Commentary
Eye of the Beholder
When it comes to art, we’re all experts. To paraphrase a wise Supreme Court justice, good art is difficult to define but we know it when we see it. Here in Milwaukee, where we have an inferiority complex about so many things, nothing seems to incite a contentious debate more than the subject of public art. The most recent example of the incendiary nature of this topic is, of course, the Bronze Fonz. For those of you who don’t remember or weren’t paying attention, Visit Milwaukee, the quasi-public entity formally known as the Greater Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau, has raised private funds to commission a life-sized sculpture of the Arthur Fonzarelli character from the Happy Days television show to be placed along the city’s Riverwalk. This ignited a firestorm of controversy throughout the Milwaukee art community. Some arts advocates were outraged that the project circumvented the formal approval process for public art in support of something politely described as schlock. Dave Fantle, the Visit Milwaukee impresario behind this undertaking, brushed aside these concerns and insisted that the intent of the sculpture was not to create art but to add an attraction that would draw tourists and other visitors who fondly remember the iconic Fonzie and might want to have their picture taken next to it. My unremarkable reaction to this debate, apparently consistent with my Libran nature, was to sympathize with both sides. What struck me as odd about the proposed sculpture was that it seemed to conflict with Visit Milwaukee’s oft-stated commitment to convince the world that our city had evolved beyond its “Laverne and Shirley” image. Both Fantle and Dean Amhaus, his colleague at Spirit of Milwaukee, another organization dedicated to promoting the city’s image, stressed upon me this goal when I first met them two or three years ago. I like Dave and Dean but I never felt that the image associated with the television show was entirely negative. If, however, you want to disassociate the city from its past, then it is best not to refer to it at all. I was amazed that at nearly every ribbon cutting or news conference announcing some forward looking endeavor, some official would proudly declare that the event proved that Milwaukee “had moved beyond its Laverne and Shirley image.” So that quote would invariably show up in the media coverage serving to keep the connection alive. I love nostalgia and it’s only a television comedy which, you gotta remember, almost always have goofball characters who don’t necessarily represent the essence of the city the show is set in. Do Joey of Friends or George, Elaine or Kramer of Seinfeld make you think that all New Yorkers are shallow and stupid? Or Horshack of Welcome Back, Kotter? Or Ralph and Norton of The Honeymooners? Come on! Fantle’s reaction is that the Fonz represents cool while Laverne and Shirley and their buddies Lennie and Squiggy are square and lame. Whatever. Milwaukee, of course, has been through debates about public art […]
Apr 23rd, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
In Praise of Mike Gousha
We are a polarized society on so many things but there is at least one thing that people of all political stripes can agree on; local television news is a vast wasteland. Chicago attorney Newton Minow used that term in reference to all of television way back during the Kennedy administration when he served as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Much has changed in the nearly half century since Minow chastised the broadcasters who were responsible for the thin gruel then beamed into America’s living rooms. We’ve seen highs and lows in most everything including network news, children’s programming, prime time comedy, drama, game shows, so-called reality shows, etc., etc. But when it comes to local news, broadcast television has been a remarkable disappointment, failing to live up to its potential to contribute to an informed, involved population so overwhelmingly and completely that there is really no argument. Let’s look at the evidence… Almost every day the average local news broadcast proves worthy of the phrase that critics use to demean and dismiss the field; “If it bleeds, it leads.” Correspondents and camera crews stand ready to respond anytime a local resident falls victim to violence leading to the obligatory live standup with the breathless reporter on the scene in front of the obligatory yellow police tape. That is, unless a weather event threatens to affect rush hour traffic, in which case the usually attractive “talent” (at least that’s how industry professionals refer to the folks who go in front of the camera) get to stand bundled up against the elements, often with affected traffic visible behind them. But let’s face it, coverage of crime and potentially serious weather events are dwarfed by the true raison d’etre of local television news here in Milwaukee and that’s keeping track of the Green Bay Packers. It’s probably unfair to refer to the extensive coverage of Brett Favre to describe this phenomenon since there is something truly extraordinary about his relationship with Wisconsin. The former Packer quarterback, and it pains even me to refer to him in the past tense, is like royalty and arguably many, probably most, of the viewing population in the Milwaukee media market feel a deep, personal connection with Favre that is something like family. “All Brett, All the Time” came to an apocalyptic crescendo recently when Favre announced that he would indeed retire. It happened to come on the day that cycling superstar and cancer advocate Lance Armstrong was traveling across Wisconsin with Gov. Doyle to support the proposed legislation to ban smoking in all workplaces including bars. Before Favre’s statement was released, inviting Armstrong seemed to be a stroke of brilliance. The biking icon’s popularity is quite high and his commitment to fighting cancer and promoting health issues is sincere and, well, strong. Not only were his personal appearances guaranteed to attract press attention but his appeal to male sports fans would draw the attention of a demographic not always sympathetic to health promotion issues. […]
Apr 16th, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
Journal Sentinel Capable of Good Journalism
When the Pulitzer Prizes were announced on Monday and it was revealed that Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dave Umhoefer had won the Big Enchilada for local reporting, I was happy for Umhoefer and the rest of the Journal Sentinel staff who worked on this investigation of yet another excessive manipulation of the county pension system to grossly benefit county retirees. I have tremendous respect for the Pulitzer Prize and I know that this award should not be taken lightly. If you don’t remember this story from last July, it’s worth a read. It’s well-researched and well-written. The bottom line is that county leaders rigged the system to allow certain workers to pay for the privilege of extending their length of service in order to qualify for substantially greater annual benefits. More than 350 workers paid nearly $3 million in order to convert past summer jobs, internships and other seasonal work, normally ineligible to count towards pension benefits, in order to qualify for additional benefits totalling more than $50 million, in violation of federal tax code and county ordinances. As a result of the story, the county turned itself into the IRS in order to avoid a potential audit. This was a new wrinkle on the pension scandal that had first been broken by Bruce Murphy and posted on the milwaukeeworld.com web site back in 2001. When Murphy called attention to how the county had implemented new and extraordinarily generous benefits for thousands of county workers, it was seen as a black eye for the Journal Sentinel which not only had missed the story but apparently hadn’t even been sending reporters to cover the meetings where the “pension sweeteners” were discussed. Some critics, including Michael Horne who now writes for milwaukeeworld.com, fault the Journal Sentinel for not crediting Murphy and his original story with leading to this Pulitzer. Horne scoffs that JS editor Marty Kaiser claims this is the type of reporting that only a newspaper can do. Kaiser’s gratuitous boast appears disingenuous, if not totally dishonest, given how Murphy broke his story in 2001 writing for a web site. The competition between old-fashioned newspapers, printed on paper and distributed to front doors and driveways, and their online brethren, capable of being updated 24/7 is becoming increasingly moot. All providers of news need to realize that the internet represents the future. Newspapers, magazines, cable and broadcast television, etc. are simply content producers and consumers want to receive that product in the most convenient version possible. As traditional circulation drops, newspapers are struggling to figure out how to generate revenue online, not such an easy proposition, given that most people expect access to web sites to be free. Plus, Craigslist and other online classified sites have gutted one of the greatest sources of revenue for newspapers. This is not unique to the news industry, of course. The music business has been radically transformed by downloading and the iPod and that’s only one example. All news organizations are facing this challenge and resorting […]
Apr 11th, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
We Must Cultivate Our Gardens
“Tawdry and Despicable” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel A “Tragedy” — Gov. Doyle “Unfit to be a judge or hold any public office — Bill Lueders Others have reflected on the awful campaign leading to the defeat of Justice Louis Butler by Burnett County Circuit Court Judge Michael Gableman in Tuesday’s election. My reaction was disappointment and anger. Justice Butler, a highly-respected, ethical and accomplished jurist was taken out by a truly mean-spirited, vicious and cynical campaign. But let’s stop putting the blame on how shady, anonymous third party groups manipulated the process. For one thing, the Gableman campaign itself was responsible for the most reprehensible ad. It was the one that flashed Butler’s picture on the screen next to the face of a child molester who Butler represented in his role as a public defender more than twenty years ago. Leaving aside the racist implications that led to comparisons with the Willie Horton ad of the 1988 Lee Atwater-George H.W. Bush campaign, Gableman’s ad crossed a clear line by suggesting that Butler was tainted for serving as a public defender offering competent defense to an indigent client. Gableman refused to withdraw the ad or apologize for it, insisting that he was simply drawing a distinction between his experience as a prosecutor and Butler’s experience as a defense attorney. A number of legal experts believe that this ad violated the prohibition of judges engaging in behavior detrimental to public confidence in the judicial system. Even many of his supporters, including the estimable Charlie Sykes, criticized the ad. So Gableman will join the court with an ethical cloud surrounding him much as Annette Ziegler did last year. But let no one be confused about those third party groups. They are neither anonymous nor obscure. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business group, bellied up to the bar and opened its wallet to make sure that the balance of power on the Supreme Court swung in its favor. These greedy, Gordon Gecko-wannabes shouldn’t be given the cloak of invisibility or unaccountability. Take a look at the WMC board. These are the folks responsible for replacing Louis Butler with Michael Gableman. Each one probably considers him or herself a civic leader, with ties to the community and charitable causes they support. I’ll bet they love their mothers, are good parents and maybe even have really, really cute pets. Maybe you know one of them or more. I suggest you do what I did. Contact them and ask them if they were involved in the decision to conduct this campaign and, if so, why. I exchanged emails with John B. Torinus, Jr., Chairman of Serigraph, Inc. of West Bend. Mr. Torinus, who also pens a business column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, responded that he personally favors public financing of Supreme Court elections though he acknowledged that would be useless unless third party spending was reined in. We have no choice but to operate under the rules as they exist. So it seems somewhat […]
Apr 3rd, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
New Model Army
I started writing my column this month on booze in the newsroom and other lost traditions. In my 21 years in journalism, I’ve witnessed the devolution of media culture from free-wheeling hotbeds of professional tension and excessive living into hushed, corporate cubicle warrens, with reporters and sales folk alike watching their companies’ stock prices as a key indicator of success or failure. I find this development counterproductive, unnecessary and possibly even fatal. Bloggers, gun-for-hire correspondents and foreign news agencies like the BBC and Al-Jazeera have become the new vanguard, and their work constitutes most of the heavy lifting in global coverage. The biggest loss is at the local level, where panicking publishers retire their most experienced newshounds in favor of cheaper, younger labor (or nobody at all), compromising our access to the information that affects us most directly by eliminating the beat reporter with intimate knowledge of the players. Experience has been devalued into obsolescence: a strong statement where exceptions are surely demonstrable, but generally true in my opinion. As a publisher, I absolutely understand the financial travails of for-profit journalism. I know that lifestyle sells to advertisers better than news coverage and that bills must be paid. I know that print is on the wane and web is on the rise, and that the big challenge is monetization of web opportunity. I also understand that the digital democratization of information is one of the greatest blessings of this modern age, but that as a result, it is increasingly difficult to be the exclusive source for anything. It’s a conundrum of biblical proportions and it’s threatening to take down the existing structure of the Fourth Estate. The New York Times and Washington Post are two excellent examples of locally-based daily newspapers that successfully serve an enormous national and international audience on the web, yet haven’t built enough web revenue to close the gap on lost print dollars. It’s democratization again; once online, news outlets compete with everyone else on the web for ad dollars and it’s no longer enough to send sales reps to every business and agency in town to exact the formerly customary pound of flesh. Advertisers now have the same limitless choices as media consumers, plus a long-standing bad taste in their mouth from the extortionary tactics previously employed by daily newspapers and the Yellow Pages. It’s a big mess, that’s for sure. High-quality local news coverage is an absolute must in every community. On the other hand, a long-term soft retail economy and broader competition for ad dollars has local news organizations stuck between a rock and an even harder rock. So, what’s the answer? I’m just one small publisher and I can’t solve all of the world’s problems – I can barely even keep up with my own stuff. But I have seen a few agile publishers here in Milwaukee do some pretty smart things to connect with their constituencies. The Small Business Times was started in 1995 by a group of Business Journal expatriates […]
Apr 1st, 2008 by Jon Anne Willow
VITAL’s 2008 – 2009 Spring Fine Arts Season Preview
By Jon Anne Willow and Lindsey Huster Spring brings a sea change in our fair city. Longer days, warmer nights and anticipation of the summer’s inherent ease all conspire to turn the tide of a particularly grueling winter. Yes, change is in the air in so many ways. From the White House to Wall Street and the Calatrava to Canal Street, seismic shifts in management, economics and principles are destined to affect us all in the foreseeable future. We have so much as consumers of local culture to keep track of with this ascent of the mercury.The Milwaukee Art Museum recently welcomed Daniel Keegan to the helm as Executive Director, replacing the highly successful and sometimes controversial <>b>David Gordon. He brings a love of new technology and multimedia to MAM; expect to tap into a guided tour from your cell phone, download a podcast about the latest exhibit and engage with your collection in new ways. Up the road and a few blocks from the lake, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andreas Delfs conducts his last season (and the MSO’s 50th) as Edo de Waart prepares to take the helm. By reputation, de Waart’s choices tend to be riskier and more contemporary than his predecessor. He also comes with an extensive collection of recordings, so look for MSO performances to be more readily available for download or CD purchase. This month he’ll conduct his first concert for the MSO, Holst’s The Planets, on April 18. The performance includes space exploration video footage provided by the Jet Propulsion Lab and NASA. Milwaukee gets another dose of fame from the MSO with new Pops conductor Marvin Hamlisch.He’s one of only two people in history to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and the Pulitzer Prize, not to mention a clutch of Golden Globes. On the funding and advocacy side, funding powerhouse Christine Harris, formerly President of UPAF, steps into a parallel role at the Milwaukee Cultural Alliance. Her UPAF shoes were filled by former Journal Sentinel Inc. VP Christy GarciaThomas, who brings media savvy and a strong background in sales and marketing to her new role. Both will try to shake the money tree to ensure ongoing funding for a city with incredibly rich and diverse cultural offerings. There are other changes, of course. Some have gone unreported, some are less glamorous in print but of equal impact in their own way. As a loosely defined collective, the arts face their own sea change. Technology is changing the way we interact with art; a slow economy could change the way current and prospective arts consumers consider discretionary spending. On the upside, the increasing sophistication of local audiences and an ever-more conducive environment for ambitious young artists to produce – and market – quality performances on a small budget bodes well for the health of our vibrant artistic scene. We’re also blessed with unparalleled generosity in private and corporate support of the arts for groups of all sizes and stripes. […]
Apr 1st, 2008 by Jon Anne Willow
Vote As If Your Life Depended On It
Yes, we all have the right to stay home and not vote. That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Yes, elections are messy, aggravating, distasteful affairs. But the brains in our head (the gray matter, if you will) give us the capacity to evaluate the candidates and make an informed decision. Yes, there is an incredibly important presidential election this year that seems to be sucking the oxygen out of the multitude of local contests here in Wisconsin and elsewhere. But the truth is that your vote for Wisconsin Supreme Court justice may be the most important one you cast this year. Look, I know that the deluge of manipulative, offensive ads run by so-called independent third party groups make it difficult not to turn your back on the whole unseemly process and wish a pox on both of their houses. But there is a reason these organizations with deep pockets are spending so lavishly on this race. It really matters. Just imagine if we held a national vote to elect a justice to the Supreme Court of the United States. The airwaves would be bursting with provocative ads trying to convince us of the relative merit (or, more likely, the scandalous past) of one candidate or the other. Could you possibly decide to ignore the process and stay home on Election Day? So I urge you to approach Tuesday’s election as if your life depended on it. By that I mean you should do what you would do if you learned you have a serious illness and had an important decision to make about your care. You would go online and research your options. You would seek out experts with the knowledge and experience that could provide you with valuable information to help with the decision. And you would talk to your friends whose opinions you respect. Time is short. Do your due diligence and vote tomorrow. I think the choice is clear. Justice Louis Butler is an intelligent, accomplished, respected, ethical jurist who has the support of an overwhelming majority of his fellow judges. His opponent, Mike Gableman, has been a judge for a fraction of the time Justice Butler has and has engaged in the kind of sleazy campaign that is so antithetical to our notion of a respected and thoughtful judiciary. But don’t take my word for it. Visit the candidates’ own websites, see how the campaign has been covered by the state (and the nation’s) media, and talk to people. Can’t we all please agree that elections are important and that all of our votes matter? Do I need to remind you of that drawn out debacle 8 years ago in Florida when the term “hanging chad” entered our nation’s vernacular? So vote. I don’t want to hear any excuses.
Mar 31st, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
Hey Milwaukee Bad Guys, There’s A New Maestro in Town!
When Edward Flynn was appointed Milwaukee’s new police chief, the community engaged in a group swoon. Flynn hit all the right notes as he met with the various key constituencies in town. Politicians, law enforcement officials, community activists and the business community all applauded the choice and Mayor Tom Barrett was praised for using the heft of his office to twist arms and influence this critical appointment (which, of course, was made by the Fire and Police Commission and not by the Mayor). Chief Flynn is closely associated with the philosophy of community policing and everyone seems to agree that this is a wonderful thing. But community policing is one of those generic terms, like democracy, good schools and market economies, which appeal to most everyone but are not always so easy to put into action. While it’s way too early to issue a judgment on the chief’s performance, you have to say that so far, so good. First of all, he has authorized (ordered?) his district captains to develop proposals for addressing the critical issues in their communities. He has held public meetings to announce and promote these initiatives. People have noticed and, by and large, have responded well. Second of all, he has expanded the presence of beat cops in busy neighborhoods. I’ve seen more police walking around in the last few weeks than I have in years. This is a key component of community policing. Beat cops walking around neighborhoods obviously isn’t a new idea; but it happens be incredibly effective. Who’d have thought? Yesterday, Chief Flynn held a news conference at the District 5 headquarters to call attention to an early, if modest, success. Police conducted a crackdown in the neighborhood around N. 19th Street and W. Nash where a gang known as the Nash Street Boys was believed to be dealing drugs and intimidating people. A group of law enforcement officers including Milwaukee police and FBI agents conducted arrests of 39 individuals suspected of gang involvement on Feb. 14th. In the month following the Valentine’s Day arrests, total criminal activity decreased by one third (24 incidents in the month before contrasted with 16 incidents since). Chief Flynn was joined at the news conference by Mayor Barrett, District Attorney John Chisholm, as well as a cross section of uniformed officers and appreciative residents. Chief Flynn pointed out that this was only the beginning but part of community policing is to focus on results and these positive results were worth noticing. But I found the most noteworthy aspect of the announcement were the broad smiles on the faces of the young police officers. Flynn remarked that they were smiling because successful police work is fun. But after the news conference, the officers made it clear that they enthusiastically support the chief’s program. “It’s taken away a lot of the red tape and lets us do our jobs,” said Officer Teresa Heidemann. “We get to be cops.” It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Chief Flynn. Somehow, his […]
Mar 26th, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
Race, Politics and Easter
It’s Easter Sunday and the topic du jour is race. The old ad used to say “You don’t have to be Jewish to like Levy’s Rye Bread” (maybe it was a New York thing), so perhaps you don’t have to be Christian to appreciate the irony of the moment. Barack Obama was forced to deliver a speech on the subject of race because he has been buffeted by charges of poor judgment for maintaining a relationship with his preacher, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Radio, television and YouTube listeners and viewers have been barraged by clips of Wright railing against the inequities of our white-dominated society and even asserting that our nation brought 9/11 on ourselves through our actions around the world. I thought Obama was faced with a “Sister Souljah” moment, similar to when Bill Clinton needed to repudiate one of his core constituencies in order to prove his independence and character. But once again Obama proved that he is possessed of a remarkable intelligence and sophisticated appreciation of the powerful tensions tearing at our divided nation. He delivered a speech in Philadelphia last Tuesday that rejected Wright’s words but placed them in the context of our nation’s great but imperfect history. We should not forget or ignore that history, he said, but neither should we be poisoned by it. It is a history that has left scars on many people of many colors, faiths and bckgrounds but it has also taught us that we have the means, through our system of government and the power it bestows on “We, the People,” to right wrongs and continue the process of constructing a “more perfect union.” Obama delivered a great and timely speech that brings to mind Lincoln’s Second Inaugural when the 16th president called on the nation to look beyond the Civil War and begin the process of healing and reconciliation. Of course, Lincoln did not live long enough to preside over a nation at peace, Reconstruction was marked by unfortunate abuses and racism persisted through the Jim Crow years of the 20th century and even in today’s post-Civil Rights era. It remains to be seen how this election year will play out. But once again former President Bill Clinton revealed himself to be more interested in exploiting race for political advantage than in serving as one of the nation’s and his party’s senior statesmen. His comment that he hoped the nation would have two candidates in the general election able to focus on important things and not be distracted by the ugly and divisive issue of race was a transparent and shameful attack on Obama. Obama went on to deliver speeches on the economy and foreign affairs but the Wright controversy continues to dog him. Conservative talk show hosts are gleeful that they have been provided with ammo to challenge Obama’s patriotism by associating him with Wright. It’s ridiculous and offensive but it’s a free country. Race has also made an unfortunate appearance in the campaign for Wisconsin Supreme […]
Mar 23rd, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
OMG Check Out This Bracket!
It’s March madness, baby! The competition leading up to the Final Four and the NCAA basketball championship has evolved into one of the most entertaining sports events of the year. And with Wisconsin and Marquette playing well and still alive as of this writing (Wisconsin has already advanced to the Sweet Sixteen while Marquette is battling tough with favored Stanford in the second half). But this being Wisconsin, ya gotta check out the bracket competition developed by the Washington Post. They started with 64 of the finest beers in the nation and are letting their discriminating readers decide which brews advance. I’ll drink to that. And while I’m raising a glass in tribute to the MSM’s WP, one of the twin titans of newsprint, let me also suggest that you have a look at the Post’s fact checker feature which examines the dubious claims of the various campaigns and grades them on a scale of Pinocchios for untruthfulness. Hillary Clinton’s assertion that she made a trip to Bosnia because it was too dangerous for Bill and that she dodged bullets at the airport earns the highest rating of four Pinocchios. Apparently, the comedian Sinbad was on the trip with her, as were print and broadcast reporters and they’ve called her on her whopper. Who knew Sen. Clinton had a Rambo complex?
Mar 23rd, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
Greed and the Wisconsin Supreme Court
If you’ve been in front of a television recently, you’ve probably seen those ads trying to influence the election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Incumbent Louis Butler is being challenged by Butler County Circuit Judge Mike Gableman. Gableman is the bobblehead who allegedly bought his seat on the bench and Butler is the alleged criminal coddler. For years and years candidates for state Supreme Court conducted low-key campaigns awash in decorum and highfalutin legal principles. But that was then and this is now. Over the last two contests, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business group has decided to spend an inordinately large amount of money to elect candidates to the state Supreme Court who are friendlier to business interests. Last year, the group spent big bucks to elect Annette Ziegler to the court, despite the ethical lapses that led to her being sanctioned for failing to disclose her ties to a bank that was involved in a case before her. Now it is throwing its girth into a campaign to unseat a respected incumbent on the court by attempting to portray Louis Butler as soft on crime. The business leaders who have signed off on this transparent effort to make the court more pliant to the state’s wealthy corporate interests should be ashamed. This isn’t about crime, this is about greed. Newsweek did a fairly comprehensive analysis of this race and cited “uncanny parallels” between the election in Wisconsin and the plot of John Grisham’s novel, “The Appeal,” where business interests fund attacks on an African-American member of the state Supreme Court in Mississippi. In both cases, the business groups falsely accuse the sitting justice of acting to release a convicted sexual predator. The Greater Wisconsin Committee, a liberal advocacy group, has responded to these horrid attacks with ads questioning the challenger’s record on crime. To his credit, Butler has called on all third party groups on both sides to “stand down” and allow the candidates to make their own cases. Unfortunately, challenger Gableman has engaged in his own outrageous attack campaign which is drawing fire from the state’s good government groups, including the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign , Wisconsin Judicial Integrity Campaign Committee, Common Cause and Citizen Action, for false statements and misrepresenting Butler’s record. But those fine, upstanding folks at the WMC definitely deserve a dubious achievement award for acting so selfishly and egregiously on behalf of the state’s wealthiest interests. Former Madison mayor and liberal blogger Paul Soglin is engaged in a personal campaign to call the members of the WMC to account for this greedy behavior. The members of the WMC board are ultimately responsible for this reprehensible slander of Justice Butler. These business executives probably support token good causes and are undoubtedly regarded as respected pillars in their communities. But they shouldn’t be able to hide behind the relative anonymity of the front group they control. How can we expect citizens to have faith in our government when the groups with the deepest pockets […]
Mar 18th, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
A Stunning Fall
One of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies is when George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart’s character in Frank Capra’s great Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, pleads with a group of customers at the savings and loan not to withdraw all of their money. George says the money isn’t in the vault, it’s helping build their neighbors’ homes and start their businesses. He eventually persuades them to only take out what they need, thereby allowing the bank to remain open. But, for me, the “money shot” is when the sound of fire trucks or ambulances or police cars distracts the crowd and everyone moves to the window to see what’s going on. Our attention is riveted by the crisis in the bank but they can’t help but turn their gaze to the street. Which brings me to the news that uber-prosecutor turned New York governor, Eliot Spitzer, has been implicated in a sex-for-money scandal. Nothing sucks up the public’s attention more than a story that combines sex, scandal and celebrity. And when the celebrity in question is a stuffed shirt politician who has made a career out of prosecuting wealthy businessmen who were caught stealing, cheating or otherwise taking advantage of their high positions in society, well, the hypocrisy is stunning and overwhelming. While the story is unfortunate in that, once again, parents are having to explain terms like “prostitution” and “call girls” to their children who happen to be watching the news with them it brings some relief to those of us who have been overdosing on the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. After yesterday’s Mississippi primary, which was won decisively by Obama, the next contest isn’t until April 22 in Pennsylvania. There will continue to be news relating to the presidential contest, most notably the expected resolution of the imbroglio involving the Florida and Michigan delegation to the Democratic convention. But this amounts to something of a news blackout for six weeks. Six weeks! Of course, locally we have important elections coming up on April 1st including the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between incumbent Justice Louis Butler and challenger Mike Gableman. But the Spitzer story is filling a void with the overwhelming power of a raging tide (sorry, sorry, sorry!). Spitzer announced his resignation today. Some will say he should have stayed and defended himself since this is such a personal matter and, after all, Bill Clinton didn’t leave office after he was involved in a sex scandal. But Clinton’s Affaire Lewinsky did not break any law (though, of course, he was charged with perjury for denying the relationship in grand jury testimony) and the campaign to impeach Clinton was such a political witch hunt. Spitzer was caught in an investigation launched by the IRS and the FBI based on the unusual transfers of funds that he was using to funnel money to the “escort service.” Arguably, the investigators expected to find evidence of a bribe or other form of public corruption and were […]
Mar 12th, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
