In a fresh open letter to Mark Neumann regarding his false claims that spending went up faster in Milwaukee County under Scott Walker than it did at the state level under Jim Doyle, Jim Klauser literally hands Neumann his hat for lunch (letter courtesy Jay Weber):
July 14, 2010 – Mr. Mark Neumann
Dear Mark:
It has been more than five weeks since I wrote to you requesting that you return the contributions Shirley and I made to your campaign. I asked for the return since you had assured us that you would run a positive campaign focusing on the Doyle-Barrett record. You haven’t done that. Even in these last weeks you have expanded your negative attacks beyond your primary opponent to everyone else.
Your campaign treasurer, your son Matt, told me that you would return my contribution if I refuted your claims about your opponent’s record as County Executive. You echoed those comments as well. The numbers you cite for Milwaukee County include capital bonding of $251 million which is expended over a three year period and paid-off over 15-20 years. (This was done to obtain better interest rates) Your analysis of Jim Doyle’s spending did NOT include bonding (which is considerable under Doyle).
You should know, but apparently don’t, that much of what a county government does is mandated and partially funded by either the federal or state government. County government has no control over increases/decreases in such funding. A care management organization is funded at $256 million entirely with state-federal Medicaid dollars.
You fail to mention the substantial reduction in the number of county employees under Walker’s watch. In 2000 county employees on an FTE basis numbered 7,263; in 2010 the number is 5,256. This substantial reduction indicates increased efficiency in Milwaukee County government and a savings to taxpayers.
The bottom line is you aren’t comparing apples to apples; rather your analysis is somewhat akin to fruit salad. By the way you should know, but apparently choose to ignore, that the county executive vetoed increased spending every year; these vetoes were overridden by the county board with the result of increasing spending.
You have used these misrepresented figures to claim that the county budget has increased 26% since 2006 while the state budget has increased 19%. In reality, Milwaukee County’s budget has increased 9% below the rate of inflation of 9.6% which gives Milwaukee County residents a spending reduction in adjusted dollars.
Please return our contributions.
James R. Klauser
If one is inclined to attend one of Neumann’s town halls, I suggest you bring a condiment to help Mark with his hat-eating. Embarrassing moments are what happens when one depends on the likes of One Wisconsin Now to do fiscal research.
If only Klauser would have the guts to show up at a Neumann town hall — or better yet, Scott Walker, who Neumann has invited — maybe they could settle this.
Walker would supply the ketchup and Klauser would supply the mustard. The question is, will Neumann actually eat the hat?
No, the question is, will they show up? We both know the answer.
There you go again – ignoring the part of the challenge that your Trojan horse blew.
Say, are you going to show up at one of those 4 town halls?
No, the question is, should Walker have invoked the Double Secret Probation Veto in order to prevent Holloway and the gang from overriding him? We both know the answer.