Aldermen rip Democratic state senators

Oct. 22, 2007 -- Milwaukee aldermen last week ripped Democratic state senators from the city for ignoring the city's interests during state budget negotiations.

One aldermen criticized the senators by name.

It was a remarkable and rare attack on the Milwaukee delegation by aldermen who are generally allies with their Democratic legislative counterparts.

"I think it's pretty clear they feel much more allegiance to the Democratic party chair or to the senate chair than they do to the issues we're expressing," Ald. Michael Murphy said.

Murphy

Murphy and other members of the Common Council's Judiciary and Legislation Committee were angered over the Milwaukee senators' support of Gov. Doyle's budget compromise that did not include the $3.5 million boost in shared revenue for the city that Doyle originally proposed.

Murphy has said that for 2007 state shared revenue directed to Milwaukee is $10 million less than the 2003 level, and that since 1996 – in inflation-adjusted terms – state shared revenue to the city has declined $73.2, million or 23%.

While the criticism occurred before the budget deal announced over the weekend, the revised budget also apparently does not include a shared revenue increase.

Murphy said he also was upset that city officials were unable to convince a single legislator to introduce an amendment to restore the money.

"We failed," he said. "We didn't get anything. It doesn't speak well of our ability to lobby our legislators when we didn't even get a dollar."

Ald. Michael D'Amato, though, disagreed.

"I would not put the blame on the mayor, who is an elected official, or the lobbying staff, who I think has done a good job. There are other elected officials who we expect to do the right thing: Senators Carpenter, Coggs, Sullivan, Plale, Taylor, and to some extent, Sen. Darling."

Top row from left: State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee); State Sen. G. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee); State Sen. Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa)

Second row, from left: State Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee); State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee); State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills).

State Sen. Alberta Darling, the only Republican in the group, represents a small piece of Milwaukee.

"There's an expectation those people will look out for the interests of the constituents we both represent together and they have not," he said.

D'Amato

D'Amato continued: "This budget doesn't pass without those five people. They have the leverage to stalemate this process if they don't get what they want. It's unfortunate they're not using it that way."

"It's just one cave-in after another after another," Ald. Jim Bohl said said of the Democrats. "I think they provide a real disservice for at least the voters I represent in the 5th aldermanic district when they cave in over and over and over again on these issues."

Bohl

"You know what?" Bohl said. "You stick me once, you stick me twice, you stick me three times -- I'm not calling you my friend any more."