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Politics

Wisconsin County Board Sizes

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Over at the GazetteXtra.com, Greg Peck asks Should Walworth County Board Expand?. He notes that Dane County’s considering downsizing its county board, at a time that Walworth County officials (some, anyway) are pondering an expansion. (The Walworth County Board was recently downsized, but now some supervisors are complaining about too much work.)

Peck’s right to raise the question, and I know that my own view (more below) in answer is a minority view.

The Wisconsin State Journal addresses Dane County’s situation in a July 27th editorial.

The State Journallists and refutes the arguments against downsizing:

A host of supervisors oppose a significant reduction in the number of board seats because it would cost some incumbents their jobs.

That’s a lame excuse for the status quo.

Some supervisors complain about having to represent more people. But our elected officials shouldn’t be in the business of public service if they don’t like a lot of contact with constituents.

The silliest argument against significantly reducing the size of the Dane County Board is that it will create so much work for the remaining supervisors that they’ll have to serve – and be paid – as full-time workers.

This argument ignores that virtually every other county board in the nation has fewer members – the vast majority of whom are not full-time. If the rest of the nation can get its work done without an army of supervisors, Dane County should be able to. Unlike a lot of those counties, Dane County also has a full-time county executive.

I posted on Walworth County’s board recently, and opposed re-expansion of the Walworth County Board.

No one is required to serve on the Walworth County Board, and for a small county — far smaller than Dane County — the current total of eleven supervisors seems appropriate. (It’s a total that leaves each supervisor with fewer constituents than a member of the Assembly, and fewer responsibilities than an Assembly representatives, too.)

Some supervisors feel overworked. I am convinced that the best recourse for them is a return to private life. There will be others who’ll run, and serve, in their places.

I also oppose compensation for supervisors or, in my own small town, members of our common council. A Wisconsin county or city will have a paid executive, and other full-time employees; that’s enough. Politicians in cities and counties should not be paid.

Politicians at this level should never be compensated, but certainly not now, when cities and counties are cutting budgets. Those who cut a budget should feel the result first.

My view may seem severe, but I believe it’s a view that will produce a better politics.

It was, after all, the Vulcans who would announce their arrival with the greeting, “we come to serve.” It’s a fine expression. They didn’t walk into a room, and declare, “we come to serve, and while we’re at it, to take from taxpayers for that service.” I don’t know how Vulcans were paid in Star Trek, but if any showed up here, I very much doubt they’d hit up the residents of Walworth County.

Neither should those humans who serve here presently. I believe political service as a freely chosen, uncompensated task would lead to a better politics.

Government Spending

Excessive Public Compensation in Bell, California (Lessons for the Rest of America)

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It’s hard to believe, but true: Bell, California paid its city manager eight-hundred thousand dollars ($800,000) per year in salary. When I first read about this, I thought it was a typo, or that they were paying Robert Rizzo in some other currency. It’s true, and astonishing. He’s now resigned, but every politician connected with approving Rizzo’s compensation should resign, too.

Bell, California is one of the poorest cities in California, yet politicians approved, and Rizzo took, this money from taxpayers while residents struggled and went hungry (some, literally, are destitute and in need of food assistance).

Residents staged a protest against that compensation, and Reason was there to record the outcry. Here’s a description accompanying the video:


Should a city manager from one of Los Angeles County’s poorest cities earn twice as much as President Obama?

Residents from the working-class town of Bell erupted in outrage after learning that their city pays its officials some of the highest local-government salaries in the nation, including City Manager Robert Rizzo who takes home nearly $800,000 per year.

Rizzo has resigned, as have some of Bell’s other top-earning government officials. But on Monday evening frustrated residents gathered at a city council meeting to demand more resignations and an end to what they regard as widespread corruption.

Reason.tv spoke with protesters furious with high taxes, cronyism, and inflated public-sector compensation.
Approximately 3 minutes. Produced by Ted Balaker and Tim Cavanaugh, who also hosts. Camera by Zach Weissmueller and Sam Corcos. Edited by Weissmueller.

During the deepest recession since the Great Depression, residents gather to voice opposition to a bureaucrat’s excessive compensation:



Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1effEnDsrM

Fortunately, there’s nothing this extreme — I’m tempted to use a term of my town’s city manager, and say egregious — in my small city of Whitewater, Wisconsin. Bell, California, however, should not be the benchmark for suitable compensation.

Any town should consider a few, simple principles for compensation: (1) residents’ actual economic well-being should be taken into account, (2) leaders of a city or department should experience salary reductions before workers’ salaries or jobs are cut, (3) employees hired to support a leader should be considered as a benefit to the leader when establishing a leader’s compensation, (4) multiple sources of compensation should be totalled, and (5) time spent away from core duties should not be compensated if core duties are not performed adequately.

That’s not all, but it’s a good start. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 7-28-10 (Drinking Fountain Bubbler Edition)

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Good morning,

Today’s forecast for Whitewater calls for a high temperature of eighty-five, and an even chance of thunderstorms.

From Wisconsin history on this date, the Wisconsin Historical Society recalls long-enduring labor strife, and strikes, at the Kohler Company:

1934 – Two killed, 40 hurt in Kohler riot; National Guard occupies town

On this day, the “model industrial village” of Kohler became an armed camp of National Guard cavalrymen after deadly strike-related rioting. The July 27th violence, which killed two Sheboygan men and injured 40 others, prompted the summoning of 250 Guardsmen to join the 200 special deputy village marshals already present. After striking workers became agitated and began to destroy company property, deputies turned to tear gas, rifles, and shotguns to quell the stone-throwing crowd, resulting in the deaths and injuries. Owner Walter Kohler blamed Communists and outside agitators for the violence, while union leaders blamed Kohler exclusively. Workers at the Kohler plant were demanding better hours, higher wages, and recognition of the American Federation of Labor as their collective bargaining agent. Not settled until 1941, the strike marked the beginning of what was to become a prolonged struggle between the Kohler Company and organized labor in Wisconsin; a second Kohler strike lasted from 1954 to 1965. [Source: Capital Times 7/28/1934, p.1]

More on the strikes and the planned industrial village is available in Alanen, A.R. and Peltin, T.J. “Kohler, Wisconsin: Planning and Paternalism in a Model Industrial Village.” Journal of the American Institute of Planners 44, April 145-159.

The term bubbler for a drinking fountain originates with the Kohler Company:

We have traced the origin of the modern bubbler back to 1888 and a small waterworks company in Kohler, WI.

This new-fangled product shot water about 1″ straight up and you drank from the “bubble” of water created, the excess of which ran back down over the sides of the nozzle.

This company, called Kohler, was already well known for its water faucet production. In fact, Kohler is still one of the nation’s leading producers of faucets. But a man with a vision, Harlan Huckleby, came up with an idea that revolutionized the way the world drinks water.

He called it The Bubbler, and Kohler immediately patented the product and promoted its trademark name. Other waterworks manufacturers copied the product, but weren’t allowed to use its original name. The imitations went by names like “The Gurgler” and “The Gusher”, but those names didn’t catch on.

The competition’s products eventually saturated the market, and bubbler became just another name. Yet, it is still used today in parts of the world; mainly, Wisconsin and Australia.

Today, bubblers stream water from a nozzle in an arc projection, thus allowing the user to drink with ease.



City, Economy, Poverty

Rethinking the U.S. Poverty Measure

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I’ve written about poverty in Whitewater before, and the 2010 Census will offer fresh information on the state of Whitewater’s economy. It’s a subject that cheerleaders for the town probably wish would go away. An ordinary person would prefer economic arrangements that make poverty go away, but there you see the distinction between sensible & ordinary as against foolish & political.

I’ve emphasized three points (1) poverty is relatively higher in Whitewater than neighboring towns, (2) child poverty is terribly high here, and (3) all the grand public works projects we’ve undertaken haven’t brought those high figures down.

I emphasize our relatively greater poverty to show that as other towns do better, so we can, too. I emphasize child poverty both because it’s so damaging and because it puts lie to the contention that Whitewater’s economy looks worse because of non-working students in town. That’s not where Whitewater falls short — child per child, there’s greater economic hardship here than in other American towns, and excuse-making about this situation is unavailing.

Our grand public projects directed at the upper middle class are a waste of taxes and have not improved the conditions of those most in need. They’re merely monuments to bureaucrats’ pride and lines on officials’ resumes.

At the Wall Street Journal, there’s a Q&A about current poverty measurements, and how they’re changing. The changes in measurement are significant, but the extent of change from one measure to another can be tempered with a comparison of relative conditions between cities, using either measure.

Economist Bruce Meyer discusses the impending changes, and what he likes and doesn’t about them, in a story entitled, Q&A: Rethinking U.S. Poverty Measure.

Libertarians

Are Jedi Knights Libertarians or Socialists?

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It’s impossible to watch the Star Wars saga and not like Jedi Master Yoda. He’s one of the great science fiction characters of all time.

He’s not the only Jedi, however, and over at the Atlantic, Max Fisher asks of those guardians of the Old Republic: “Are Jedi Knights Libertarian or Socialist?”

Fisher notes that Canadian blogger P.M. Jaworski thinks that Jedi are libertarians, Jesse Kline thinks that they’re big government liberals, and Daniel Drezner thinks that they’re centrists. Here’s part of what Drezner has to say:

Are the Jedi big government advocates? That’s unclear. I think it would be more accurate to describe them as cartelistic — they refuse to permit a free market in learning the ways of the Force. After all, the Jedi Council’s initial inclination is not to train Anakin Skywalker despite his obvious talents, using some BS about fear as a cover.

Only when Qui-Gon threatens to go rogue do they relent. The Council does not inform the Senate that their ability to detect the force has been compromised.

They’re reluctant to expand their assigned tasks — they’re keepers of the peace, not soldiers. Just as clearly, their anti-competitive policies weakened their own productivity, given the fact that they were unable to detect a Sith Lord walking around right under their noses for over a decade.

I think Drezner’s right — not libertarians, and not socialists, either. I also think what he says about moderates would apply more nicely to so-called big government conservatives: they’re anti-market. The operate as a guild, and see the world that way. It’s a mostly closed order, no matter how cool it seems. (It does seem cool after all.)

One can see a version of this — although definitely not a cool version, in small-town government. A few people try to keep knowledge to themselves, for whatever reason (in town politics, these reasons are likely to be self-flattering and illegitimate).

As with other closed systems, the town grows unproductive over time, as uncompetitive systems always degenerate. Politicians’ husbanding of information and attempts to pick winners in the marketplace prove to be losing strategies when compared with system of free, private choices.

As for Yoda himself, however, I am quite certain of his views: deep down, he’s libertarian.

I’m just sure of it.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 7-27-10

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Good morning,

Whitewater’s forecast calls for a warm day, with a high of eighty-seven degrees, and a chance of scattered thunderstorms.

In Wisconsin history, the Wisconsin Historical Society recalls that on this day in 1894,

Forest Fire Destroys Phillips

On the afternoon of this day, a forest fire swept over the Price Co. town of Phillips from the west, destroying nearly all the buildings and forcing 2,000 people to flee for their lives. When the sun came up the next morning, 13 people had been killed, the entire downtown was in ashes, and exhausted survivors were wandering through the ruins in a daze. The fire ultimately consumed more than 100,000 acres in Price County. Much of the town was rebuilt within a year.

Phillips is far north of Whitewater, in Price County:



Weird Tales

Idaho Police Dog Back to Work After Suspension

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There’s an odd story originally printed in the Idaho Mountain Express about a police dog named Dax that bit a schnauzer named Max.

(I have written before about a biting police dog from Edgerton, Wisconsin, but that case was about serious injuries the dog inflicted on two people, one of whom was a police officer.)

In Idaho, it was simply dog v. dog, but even then the dog was kept out of service pending retraining.

See, Idaho Police Dog Back to Work After Suspension.

Laws/Regulations, Liberty

LA Times: Food Raid Raises Questions Over Existing Milk Laws…and the Safety of Potlucks

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The battle over the right to drink natural, unpasteurized milk is a national one, as a story in the Los Angeles Times confirms.

If government can ban raw milk because of the supposed danger, why wouldn’t it ban the uncertain practice of potluck dinners at schools, churches, and workplaces? I wouldn’t support a ban on potlucks or raw milk; the question simply shows how arbitrary government seems.

(Seems, because only one of those two cases has Big Dairy clamoring for a ban on a competitive product.)

See, LA Times: Food Raid Raises Questions Over Existing Milk Laws…and the Safety of Potlucks

Cartoons & Comics, Liberty

The True Fashion-Setters

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I don’t have a great knowledge of comic books, but I do know a bit, about some. I wish I knew more. We’re a creative country, and the art and stories of comic books have been part of our culture for generations. They’re so much a part of this culture, that successful comics can be wildly profitable, with large numbers of fans, and the chance for major films based on their characters. (Some of those geeks with large collections are now major forces in Hollywood.)

Comic-Con International went on this past weekend in San Diego. Over one-hundred thousand people attended during the three-day event.

Here’s a video to show what it was like:



Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihWEXWzbnao.

Some of these attendees are out-of-the-ordinary, but this is one of the places a free, prosperous society leads: to individual creativity and fun that need not apologize for not fitting in. On Friday, one of the commenters to this website wrote something that reminded me of the words of the great English philosopher, Adam Ant:

We don’t follow fashion
That would be a joke
You know we’re gonna set them, set them
So ev’ryone can take note, take note

Some of the people at events like this will probably wind up setting fashions for others to take note. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 7-26-10

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Good morning,

Whitewater’s forecast calls for a sunny day, with a high of eighty-four degrees.

The Board of Directors of Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets today, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The agenda is available online.

The agenda’s a fine substitute for a crossword or other puzzle, but a deficient and embarrassing public agenda. Consider these items:

6. Discussion and Possible Action on Whitewater’s TIF District #4
a. Pro-forma
b. Project Plan
c. Timetable

What would that mean to a resident? He or she would have no idea what action was being considered. This is vague language that’s written as though it were code, not the public agenda for a public meeting of a public entity, conducting a meeting under Wisconsin law. One would know more about tax incremental district 4 if one were simply to say that the district is gasping for air, so many decisions already having been botched.

Read on still farther, and one finds this:

12. Adjourn to closed session at approximately 5:45PM to reconvene approximately 6:00PM per Wisconsin State Statutes 19.85 (1)(e). Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the
investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session
a. Economic Development Loan 1421 W Main Street, Whitewater, WI

Closed sessions are a part of our law, but about what would this closed session be? One sees only that 1421 W Main Street is seeking an economic development loan.

This is surprising to me — in the history of the world, I know of no instance where a street address was able to ask for a loan. If this should be the first, one would think that Whitewater’s city manager, Kevin Brunner, would want to publicize the astonishing fact.

(Brunner, in addition to serving as city manager, also acts as head of the CDA. He is, I’d guess, compensated for both roles. This raises two points. First, there cannot be a truly independent CDA where a city manager runs both a city and a CDA. Second, current compensation must not be related to the performance of tax incremental district 4, because then Brunner would owe the city money.)

These are gentlemen who run public entities — legally obligated to the public — as though they were private clubs, speaking cagily, without true and normal candor, as though the public were a burden in the way of their vain dreams of ‘vision’ and ‘development.’

Where’s 1421 W Main Street, Whitewater, Wisconsin? It’s right here:



View Larger Map

Eleven Fifty-Nine

Eleven Fifty-Nine for 7-25-10

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Good evening,

It’s a clear night tonight in Whitewater, with a full moon, and a low of fifty-eight degrees.

I spend a fair amount of time online, and I visit websites from left, center, and right. There’s nothing I enjoy more than a new find. Happily, I came across one recently, that I’d like to share. I had never before seen GritTV, but finding it was a real treat.

The website is not connected with the magazine called Grit; GritTV is a left-of-center website with public affairs programming. It’s also so cheesy that it makes the Grit newspaper look like the New York Times. (GritTV would do better to claim it was connected to the Grit newspaper, in the hope that the style of the latter — such as it is — might rub off on the former.)

Here’s a description of GritTV, from its website:

Launched on May 12, 2008, GRITtv reaches millions of viewers weekly on Free Speech TV on Dish network (9415) and DirecTV (340) on cable and public television stations nationwide, and anytime, anywhere online. Distributed in multiple platforms, GRITtv is a daily, 30-minute discussion for people who want to make a difference.
Incorporating viewer-submitted content, grassroots activism, and a positive, progressive message that aims to go beyond the one-way format of traditional media, GRITtv talks to the people commercial media ignore. Independent filmmakers and journalists, activists, and the smartest thinkers and doers of our time are part of the conversation, and you can be too.

I’m sure some of that’s true, but watching one of their programs is like watching a parody from Second City Television, except not as clever, well-produced, or intentionally funny.

Here’s a segment with two activists, talking about environmental policy. Consider, first, how GritTV describes the episode:

Our biological clock is ticking, and it’s ticking fast. Global temperature averages have risen by ten degrees, eliminating many species and drying up necessary water resources. When natural ecology changes, human ecology changes; while we might not have an apocalyptic Day After Tomorrow scenario, it may be a slow and more painful series of wars, refugees, and failed states brought on by slowing food production.

Heather Rogers, author of Green Gone Wrong and Gwynne Dyer, author of Climate Wars joined us in the studio to discuss the risks and environmental policy needs to postpone the inevitable, bleak consequences of overconsumption. While plenty of people are making personal choices to ride their bikes or be vegetarians, these will barely help without structural policy changes to curb the behavior of the unconverted.

I’m not sure what’s funnier — misuse of the expression ‘biological clock,’ the description of those who disagree as ‘unconverted,’ or set that’s as cheesy as anything I can recall.

See for yourself, and enjoy seventeen minutes of utter nonsense. You’ve probably not seen anything like this since you last hurried past a mumbling vagrant sitting on a bench near a local flop house.



Link: http://www.grittv.org/2010/07/10/heather-rogers-gwynne-dyer-environment-climate-change/. more >>