Alberta Darling: My Staff Will Not Be Outworked

by capper

Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story about the political races that are forming up for this fall's elections.

Without a doubt, one of the biggest races on the local scene is the match up between state Senator Alberta Darling and state Representative Sheldon Wasserman. This is what Greg J. Borowski wrote about the race (emphasis mine):

In the Milwaukee area, the marquee battle pits Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) against Rep. Sheldon Wasserman (D-Milwaukee). In what could become an expensive battle, Democrats hope a win will add to their edge in the Senate.

“There is a huge mood in this country for change,” said Wasserman, who added, “This race will not be bought. It will be earned by someone knocking on doors.”

Wasserman said he has knocked on more than 17,000 doors (17,274 to be exact). Darling said she and her staff have visited 25,000 homes, including 10,000 since spring.

“I will not be outworked,” Darling said, adding: “People are looking for somebody who listens to them, hears them and works for them.”

It would be interesting to know just how many of those 25,000 homes Darling did herself, and if she spent any time with the people that live in those homes. It is also rather tacky to take credit for the work of others, even if they're volunteers for her campaign.

My personal impressions of Darling are not favorable, and she has spoken out of both sides of her mouth on more than one occasion. I remember that in the mid 1990's, she, along with Mia Farrow and a few other Republican Senators, spearheaded getting Milwaukee County's child welfare system privatized. On the morning that she came to speak to the county workers, in which she was going to thank and praise us for our years of devotion, the MSJ ran an article in which she completely smeared the workers, and not the fact that three different auditors found that the state had been shorting the system for years. Since then, the privatization efforts have only made things worse.

Now, more than ten years later, she even admits that she did a lousy job of it.

Cross posted at Cognitive Dissidence.

Alberta Darling: Even I Don't Like The Job I've Done

by capper


As I had noted previously, in 1996, Alberta Darling, along with her fellow Republicans, at the marching orders of then-Governor Tommy Thompson added a clause to the budget bill, taking over the child welfare system in Milwaukee County. Their rationale was that, even though independent audits had shown the foster care system to be grossly underfunded, that they could do a better job at running the system than Milwaukee County had.

In 1998, the state took over, creating the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare (BMCW) and began to privatize the system. By the end of 2001, they had it all but completely privatized, with contracts to no less than five different agencies. They also increased the budget for Milwaukee County's child welfare system by some $35 million. At that time, the standard payment to a foster parent of a child less than three years old was $292 per month.

In this morning's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, there is an article that reports the payment to foster parents has skyrocketed up to $317 per month. That is $25 per month, or a .o9% increase, in six years. Not exactly a great big lot of help.

Now, I will admit that I don't have children myself, but I did work in the child welfare system. I know that the cost to raise a child is pretty high. It becomes higher when the child has been abused and neglected, as that child will have some serious emotional and sometimes physical issues that need to be contended with. There is the need for special medical equipment, extra time is needed for meetings with social workers, attorneys, advocates, doctors and other professionals that would not be in the life of a healthy child, and there is the damage that can occur when an emotionally scarred child acts out.

And, based on conversations that I have had with people that are still working in the system, foster parents are not getting a lot of support from BMCW. Their requests for extra services are ignored, their complaints fall on deaf ears, and they are often left with an inexperienced worker, or no worker at all.

Foster parents do one of the hardest jobs in the world. They take in someone else's child that has been neglected, physically abused, and/or sexually abused, and they give it a loving home, nurturing and an affection that is totally alien to what they have had previously experienced. They don't do it for accolades, or money, or any reason other than they love children.

So, where is all that extra money going? Well, there is the administration of all these different agencies, and their own spending issues, including $9,000 for a conference table. There is also a faulty computer system, the lawsuits, and the ongoing internal audits done by the state to tell itself there are no problems, even though everyone else can see them. Oh, and there is the inefficiencies of the private agencies.

The article goes on to report that State Senator Alberta Darling, the same person who helped give birth to this monster, and is on the advisory board, which is supposed to be overseeing BMCW, due to all of its problems, takes this position:

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) says she supports that increase - and more in the future. "We are really significantly behind," she said. "We are spending millions and millions of dollars on foster care, and some of that needs to be directed toward foster parent reimbursement."

Darling, who is a member of the advisory group to the state-run Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, added that the state needs to come up with a 10-year plan to "redirect some of the money going to the bureaucracy into direct service on the line to foster parents and kinship parents."

She admits that there are serious flaws that are ongoing in BMCW, which she helped to create, and is supposed to be overseeing. In other words, she admits that even she doesn't like the job she has been doing. It should only be a matter of time before she is wearing a "Sheldon Wasserman for State Senate" button.

Wasserman for the 8th

by folkbum

It's nice having Democratic control of the State Senate. (A budget, too, would be helpful. But a boy can't have everything he wants.) But it is not enough to rest on that small majority; instead, we ought to be building bigger margins in the safe districts, expanding Democratic ideals and representation to the close districts, and fighting tooth and nail regardless in the hopeless districts.

One of the close districts is the 8th, which comprises the northern tip of Milwaukee's East Side, much of the North Shore, and chunks of that GOP trifecta--Washington, Ozaukee, and Washington Counties. The current office-holder is Alberta Darling, a supposed "moderate" who nonetheless walks the Republican line, even when it comes to her supposed signature moderate issue, abortion. (Planned Parenthood rates her below 50%.) She had a challenge from relatively fresh-faced Jennifer Morales in 2004, a contest that was closer than many people expected.

Sheldon Wasserman is not so fresh-faced, not so inexperienced as Morales, and not so unknown to the district. He's been ably representing the 22nd Assembly district for some time now, quietly building a name for himself as a solid, compassionate, and thoughtful Democratic legislator. And it's time for a change:

When Alberta first ran she pretended to be something she is not, a socially moderate and fiscally responsible leader. Her record over the years has drifted further and further from that ideal. She now follows a hard right wing Republican agenda. This is the same agenda that ignores real issues while making gay marriage extra illegal and banning stem cell research and the life saving hope it may offer. Despite their rhetoric, Senator Darling and her colleagues did nothing to hold the line on taxes. We can do better.

This race is about all of us joining together to send a message that we want pragmatic leadership, not the rigid right wing social agenda. It's about promoting a fiscal responsibility that gets the most bang for the buck for taxpayers. It's about fighting for better schools in our neighborhoods and keeping concealed guns out. It's about a belief that government can do a better job for the people of this district and this state. I hope you will join me and support my campaign.

As a member of the State Assembly I am proud to have....
- Fought hard to defend women's reproductive rights.
- Pushed new standards for renewable energy sources. I put my money where my mouth is and ride the bus back and forth to Madison.
- Stood up for patients' rights, guaranteeing independent review of insurance company denials.
- Helped pass the popular SeniorCare prescription drug program.
- Been recognized for my work for sexual assault victims.

As a State Senator I can do more. I have a bold vision for the future. I will fight to...
- Increase safety on our roads by requiring more frequent testing of drivers over 75.
- Cut the number of counties in Wisconsin, thereby saving taxpayers millions of dollars by eliminating redundant bureacracy.
- Ban discrimination against breastfeeding women.

There is a stark difference between my opponent and [me]. There is too much at stake here to sit on the sidelines. I will need your support to counter the vast sums of special interest money Senator Darling will raise. When she was sitting on the budget-writing committee and raising money from some of the very groups that lobbied her I was out knocking on doors and talking to the people of the district. Unlike Alberta, I refused to raise money until after I voted on the budget. She is already spending that money by hiring surrogates to knock on doors. I will rely on people just like you to volunteer. She thinks she can buy the election with $1000 checks from lobbyists. I know I can win with contributions from people like you. Your contribution of $500, $150, $75, $35 or whatever you can afford will go a long way.

This race is winnable. The numbers show that a candidate with my background and record can win here. I will not take one vote for granted though. I have already knocked on over 3,000 doors and I've worn out two pairs of shoes. I plan on needing many more before this over. I have won tough races before. When I first ran for the Assembly, no one thought I could defeat a Republican incumbent legislator. Don't bet against me this time! Together we can unseat another out-of-touch incumbent legislator.

You can give to Wasserman through my ActBlue page or through ActBlue on Wasserman's site. You can attend a kick-off event for his campaign on Tuesday September 25, 2007, 5-7pm, at the beautiful lakefront home of Bonnie and Leon Joseph, 8130 N Beach Drive, Fox Point. This is a winnable seat; let's make it happen!

Friday Random Questions

1. The perennial, What liberal media?
   
2. If the state really does re-bid the travel contract, and the bids come in higher than what Adelman had bid to win the contract (after a state employee fudged the numbers to force another round of lower bidding), will Republicans complain that the state is spending too much on travel? Badger Blues and Playground Politics have the best writing on this issue.
   
3. On most Blogger blogs, clicking the name of the blog in the header will return you to the home page of that blog. That doesn't happen with mine; I know there's probably a line or two of code I should slip into my template, but I can't figure out how to do it without turning it blue. Anyone know the magic words?
   
4. If I were going to put a face on the media establishment in this town, it would be Charlie Sykes's face. At what point will they stop calling him "alternative" media?
   
5. I am not sure Sheldon Wasserman's idea is practical, but it may be worth considering, just so I can say I live in Milwoshawaukawashozacine County.
   
6. How big of an idiot is John Stossel? Okay, I've actually found a couple of good answers to that question already, and the consensus seems to be, "bigger than his mustache."
   
7. Is John Kerry really the best person to lead the filibuster on Alito, with Ted Kennedy singing harmony? I agree that Alito is wrong for the bench (it's the separation of powers, people!), but couldn't we get a moderate from the South or West to lead this one, like Blanche Lincoln or Ron Wyden?
   
8. Finally: Should I or shouldn't I? I can't be more specific than that right now, but I'd appreciate your opinion.