WEEKEND UPDATE

Dear Reader,

Happy Fiscal New Year from milwaukeeworld, and may you enjoy your holiday. There are just a few notices to post here for your attention before we head out to the wonderful weather and innumerable diversions of the metropolis. Just read on, and sign off!

--Michael Horne

The Britinn opened Friday, June 30^th 2006 just in time to be ready for the England v. Portugal match Saturday, when the place will open at 9 a.m. for its first full day of business. The English-themed bar is located at 4473 N. Oakland Ave. in the site long occupied by the Shorewood Inn. The club, which is authentically English ex-pat owned, features beers and ales common to the Isles, including Guinness, Smithwick’s, Newcastle, and Stella Artois, a Belgian brand that is the best-selling premium lager in the United Kingdom, where, indeed, some of it is now brewed. Right now, the place serves drinks only, which is about the only foodstuff soccer fans consume during the World Cup, anyway. Food will follow in a fortnight or so. … Aladdin Middle Eastern Cuisine has closed its shop at 220 W. Wisconsin Ave., concentrating its operations at the Milwaukee Public Market. … Lew A. Wasserman writes that he is a reader of www.milwaukeeworld.com, and that he filed his declaration of candidacy for Milwaukee County District Attorney on Thursday, June 28^th. He will run as an independent for the partisan office, “because I believe that the District Attorney is a quasi-judicial office, and should be removed, or beyond, or above partisan politics,” he says. … Beth Martin of WE Energies explained the “back-up” system that failed to come on during the Summerfest power failure opening day, alluded to in public comments by fest Executive Director Don Smiley. The Henry W. Maier Festival Park is served by two feeders, she said, ordinarily providing the needed redundancy for the world’s greatest music festival. The line that fell yesterday disabled both feeders, she said, adding that the cause of the accident has not been determined, other than that it was not intentional. “Remember, our equipment is out in the open, exposed to the elements,” she said. Indeed, 29 per cent of electric power outages here are due to equipment failures from ordinary wear and tear in our severe climate. Storm damage is a close second, followed by trees and critters. Human error ranks very low. ... Joe Klein, who has been training in Mississippi for the past two months, while still keeping an eye on milwaukeeworld, will be feted by his wife Mary Jo Klein and many friends Saturday, July 1st, 2006 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Uptowner, 1032 E. Center St. The next day, he and his fellow troops will be at the Milwaukee County Zoo to participate in Operation Freedom 2006. Then, they'll be shipped off somewhere overseas for a year's deployment.

(For those who believe irony is a dish best served delicious, County Executive Scott Walker is a prime force between Operation Freedom 2006. Joe Klein, in uniform, will have the honor of standing at attention while being speeched at by the guy he ran against for County Executive in a three-way primary for that non-partisan office. Klein came in third then, but he'll be coming back as a veteran when his tour is over. Take that, Chicken Hawks -- there's something about a man in uniform!)

--Michael Horne

CHICAGO RULES CARPENTERS' LOCALS HERE

CHICAGO RULES

Local Carpenters Part of Chicago Union

My, How Things Have Changed

By Michael Horne

Two years ago, carpenters in six southeast Wisconsin counties merged with their south-of-the-border counterparts create the Northeast District of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters. It was done for “mutual issues of bargaining, training, and so forth,” according to Dominique Paul Noth, the editor of the Milwaukee Labor Press, who shared this information in response to a request from Milwaukeeworld.

The Chicago Council, dating to 1881, has 47,000 members in 81 counties in Northern Illinois, Southeastern Wisconsin and Northeastern Iowa. It is the largest Regional Council in the United States.

Just at about the time of the merger, carpenters union members became an increasingly common presence at City Hall, at non-union construction sites and even at community meetings at which construction projects were discussed. The impression is of a much more in-your-face presence than is customary in Milwaukee. However, Noth says, “most of the folks you are seeing in Milwaukee have Chicago on their signs, but live and work hereabouts.”

If that is the case, the locals have certainly been instructed at some level by the big guys from the Windy City, which has a union tradition quite different from Milwaukee’s, to say the very least.

At a meeting Monday evening, June 26^th 2006, held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Milwaukee to discuss an upcoming project by New Land Development, individuals who identified themselves as members of the Carpenters Union handed out flyers that announced, “Who Is Pulling The Strings Around Milwaukee?”

The flyer answered its own question with, “Boris Gokhman of New Land Enterprises, LLP!”

The flyer queried further, “Is Boris running Ollman Construction Corp.?” (A non-union contractor that does much work on large residential projects.)

The answer, apparently, is yes, “Because he is signing the mortgages!”

“Does Boris Have Influence at City Hall?”

Yeppers, again, “Because Ald. D’Amato Gets Him Everything!”

“Where Will it End?”

No answer to that, but the flyer continues with, “Boris might be pulling the strings. Don’t let him ‘yank your chain.’”

The flyer ends with “The Carpenters Union is currently engaged in a labor dispute with Ollman Construction Corporation … We seek only to inform the public!” (Similar flyers have also appeared in mailboxes of homes under construction by non-union carpenters, including those built by Miracle Homes.)

Interestingly, there is no “union bug” on the flyer to identify it as the work of a union printing shop, so perhaps the flyer can not be traced to the union any more than can the mysterious fires that have occurred at non-union construction sites on N. Commerce St., or the vandalism that has been recorded at construction sites belonging to New Land Development and the Mandel Corporation.

I asked Ald. Michael D’Amato if he was aware of the flyer, and he said he was, adding that nobody from the Union has ever called him to express concerns about Gokhman.

Milwaukee, despite its geographic proximity to Chicago, has never really had a union with close ties to that city. Perhaps we are in for a learning curve.

--Michael Horne

GREEN DIRECTOR NAMED

The City of Milwaukee advertised in March for an Environmental Sustainability Director, a new cabinet-level position in the Barrett administration dedicated to "growing a green economy through smart approaches to water and energy issues."
Today, June 28th, 2006, the new director was announced, when the administration chose Ann Beier, a Wisconsin native for the position.
According to Department of City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux, Beier was chosen last week.
Beier is a Wisconsin native with "more than 20 years experience working with federal, state and local governments on environmental and economic development issues." She most recently served as the Planning Services Division Manager with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. She worked on "sustainable land and transportation uses that also promote a healthy economy."
The agenda of the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission, dated June 15th 2006, prepared for its meetings of June 28th - 30th, thanks Beier for her "exemplary service" to the agency, and mentions her new position in "Milwaukee's (as in, Wisconsin)" Mayor's office. If you want Beier's old job, you have until Friday to apply for it.
Beier, an attorney, also worked for the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and was a state of Wisconsin budget analyst and economist.

-- Michael Horne

BURN THE FLAG, BUT DON'T WEAR THE MEDALS

BURN THE FLAG, IF YOU WILL – BUT DON’T WEAR THE MEDALS

[An Election Year Drama, with Hints of Political Meddling, Plays out in Federal Court Here.]

By Michael Horne

On June 27th, 2006, the United States Senate failed to rise to the bait and turned down a proposed amendment prohibiting the burning of the United States flag. With the flag furor extinguished (for now) another hot-button political issue with national implications is simmering right here in Wisconsin, attracting very little attention.

It is the case of The United States of America v. William James Richardson in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, where U. S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic has decided to charge that the defendant “did knowingly wear a decoration and medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States, a service medal and badge awarded to the members of such forces, and the ribbon, button and rosette of such badges, decorations, and medals, without authorization under regulations made pursuant to law.

“All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 704.”

The penalty for this misdemeanor offense is a maximum $5,000 fine or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.

Biskupic filed the charges on January 19^th, 2006, after an FBI investigation determined that Richardson had worn unauthorized decorations including the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross.

The venue? No, it was not Afghanistan or Iraq, or the halls of the Pentagon.

Richardson allegedly committed his offense "on or about the 4^th of July, 2002" as a member of the Fond du Lac American Legion Firing Squad.

He was allegedly photographed at that event, and fellow legion member John Streeter, a World War II vet, took the picture to the FBI, which used it as evidence against Richardson

Streeter’s suspicions were raised when he heard that Richardson, 60, was not accepted into the VFW post in town. If Richardson couldn’t make it into the VFW with all of that salad bar hanging on his chest, Streeter reckoned, then something must be wrong.

So, what started as a Legion Hall feud has become a federal case -- a very convenient case to rally veterans.

On April 6th, 2006, Richardson informed the court that he would enter a plea, after negotiations with authorities. He had until May 12th, 2006 to notify the court if a plea agreement had been signed. On May 19th, 2006, he entered a "Notice of Intent to Enter A Guilty Plea."

On June 16th, 2006, the Government asked permission to allow individuals to speak at the sentencing hearing. Three days later, the court allowed "members of the American Legion Post of Fond du Lac to speak at the sentencing," thereby turning it into a media circus. "If the defendant objects, he may file an objection which will be addressed in court," Magistrate Judge Aaron E. Goodstein ruled.

The next day Richardson's attorney, Calvin R. Malone of the Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin, Inc., informed the court that Richardson would change his plea. On June 21st, 2006, Malone informed the court that there was a dispute about the July 4th, 2006 photograph. The government agreed to "stipulate that [the] photo was taken in May, 2002 rather than July, 2002. The information will need to be amended." The trial is set for August 3rd, 2006 at 10:00 a.m.

I asked Assistant U. S. Attorney William Lipscomb why Biskupic decided to charge Richardson for this offense.

He said “perhaps you should see what veterans’ groups have to say about this issue.”

I responded that I was aware of what veterans’ groups have to say about flag burning, too, and I couldn’t see why this relatively trivial offense is being prosecuted in Federal Court in Milwaukee.

(By the way, there is a branch of the United States Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin located in Green Bay, which is much closer to the scene of the crime. Why wasn’t the case prosecuted there? Curious.)

My conclusion is that Biskupic, who can always be relied upon for his keen political instincts and willingness to do the bidding of his superiors, is advancing this case since it will make excellent election year fodder – just as would a flag burning amendment.

But why stop with Richardson? Why not take a page from narcotics prosecutors and go to the source? Maybe Biskupic should go after Richardson’s dealers, and put them out of business, too. Let’s shut down the foundries that cast these trinkets, and the looms that spin out yards of ribbon. There are dozens of places to buy these decorations, buttons and rosettes, both real and counterfeit, the latter of which constitutes yet another crime. A friend of mine in the business says the only real no-no in the sale of military decorations is the Congressional Medal of Honor, which has its own provisions in the U. S. Code.

The stuff is as plentiful as costume jewelry, and often as cheaply made. The authentic stuff often finds its way into the hands of the dealers from the government itself in the form of military surplus!

It is understandable for some people who feel the need to dress in uniform to do so as snappily as they think they ought. Although repugnant, if my neighbor decides to bedeck himself in a military uniform glittering with unearned medals, his little pantomime does me no harm, and I don’t think the U. S. Attorney should let the Attorney General force him into prosecuting the guy for something that happened four years ago, and attracted no attention then.

Richardson was not attempting to represent himself as an active duty soldier when he appeared at the 4^th of July parade in his resplendently augmented uniform. He was part of a display, much like a Civil War re-enactment, and you never hear of those guys getting busted for wearing their musketry medals and cavalry badges.

There is a difference between pretending to be a soldier and being a pretend soldier like Richardson and the re-enactors.

This is nothing more than election year pandering by the same crew that continues to probe the depths of that disreputable art.

IT'S A GIRL! KOHL INTERN "HOTTEST ON HILL"

IT’S A GIRL! KOHL AIDE IS “HOTTEST HILL INTERN”

Stephanie Carter, an intern in the office of Senator Herb Kohl, has been chosen as the hottest female intern on Capitol Hill by the readers of Wonkette, a political website for “people with dirty minds.” (Click on the link, and see for yourself.)

Carter, a brunette, was not in the office today when milwaukeeworld.com called to find out a bit more about her.

She was the easy winner in the poll, gathering 25 per cent of 8,093 votes cast among a field of nine contestants. The runner-up received a scant 15 per cent of the votes. Her victory was announced this afternoon.

Carter received a number of endorsements, including these:

“Stephanie is a total knock-out!”

“I go to school with [Stephanie] and let me just say this girl can party and her tits are the size of my head.”

“Nicknamed ‘Hungry Eyes,’ Ms. Stephanie is the cutest intern you’ll ever see on the Hill… with a Julia Roberts smile and eyes that will melt your heart… Stephanie is your girl!”

It is not the first time Senator Kohl’s office has been recognized for its staff. The senior senator from Wisconsin has been identified as one of the best people to work for in Congress, according to Roll Call, a newspaper that covers events on Capitol Hill.

-- Michael Horne

VIDEO ADVENTURES SUPERSTORE TO CLOSE

You have only a few weeks to purchase videos from Video Adventures Super Store, 1418 E. Brady St. The company, one of the largest independent video stores in the country, will close by mid-July, or by the end of July at the latest, according to an employee. "We are closing, we are not relocating," the employee said. Owner Don Bohatka is in Boston, and could not be reached for comment.
However, yet another employee has told milwaukeeworld that the store indeed would reopen, and mentioned the address of the new location. Milwaukeeworld is attempting to contact the owner of the property in question to find out what's happening.
One thing is for certain -- the inventory at the store is moving at cut-rate prices. Which selections will empty out first? The first floor inventory, or the stuff upstairs?
--Michael Horne

WI-FI FO-FUM

Last October Mayor Tom Barrett announced a deal with Midwest Fiber Networks to blanket the city with Wi-Fi signals. At the time there was some skepticism about the proposal, particularly from those concerned about the firm's lack of substantive track record and negative net worth. (See "Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts.")
Still, the Common Council approved the deal with Midwest Fiber Networks, provided the firm pass the scrutiny of the comptroller and provided the firm create a demonstration project to prove its plan would work.
Alas, well into what should have been the contract period, the demonstration project has not begun, and the comptroller has not signed off on the deal. The Common Council, at its last meeting, instructed the city to begin looking at other firms to create the Wi-Fi network.
Comptroller W. Martin "Wally" Morics, C.P.A., put it this way in an interview with Milwaukeeworld last week:
"The City's point of view is that [Midwest Fiber Networks] is a new and relatively small company. We are telling them to come back to us with deep pockets. ... At the end, we need to know the firm has the financial wherewithal to put brick and mortar in the ground. Right now, we haven't seen that. Absent an agreement, there is too much risk."
Joe Klein, a registered lobbyist interested in internet issues, said his concern with Midwest is that the firm does not apparently have outside capital. "I'm always concerned when a firm has no equity partners," he said. "That is just the way things are done in Silicon Valley."
In fact, that seems to be a rule whenever $20 million or larger projects, like the Wi-Fi-ification of Milwaukee, are undertaken.
In a paper entitled, "The Law of Biofuels," attorneys at Stoel Rives, LLP note, "Many lenders will commit substantial amounts of capital to biofuels projects only after these projects are supported by significant equity investments made by key players other than the project sponsors." Substitute "internet" for "biofuels," and the message is the same. You need outside money, and you have to give up an equity stake to get it.
Nik Ivancevic, a principal at Midwest Fiber Networks, says the comptroller is "asking us to have a service provider" designated for the project. "Originally our mission was to be open access." He says, "we have had a couple of interested parties that want to provide service" on the proposed network. He says his firm's attorneys have been meeting with the City Attorney's office on an "ongoing basis," and as recently as today.
He added that the pilot project, to be installed in the vicinity of Marquette University, "will begin once all the approvals are granted to us. We can't do anything unitl the city signs off on the agreement."
He said that by the end of this week, he should have an announcement, including the name of an anchor tenant, and the completion bond requested by Morics.
As far as the delays, Ivancevic says it is a natural outcome of something that is "new for the city, new technology; we're asking the city to provide something that has never been provided before," with the new technology, and that delays are to be expected.
One more delay to expect: getting Wally's signature on the paperwork. The comptroller and his wife are in Stratford, Ontario for the annual Shakespeare festival there. To be, or not to be? That still is the question.
--Michael Horne

THE BUFFETT - GATES CONNECTION

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett made headlines over the weekend when it was announced that he would begin annual donations to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will culminate in the ultimate dispersal of most of his wealth to that organization.
Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and the musician Bono were chosen as the "Persons of the Year" by Time Magazine last year, citing their revolutionary changes in funding needy causes, particularly those involved with public health.
Some of the Buffett money will also be channeled to foundations run by his children, including the NoVo Foundation (formerly Spirit Foundation), established by Peter Buffett, who lived in Milwaukee from about 1990 until last year.
Gates, the world's richest individual, and Buffett, the world's second-wealthiest individual, have been close, according to newspaper accounts.
I remember Peter Buffett telling me years ago exactly how close the two were.
Warren Buffett sold Bill Gates the engagement ring he gave the former Melinda French in 1993. Buffett owns Borsheim's, an Omaha jewelry store. According to Time Magazine, Gates diverted a private jet to Omaha as a surprise for his fiancee. Buffett met the pair there and brought them to Borsheim's to select the stone and setting for the ring.
As Peter told me, his father later delivered the finished product to Gates at a hotel near O'Hare Airport in Chicago.
--Michael Horne