Monday, August 24, 2015

Chris Abele - Wage Thief

On July 15th, the Milwaukee County Board passed a number of resolutions which included a 1.5% cost of living adjustment for county workers, a plan to install technology in some buses that would allow them to change traffic lights for greater efficiency and funding to address some of the long term issues of neglected repairs and deferred maintenance in the parks system.

Unsurprisingly, Milwaukee County Emperor Abele vetoed these resolutions, despite his empty rhetoric that he supports the workforce and watches out for the taxpayers.  In his veto message, Abele went so far as to accuse the county board of "raiding" the debt service and contingency funds.  He also called these spending plans to be irresponsible.

Let me repeat that.  Abele thinks that protecting taxpayer investments like transit, the parks and a stable workforce is irresponsible.

On July 30th, the board overrode his vetoes, making these investments in county assets into law.  

They were to go into effect this week.

But an inquiry into Human Resources revealed that Abele is withholding at least the pay raise as he "considers the options."

Abele has only one option - to obey the law and do his job.

What really is a kicker is what Abele considers to be "responsible" uses of taxpayer money:
  • Giving his director of DHHS a $50,000 raise - that's more money than most county workers make in a year!
  • Selling a county building, conservatively estimated to be worth $10 million, for $500,000.
  • Giving the owners of the Milwaukee Bucks $4 million of taxpayer money each year for the next 20 years, so that they can build a new arena
  • Selling 10 acres of county land to the bucks owners for a dollar
  • Selling a county park for a dollar
  • Evicting people at the mental health complex, putting them in unsafe situations, so that he can sell that land as well.
If Abele can find enough money for these debacles, he can find enough money for actually improving the county.  Then again, with these debacles, Abele probably needs our money to pay for the gaping budget holes he has created with them.

What is really happening is that Emperor Abele is taking a page from his good friend and hero, Scott Walker.  Like Walker, Abele is gearing up for a run for governor, building his platform on the backs of county workers, county taxpayers and our most vulnerable citizens.

I got news for Abele.  We are on to you and will not be fooled again.

Abele needs to follow the law and do his job!

Call Abele at 414-278-4211 or email him at countyexec@milwaukeecountywi.gov and tell him to stop his political posturing and do his job!  (Needless to say, county workers should do this on their own time and using their own phones,)

And if Abele continues to defy the law, I certainly hope that Sheriff David Clarke will finally do his job and arrest this scofflaw!  I doubt that this will happen though, since Clarke and Abele are two birds of a feather.

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