BARRETT AS SCHOOL CZAR WOULD COST WIFE $62,000+ JOB

 Spouse on Full-Time MPS Payroll

What Gives With City Hall Clock?

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld 


By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team


Here's another good reason why Mayor Tom Barrett should stick to City Hall and forget the Governor's Mansion and School Administration Headquarters: It's easier for a Mayor to keep his wife on the city payroll now than it would be as Governor to find a state job for her, or to keep her on the payroll if he takes over the schools.


As it is right now, things seem financially sweet  for the first family's pocketbook, fattened as it was by  Kristine Barrett to the tune of $62,384 in salary and benefits during the 2008-2009 school year  when she served as a short-term substitute teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools. 

[For the current year, Kris is a full-time teacher at Longfellow Middle School, and will presumably earn a greater income. ]

Her husband also made a nice haul in the past year, earning $146,008 as the City's chief entity. 
Although the mayor and his wife are both bound by residency rules that require them to live in the City that pays their salary, there has never been a hint of a suggestion that Kristine M. Barrett, a licensed teacher [#041573], got her job due to the influence of her husband. 

(In fact, it might be quite the contrary, since Kris Barrett was a licensed, employed, teacher in 1983 when her husband was still just a failed candidate for an assembly seat. )



After all, the Milwaukee Public Schools operate free from the political influence of the Mayor, and have for over a century. 
Of course Tom Barrett is currently the candidate (The Manchurian Candidate) to take over the Milwaukee Public Schools, which would put him in direct control of his wife's employment, which probably would constitute a conflict of interest. 
He would have no choice but to fire his wife, or force her resignation, which would make for a heck of a scene at the Barrett family dinner table, (the heart of the Barrett Political Machine, we have learned) and the source of a lot more ring bologna dinners for the little Barretts once Ma's $62,000 income gets axed. 

Things don't look much rosier if Barrett becomes Governor. 
Technically Mrs. Barrett could retain her teaching job at Longfellow while commuting from the Executive Residence, which would not be considered her legal address. 
But, as a practical matter, she'd probably stay at home in Milwaukee with the kids and her job while her husband stayed in the imposing mansion on the shores of Lake Mendota. 
Fortunately for Mrs. Barrett, there is a precedent for this, and she need look no further than the administration of Tommy Thompson, whose teacher wife Sue Ann stayed behind in Elroy with her students while the governor resided in Madison. 
Perhaps Kristine Barrett might ask Sue Ann Thompson how well that arrangement worked out for the then-First Family. You'd imagine it must have been a strain at some level.



What gives with the City Hall clock? 

The dang thing has been stuck at noon (or midnight, depending on your shift) for a month. It was put back into service less than a year ago, after a multiyear outage while being refitted as part of the City Hall remodeling. 

In fact, one sanguine article said it was not expected to require servicing for a full two centuries! 


According to an e-mail circulated to the office of Mayor Tom Barrett, the restoration "attempted to use as many parts from the original timing mechanism as possible. Unfortunately, the old parts and the new parts are not working together properly, so we are in the process of replacing the old parts. This will take approximately 6-8 weeks. Until the work is complete, the clock hands will be set as 'high noon' and the bell will strike at the hour and half hour as always".
--Michael Horne