Fraley’s Daily Takes

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk once tried to become  the CEO of State Government. Then, she tired to become the state’s top cop. While she failed miserably in both pursuits, she does have a job running the second largest county in the State of Wisconsin.

It is a county with a great deal of turmoil surrounding the botched efforts of her 911 call center in an unsolved murder case.

Last night, the Dane County Board held a public hearing on the brewing controversy.

Dave Blaska writes:

And where was The Kathleen that she could not attend Thursday’s joint county board committee meeting on the 9-1-1 center? In New York attending the Urban Initiative for Reproductive Health Summit.

Bill Lueders covered the meeting for the Ithsmus:

Supv. Eileen Bruskewitz asked why Falk was not at the meeting: “Is there anything more important?” McDonell, probably appropriately, declared her question out of order. Replied Bruskewitz, “This looks like more of a cover-up to me.”

It was a cheap shot, and no doubt politically motivated. But it may have been the most truthful statement made all night.

Thank heavens the voters of Wisconsin were smart enough not to give Falk the reins of State Government or the State Department of Justice.

Political hire costs taxpayers $346,000
GE possible wellspring of innovation for state
Rising fuel prices put squeeze on Mitchell
Disgraced former UW lecturer turns attention to race for Congress
Falk appointed besieged 911chief despite lack of experience matching job description
Dane County 911 chief gives victims’ families another apology, no answers

Union official backs 911 operator in Madison murder call snafu
Gas prices rise dramatically overnight
Union official backs snow plow drivers who didn’t report to work during major snow storm
Congressman Kagen adds three to taxpayer-financed staff as campaign nears
Rising cost of living to eat up most of ‘rebate’ payments
Lacrosse reconsiders commercial building moratorium

This week’s edition of WisOpinion: The Show, Presented by the Capital Times is now up.

John Nichols and I bookend an interesting Jeff Mayers interview of Joint Finance Committee Co-chair Senator Mark Miller (D-Monona). Miller gives us a peek into efforts to solve the state’s fiscal crisis.

Nichols made it the whole show without calling me or any conservative a racist. Our cordial conversation included: The 8th Congressional District race (which I didn’t get my point across well enough, in hindsight); Analysis of Tuesday’s Primary results in Indiana and North Carolina (which I muffed and called New Hampshire at one point, my bad); The future of the Obama-Clinton race, Winston Churchill and Bill’s bad burrito.

Now, with a tease like that, you just have to watch…

State breaks demolition contract, leaving UW campus dorm half razed
Q and A with liberal Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson
The more we find out about Madison 911 snafu, the worse it gets
Assembly Democrats want to raid segregated transportation fund fill hole in Doyle budget
Brown County Supervisor Krueger’s emails face scrutiny
Congressman Paul Ryan works to crack down on Social Security Number fraud
Liberal fascism on display at UW Stevens Point

Barack Obama sees himself with a disadvantage in Pennsylvania and with an advantage in North Carolina “So Indiana may end up being the tiebreaker,” he said

Estimates are that the better-funded Obama outspent Clinton 4 to 1 in the Hoosier state.

Steve Baas has a great column in the Journal Sentinel.

They call it the Law of Unintended Consequences. It’s when policies designed to address an issue in one area end up having disastrous side effects in another. The most recent example of this phenomenon is the proposal to tax telephone use in order to pay for local government services.

Under a state mandate expiring Nov. 30, a 43-cent-per-month tax on cell phone bills is currently collected to help pay for upgrades to 911 technology. Now, however, City of Milwaukee officials are pushing to keep the tax in place forever. In addition, they would more than triple the tax and apply it to land lines as well as cell phones. That means that for every land line and cell phone your family or your business has, you would pay up to $1.50 a month. With multiple land lines and cell phones in every business, and even in many households, this tax will add up quickly.

The city claims that it hopes to use this new tax revenue for enhanced public safety services. However, even if we take them at their word on that goal, this new tax would be an economically counterproductive mistake for three reasons.

First, from a practical economic standpoint, you could not pick a worse time to be saddling individuals and employers with a new tax. Consumers and businesses are tightening their belts in the face of staggering spikes in energy prices, unprecedented jumps in grocery bills and frightening drops in property values. The last thing our limping economy and staggering consumer confidence need right now is government taking more money out of our pockets. In fact, as Congress and the Federal Reserve both have demonstrated by their recent actions, now is the time to do precisely the opposite and look for ways to put money back into the hands of consumers in order to jump start the slumping economy.

Read the entire piece.

Backbencher Wisconsin Member of Congress travels to 11 states for Obama campaign
Dane County Exec: Sorry 911 center didn’t do it’s job, no one will be disciplined, but here’s a letter
GM shift elimination costs more jobs
Beloit paper calls for state spending cuts
GAB rules lobbyists can’t contribute to fundraiser for nonpartisan state employee

My take: Now we know why Obama doesn’t wear a flag on his lapel. He’s afraid Bill Ayers will stand on his chest.