Xoff's BlogCommentary on state politics by Bill Christofferson, who often uses Xofferson or Xoff to shorten his 14-letter last name.
Christofferson, a recovered journalist and ex-political reporter, has been a Democratic strategist and consultant for 20 years and is now retired. He lives in Milwaukee. |
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State Rep. Pedro Colon says he will challenge Milwaukee City Atty. Grant Langley in the spring elections.
His announcement contained an interesting criticism of Langley, the long-time incumbent:
The City Attorney has the potential to be a partner to the District Attorney in the fight against crime. That starts with leadership. It means upholding the highest possible standards for integrity. Instead, the current City Attorney has been AWOL from the fight to stop paying police officers who are convicted of felonies.
There's very little the city attorney could do about this, aside from writing a letter to legislators or appearing at a legislative hearing.
You see, the law requiring the city to pay those fired cops is a state law. To get rid of it, the state legislature has to repeal it.
Pedro Colon is part of the Democratic leadership in the state Assembly, which, last we knew, was one house of the legislature.
Is Colon saying he's failed to get that law repealed because he didn't have a letter from Grant Langley? Is he saying that if he's city attorney he can do more about that legislative issue than he can as a legislator? Hard to swallow.
Here's another errant claim from Colon's announcement:
The City Attorney stood on the sidelines while the federal government was forced to clean up the Milwaukee City Council.
The US attorney's office, a prosecutorial office which can call on the FBI to help with its investigations, is in slightly better position to conduct complicated investigations and prosecute public officials than the city attorney's office. The US attorney, or district attorney, is the appropriate place for those investigations. It is not the city attorney's job.
Colon, who was a candidate for mayor for a very short time in 2003 before reading the writing on the wall, must be tired of the commute to Madison and looking at the city attorney's bigger salary. But ambition alone isn't enough to win over voters.
He's hoping they don't know enough about the office to know how bogus his claims are. The question is: Will the Milwaukee news media call him on it, or simply act as stenographers and report whatever he says, whether it has any basis in fact or not?
The other question is: What on earth was DA John Chisholm doing at the announcement?
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Working in the Republican Assembly
The last that I heard is that Republicans in the Assembly are not amenable to good public policy ideas.
Xoff, among my favorite commentators on public policy, knows this aspect of the Republicans well.
Really, can you name one decent policy idea that serves Wisconsin citizens to make it out of the Republican Assembly?
I can’t.
The State Assembly is the black hole for good government ideas in Wisconsin, but this fact does NOTHING to besmirch the Democrats who serve in the Assembly.
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So...
Do we have some reason to think Assembly Republicans would act if Grant Langley asked them to?
Ass Republicans
Judging by their record of non-accomplishment, I doubt that the Assembly Republicans would act even if God, threatening tribulations, commanded them to.
No, that would take WMC or Wisconsin Right to Life to move this bunch on anything.
Then again, I think perhaps I should pass on the enterprise of predicting what moves Assembly Republicans.
My point is that Rep. Colon makes a valid point is seeking the engagement of the Milwaukee City Atty in bringing to the fore issues of concern to Milwaukee citizens, no matter the barriers presented by the Assembly Republicans.
I think that just about all observers agree several issues of concern to Milwaukee were not addressed as well as could be by public servants in positions to focus attention on these matters.
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This is the bill
AB 308
It hasn't even had a hearing.
I do not agree that Grant Langley bears any responsibility for that.
Langley
Sure, Langley did nothing, so in some sense bears no responsibility for the bill's (that you cite) progress in what all know is a stubborn Republican Assembly.
Hell, doesn't the Milwaukee police money go to Republicans anyway.
The salient points - as I see it - are:
- That Langley was a non-entity in some vital matters
- That Milwaukee citizens deserve a choice (and this certainly applies to this office under discussion) to decide whether effective representation exists at all levels of government during some challenging and argubly critical times for the City
Rep. Colon's press release that I read is way-low on rhetoric and takes the high road in issuing a challange on what we all agree are issues of concern to the citizens of Milwaukee.
So, I'm sure you agree that if Atty Langley's performance merits reelection, the citizens of Milwaukee will make their decision judiciously, and furthur, that giving the people a choice for this office is to the public benefit.
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Free country
Anyone can run, and competition is good.
But when a candidate talks bullshit, like Colon did on the first day of his candidacy, someone should call him on it.
That's all I was doing.
Langley hasn't called for an end to the Iraq war, either, and I wish he would. Has Pedro?
Election
That's why we have elections, as you suggest.
The people will decide whether the function of the City Atty's was served to their satisfaction.
I have to say I like it better when your indignation is directed toward Bush and Co. They seem more deserving of your hostility; and your slashing at Colon seems overheated and way-out-of-proportion.
Here's a link to the candidacy speech:
http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=105023
I should think his first day on the stump was a modest and high-minded one. Let's hope this is a model for the campaign from all parties.
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Let's agree to disagree
As this original post stated, I think his first day on the stump was devoted to negative, undeserved criticism of his opponent.
Accusing someone of not doing enough on issues that (a) are not in his bailiwick and (b) are in Colon's doesn't seem very "high-minded" to me.
I included the link in my original post, so people could read it for themselves.
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