Updates--Mayor and Barrel-scraping

After doing some spring cleaning projects--replacing window treatments the dog ate last winter, beginning the process of cleaning a winter's worth of petrified dog doo from the back yard, some banal laundry--I'm too tired to write the post I'm working on about vacationing in Mexico with David Brooks. So instead I'm offering just a quick update on two aspects of the Milwaukee mayor's race, plus some other updates.

First, Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann today opted not to bring criminal charges against candidate Marvin Pratt. Instead, he filed civil charges for Pratt's campaign finance irregularites going back to 2002, including a fine of $2,500. A radio report I heard indicated that McCann found no evidence of intent, just mistakes. However, the Journal Sentinel report makes no mention of that, and includes more uses of the phrase "in addition" than should legally be allowed in that few column inches.

Second, in the comments thread following yesterday's post (and by thread, I mean, the one comment), Redeye asked, "How will Pratt's being black make him a better mayor?" It's not that I think Pratt will necessarily be a better mayor--I think he will be no better or worse that my guy, Tom Barrett. The difference, though, is that I worry very much what a major election decided mostly along racial lines will do to the city, one already severely segregated by race. What would be worse is if the African American community ends up feeling like Pratt was unfairly targeted by the D.A. and the press because he is black, and loses due to the (very legitimate) finance issues.

As to the "Bottom of the Barrel": It turns out the Ghost of a Flea, whose site I've never seen before, also favored the Chong Hwa blog I noted below with a link and commentary, even noting the same "hallucinatory poetry" quality I did--though a few hours later.

And Ms. Frizzle is also in on the act here, talking about Wild Blue Yonder and more. Ms. Frizzle and the Flea will be in the blogroll soon.