Will County Financial Screwup Affect Governor’s Race?

County Executive David Crowley. Photo by Sophie Bolich.

When the financial scandal was just beginning to blow up at a county board committee on Thursday, two aides to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley were sprinting down the courthouse hall to the meeting, according to one observer. They knew it was trouble.

County supervisor Steve Taylor compared the situation to the most infamous controversy in county history. “The pension scandal was before my time,” he said. “I’m not gonna be part of a health care scandal….I don’t think any one of us want to be a part of that.”

In fact, the screwup on the county’s employee health care contract is a far cry from the county pension scandal, which has cost taxpayers somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.4 billion. Moreover, the problems with the county’s employee healthcare contract, which Urban Milwaukee first reported, haven’t gotten anywhere near the same media attention.

But it’s still a major embarrassment for the Crowley administration. In essence, the county’s director of benefits, Tony Maze, caused a major screwup, failing to properly vet a 5-year, $450 million contract with UnitedHealthCare, while not following country procedures for the contract, and ignoring the comptroller’s office for months after they requested details about the deal. Maze apparently stalled so long the health contract expired, leaving the county at risk and putting pressure on the county board to approve a project it doesn’t fully understand.

Since Maze worked under Margo Franklin, head of the Department of Human Resources, who reports to Crowley and was hired by him, the buck ultimately stops with Crowley. Which is bad news for him, but doubly bad because it comes when he is running for governor, and worse still, undercuts his major pitch for the state’s highest office. “Crowley is the only Democrat in the race with proven executive experience, having balanced billion-dollar budgets” and “managed essential public services,” his campaign has bragged.

Crowley moved quickly to address the problem and announced Maze’s firing. “I strongly believe in transparency and accountability. When mistakes are made, it’s important to seek out the facts and identify solutions to the problem,” he declared. ”This was an error by an employee in the Department of Human Resources, and as a result, that employee no longer works for Milwaukee County.”

Republican Tom Tiffany, who has his own problems in running for governor, saw an opportunity to attack a Democratic opponent, and did it even before the firing. “If @DavidCCrowley can’t run a county, how is he going to run a state?” Tiffany jibed in a Feb. 1 post on X.

Up until now, Tiffany had been aiming most of his fire at former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who polls show is the most popular Democrat running for governor, and Barnes in turn has looked for every opportunity to attack Tiffany.

But the county fiasco for the first time has Democratic candidates firing at each other. During a campaign event Monday Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez took a slap at Crowley, citing the county’s problem as proof of “a breakdown in leadership.”

“I’ve actually never heard of that,” she added, calling the screwup a “scary” situation. “I imagine folks within Milwaukee County are pretty nervous about the fact that they may lose coverage or may not have some of their bills paid.” In fact, UnitedHealthCare is extending coverage so it doesn’t lapse, but county officials have said it could handicap them in negotiating with the company.

Crowley spokesperson Garren Randolph sniped back at Rodriguez, saying, “While other candidates talk about leadership, David Crowley provides it,” Randolph said. “The lieutenant governor has no experience running a government, and her political attack rings hollow.”

For Rodriguez, her aggressive stance makes sense strategically as it plays to her strong suit, health care. She is a former nurse who also worked for the Centers for Disease Control, as an official with the Colorado Department of Public Health and a health care executive in Wisconsin. She announced a plan yesterday to “protect and expand BadgerCare” and to pass a “Wisconsin Health Care Bill of Rights.”

And in attacking Crowley she is going after the Democrat who leads in campaign fundraising and has most of his support from Milwaukee folks, while the support for Rodriguez is mostly from outside this county, so she has less to lose than other candidates in bashing a fellow Democrat.

But while this could give Rodriguez more oomph in the race, the obvious winner from Crowley’s difficulties is Greater Milwaukee Committee CEO Joel Brennan who has been competing with Crowley for donations from the Milwaukee business community, as Urban Milwaukee has reported. Brennan has carefully avoided making any comment on Crowley’s handling of the county’s financial problem.

How badly has Crowley been damaged? County attorneys have warned of a “catastrophic risk” if the county board doesn’t approve the health care contract and Crowley has “respectfully urged” the board to do so “without delay.” Though board members have grumbled about this, they are likely to approve the contract at their meeting Thursday because there really is no other choice.

That will put the main issue to rest, but the board will likely vote for audit of the human resources department and there could be extra financial costs for this unvetted contract that have yet to arise. If any of this dribbles out before the August primary election that will be a distraction for Crowley. Even worse would be any revelations that pop up after the primary but before the November general election. Democratic voters, who badly want a winner in the race for governor, will have to take all of this into account.