Janet Zweig ain’t Karen Finley

The breaking news from Milwaukee’s City Hall Tuesday was that the Common Council voted, by a lopsided 12-2, to approve the public art installation for E. Wisconsin Avenue designed by Janet Zweig. The tempest in a teapot didn’t boil over and Mike Brenner did not even have to resort to defecating on the lawn of any alderman who opposed the project. The threat, he says, was a conscious decision to throw fuel on the fire of the controversy to focus attention on the importance of supporting Zweig’s project. Ald. Joe Dudzik, who, along with Ald. Bob Donovan, ultimately voted against the project, went for Brenner’s bait. He left a message on Brenner’s voice mail daring the provocateur to make good on his promise, thoughtfully leaving his home address. Brenner, being the creative guy he is, recorded a remix using Dudzik’s phone message and posted it on his web site. Well, boys will be boys. Now I really have to move on from the Brenner-Dudzik, err, pissing match before you get the impression that the Zweig piece coming soon to Milwaukee’s downtown is some kind of creepy, offensive concept with the potential to embarrass our fair city. History is full of examples of high-concept art intended to shock and/or disgust, often referencing urine or feces. Who can forget Karen Finley’s creative use of chocolate or the incredibly self-indulgent Andres Serrano even going all the way back to Marcel Duchamps’s celebrated and controversial urinal of 1917. Zweig’s public art for the Instructional Technology Center, Santa Fe Community College. It invents and writes a new line of text, displayed on a mechanical “flip-disk” sign every time someone passes through. Sorry to disappoint, but Janet Zweig’s art is none-of-the-above. Janet Zweig is a Milwaukee-born artist who has built a national reputation developing the kind of interactive art that engages without offending. Take a look at the current issue of Sculpture magazine for an overwhelmingly positive examination of her work. The process that culminated in her being chosen for this project has been going on for years, at least since 2002. Milwaukee Magazine’s Bruce Murphy does a nice job of reviewing the history and, bless his soul, contextualizing the current flare-up. Zweig seems to have bent over backwards to avoid offending anybody. Her use of old-fashioned flip-disk technology, the kind associated with signs at rail stations, introduces a type of interactivity to her work that is refreshingly modern without appearing pretentious. And she plans to involve local artists and others in the work as a clever way to return some of the funds to the community. The lion’s share of the $300,000 cost is coming from the federal government and the $60,000 city contribution goes exclusively to local folks. Hard to find anything to complain about, right? Well, not so fast. I’m not an expert on art but my gripe with the proposal is that it doesn’t appear to be public enough. As engaging as the concept seems, I believe that one strength of the […]

Abrahamson and Evers, Don’t Leave it to Chance

If you’re reading this, you probably know that there is an election in Wisconsin next Tuesday. Turnout for these Spring elections tends to be notoriously low which is never a good thing for democracy. Yet the candidates for the two statewide races present critical differences in experience and philosophy and the choices that voters make will have an enormous impact on Wisconsin’s future. We will select someone to serve on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court for a ten-year term and the state Superintendent of Public Instruction who will guide state oversight of education for the next four years. Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson is a nationally respected jurist who deserves reelection. Her tenure on the court has set a standard for judicial excellence, not only in terms of her decisions but also for her administrative acumen which has expanded openness and efficiency. Her opponent is an unabashed conservative who is asking for your support based on his ideology. This is the third year in a row that the voters are being asked to choose between two very different candidates for a seat on the state’s highest court. Conservatives and business groups have succeeded in the past two, more egregiously last year when Michael Gableman engaged in an ethically challenged, despicable campaign to defeat incumbent Louis Butler. Gableman’s defense to the charges he faces about the distortions in his ads is that the First Amendment protects political advertisements as free speech. It’s not very reassuring when a judge sitting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court claims that the Constitution gives him the right to say anything he wants regardless of its truth or any ethical standard set by a judicial commission. But it shouldn’t be necessary to rehash the elections of the past when discussing Shirley Abrahamson. She has earned your vote. And then there’s the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction between longtime education professional Tony Evers and another ideologue, Rose Fernandez. Evers has served as a teacher and administrator for decades and has helped improve the working relationship between the state and local school districts. Fernandez has no experience in education other than as a supporter for alternatives to public education. She also wants to replace Milwaukee’s elected school board with an appointed board. If you care about public education, especially in Milwaukee, the choice is clear. Vote for Tony Evers. There are also local court and school board elections that deserve your attention. So get out and vote on April 7th. Your vote matters especially during the low turnout Spring election.

The Yin and Yang of Economic Recovery

It was like a week-long stimulus package for political junkies. First, President Obama’s appearance on NBC’s Tonight Show made him the first sitting president to appear on a late night talk show. Not really a historic event of epic proportions but Jay’s ratings spiked and that accounts for something. Then the president’s 60 Minutes interview, his second in two months, provided him with another platform to take his message directly to the American people. This kind of audience isn’t something to be taken lightly but he still wasn’t done. By the time of his Tuesday night primetime news conference, also his second since taking office, even strong supporters were wondering if Obama was risking overexposure. Yet today, Obama is on the internet responding to questions from the public. The president appears to be one of the nation’s greatest sources of renewable energy, outdoing even that tiresome cartoon rabbit as he keeps going and going and going. Drawing on FDR’s successful fireside chat strategy but updating it for the 21st century, Obama seems to combine the legendary communications skills of Ronald Reagan with the policy acumen of Bill Clinton. Clinton was good at appearing at ease and in control of the facts but Obama’s performance is in a class all by itself. He makes mistakes, for sure, but even an East German judge would award him at least a 9.7 given the degree of difficulty. Few people actually understand the intricacies of the financial system, let alone know how to fix it. But we expect our leaders to. We judge them on the critical measures of competence, confidence and commitment, and Obama has earned high grades on all three. During the campaign, Obama was often labeled as a rock star and John McCain tried to make this into a negative. But we want to be infatuated by our leaders as long as they also demonstrate the energy and ability to attend to our needs. Obama’s greatest strength has been his ability to walk this fine line; inspiring while occasionally chastising, showing intelligence without appearing wonkish, and working hard enough to appear focused without appearing to strain under the pressure. I know it’s only been two months but we live in a society with little patience. Some people on the right and the left made up their mind about Obama a long time ago and probably won’t change under almost any eventuality. But the president’s popularity and, to a great extent, his success will depend on the response of the critical mass in the middle. It is way too early to assess the success or failure of the Obama presidency. But on the critical metric of public confidence you have to give the guy credit. He seems in charge, he seems to have a plan and he seems to be up to the challenge. The naysayers are apoplectic about how much debt the federal government is amassing. Well, duh! But Obama has not been blind to this problem and has returned time […]

More Work To Do

Barack Obama won by applying solid community organizing fundamentals to a national campaign. He built an extremely loyal and disciplined network of staff and volunteers, developed an extraordinarily smart strategy and rode the combination all the way to the White House. Wisely, he is now applying those principles to help ensure that his national agenda gets the grassroots support it needs to succeed. Mobilizing the Obama nation in support of his budget and his agenda is a no-brainer. Developing grassroots organizations to advance real change locally is equally important and shouldn’t be overlooked. Energy? Education? Health care? Jobs? What happens locally matters! It really, really matters! Governor Doyle, very much like President Obama, has seized on the challenging economic environment to include ambitious yet responsible, forward-looking yet, dare I say, necessary reforms in his proposed state budget. And critics, just like the ones opposed to the President’s budget, are complaining that the budget process isn’t the right way to advance a policy agenda. Well, it seems to me that such an argument is the last refuge of a minority party. Disagree with a particular proposal? State your case and make your argument. But the budget process is exactly the right time to ensure government is doing the things it should be doing. We certainly know that obstructionists have used the budget process to block things they oppose. So let the debate begin and let it be public and lively. The state legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance will be in town to hear what you have to say next Wednesday. Is there something in the proposed budget that you love or hate? Here’s an opportunity to be heard. My personal favorite is the proposed ban on smoking in workplaces. It’s about time Wisconsin workers didn’t have to risk their health by showing up on the job. And there’s no doubt that reducing tobacco’s impact will result in real savings in health care costs so don’t tell me this doesn’t belong in the budget. And here in Milwaukee my attention is riveted by the proposed MORE jobs ordinance. This common sense proposal would extend hiring standards to include developers who receive more than $1 million in financial support from the city. In other words, if developers are going to accept handouts from city taxpayers they damn well better be willing to hire a certain percentage of qualified city workers and pay them the prevailing wage appropriate to that job category. The opponents apparently believe in corporate welfare without any strings attached. I like what the New York Post had to say about the AIG mess; “Not So Fast, You Greedy Bastards!” Interestingly, the Common Council is expected to take up the MORE proposal on the same day as the local Joint Finance hearing. So I’ll be rushing to State Fair Park after raising the flag at City Hall. So that’s my two cents for today. By all means, let’s support the President’s national agenda but let’s also show that we care about what […]

Follow the money

When the economy entered its freefall towards the end of 2008, nearly every economist agreed that a vast infusion of government spending was necessary to avoid a catastrophic meltdown such as the nation hasn’t seen since the Great Depression. In a democracy like ours, that meant getting something like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through both houses of Congress and signed by the President. Nobody can be completely satisfied by the sausage making-like process that goes into the drafting, negotiating and passing of a $787 billion piece of legislation. Ask the great economic and political minds of our day the following questions and no consensus emerges. Is it too much or too little? Does it have too many or too few tax breaks? Is it going to create enough jobs right away or is too much of the spending going to roll out in 2010 or later? Is the money going for things that we really need or have our political leaders used this opportunity to push through pet projects? A whole bevy of mainstream media prognosticators, bloggers all across the ideological spectrum and assorted navel-gazers have weighed in but the truth is nobody really knows. True to form, Joe the Vice President once again violated the First Commandment of political discourse when he deviated from his talking points and suggested that there’s about a 30 percent chance that this will fail. Given the uncertainty most of us are feeling about the economy, a 70 percent chance of success sounds pretty good to me. When dealing with something this complicated, does anyone actually expect a 100 percent chance of success? As we’ve come to expect, President Obama has found just the right terminology to describe the stimulus package. It’s not whether it is too big or too small, too liberal or too conservative, what counts is whether it works.  Inaction was not an option and this package is what emerged from this very complicated and somewhat ugly process. One element of the stimulus package that is probably getting too little attention is the decision to turn much of the money over to states and cities to spend as they see fit. Arguably, this was seen as the most efficient and least controversial option but it isn’t without its problems. The mad rush for the money reminds me of the classic cinematic celebration of a certain search for a big “W.” As Mayor Barrett put it in his State of the City address, the money is going to be spent somewhere so he’s going to do everything he can to make sure a good portion is spent addressing Milwaukee’s needs. Now you have to admire Gov. Doyle and Barrett for their aggressive advocacy on behalf of their constituents in pursuing these federal dollars. And you have to wonder about the sanity, principled or otherwise, of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker who opposed accepting stimulus dollars because he thought it should have all gone for tax cuts. You also have to […]

The State of the City

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett scored points by choosing the new Harley-Davidson museum as the setting for his State of the City address last month. The terrific new building, on the edge of the Menomonee Valley, served as an ideal backdrop for Barrett’s speech. Barrett is understandably proud of the progress made in redeveloping the valley. For years, this industrial corridor has been a festering sore symbolic of the economic and environmental damage left by Milwaukee’s manufacturing past.

What Would Ebenezer Do?

Nobody likes it when somebody tells them what to do so I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the business community is throwing a hissy fit over the new Milwaukee sick leave law. But the truth is that the local chapter of the 9 to 5 organization played by the rules and collected enough signatures to place the proposal before the Common Council. Then, also according to the rules, the council had the choice of either passing the proposal or submitting it to referendum (which they did). The City Attorney determined that the proposal was legal and, on November 5th, the voters overwhelmingly supported the fairly modest proposal. So, beginning next month, large employers in Milwaukee will be required to offer nine sick days a year to fulltime employees (smaller firms will need to offer five days) and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and others are yelling that the sky is falling. Do you think I’m exaggerating? Well I don’t think there’s any other way to describe it when the MMAC director of government affairs Steve Bass refers to the new law as “terrorism.” In other words, when a democratic process requires employers to treat their workers compassionately, then it’s the same as murdering innocent civilians. With all due respect, Mr. Bass, take your head out of your ass and learn to choose your words more carefully. Now some concerns about this sick leave requirement deserve to be addressed. Some say that the cost to employers is excessive and may discourage new businesses from locating in Milwaukee and may even drive existing ones to close or move. I say, I doubt it. Let’s see the evidence. It certainly didn’t have that kind of effect on the other two cities where it has been in place for several years. But a clearly ridiculous argument, undoubtedly thought up by some high-priced attorney looking for a weakness in the law, suggests that requiring sick leave deprives employers and their workers of the right to negotiate benefits. That’s right, a sick leave mandate obstructs workers rights. George Orwell, meet MMAC President Tim Sheehy. I don’t think even Scrooge would have come up with that argument. Reminds me of the GM, Chrysler and Ford CEOs flying in to Washington, DC on separate private jets to ask for a bailout. Do you somehow lose your common sense when you get paid with stock options? Even Frank Capra couldn’t make this stuff up. And, as if to add insult to injury, this imbroglio happened to break out during the holiday season when we are all supposed to be thinking about the needy and appreciating the message of a holy man who lived 2000 years ago. What am I thinking? Christmas is about getting presents and stimulating the economy. Duh! I guess that Wise Guy was on to something when he said “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the […]

Riders on the Earth Together

Watching Brett from Baghdad

New York Times Baghdad bureau chief James Glanz has filed a wonderful first-person report on watching the Jets-Bills game last Sunday from a war zone. It turns out Glanz has rooted for the Packers his entire life; his dad covered the team for a Madison television station. So, amazingly, he uses the piece to approach the question of what Brett Favre is doing playing for the Jets, not as an expert or even a sports journalist but as a fan. He compares the sensation of watching football from Iraq to what it must feel like to observe life on Earth from Mars. Glanz shares the experience of explaining football to an Iraqi soccer-loving colleague whose cell phone keeps ringing with requests for help understanding the shoe-throwing at President Bush incident. It’s a great read. And now for something completely different. By now you’ve probably heard that Caroline Kennedy is being considered for the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton. Nobody’s asked me, but I’m all for it. Perhaps it’s appropriate that I disclose my close, personal relationship with Miss Kennedy. One of my earliest memories was seeing pictures of Caroline and John, Jr. when they were kids living in the White House. As young as we were (you see we are virtually the same age), I realized then and there that Caroline and I would be married some day. Caroline Kennedy was my first crush. Things haven’t quite worked out as I imagined back then. She ended up marrying some milquetoast named Edwin Schlossberg. Edwin Schlossberg? So our paths may have diverged but I haven’t forgotten about her. I’d notice when she’d turn up on television promoting a book or stepping up to the plate to address the challenges facing the New York City school system. (I have the greatest respect for Sr. Joel Read but she ain’t no Caroline Kennedy!) And my thoughts were with her when her brother died so tragically in that plane crash in 1999. That left her as the sole keeper of the Camelot flame and I knew we’d hear more from her in time. I know that some will protest that she hasn’t the credentials to step into such an important office. What nonsense! Like her mother and much of the rest of her family, she has been extremely active in public affairs though without the high profile normally associated with political candidates. Her books, including variations on her father’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Profiles in Courage,” show her high regard for public service and her management of the Kennedy image demonstrates the gravitas and political savvy that bode well for her ability to serve the Empire State. Fare thee well, sweet Caroline, for I harbor nothing but good wishes for you. And if you happen to tire of that Schlossberg guy, give me a holler!

Get Off the Damn Couch

One of the most refreshing, unusual and effective aspects of the Obama campaign was its ability to convince an incredible number of regular people that they had a personal investment in his election. Every campaign relies on committed volunteers and every candidate builds networks of supporters, contributors and true believers. But the Obama phenomenon took this to an unprecedented level, partly through creative use of the internet, partly by providing real opportunities for more people than ever by building an incredibly effective grassroots network, and, most significantly, by convincingly making his campaign about engaging citizens in the political process. Time and time again, the Obama campaign drilled home the message that his election was going to change the way government works. It wasn’t just about him, it was about us. Well the election is over and now we’ll find out how that’s going to work. Normally, it’s easy to be cynical and figure that that the status quo is going to win out again. But you’ve got to hand it to the Obama transition for making good on candidate Obama’s promise, so far. The Obama transition has provided lots of opportunities for people to get involved and be heard. But, truthfully, I have confidence that President-elect Obama has a better understanding of what it’s going to take to reform Washington than most of us in the vineyards. What I am most excited about is the potential for the legions of us who were caught up in the excitement of this promise to get to work on the local needs we face in our community. We can no longer show up on election day and leave it up to our elected officials in Washington, Madison or City Hall to figure things out. We need to claim our rightful place, our necessary place at the table. The Obama organization is asking its supporters to get together in living rooms across the country this weekend and get started. Believe me, this can get messy and it probably will. One of the great advantages of the Obama campaign was its laser focus on one goal, electing a president. The question we will all face in these living room sessions is, “Where do we start?” Well the answer is “Somewhere.” Let’s face it, here in Milwaukee there is no shortage of problems. We need more jobs, our school system is failing an unconscionable number of students, and our society’s safety net programs are letting too many children and families slip through. Here’s where that great American idea of a free market comes into play. Let’s see what happens when the concept applies to how we want to fix our communities. We may not have all the answers but we can certainly bring imagination and commitment to the process and get started. So don’t put it off. The time is now. Get off the damn couch and let’s get started.

Needy, Truly Needy and the Downright Greedy

So the feeding frenzy has begun. What do you expect? When the federal government announces that it’s willing to spend as much as a trillion dollars there’s going to be a lot of folks lining up with ways to put that money to good use. You know what I’m reminded of? Remember how, after last spring’s floods, people lined up at the Coggs Center on Vliet when word got out that food stamp benefits were being handed out? Remember how certain voices on the right clucked what a shame it was that these lazy, poor people were looking for handouts? Well look who’s got their hands out now? Once again, let me be very clear. There is a role for government to take steps to stimulate the economy. But I hope someone is giving thought to how to generate good, family-supporting jobs and match them with the people who need them. After all, the opportunity to get your hands on free money has been getting people in trouble for a long, long time. Just look at that highly damning indictment against the current Illinois governor. Careful, though, cause this Blagojevich dude (and his wife) are caught using some salty language. When will they learn? I mean haven’t they all seen It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World? It’s bleeping hilarious.

Masters of the Universe

The CEOs of the Big Three American automakers are returning to Capitol Hill clearly chastened by the lashing they took two weeks ago. Back then, they apparently expected easy access to a mere fraction of the $700 billion Congress has authorized to rescue the nation’s economy during this financial crisis. One can understand their reasoning. After all, the collapse of their companies would put not only their own employees out of work but would have a devastating effect on their suppliers and thousands of other businesses. Yet their failure to appreciate Congress’s distaste for bailing them out and their inability to predict the public relations disaster that would result from arriving in separate corporate jets make you wonder if these guys should be trusted running a car dealership in Sheboygan. Nobody wants to see more people out of work. And I certainly don’t want to see labor contracts that provided job security and health and pension benefits held up as the whipping horse responsible for the Big Three’s downfall. The idea behind those labor agreements, despite the need for some common sense reforms, should serve as models rather than dismissed as a symptom of poor management. Experts tell us that the immediate challenge facing our economy, including the carmakers, is the sudden evaporation of credit and the Big Three certainly have assets that can be used as collateral for the loans they seek. But the image problem facing the bozos in charge on Wall Street and Detroit cannot be so easily addressed. Once again the curtain has been pulled to reveal these so-called “Masters of the Universe” who earn millions of dollars a year while driving their businesses into the ground. Do you remember “Bonfire of the Vanities,” the Tom Wolfe novel that poked fun at the go-go economy of the 1980s. The book was made into a not-so-well-received movie featuring Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks and Melanie Griffith in 1990 and many may feel that the story hasn’t aged well. Well I’ve got news for you. The powerful message of the book, just as relevant as ever, is that the American Dream isn’t about working hard and living within your means. That’s for chumps who can get laid off without warning or justification. The American Dream is about making a killing, either through luck, like with a lottery ticket or at the casino, or, more venally, by manipulating the system like the Michael Millkens, Jeffrey Skillings and Ken Lays of recent memory. Of course, the trick is to avoid having one’s cover blown, either through government investigation, scandal or coincidence. Because there’s nothing the public enjoys more than watching one of the privileged few get their comeuppance. That’s the power of the Fourth Estate. It can be noble and lead to the unveiling of corruption and other crimes or it can be petty and exploitative, like watching a celebrity go through the humiliation of a perp walk. So enjoy the bread and circuses as the mighty are held accountable. Hopefully, […]