‘We must get away from a partisan view of the law‘): In cities like Milwaukee and Green Bay, the wait [to vote] ended up being as long as three hours. And because the…
America, Bigotry, History, Mendacity, Politics, Race, Wisconsin, WISGOP
WISGOP Treasurer Brian Westrate ‘Well Understands’ Nothing
by JOHN ADAMS •
A horde of ignorant, but racially motivated, men infest the Wisconsin GOP. Brian Westrate is a good example of playing to this bad condition: in an attempt to discourage racist Republicans from displaying Confederate banners at a protest, he erroneously (and outrageously) contended that he did “well understand that the Confederacy was more about states…
Business, CDA, Coronavirus, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, Public Health, Wisconsin
The Reopening Debate Will Turn on Consumer Demand
by JOHN ADAMS •
The push to reopen Wisconsin will only effectively benefit retail businesses if consumer demand returns to pre-pandemic levels. Consumer demand will only return to pre-pandemic levels if consumers feel safe. Some retail demand will return as soon as shops and restaurants open; the marketplace question is whether consumer demand returns to something like pre-pandemic levels.…
Coronavirus, Public Health, Tony Evers, Wisconsin
Midwestern Governors, Including Wisconsin’s Governor, Form Coalition on Economy During Pandemic
by JOHN ADAMS •
So, there's now a West Coast group of states, a Northeast group of states, and a Midwestern group of states coordinating on COVID-19 response. Here's what that looks like on a map: https://t.co/bmbTimJbps pic.twitter.com/9XKWEQhJUk — Mark Miller (@markdmiller2) April 16, 2020
Bad Ideas, Business, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Development, Foxconn, Government Spending, Mendacity, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn’s ‘Innovation’ Centers: Still Empty a Year Later
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the national tech website The Verge, Nilay Patel reminds that a year later, Foxconn has still done nothing with the ‘innovation’ centers that foreign corporation promised it would open around the state. They’re still empty: See FOXCONN’S BUILDINGS IN WISCONSIN ARE STILL EMPTY, ONE YEAR LATER. In Whitewater, the ‘Greater Whitewater’ Committee…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, Conflicts of Interest, Kakistocracy, Kushner, Nepotism, Public Relations, WEDC, Wisconsin
An Empty-Headed Man’s Next Gig
by JOHN ADAMS •
Updated with a longer – and so more revealing – video of Kushner’s vapidity. When Jared Kushner is finished impairing America’s response to a pandemic, he’ll need something else to do. Wisconsin still has the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, and in small Wisconsin towns like Whitewater one finds development hucksters, business leagues of landlords &…
Coronavirus, Public Health, State Government, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Department of Health Services: Emergency Order 12 (‘Safer at Home Order’)
by JOHN ADAMS •
The full text of the State of Wisconsin Emergency Order 12, dated 3.24.20, appears below —
Babbittry, Boosterism, CDA, City, Development, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Local Government, Poverty, School District, WEDC, Wisconsin
Local Public Policy as if Charitable Assistance
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s policymakers, and those of other small, rural cities, should – in these times of economic stagnation, a lingering opioid crisis, failed business welfare, and an approaching recession – view their principal obligation as if it were charitable outreach. (It’s not charity, of course, but that’s how policymakers should view it: as both palliative and…
City, Courts, Elections, Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Supreme Court Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday’s spring primary included a statewide contest for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, with incumbent Justice Dan Kelly and challengers Judge Jill Karofsky and Professor Ed Fallone. (It was the only race on Whitewater’s ballot, as there were no contested local races). A few remarks — Statewide. Kelly and Karofsky will move on to the spring…
Elections, Presidential race 2020, Trump, Wisconsin
Battleground Wisconsin 2020
by JOHN ADAMS •
Although Trump carried Wisconsin in ‘16, and although 2020 is likely to see a hard fight against him in Wisconsin, Trump has significant obstacles he did not have in the last election. On Twitter, Joe Handrick (@joeminocqua) offers a sound analysis of Trump’s electoral position in the Badger State. Embedded below is the first of…
America, Bad Ideas, CDA, Economics, Economy, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Local Government, State Government, WEDC, Wisconsin
But, but, but…we were promised growth, growth, growth!
by JOHN ADAMS •
Locally, statewide, and nationally, Trump & those who flacked his tax bill, and those who also pushed corporate welfare schemes (Foxconn, WEDC, Whitewater CDA), promised growth, growth, growth! How odd that these men — politicians, movers-and-shakers, developers, landlords, and public relations types — seem to have missed the mark: The World Bank sees U.S. growth stumbling from…