MILMAG LAUCHES APRIL ISSUE

The staff of Milwaukee Magazine held a "Launch Party" for its April issue with a reception at the Holiday House, 525 E. Menomonee St., and nearly 100 people showed up at the gig Wednesday evening, March 22, 2006.
Publisher Betty Quadracci was sunning in the Dominican Republic, and could not make the event, but the fort was well held down by editor Bruce Murphy along with colleagues Kurt Chandler and Mary Van De Camp Nohl.
Chandler has an item in the new issue that practically wrote itself, he said. He gathered four college fraternity brothers together after 50 years out in the real world and sat them down at Jake's Restaurant, where they reminisced. It sounds like pretty standard fare, until you realize the fabulous four consist of Sen. Herb Kohl, Steve Marcus, Commissioner of Major League Baseball Allen H. "Bud" Selig and Atty. Franklyn Gimbel.
The story that will probably get the most traction from this issue is an Eric Gunn profile of Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., the feisty republican representative from the North Shore and beyond. Gunn traces the political trajectory of the Kimberly Clark heir who now is chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee.
The article is accompanied by several unflattering photographs of the congressman, [there is no other kind] taken by Tom Bamberger.
Murphy said Sensenbrenner's handlers did whatever they could to stymie Bamberger's access to the great man for purposes of portraiture.
Bamberger, not one to be deterred, simply waited until Sensenbrenner held one of his signature listening sessions in a public library, and snapped away. The resulting images are classic photojournalism, and I am certain if Sensenbrenner had not put up such a fuss, Bamberger might have told him his collar was askew in every image.
Among the attendees who enjoyed complimentary wine (a California red, a German Gewurtraminer and a New Zealand Sauvingnon Blanc) and beer (Trummer Pils) were such notables as H. Carl Mueller, Danae Davis, Judith Moriarty, who does a regular gossip feature for the magazine, photographer Peter DiAntoni, and others too numerous to mention.
-- Michael Horne


BITS and PIECES
Milwaukee slumlord Tim Brophy Jr.'s Whitefish Bay Lake Drive mansion is for sale, as the real estate mogul faces continuing troubles over his properties and performance. A Brophy building at the southwest corner of N. Prospect Ave. and E. Brady St. is placarded and is unfit for habitation, according to the Department of Neighborhood Services, which has hundreds of outstanding orders against properties in the 50-building plus Brophy portfolio.
According to sources who have toured the Whitefish Bay home, which many of us recognize from its inappropriate beveled glass front door, even more horrors await within the structure, which Brophy refinished in Nouveau Riche Baron style, complete with dark wood, over-impressive fixtures and fittings, all installed, apparently, by $7 per hour carpenters. ... Dr. Enrique Figueroa was the moderator Thursday for the 4th Street Forum at Turner Hall. The topic of the day: "Who Owns Lake Michigan Water?" The answer: nobody. Water is too precious to own. According to panelist Doug Cherkauer, Ph.D., a researcher at the Great Lakes Institute of UWM, "water is dynamic, mobile and essential. It is not a commodity like oil or coal."
the panelists discussed the Annex 2001 agreement between the eight Great Lakes governors and two Canadian premiers. The agreement was signed in Milwaukee in December. According to environmental lawyer Melissa Scanlan, the founder and executive director of Midwest Environmental Associates, the agreement will permit diversion of water from the Great Lakes, provided it is done so in containers of 5.7 gallons or less. She opposes this portion of the agreement. Panelist Chris Ahmuty of the ACLU said we should be cautious about diverting water to Waukesha county, which he says is a separate economy from Milwaukee. Why should the poor of the city permit diversion of water to an area with hypersegregation? he asked. The forum was introduced by Julilly W. Kohler, its founder. Her sister Marie Kohler popped in for the discussion. It will be televised Friday at 10 p.m. and repeated Sunday at 3 p.m.on WMVT-Channel 36... There is a proposal to change zoning on N. Warren Ave. north of E. Brady Street from two-family to planned unit development to permit the construction of two three-story buildings somewhere on the east side of the street. I cannot think of any vacant lots in the area; and the common council file does not give an exact address of where this development is to be constructed. There is a vacant lot on the west side of N. Warren Ave. We'll have to figure this out later. ... The absentee ballots have been out for weeks, and where have you been? Apparently not voting. There is an election on April 4th, you know. Over at City hall downtown, fewer than 20 absentee ballots have been returned thus far, which is slow turnout for a super-slow turnout election. The clerk in Fox Point says she's had only three walk-in and less than 15 mailed-in ballots thus far.
Well, that's enough for now, I'll check back with you tomorrow.
Michael Horne