Milwaukee County's Culture of Corruption

These days, the "Culture of Corruption" is the Democrats' favorite catch phrase.

According to them, the Bush Administration and Republicans are steeped in corruption -- lies and secrecy and crimes.

Let's be fair. No political party has a monopoly on corruption; and it certainly isn't relegated to Washington.

It's nothing new. Some people in power are tempted to abuse their positions. They take missteps.

In a perfect world, these officials would pay for their misdeeds. Even in this imperfect world, we do see justice done.

On the Milwaukee County Board, corruption is part of business as usual.

County Board Chairman Lee Holloway has been battling dozens of ethics charges, and maneuvering to avoid accountability.

Rather than demand integrity from county government, some actually admire Holloway's evasion.

In "Holloway stays out of reach, not out of sight," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane dismisses Holloway's questionable dealings and commends him for playing the system.

As usual, Kane tosses in the race card, too. Kane points out that since two-thirds of the 90 ethics charges against Holloway were dropped, many were able to chalk up the investigation as simply "a witch hunt against a prominent African-American public official."

Kane acknowledges:

At the same time, Holloway was at a loss to defend himself against the most serious of the remaining charges. He conceded a group affiliated with OIC paid him $165,000 for a building it never took possession of. He didn't disclose that information, and he voted on OIC-related issues without acknowledging the potential for conflict of interest.

Despite the hearing examiner's ruling, fundamental ethical issues remain.

So, Kane admits that Holloway is corrupt, but he admires him nonetheless. That's a shining moment for Kane.

I must admit a grudging respect for the way Holloway has "played" the system. Rather than concede to what he perceived as an unfair investigation, Holloway put up a wall of successful legal maneuvers to frustrate his opponent.

It reminds me of the cartoons pitting Wile E. Coyote against the Road Runner. You know who always won that one.

For much of his public career, Holloway has managed to evade all sorts of traps and landmines, everything from failed recall movements to voter fraud investigations to angry confrontations with colleagues and citizens.

WHAT?

A corrupt politician playing the system is admirable?

Kane takes pleasure in Holloway's ability to frustrate those interested in holding the County Board Chairman responsible for ethics violations. He sees it as a game, a cartoon. It's Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner to Kane.

Not to me. It's Milwaukee County government, and it's contaminated with corrupt officials.

Worse yet, there are apologists for the crooks, citizens rooting for the bad guys to dodge the falling ACME anvils. There's something very troubling about that, or at least there should be.

Kane, as a member of the press, should be acting as a watchdog for the public, and exposing unethical politicians, not cheering them on.
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It looks like one of those anvils may hit Holloway after all.

A supervisor previously willing to aid Holloway's evasion scheme is now considering voting to fund the investigation.

Read more.

The best laid plans...

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Update: The full board voted to fund the ethics investigation into Holloway's activities.

I guess Holloway's "wall of successful legal maneuvers to frustrate his opponent" has some holes in it.

Kane must be a little disappointed this morning.

Beware of falling anvils!