I’ll be joining State Sen. Chris Larson for a town hall meeting this Monday, March 30, to discuss the state budget and its impact on state programs, as well as its impacts on the City of South Milwaukee.
We’ll be meeting from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the South Milwaukee Library.
Sen. Larson will devote the first 30-45 minutes to highlight what is in the budget and then will open the meeting to a Q&A session. While the focus will be on the budget, feel free to ask questions about other topics.
Filed under South Milwaukee
I hope you can join me for my next Meet the Mayor session this Saturday at MKE City Sippers, 911 Milwaukee Ave. downtown.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Special guest State Sen. Chris Larson will be joining me, so feel free to talk local or state issues (including the state budget). Or just stop in to say hi.
See you there, and bring a friend or two!
And here are my next two sessions …
Filed under Local Business, South Milwaukee, State Lawmakers
I’m happy to announce that State Sen. Chris Larson will be joining me for my next Meet the Mayor session on Saturday, February 21, at MKE City Sippers.
Join Sen. Larson and I to discuss key local and state issues — or just stop by and say hi.
Thanks to Sen. Larson for agreeing to do this!
And mark your calendars for these upcoming Meet the Mayor sessions …
Filed under South Milwaukee, State Lawmakers
Note: A previous version of this post listed the wrong date for this event. It is Wednesday, May 7.
Here is the message from State Sen. Chris Larson’s office … see you there!
Join Senator Chris Larson and Mayor Erik Brooks for a town hall meeting on Wednesday, May 7, at the South Milwaukee Library (1907 10th Ave) from 5 pm to 6:30 pm.
Senator Larson will discuss how legislation that passed during session this year will affect the community, and looks forward to hearing from neighbors! This is also a great opportunity to connect with South Milwaukee’s new Mayor, Erik Brooks.
Please contact Grace Fuhr, Senator Larson’s district director, for additional information: 414-273-1509,grace.fuhr@legis.wi.gov.
Filed under Community, South Milwaukee, State Lawmakers
State Sen. Chris Larson is hosting a town hall event on Wednesday at the South Milwaukee Public Library, 1907 10th Ave. Hours are 5 to 7 p.m.
From Larson’s office …
I will be hosting a number of town halls during February 2014. Attending these listening sessions is a great opportunity to talk to me about issues facing our community and state, or to listen to the concerns and thoughts of our neighbors.
The information for these events is listed below. I also advertise these by posting on my Web site, Facebook, Twitter, via neighborhood groups, with media alerts, and through direct emails.
Please do not hesitate to contact my office for additional information.
Filed under Community, State Lawmakers
South Shore state Sen. Chris Larson was on the front page of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this morning in what was a pretty positive profile.
Check it out here. From it …
At the age of 32, a time when most politicians are just getting started, he finds himself in the middle of a quick political rise.
His youth is an asset, but it could also be a liability.
He can dare to dream and win – he won a Milwaukee County supervisor position in 2008, knocked off a Democratic incumbent to take a Senate seat in 2010 and guided a new generation of Democrats to victories in 2012.
But he could still stumble and fail – three of his Democratic colleagues blew off a caucus meeting in Madison last week, and he faces the prospect of a long season of defeats in a state where Republicans hold the governorship and both houses of the Legislature.
Yet if other more seasoned politicians underestimate him – and some apparently, do – Larson doesn’t appear to be too bothered.
“You know what, I’ve always been an underdog,” he says. “I think it’s greatly appropriate because I like to fight for the underdog.”
Filed under State Lawmakers
State Sen. Chris Larson — newly chosen as the Senate’s minority leader — has published a new Larson Report, with the headline “Ready To Tackle State Challenges As Democratic Leader.”
From it …
I am humbled by the confidence my fellow senators have in me by electing me their leader. With the elections complete, we have an opportunity to stop divide-and-conquer politics and start working responsibly across the aisle to serve all Wisconsinites. Wisconsin voters spoke loud and clear on November 6. They want Democratic and Republican lawmakers to move the state forward with programs and policies that reflect our shared Wisconsin values.
For the sake of Wisconsin’s future, I encourage members of the Legislature to work together as Wisconsinites by casting off our partisan labels and setting aside any politically divisive agendas.
See the full email here — and his list of our “immediate priorities.”
And here is the press release.
Also, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has more details on some of the behind-the-scenes lobbying that did (or didn’t) happen as part of the selection.
Filed under State Lawmakers
Mama DeMarinis in Bay View has closed.
Check out The Business Journal story here, and check out these other headlines of interest from around the area:
Also, NOW has published its police blotter for Cudahy and St. Francis (South Milwaukee not included this week).
Filed under Headlines, Local Business
Patrick Cudahy Inc. and others are suing the U.S. Navy for its alleged role in the massive 2009 fire at the Cudahy meatpacking plant.
Check out the story here.
And check out these other local headlines:
Also, County Supervisor Pat Jursik weighs in (strongly) on the debate over the Shakespeare in the Courts program and Sheriff David Clarke’s budget (including his stable of horses). And State Sen. Chris Larson has published a new Larson Report, where he, in detail, deconstructs one year of Republican control in Madison.
Filed under Headlines
The long-awaited bill that would streamline the approval process for new mines in Wisconsin has finally seen the light of day — and count South Milwaukee Rep. Mark Honadel as a supporter.
“Our state flag bears a miner on it,” he said in a press release. “That’s not only our heritage, but it must be our future too. To ignore the potential of thousands of good-paying jobs would do a disservice to the people of Wisconsin.”
Learn more about the bill here and here.
At first glance, I absolutely like parts of it. I think a shorter, more-defined approval process is a good thing becuase I do think bureaucracy can unnecessarily slow projects like this down — and kill them altogether. Sometimes, government can’t get out of the way.
But I also worry that, with the compressed timeline and the proposed elimination of “contested case hearings,” mining projects may not get proper due diligence. Plus, the bill “would ease numerous existing restrictions on protections for wetlands, groundwater, lakes, rivers and streams,” according to the Journal Sentinel.
State Sen. Chris Larson also interestingly points out in his new Larson Report that the bill was not assigned to the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, but rather to the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economy and Small Business. This I am sure is a reflection of the attempt to shift the debate on bills like this from a focus on environmental impacts to “jobs, jobs, jobs.” And it appears to be working.
But at what cost, jobs? I want to see more job creation as much as anyone, but there has to be a balance between appropriate regulation and the economics of a proposed mine.
One thing I definitely do not support about this legislation is the process lawmakers seem to be taking to pass it. A public hearing on the bill is planned for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis — just six days after it was introduced. This despite being worked on for months behind closed doors in the legislature.
I think that’s wrong. This bill deserves, demands, more careful consideration than what is being offered.
As for details of the bill itself, I guess I’ll wait and see.
Filed under State Lawmakers
State Sen. Chris Larson, who represents South Milwaukee, has introduced a bill that would restore $26 million to the state budget to fund local recycling programs.
Click here to learn more about the Recycling Funding Restoration Act.
As I’ve written about, the 2012 state budget does South Milwaukee and numerous other communities no favors when it comes to recycling, as it cuts funding for these programs while at the same time keeping the state recycling requirements in place.
In other words, it’s yet another unfunded (or not adequately funded) mandate from the state that we have to deal with on the local level — at a time when we’re already seeing shared revenue and other funding cuts.
Restoring this funding, such as recycling itself, is the right thing to do, and we must find a way to fund these programs. I hope the state steps up and does its part.
Filed under State Budget
Well, at least we know what this was all about now.
In a possibly illegal vote that gives new meaning to the term “ramming through legislation,” a legislative conference committee and later the state Senate voted Wednesday night to essentially put an end to collective bargaining and, eventually, public unions.
Check out the Journal Sentinel story here.
Here is what South Milwaukee State Sen. Chris Larson had to say about the situation:
“This is a travesty is what it is,”Larson said about the vote. “I can’t sit by and let them kill the middle class.”
That’s what Republicans seem bent on doing. And they’ll pay for it at the ballot box — sooner (through recall elections) or later (2012 or 2014). That much I do know. This is not the will of the people.
I’ll post more on this soon, as this “travesty” — as Sen. Larson aptly put it — continues to unfold and the action shifts to the Assembly.
For now, I end with a message to South Milwaukee Rep. Mark Honadel: Here is your chance to do what’s right for middle-class workers, for teachers, snowplow drivers, clerical workers, custodians and public health nurses. For garbage collectors, administrative assistants, police officers, firefighters and prison guards. For your neighbors. For the people you sit next to at church, the people you see at the food store and the farmers’ market. For us.
Do what’s right.
Filed under Politics
Channel 4 stopped by AMF South Park Lanes on Tuesday to talk to area residents about the decision by 14 Democratic state Senators to leave the state in order to avoid a vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget repair bill” and force a compromise.
Check out the story here. From it:
As 14 Democrats remain in Illinois, their constituents are taking sides. … One thing both sides agree on, they will vote based on how their senator behaved during the budget battle.
That, I believe, we can all agree on.
Also check out this coverage from Fox 6 on South Milwaukee’s State Sen. Chris Larson. His quote: “This is the worst bill that’s ever been presented in the history of Wisconsin.” I can’t say that for certain, but I can’t remember a worse one in my lifetime.
Filed under Politics
Update: Here is the Journal Sentinel story.
Jeff Plale, the former Democratic State Senator representing South Milwaukee and current 4th District resident, has apparently landed a job in Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s administration.
Here is The Associated Press story, and here is even more from the Wisconsin State Journal.
Congratulations to Jeff. I respected him as a legislator, and it’s unfortunate how some are spinning this story as Jeff being “rewarded” for his vote against new state worker union contracts in December. As I’ve blogged about, I agreed with his vote on that issue, especially given how the vote went down.
That said, Jeff and I didn’t agree on everything (we agreed more often than not), but I think he was a strong voice for the South Shore and South Milwaukee while in Madison. I hope newly elected State Sen. Chris Larson has just as strong a voice. Only time will tell.
Filed under Politics
Update: Plale explains his vote in this BizTimes.com story.
State Sen. Jeff Plale is making his presence felt before he leaves office.
The South Milwaukee Democrat — who lost to incoming Sen. Chris Larson in the senatorial primary in September — was one of two Democrats to vote against controversial labor contracts for state workers late Wednesday night.
The other was Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker.
All Republicans joined Plale and Decker in voting “no” and, with one senator absent, the contracts failed to pass on a 16-16 vote (after passing by one vote in the Assembly). That means Gov.-Elect Scott Walker will have an opportunity to reopen those contracts when he comes into office in January.
Here is the Journal Sentinel story.
From springing a lawmaker from jail to secure a necessary vote to deposing legislative leadership at the last minute, the “inside baseball” involved here is about as ugly as it gets.
Of course, I’d like to know your opinions about how this all went down, including Plale’s vote. Post your comments below.
Filed under Politics
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