Jeff Fleming and Tom Barrett

Dan Bice, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, puts on his "I'm fair and balanced" hat for a day.

Bice has decided to write about the sweet "arrangement" Tom Barrett made with his crony Jeff Fleming.

Bice writes:

No matter how tight the city budget, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett can always find room for this:

A patronage job for a guy skilled in spinning the Democratic Party line.

The Barrett administration is paying Jeff Fleming - former TV reporter, political commentator and flack for ex-Mayor John Norquist - $37 per hour to be the part-time spokesman for the Department of City Development.

Under the arrangement, he puts in 24 hours a week and is getting about $46,000 a year from the city. He is also receiving city-funded health insurance while continuing to do outside consulting work.

Fleming was brought on board in the midst of the Democratic mayor's campaign for governor. A top Barrett aide maintained last week that the PR specialist is focusing his efforts on city business, not politics.

"We wanted someone with previous press experience and marketing experience," said Barrett chief of staff Pat Curley. "We knew Jeff, and we were comfortable with him."

...First, Fleming stepped in as a volunteer to help with the media crush after Barrett suffered face and hand injuries when he was attacked by a man with a metal pipe last year after leaving the State Fair. Then Fleming surfaced as Barrett's campaign spokesman in November when the second-term mayor made it official that he would make another bid for governor. There are no payments from the campaign to Fleming, however.

In January, the city awarded him a no-bid contract paying $75 an hour for up to 15 hours a week of work for DCD. Fleming was slated to receive up to $20,250 through the end of May, an 18-week period.

An open records request turned up no correspondence with the mayor's office before the contract was signed.

But Fleming said last week that he was alerted to the opening by Curley. Fleming said the former DCD spokeswoman, Andrea Rowe Richards, left in November and had not been replaced. Curley was aware, Fleming said, of some upcoming big announcements, such as the lease of a city-owned building at the former Tower Automotive complex to Spanish train manufacturer Talgo.

...He said it would have been "disingenuous" for the agency to put the contract out for bid because city officials knew whom they wanted and he was willing to accept their terms. The contract was with Kingston Crossing, the firm created by Fleming after stints working for PR firms Howl Fire and the Zizzo Group.

But Fleming said the city contract ended up taking much more of his time than expected. As a result, he agreed to come on as a non-civil service employee at a reduced rate for more hours. His salary is being paid out of fees collected by the city Redevelopment Authority.

So by the middle of March, he was a part-time city employee with health insurance and retirement benefits. He is also now trying to sell his West Bend house to comply with the city residency rule.

Despite his experience as a political talker, Fleming isn't doing anything political in his new job, Curley said.

"It's all city business," said Curley, who talks with Fleming about once a day.

Fleming gets to continue his consulting work while on the city payroll.

First, the Barrett administration isn't paying Fleming anything.

Milwaukee taxpayers are paying Fleming's salary.

Second, Curley explains the justification for bringing Fleming on board is the comfort factor, thus, the no-bid contract. That's an acceptable explanation?

The Milwaukee media, including Bice, hounded Scott Walker for hiring "Graef-USA, a politically active engineering firm, to conduct emergency inspections of many county buildings to look for any safety hazards."

The headline: Major Walker contributor got no-bid contract.

In the case of the inspections, Walker needed to act quickly following the tragedy at the O'Donnell parking structure. Can you say "EMERGENCY"?

The Left attacked Walker for responding to an emergency, but Fleming's part-time job with full health insurance and retirement benefits is no big deal. It's business as usual.

For the Leftists, I suppose it is.

Again, the "city" isn't paying for Fleming's benefits. Milwaukee taxpayers are picking up the bill. Government has no money. The city's stash comes directly out of the pockets of the heavily burdened citizens of Milwaukee.

Third, why is Fleming being given leeway regarding the residency rule? He's trying to sell his West Bend house. Yeah, right. Put up a for sale sign. That's enough to satisfy the requirement.

What's in Barrett's brown bag? Sloppiness and cronyism and corruption.