MILWAUKEE MILE SITUATION RAPIDLY DETERIORATING

BAD NEWS IS UNRELENTING FOR
CENTURY-OLD STATE FAIR TRACK
"Only Serious Potential Operators" Feel Ignored;
They Include Giuffre Brothers and John Menard

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

You wouldn't know it by visiting the "latest news" section of the Milwaukee Mile website, but the Wisconsin All-Stars race scheduled there for August 29th, 2009 won't happen unless promoter Roy Kenseth is paid his fee -- in advance. He said so himself.

That's just the most recent salvo in the multifaceted saga surrounding the 106-year old oval, the nation's oldest continually operating speedway.

Don Walker kicked off the latest round of bad news in a June 29th, 2009 story where he told us "the Milwaukee Mile's financial mess has NASCAR's attention."
Unfortunately, it was not good attention -- Wisconsin Motorsports, which took over promotion of the Mile in February, 2009 owes NASCAR $1,878,228 for a race held last month.

Milwaukee Mile Holdings, LLC, the previous operator, was removed from its position by the Department of Justice when it could not satisfy its commitments. The February press release announcing the new operators included this forward-looking statement:
"The new promoter agreement ensures the near-term and long-term future of auto racing at America’s Legendary Oval."
Well, maybe not so fast!

Journal Sentinel racing reporter Dave Kallmann wrote about the financial woes, "Sorry, but it's hard to see how this hit's survivable, unless someone out there thinks 106 years of history are worth saving and has a couple million to help do so."

Well, whaddya know? There are some folks out there who think the history is worth saving and have a couple million to help do so, but they are not getting much traction with the officials.

"BRING THE GIUFFRES BACK!"

"Bring the Giuffres Back!" is the first sentence in a letter Dominic Giuffre and his brother Frank Giuffre sent yesterday, July 1st, 2009, to Susan Crane, the Chairman of the Wisconsin State Fair Park Board, owner of the Mile.

The brothers, who ran the Mile from 1983 to 1991, are critical of the "inexperienced management; undercapitalized operators; and indifferent, if not inattentive supervisory structure" of the track, they write.

The brothers are certainly well capitalized. Their Mallory Properties firm controls over 3 million square feet of mostly industrial property in Milwaukee. Giuffre Bros. Cranes, Inc. is a large provider of construction cranes, with five nationwide locations. Other subsidiaries are involved in finance, particularly asset-based cash-flow solutions for contractors.

The Giuffre management team includes John Menard Jr., the Eau Claire billionaire and racing figure who is 132nd on the Forbes list of the World's wealthiest people, one step ahead of Rupert Murdoch.

The Giuffres came in second in the 2005 bidding for the contract to operate the track. They considered, but turned down, operating the track in January when the first group, headed by Craig Stoehr (now of Dubai) split, without paying the mortgage on his loft here.

The letter quotes the brothers saying, "The loss of prestige for the state of Wisconsin [if NASCAR leaves] is incalculable. The Milwaukee Mile is the laughing stock of race fans and the court of public opinion. ... Your board does not seem to have a plan, or indeed a mechanism, in place to see that this facility will continue to operate in the future. Yet you ignore our proposals. Is this how the Milwaukee Mile will end? Not with a bang, but a whimper?

"Here's our suggestion:
"Bring back the Giuffres, or give us a sign otherwise so that we may relax and go about our business."

=========

MILE SUBJECT OF LIVE CHAT WITH KALLMANN

Journal Sentinel Racing Reporter Dave Kallmann had an on-line chat today with readers. The Milwaukee Mile was a top concern.

Here is a sample exchange:

• Q: Dave, Waukesha,wi - Is there any hope for the milwaukee mile?
• A: Dave Kallmann - Sure. But very, very little.

He adds:

• The only people remotely interested in running the Mile are brothers Frank and Dominic Giuffre. Whether they can do a deal that satisfies State Fair Park, NASCAR and IRL remains to be seen.

Kallmann says he will have a column on the subject in the Journal Sentinel tomorrow, Friday, July 3rd, 2009.
--Michael Horne

BREWERY-OWNED DISTRIBUTORSHIPS SEEN ON A-B HORIZON

WOULD SPELL DOOM FOR CRAFT BREWERS
WHOLESALERS CALL FOR REGULATION!

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the "leading global brewer," hopes to self-distribute up to 50% of its products by consolidating and acquiring wholesalers, according to a report issued yesterday, June 24th, 2009, by London-based UBS analyst Melissa Earlam.
That's up from the 20% share predicted when A-B and InBev merged last year, and much more than the 7% A-B InBev already distributes in the US via company-owned wholesalers.

Getting that number up to half of the company's sales will doubtless require a legislative push in a number of states. According to sources, 20 states permit brewers to own wholesalers -- an odd quirk in the much touted Three Tier alcohol beverage distribution system implemented after the end of prohibition. [Wisconsin does not now permit brewers to own wholesalers. All A-B InBev products sold in Wisconsin are dealt through independently owned wholesalers.]

However, A-B InBev products like Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck's are sold by the company's own wholesalers in 13 places, including Boston, New York City, Denver, Louisville, Canton, Hawaii, Tulsa (they drink in Tulsa?) along with the California cities of San Diego, Stockton, Sylman, Pomona and Riverside.

And, whaddya know? A-B InBev lobbyists in Wisconsin plan to become involved in legislation "relating to Three-Tier Issues in Wisconsin," according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.

WHY OWN THE DISTRIBUTORS?

Owning distributorships gives the brewer an additional 25 - 30% margin on its products. Owning sufficient distributorships to command 50% of its U.S. sales would allow A-B InBev to crush the U.S. Craft Brewing industry, and return us to the condition where virtually all beer sold in those states would be mass-produced A-B InBev products, with a few locals struggling to distribute their own wares in states that provide for it, like Wisconsin does, up to 10,000 barrels per year.

WHOLESALERS CALL FOR REGULATION!
Perhaps the plan for brewery-owned distributorships is what promped the National Beer Wholesalers Association to ask the National Council of State Liquor Administrators to increase regulation of wholesalers at their convention June 14-18, 2009 in Nashville.
As Jeremiah McWilliams, who writes the Lager Heads blog for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted:
"It’s not every day that you hear an industry invite more regulation. That has been especially true for beer distributors."
The regulation the distributors probably want is one that would prohibit brewery ownership of wholesalers -- before it's too late.

ONLY PHONY CRAFT BEER CHOICES AT NYC A-B INBEV WHOLESALER
A look at the A-B InBev distributor's product lineup for New York City shows just how limited -- and how corporate -- a selection of beer is available to residents of the nation's most populous city.
In addition to the usual Bud offerings, the NYC distributor offers such craft beer-sounding products as Stone Mill Organic Pale Ale. Sounds nice and old-Vermonty, but Stone Mill is an A-B InBev product.
How about a Kona Beer -- from Hawaii! Once you cut through all the hula nonsense, you'll find that the Kona Beer sold in New York City comes all the way from Redhook, New Hampshire.
That's because it is produced by the Craft Brewers Alliance -- a lovely sounding organization that just happens to be 36% owned by A-B InBev. The CBA also gives us Red Hook, Goose Island and Widmer Brothers beers.
The tough guys in New York City also can buy Bare Knuckle Stout from its corporate-owned distributor. This beer is made by A-B InBev. How about a Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale. That sure sounds Honest-Abe authentic! Sorry! A-B InBev again.

The point is, not a single craft beer is sold by the corporate-owned wholesaler in New York. We could expect the same if A-B InBev is allowed to own even more wholesalers in other states. Furthermore, A-B InBev has been putting heavy pressure on its distributors to only carry A-B InBev products, like the phony "craft beers" listed above.
Some independent A-B distributors, like Milwaukee's Beechwood Distributing Co., market a number of honest-to-goodness craft beers, including New Glarus and Milwaukee Brewing Company offerings.

It is clear that if the brewers will be able to take over the distributors it will spell the end of the craft brewing industry. I can't see any other way around it. There is a terrible paradox and conundrum here -- under Wisconsin law brewers may self-distribute up to 10,000 barrels per year -- about the volume of Lakefront Brewery, which has had a wholesaler (Beer Capitol) for years before it reached that stage. Beyond 10,000 barrels, brewers must hire a wholesaler. Some states absolutely require a distributor for any brewery.
[Over at Buffalo Water Beer Company, we are still self-distributing, but it's getting old -- particularly hauling barrels into basements. (But we still love ya, M's!).--Ed.]

But if A-B InBev and Miller/Coors continue to force consolidation of wholesalers, and then dominate their offerings with their own products, there will be little chance for the craft beer movement to survive.

If the brewers themselves take over the distributors, the craft beer movement will be finished. It is highly improbable that a new system of independent distributors focusing only on craft beers could be established or be successful without the support of major brands in their stables.


For more information see David Kesmodel's article in the Wall Street Journal today.

MCBRIDE ADULTERY WAS "ACADEMIC"

IT'S ACADEMIC!

PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH CHIEF ENDED WITH PUBLICATION OF ARTICLE
THEN, IT WAS OFF TO SCHOOL!

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld
By Michael Horne
And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

* * *

"At the time of the Brocach’s meeting in May, I was an academic who no longer covered Flynn and would not ever do so again."
-- Jessica McBride, on her "professional" status at the time she commenced her affair with Chief Edward Flynn.

What an odd thing to say. In stressing that she did not engage in amorous relations with Milwaukee's police chief as a journalist, why on earth did Jessica McBride feel obliged to cast herself in the role of an academic? Why this need to wear a professional hat while engaging in extramarital sex? What is this mortarboard doing in the bedroom? Why didn't she just call herself "a passionate, sensual wife and mother, but most of all a woman in need of completion?"

The McBride / Flynn affair has gone national, with much being made of possible violations of journalistic ethics by McBride due to her writing a profile of Flynn in Milwaukee Magazine.
McBride says the affair did not begin until May, long after the article had been submitted, and editor Bruce Murphy gives an account that tends to corroborate McBride.
This moots the argument that McBride committed a journalistic ethical lapse by sleeping with the subject of her story while it was being researched and written. She was released from those bonds once the story was published, provided she never write about Flynn again.
Well, that's a start.
However, the damage is done to the magazine, since, by most standards there was no story to report without the journalistic connection and the imputed ethical lapse.
I would have argued that the story could have become public without tying it into the Milwaukee Magazine profile. Jessica McBride is a sufficiently public figure that she could have been outed on a prima facie basis. Plus, the record shows she is a repeat offender at this sort of thing.
Unfortunately the magazine took the hit. I think that is a shame, since Milwaukee Magazine is a very collegial place, and a respectable publication. I have written many stories for the magazine (most recently June, 2009), and Jessica's actions, although not unethical, are still an embarrassment. From now on, if I write a positive article in Milwaukee Magazine, I fully expect folks to ask if I slept with the subject, ha-ha.



UPDATE: I was wrong about Jessica McBride's title and job review status. McBride is a lecturer, not an instructor, and therefore is not part of the academic faculty. Here is her listing on the UWM Faculty Website. As you can see, McBride has contributed a bit to the confusion about her title herself over the years.
For example, she was listed as an instructor in the Milwaukee Magazine itself in October 2008:
"Jessica McBride is a Milwaukee-based freelance writer and a UW-Milwaukee journalism instructor."

Here is where I got called out. I guess lecturers are easier to fire than Instructors, if that is any consolation.

--Michael Horne

CHIEF FALLS FOR MCBROAD

ABOVE: WIFE, MOTHER, EDUCATOR, JOURNALETTE, MORALISTE JESSICA MCBRIDE BUCHER AS SEEN IN HER PROVOCATIVE FACEBOOK PICTURE

By Michael Horne

Chief Edward Flynn has admitted having an extramarital affair with journalist Jessica McBride, who had penned a glowing article about him earlier this year in Milwaukee Magazine. -- News Item.

"Why am I supposed to care if two people who love each other want to have that marriage acknowledged like others’ marriages are acknowledged? Why is that my business? "Why is that supposed to be bad? "What’s the harm?" -- Jessica McBride, in a May 2009 column supporting gay marriage.

I agreed with Jessica McBride when she wrote her defense of gay marriage.
If somebody in a gay marriage goes out and cheats on the other with a common home-wrecking tramp, then the aggrieved parties should be entitled to all the sympathy a civilized society reserves for the Scorned Spouse.
As it is now, gays do not enjoy the opportunity Ed Flynn and Jessica McBride have to violate their marital vows.


Likewise, this is the kind of story that might not have been known if not for a number of factors:

• One factor is the communications in the form of e-mails and a handwritten note mailed anonymously to Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel. That gave him something to work from. Even nowadays, good stuff like that usually goes to mainstream reporters like Bice.
  
• Second is McBride's standing (I almost said "status") as a journalist, and the ethics it is presumed she ought to have employed in writing her living hagiography of the dynamic chief. If the chief had been having an affair with a non-journalist, it wouldn't have been a story. (However, now that the floodgates are open, such an affair would be. I've already got a call in to Springfield, Massachusetts.)
  
• Third is the ethics and standards of professionalism Bice employed in repeatedly attempting to contact the parties in the love affair. Bice was actually prohibited from attending a police press conference where it was feared he might ask the embarrassing question. The chief twice refused to answer a face-to-face question from Bice. [More about that below.--Ed.] Such evasions might have deterred a blogger.
• Fourth is the status of Bice and the Journal Sentinel. Flynn might never have been forced into releasing a statement confessing his guilt to any but the traditional, mainstream media. Bloggers would have been stonewalled forever, and the affair relegated to a whispering campaign.
  

This affair is disturbing on so many levels.


Above: ANNE E. SCHWARTZ, PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER, MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT -- It was in her office that the magic affair began, when McBridget and Flynn "locked eyes."

• "I think there was something from the moment we locked eyes in Annie's office," McBride wrote in a love letter to the chief. "Annie" is presumed to be Anne E. Schwartz, pictured above. It is very disturbing to think of any but the pulpiest novel or most sordid of love affairs to originate with a love story staged in the office of Annie E. Schwartz. Especially if she's watching.

• It is disturbing that Flynn invoked his image as the father of a police officer when he comforted Bryan Norberg and Graham Kunisch, two of his men injured in a gun attack.
• 
  
• It is disturbing that Jessica McBride at one time interviewed, as a journalist, the wife of the man with whom she was eventually to have an affair.
  

• Now that he has so thoroughly embarrassed himself, it is disturbing that Flynn will have to appear in public tomorrow, Saturday, June 20th, 2009, for a TY MPD Day rally to support his two officers. It was disturbing when John Norquist and Susan Mudd had to acknowledge his infidelity just when he was expected to make his Christmas season appearances. It takes something out of the spirit of the occasion.
  

QUESTIONABLE USE OF STAFF BY CHIEF TO EVADE ISSUE

If, as the chief said, "This is a personal matter that occurred in my private, off-duty time," then why did he instruct (or permit) his public, on-duty staff to forbid Bice from attending his press conference? Should the taxpayers finance paid staffers to suppress news about the chief's private, off-duty indiscretions?

--Michael Horne

FUN FACT!

The chief does not mention McBride by name in his written apology [pdf]. Wanna get Jessica mad? Tell her it's because he's already forgotten it!

--Michael Horne

Received a settlement in May, 2009 from Claremont Inn and Meeting Center for burns sustained by her unattended child while McBride was delivering a speech.