Milwaukee

A mixup at the Milwaukee Elections Commission, which didn't follow state law in drawing to see the order of candidates for alderman on Tuesday's ballot, will benefit a number of incumbents. And the challengers, as you might expect, aren't happy.

Ray Harmon (pictured)and Jan Pierce have filed complaints.

That aside, there's also the question of why the city's election commission head went out of her way to fix the ballot for one incumbent and didn't bother to look at the other races. Her explanation is less than totally transparent, it appears.

But let's back up. A Journal Sentinel story explains:

Kelly Rindfleisch is innocent until proven guilty; that's the law.

Having said that, let's look at what we know, and what has been alleged about her, one of two  ex-Scott Walker staffers to be charged today -- in her case with four felonies -- with doing campaign work at taxpayer expense.  It's breathtaking:

-- She not only raised money on taxpayer time, but she double-dipped and also was being paid at the same time by Brett Davis's campaign for lieutenant governor.  While Milwaukee County taxpayers paid her $59,560 a year as Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's deputy chief of staff, she also collected $5,000 from Davis's campaign.

No one who has ever served our country in uniform should end up living on the street.

But our veterans are twice as likely as other Americans to be homeless.

In the Milwaukee area, an estimated 25% of all homeless people are veterans. That means about 400 homeless veterans in Milwaukee County alone.

Milwaukee's Veterans for Peace chapter is working every day to help our comrades in need. As a chapter member and a member of the board of its homeless veterans program, I'm asking for your help.

What began a few years ago with two veterans doing a couple of hours of outreach once a week, to see if there were veterans who needed help, has grown into the Homeless Veterans initiative, serving hundreds of Milwaukee area vets in need.

It is based on the commitment that we don't leave our wounded behind.

Is David Clarke running for something?

Or is he just in heat for publicity?

He has delusions of grandeur, once ran an embarrassingly bad campaign for mayor of Milwaukee.

He considered running for county executive when Scott Walker was elected governor, but the Republican bosses told him it was Jeff Stone's turn, so he backed off.

Chris Abele's up in April, and doesn't have an opponent.  It's a free ride for Clarke, but a loss could really hurt his standing. 

Meanwhile, Clarke's always been a publicity hound, so he's loving the attention and happy to pick a fight every day, whether it's about the budget, guns, or illegal immigrants.  And the media just eat it up. 

It may energize the right wing base, but he sounds a lot like someone who's off his meds.  And that could be a problem.

Apparently the Judicial Commission didn't get the memo.  Clarke's position is that because he is a "constitutional officer" he is a law unto himself.

Mayor Tom Barrett and Rep. Gwen Moore have joined forces to oppose Postal Service plans to close Milwaukee post offices which serve Milwaukee's central city, the Journal Sentinel reports.

"It just struck us as odd that within the seven-county region, the five all slated for closure were in the heart of the city, where the population is predominantly African-American," Barrett said...

Closing the sites in her district would take away services from a group of people with limited access to computers and cars, Moore said, adding that it will also cut valuable jobs.

Which brings us back to our original question: What do black people need a post office for, anyway?

That's certainly what it looks like, in what is becoming a more frequent way to find sources for stories -- advertise for them on the newspaper's website:

Looking for teachers who took union survey July 28, 2011 2:11 p.m.

The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association has released survey results that show about 52% of members oppose further contract concessions as a way to avoid about 200 layoffs. We're looking for MPS teachers willing to discuss this survey outcome. Please call or email reporters Erin Richards or Kaellen Hessel (I've deleted their emails and phone numbers.)

Is this acceptable journalism these days? Just asking. I truly don't know any more.

UPDATE: The story is pretty fair.