"EVERYTHING BUT DRIVING THE CAR" -- Trooper's Account of Carpenter Citation

CARPENTER CITATION REVEALED

Details of Reckless Driving Charge Released

“Was Doing Everything But Driving the Car” -- Trooper

[a milwaukeeworld.com exclusive]

© 2006, by Michael Horne

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation State Patrol headquarters has released the narrative of the events that led the agency to issue a citation to Sen. Tim Carpenter on charges of Reckless Driving – Endangering Safety on Saturday, March 18, 2006 at 2:30 p.m. The pavement was dry, the traffic was light and it was daylight in Racine County on that fateful afternoon.

Blame the early closing hours of Chicago’s art galleries for this one. Well, that’s what Carpenter did.

According to the narrative of Trooper Donna Reis, which has not been edited for spelling, style or punctuation, “I received a call … concerning a reckless driver NE from 7 Mile Road. I was at the scale. Two callers were following the vehicle. They had observed the vehicle driving on the shoulder for half mile or so and thought it struck the median wall. I observed the vehicle SE CTH F LL. The driver of the vehicle leaned to the right and totally disappear from sight on two occasions. During these times he deviated and came near to striking vehicles around him. The callers were trying to box him in, but he got around them. I activated lts and siren. Vehicle stopped RS at Golf Rd. WI DL going to Chicago for art exhibit that closes at 5 and needed his I-Pass and was looking for it and his cell fell and he had to look for that and there were other items on the passenger side he was trying to organize.

“He was doing everything but driving the car.”

The citation carries an estimated 6 points and calls for a deposit of $375. Carpenter issued a written plea of not guilty on March 27^th. The matter is now scheduled for a pretrial conference.

I have the telephone numbers of the two drivers mentioned, and will ring them up to see if they would like to talk about their brush with celebrity on the highway. I would also like to look at Carpenter’s 4-door maroon 2000 Saturn, license plate “BASEBAL” to see if it has sustained any recent damage – or repairs.

SLUMLORD SEEKS PROSPECT AVE OFFICE APPROVAL

Tim Brophy, Jr., the Milwaukee slumlord who buys and sells properties like they are used cars, is asking the Board of Zoning Appeals to approve his request to occupy the property at 1681 N. Prospect Avenue as offices, in part.
The building had been placarded by Brophy's nemesis, the Department of Neighborhood Services, the source of the comments about Brophy's real estate trading habits.
Brophy's empire is generally considered to be crumbling. He has been sued, forclosed, fined, and jailed for his real estate shenanigans, including famously breaking into a tenant's apartment and hiding under her bed when the Man came looking for him last year.
Brophy's appeal is scheduled for a 5 p.m. hearing tomorrow, Thursday, April 27th in room 301-B of Milwaukee's City Hall, 200 E. Wells St.
The public is invited to comment on Brophy's plans for the Prospect avenue property, familiar to many as the "Elizabeth House," on the southwest corner of N. Prospect Av. and E. Brady St. The mansion had been a rooming house for many years. Tell your friends and show up to contest this application.
The building is in the district of Ald. Michael S. D'Amato, who has frequently challenged Brophy, and who considers him to be the worst landlord in the city.
What kind of landlord is Brophy? I spoke to a tenant of his who lives in a five-family building in Riverwest. The building is in need of structural repair, according to city records that document the need for the north wall of the building to be reconstructed and other horrors.
The tenant, with a newly-born infant, was without heat for much of the winter. Brophy demanded an additional $75 monthly rent for utility bills for the building, although there was nothing in the lease to authorize this extortion. The gas account is in Brophy's name, according to the tenant, and the meter has been locked, and gas service disconnected, due to Brophy's failure to pay what the tenant characterized as a $5,000 bill. The gas remains out, and the family is unable to bathe with hot water or to use the gas stove. The Department of Neighborhood Services has received a complaint about the building from the tenant.
--Michael Horne

M&I BOOSTS DIVIDEND 12.5%

The Board of Directors of the Marshall & Ilsley Corporation [NYSE: MI]boosted the Milwaukee bank's annual dividend 12.5% from 93 cents per share to $1.05 per annum, it was announced this morning at the firm's annual meeting held at the historic Pabst Theater.
Dennis Kuester, the Chairman of the Board and CEO, gave the good news to some 400 shareholders who attended the meeting. The dividend increase news has become routine for M&I shareholders. This is the 34th consecutive year of increases, Kuester said.
As always, the first order of business was to dispense with the reading of the minutes. For at least the 40th year, that task was borne by a retired gentleman by the name of Peter Renner. This year, he did it by videotape, to the great approbation of the audience.
In between the bookends of dividend news and suspension of minutes, the meeting was filled with double-digit growth good news for the company. The only area where the bank holding company has been underperforming in the past year is in its stock price, which was up about 6 per cent from the year before. However, Kuester informed the audience that a better measure of stock growth is in the long term. Over the past five years, the bank significantly outperformed its peers, he said.
Another measure of the performance of a bank, in addition to the money it makes, lies in the money it does not lose. M&I continued to rank at the very top of all banks nationally in its low net chargeoffs of nonperforming loans. That sum was only $6 million in the first quarter of the year, according to Mark F. Furlong, (201.168 meters), the president and interim Chief Financial Officer of the corporation. Not bad for a corporation with $31 billion in loans outstanding at year's end.
Shareholders approved the election of directors and the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company's independent auditor by margins of over 90 per cent. the 2006 Equity Incentive Plan received over 70 per cent of the vote, while a shareholder proposal, which management opposed, to recommend one-year non-staggered terms for board members was a dead heat, with results not expected until later in the day. We'll be the first to get them to you.
The state of Wisconsin still provides the bulk of the company's earnings, at 48 per cent, down from 73 per cent in 2001. The strategy of increasing M&I's presence in high growth locales such as Arizona, the Gulf Coast of Florida and Nevada is paying off, according to Furlong.
Shareholder questions, entertained from the floor, included the annual query as to whether the firm plans to spin off its lucrative Metavante division, as had been proposed around the turn of the century in an offer later withdrawn. The answer, again, was "no." Kuester said the firm revisits the Metavante issue from time to time, and even brings in outside consultants to provide perspective. For the time being, the goose that is Metavante will remain in its coop in the bank's vault, laying golden eggs.
Refreshments included coffee, milk, orange juice and soft drinks. Pastries included various Danishes, cinnamon rolls and itsy-bitsy blueberry and poppyseed muffins. Thrifty shareholders stuffed their faces, and in some cases their pockets, with the morsels, prepared and served by Shully's Catering of Thiensville.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
-- Michael Horne

NAN'S CAMS ON WAY

Chief Requests Information on Surveillance System

Chief Nannette Hegerty of the Milwaukee Police Department has issued a “Request for Information Wired and Wireless Camera Surveillance System” to deploy “at least 25-30 cameras … in at least four areas of the city and with at least one monitoring station.”

The system “is to be installed and operational during the summer of 2006.” The request for information is not an invitation to bid, the chief advises, adding, “however, the Department desires information on cost in order to plan an effective deployment of as many cameras as possible in the future.”

The cameras are to utilize a web interface, “so as not to require the deployment of software to individual computer workstations used to monitor the cameras in the system.”

Furthermore, the “system should feature hardened/bullet resistant enclosures for the camera and/or associated equipment. The enclosure shall accommodate a 19” tall by 15” wide Milwaukee Police Decal,” just so you know Big Sister is watching.

In the event the road map-sized decal should not be sufficiently conspicuous, the “enclosure shall also accommodate a strobe light mounted in such a manner as to be seen from all directions and of sufficient intensity to attract attention to the presence of the camera.” Wouldn’t you like to have that flashing outside your bedroom window all night!

The zoom feature of the camera should be “capable of viewing vehicle license plates at a distance of about 600 feet (one city block).”

It is also expected that those systems not connected directly to wired infrastructure will utilize the city-wide Wi-Fi network currently under construction by Midwest Fiber Networks.

The system chosen “must make provision for the storage of all captured images for a period of 15 calendar days after which time the images are automatically deleted and/or overwritten unless specifically saved by an operator.”

Does this sound like your kind of thing?

If so, “the city invites responders to submit sample camera for use by the City of Milwaukee as test equipment in the pilot areas of the city in summer of 2006. The city will not pay for the sample goods submitted by responders but will return the equipment, if required to do so, once the type of equipment needed by the city is determined and purchased.”

Responses are appreciated by May 19^th 2006.

--Michael Horne

IN OTHER NEWS

Tim McMurtry II, former aide to Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. began work Monday, April 24^th at Mueller Communications, Inc. where he will work with staff on client accounts, the firm confirmed this morning. … If you own a property in the City of Milwaukee, or if you are just curious about a property’s new assessment numbers, you can try to log onto the city’s website to look it up. New numbers were posted today. … What is the motivation behind the constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage? According to a Republican, who said this with a straight face, “it has always been about domestic partner insurance benefits.” And what is the problem with domestic partner benefits? “They could bankrupt the state and private businesses. Especially if the partners are women,” who consume a majority of health care dollars after a certain age. (Presumably after the age that most men drop dead.) So, you see – it has nothing to do about being anti-gay, per se!

Perhaps, if we want to make republicans happy, we should hire a team of actuaries to rewrite our constitution. What a bunch of hooey!

--Michael Horne

ASSEMBLY ACTS ON TAX BREAK FOR SEASON TICKET HOLDERS

--But Action Not Yet Revealed to Public

On April 12^th 2006 “executive action was taken” by the legislature on 2005 Assembly Bill 1084. However, not even the experts at the Legislative Reference Bureau in Madison will know what action was taken until further reports are made by the Committee on Ways and Means. And, apparently the committee can take its good-natured time doing so.

The bill would create a non-refundable income and franchise tax credit “in the amount of the state sales or use tax paid on purchases of ‘rights to purchase’ season admissions to athletic events sponsored by certain institutions of higher education that take place at a facility owned or leased by the institution. Unused credits could be carried forward 15 years.”

The fiscal estimate narrative for the bill tells us that a right “to purchase a season ticket costs $100 - $250 for football, $50 - $150 for men’s basketball, $25 for women’s basketball and $25-$50 for men’s hockey” at the University of Wisconsin. According to the UW figures provided to the bureau, “sales of rights total $6.1 million annually.” State taxes on these rights total about $300,000, according to staff estimates. Assuming all eligible purchasers tax advantage of this tax break, it would cost the state treasury that sum annually if the bill, sponsored by Rep. Sheryl K. Albers, (R-49^th) and Rep. Phil Montgomery, (R-4^th). Albers is a 2004 graduate of the UW law school; Montgomery has a B.S. from the University of Houston-Downtown.

The proposal does not sit well with Rep. David A. Cullen, (D-13^th), a UW graduate who wrote to a constituent to say, “This bill is not a joke. … I do not support a tax break for purchases of season tickets … I believe people purchasing season tickets for such events purchase the tickets having the means of doing so and the sales tax on the tickets have not prevented them from doing so. There is no reason to give a tax break to people of such means when we are cutting funding for many other worthy programs … not the least of which are the institutions of higher learning themselves.”

According to Cullen’s information, the bill was introduced on March 2^nd 2006, and was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means that same day. It had a public hearing on April 4^th.

Now – if the assembly would only release the action it took on the bill on Wednesday, April 12^th!

--Michael Horne