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Tom Barrett (D), biting the hand that saved his city.

How sharper than a serpent's tooth is an ungrateful Democratic mayor.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  March 21st, 2012 at 05:30 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee would like to have it both ways, it seems.

The background is this: Barrett is contemplating running against Scott Walker in the upcoming recall election, despite the fact that Walker beat him like a drum in 2010 and the governor of Wisconsin is in a pretty good position to do the same again. Still, there’s always 2014 to consider, and goodness knows that there’s nobody as credulous as a Wisconsin progressive, so Barrett is actively fundraising off of his ever-so-principled opposition to Walker’s reforms. The Journal-Sentinel excerpted this quote from Barrett’s fundraising email: “By his actions from his first days in office to today, Scott Walker has put special interests ahead of the common interest.”

“Special interests ahead of the common interest.” Well, Brian Bolduc of National Review Online notes something interesting about that: which one of those two best describes Milwaukee residents?

Walker’s other serious opponent, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, has a problem: He used Walker’s reforms to save his city $25 million and thus balance the budget without raising property taxes. Should Barrett prove to be the nominee, Walker can’t wait to use that fact against him.

As well Walker should. Hypocrisy from Democrats is, of course, just something that you just have to learn to expect, like dust or smudges on glass surfaces. But this is pretty special. Barrett, of course, could not have possibly refused to take advantage of the opportunity to repair his city’s budgetary problems; if he had, he’d be the one looking at a recall election right now. But it takes a certain kind of arrogance – willful, stupid arrogance, at that – to call your own constituents a ‘special interest’ and to complain about the fact that Scott Walker apparently twisted your arm and made you not raise their property taxes.

One that I hope to see in the general recall election, in fact. Because possibly when such arrogance gets its holder electorally squashed like a bug it might encourage onlookers to abandon similar attitudes. Which would be not great for the Republican party, but definitely good for the country at large…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

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  • lineholder

    has grown tremendously during the past few months. He has an understanding of the left that runs very deep, and he knows first-hand how vindictive they can be. But the man doesn’t even flinch these days in response to it.

    Here’s to hoping that the citizens of WI respect and appreciate Walker’s strength of will as much as people like myself are inclined to do. I’d rather have Walker than Perdue any day of the week.

  • izoneguy

    The progressives of Milwaukee won’t be happy until they are as progressive as Detroit.

  • gekster

    In Detroit, they are fighting the Governor over having to have an Emergency Financial Manager.
    They don’t have the money to pay thier bills.
    They’re main complaint, it would take control of the city from the local politicians.
    They are that blind that they don’t see that it is the local politicians that got them to where they are.
    Detroit has been run by Democrats for as long as I remember, since Coleman Young, and it’s been a downhill climb for them.

    I do hope Scott Walker keeps up the good fight.

  • acat

    Milwaukee is only major American city to have elected 3 socialist mayors… at least according to Alice Cooper.

    Mew

  • rocketeer

    Historically, Milwaukee had dreadful politics and many scandalous mayors. The Socialist ones — Seidler (1910-12), Hoan (1916-40) and Zeigler (1940-42, died in Navy in WW2) — spent money like they had to answer to someone. The philosophy can be summarized “if we provide good government then people will appreciate our good deeds and vote Socialist, too”. For a short history of this,
    http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-043/?action=more_essay

    I find the principles of Socialism ill, but look at the Milwaukee experience this way: which of the two sons obeyed their father, the one who did well or the one who talked a good game?

    (disclosure: I grew up there and I *know* what a bubbler is!)

  • Dave_A

    And yeah, all of the above…

    3 socialist mayors, who tried to sell socialisim ‘on the merits’ rather than jam it down constituent’s throats – all of this way-back when….

    Walker? Walker is the original ‘Tea Party’ candidate, long before anyone coined the phrase nationally (the organization we had in WI was called ‘Citizens for Responsible Government’, and the impetus was absurd public-sector pensions) – he got his ‘recognition’ after Milwaukee County went and recalled most of the County politicians because they voted themselves golden-parachute pensions… Walker got elected County Executive as a Republican during this (pretty much unheard-of before that), and off we go…

  • LDahl752

    but Walker has accomplished so much in just 14 months. You can tell, though, the leftists have a tight grip on the status quo. If not, there’s no way they would’ve gotten a half million voters to sign the recall petition. That state should be thanking Governor Walker every day; instead, so many have their noses out of joint and want to return to the policies that nearly bankrupted the state.