Enlightenment from Bruce Murphy

You have to go all the way down to the “Buzz” section, but there it is

-Waukesha Mayor Jeff Scrima’s proposal to have a referendum to approve or reject the idea of buying water from Lake Michigan probably puts him on the side of average folks in the city and in opposition to nearly the entire leadership community of Waukesha. This is turning into a bizarre soap opera that could continue right through his four-year term.

via Inside Milwaukee – Dine, Shop, Entertainment and more.

If so, should we expect to see an increase in folks running against sitting council members who are roughly 12-3 against the mayor?

Claiming persistent bias, Democratic Party to stop taking PolitiFact’s calls.

Accusing the Journal Sentinel’s continuing feature PolitiFact of persistent bias, leaders of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin say they will no longer respond to inquiries from the fact-checking operation’s reporters.

The party leadership acted after a series of PolitiFact stories they considered unfair, as well as an overall assessment that in its judgments about what to cover as well as its assessments of truth and falsity, “it just seems consistently weighted to one side,” [DPW communications director Graeme] Zielinski says.

via Inside Milwaukee – Dine, Shop, Entertainment and more.

I’m well-acquainted with the Right’s suspicion of PolitiFact, having originated with the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald, both well-known left-leaning newspapers in Florida. The Right is also suspicious of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of it’s left-leaning tendencies.

I’m also aware of the left side of the Cheddarsphere’s frustration with the Journal Sentinel which they lump together in one big lump with WTMJ 620 and WTMJ 4 under the Journal Communications, Inc. parent company. They believe the organization is right-leaning based on the WTMJ 620 talkers, Patrick McIlheran and others. I believe they also uncovered one of the Board of Directors contributing to a Republican candidate, bu I can’t put my hand on the link right now.

PolitiFact responded.

In a statement today, the Journal Sentinel editor in charge of PolitiFact, Greg Borowski, stood by the impartiality of the feature.

“At PolitiFact Wisconsin, our mission is to serve our readers by examining political statements to determine their accuracy — but also to identify where those statements are inflated, misleading or simply wrong. We do this by turning to outside sources to provide context to the issue, as well as by clearly stating how we came to the conclusion we did and what sources and reasoning we used to get there,” Borowski said.

Both left and right have had their problems with PolitiFact. One source of contention is the “Truth-o-meter” which does often seem pretty subjective. Other popular fact-checkers don’t have anything comparable, to my knowledge. As the author of the article writes,

Even so, PolitiFact’s critics have a point, but it’s a bit more complicated than partisan bias. The larger problem remains in its simplistic rating system and especially the incendiary “Pants on Fire” category, which doesn’t appear to be consistently applied.

He also notes,

Here [in wisconsin] the criticism has been most vocal among political activists on the left.

I not sure why that is. I sure my friends on the right think they’re biased, too; they just don’t seem to write about it.If they are some links to right-leaning posts, I would be glad to share them here.

By contrast, the national PolitiFact operation appears to get more criticism from conservatives.

Zielinski, who once worked for the Journal Sentinel, went on to say,

“We will deal with the Journal Sentinel. We have to,” he says. “It’s the largest newspaper in the state. We have good relationships with many of their reporters.”

But PolitiFact, he says, “is an instrument that we don’t think profits us anything, because we believe we’ve worked in good faith with them and not seen fair results.”

The writer of the article then states,

On the one hand, a casual examination of how party affiliation lines up with ratings from True to Pants-on-Fire makes doesn’t make an obvious case of bias for or against either side of the political spectrum. (You can see for yourself; if you disagree, feel free to comment below.)  Did you know, for instance, that 17 of Gov. Scott Walker’s 27 statements to be rated so far have been labeled as “Barely True,” “False,” or (in one instance) “Pants on Fire”? That seems difficult to square with a claim of consistent bias against Democrats.

No doubt the comment section will fill fast.

He sums up,

Perhaps the single biggest improvement in PolitiFact would be if there was just a little less of it, with topics more carefully chosen.

That might be something to shoot for. We don’t need a daily truth detector; and we don’t expect it to be perfect.

And, please, get rid of the “truth-o-meter.”

 

In which I give my thoughts on this whole #wiunion thing

Probably no one will be completely happy with this post. That’s OK.

There’s been a great political division in Wisconsin since Gov. Scott Walker announced plans to do away with collective bargaining for state employees. Most of my readers are well acquainted with what’s been going on in protests, court cases and legislative shenanigans.

On the whole I agree with Walker’s budget (and other) plans including some of the things that the union’s are protesting so vigorously. But I also disagree with some of the things the GOP is trying to accomplish.

I used to be radically anti-union. My father died during a strike at the place he worked. No doubt the stress of not working was part, part not all, of the trigger. He also smoked and was slightly overweight which were probably the main causes.

But in seeing the way some, some, not all, employers work, and the government is an employer in this situation, I find that I cannot be totally anti-union. Unions do good work for workers. Safety, wages, etc., are the result of union advocacy. And in spite of what you’ve heard, employers are not really looking out for the best interests of their employees.

But I do think that benefits should not be part of a collective bargaining arrangement. Oh, I know why it’s happened; benefits are a way to “sweeten the pot,” to help make a bargaining agreement palatable.

And I think one should have an option about whether to join a union or not. Yeah, I know that unions are why the wage benefit package is available to an employee; I guess I just don’t like the idea of being forced to do something. That should provide fodder for discussion.

I realize my poor little blog is going to have much influence on the public debate long since enjoined. But I do wish Walker and the GOP had done things a little bit differently.

Oh, and “union thugs” or other derogatory terms will not make it into my writings on the subject.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Unless something else comes up…

Tim Sullivan sure sounds like he’s running for something.

In an address to civic leaders last Wednesday, Sullivan revealed that he had more success finding trained workers in Texas than Wisconsin.

A delegation of senior Texas government authorities met Sullivan at the airport, including the mayor of the town of Kilgore. In a one-hour lunch, they matched Bucyrus with a ready-to-occupy factory with every possible amenity.

More important, they asked Sullivan exactly what sort of workers he needed. Sullivan said 80 with specific skill. The state gave Sullivan a guarantee that the workers would be waiting when the doors opened at the expansion site in Kilgore. State officials customized a recruitment, training and certification program. One year later, when the expansion site in Kilgore opened its doors, the 80 welders were waiting. [Emphasis mine]

Impressive. He then contrasted that to what he found in Milwaukee:

What pained Sullivan most, the CEO said, was that the Milwaukee Area Technical College also said it would customize a welder training program for Bucyrus. But MATC never gave a guarantee as Texas did, Sullivan said. Nor did MATC deliver. Some didn’t finish training. Others were certified but failed a drug test.

But he didn’t blame MATC alone:

About 50,000 working-age residents in the city of Milwaukee cannot read beyond the third grade, Sullivan told M-7. In Wisconsin, meanwhile, some 710,000 working-age people did not finish high school.

Milwaukee is not alone in this:

According to federal data cited by the M-7, 32% of manufacturers nationally report unfilled jobs because they cannot find qualified workers. The nation has nearly 300,000 open positions in manufacturing.

So is he running?

On the subject of politics, Sullivan continues to hold open the option that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat that long-serving Democrat Herb Kohl now occupies, following Kohl’s announcement that he won’t seek re-election. Asked for his political affiliation, Sullivan replied: “I have none.”

We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess. But Sullivan is clearly eager to work on education reform:

Sullivan disclosed his investment in Texas, he said, to build his case for wholesale reform of Wisconsin’s job training and education system. Radical action is needed, he warned the M-7.

As chairman of the Governor’s Council on Workforce Investment, a state advisory panel, Sullivan wants Gov. Scott Walker to change how the state spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year in federal job training funds – and in the process, link the funds to reforms of local education programs. The proposals would change how workforce investment boards – regional training entities – apply for funds. They would need to justify each allocation with commitments to reform the curricula of each region’s kindergarten-through-12th public schools as well as each region’s technical colleges.

It’s a conversation that needs to take place.

I’m not one of those, “Blame it all on the teachers,” guys. Administrators, government leaders and “professionals,” must share in the blame, but those who are to blame the most are parents who are uninvolved in their children’s education and are neither demanding nor making sure that their kids get the education they need to compete in today’s society.

The reason we have breakfasts, lunches, sex-education programs, etc., is that schools are finding that parents are not doing it. And they are trying to fill a gap, however poorly we think they are doing.

Until parent involvement changes, especially in the inner city, any other reform will fall short.

 

More on Tim Sullivan:

Bucyrus CEO Discusses Possible Senate Run

“…we have got to change the way we’re doing things. This is not the way to run a country.”

Other reading I’ve done on education this week:

Montgomery’s $18 million schools ‘miracle’

5 reasons to believe progress is being made to address reading crisis

Milwaukee’s schools need creative thinking

Lighthouse available

Anyone need a lighthouse? Free to a good home.

If the federal government took out a want ad, it would probably say this: Free to a good home, Milwaukee’s breakwater lighthouse.

The Coast Guard has been shedding lighthouses for several years, and now it’s time for the light that has stood sentinel over the Milwaukee harbor to get the heave-ho.

via New owner sought for Milwaukee lighthouse – JSOnline.

 

Republicans trade barbs before New Hampshire debate – latimes.com

UPDATE: And then during the debate they were polite as can be.

I might have to watch the debate tonight…

The strongest shot came from former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who swiped at the healthcare plan signed into law by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by quipping that the polarizing healthcare reform measure championed by President Obama amounted to “Obamneycare.”

And,

Meanwhile, Romney and Huntsman fielded swipes from former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

“I think they have held positions in the past that have not been conservative,” he told David Gregory on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I think they have to account for those.”

via Republicans trade barbs before New Hampshire debate – latimes.com.