ANOTHER MUSKEGO RECALL THREAT?

Five Aldermen Targeted by Citizens Group

[Updated, with new information and links, Wednesday, June 4th, 2008]

By Michael Horne

and the MilwaukeeWorld Hound Dog Team!

A Wal-Mart frenzy will be underway this evening in the Muskego High School Old Cafeteria at 6 p.m. where the Plan Commission is considering approval of a Supercenter there. The panel is expecting large crowds, according to the My Muskego Now website, which tracks some of the activity in that growing southwest Waukesha County suburb.

Resident John Walters, founder of Muskego First has spent weeks opposing the Wal-Mart store and held his own meeting last night, Monday June 2^nd, 2008, in the Old Town Hall to tell the packed house his reasons for opposing the store. (Very many reasons). It appears that Walters has taken a page out of the Citizens for Responsible Government playbook. He tells Milwaukeeworld that he plans to demand a recall of aldermen if the Wal-Mart goes forward, and that he is filing preliminary papers to recall whatever recallable aldermen there are in Muskego. State law says officials can’t be recalled until after they have served a full year of their term. State law also says recall petitions must be signed by 25 per cent of the voters in the district who cast ballots in the most recent gubernatorial election. Based on this, the vulnerable aldermen (and the number of required signatures) would be

District 2 Alderman Daniel Pavelko (437)

District 4 Alderman Keith Werner (334)

District 5 Alderman Bill Schneider (391)

District 6 Alderman Tina Schaefer (387)

District 7 Alderman Noah Fiedler (427)

Of greatest interest perhaps is Fiedler, an attorney, [UW-'95] who also serves on the Plan Commission as does Mayor John Johnson, who himself got into office after a recall election. Muskego is hot on the trail for non-residential property tax revenue, and its 90 per cent reliance on its residential property base is the highest in Waukesha County. A new GE facility is being built across from the proposed store, which will be east of Moorland Rd. and south of College Av., which should provide some tax relief. God knows what the city will look like as the rural area suburbanizes while communities in the rest of the state, such as Mequon, are creating “Town Centres” of livable, walkable mixed-use design. (The concept is good even if the spelling isn’t.) Mequon stood up to Wal-Mart years ago, and it didn’t take a grassroots citizens group to do so. Officials slammed the door on Wal-Mart years ago, and the air in Bentonville, Arkansas still reverberates from their rejection. Wal-Mart has given up on 63 planned Supercenters this year in the face of community opposition, and it will be interesting to see how this one turns out.

[Update, Wednesday, June 4th, 2008]
How It Turned Out
The My Muskego Now site sent reporter Emilie Rusch to the "raucous public hearing" where the "contentious project" was approved 6-1 with Commissioner Jerald Hulbert the lone dissenter. According to the report, both sides "frequently veered off-topic" during the 2-hour meeting, and repeatedly had to be brought back to order by Mayor John Johnson.
The reporter didn't mention that the police tossed Ed Garvey out of the meeting, but observers said that was indeed the case. Garvey, the founder of Garvey McNeil McGillivray, a Madison law firm, is of course an attorney [UW '69], a former gubernatorial candidate who lost to Tommy Thompson in 1998, and a former senate candidate who lost a squeaker to Robert W. Kasten Jr. in 1986.
In an April, 2004 post on his Fighting Bob blog, Garvey said he had been involved in anti-Wal-Mart battles in Waupaca, Minocqua and Beaver Dam. That list has since grown to include Monona, Stoughton and now, apparently, Muskego. Garvey's associate, Christa Westerberg, was hired by Muskego First to represent the group.
According to Garvey's 2004 post, the whole Wal-Mart real estate process stinks, and is likely illegal:
"Wal-Mart plays hardball with the local politicians. The pattern is to work with the local chamber of commerce, the mayor or the head of the business development entity. Wal-Mart insists that the local officials deal in secrecy despite our open meetings law. It threatens that it will go to the neighboring community and deny the 'losers' an increased tax base if its plans become public."

This would seem to comport with the activity in Muskego. For example the rezoning of the parcel where the Wal-Mart is scheduled to be built was noticed to the public in March, and approved by the council at its meeting of April 8th, 2008. At no time was Wal-Mart mentioned as the owner. The minutes show that the developer was identified as William Carity, and the rezoning was made at the request of Brian Riordan. But apparently the Mayor and council were not told -- or never mentioned -- that the client was actually Wal-Mart. It was merely called a "larger type retail center." The mayor expressed his reservations that if the sale to the unknown developer fell through, the property might never be more than a strip mall. Garvey has a point. How about this one --
Muskego City Attorney Don S. Molter, Jr. [Marquette '71] said at the zoning hearing that he would recuse himself. According to the hearing minutes, "Atty. Molter stated that he would not
be involved in representing the City regarding this development while Mr. Carity is involved because he is related to him." This might be a line for further inquiry for the Muskego First folks.

But There Will Be Jobs!

Wal-Mart will be hiring, though, if their store is approved. They pay $11 an hour. Muskego's unemployment rate is 2 per cent. Gasoline is over $4 per gallon. Public transportation is non-existent, as is affordable housing. That latter part will change, since exurbs like Muskego are on the path to being the slums of tomorrow. See the Atlantic Magazine "The Next Slum?" in the March 2008 issue for a harrowing look at tomorrow in places like Muskego.

--Michael Horne