BARRETT FOR GOVERNOR BASH AT BREWERY RECOUNTED

MAYOR'S SUPPORTERS CELEBRATE SEASON

STIRRED TO ACTION -- BUT NOT SHAKEN

(Especially Mayor's Still Messed-Up Right Hand) 

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Rep. Pasch Meets Her Summoner

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Also: Receiver Appointed for Third Ward Building 

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com 

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

About 300 people gathered at the Lakefront Brewery, 1872 N. Commerce St., Monday evening, December 21st, 2009 for a holiday party supporting Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in his campaign for Governor of Wisconsin.
As the audience assembled, three police officers kept eye on an equal number of protesters who were chanting and carrying signs in the cold evening air.
These dissidents were school teachers opposed to a mayoral takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools. If their picket line was honored, it was in the breech, as the yeasty brewery filled with the mayor's supporters while owner Russ Klisch excused himself en route to the Christmas party at Von Trier Tavern.
Among the mayor's supporters were such notables as Supervisor Christopher Larson, chatting with Ald. Nik Kovac at a table near the cash bar. (In the old days Barrett would pay for the beer. Times are tough, when politicians expect the regular folk to pay for their own drinks, and honest Milwaukee Beer at that!)
Former health commissioner Paul Nannis made his way through a crowd that included other old timey city hall folks like Julie Penman, a serial former commissioner herself, accompanied by husband Jeff Bentoff, fresh from promoting AT&T's cellphone recycling program .
Democratic Party stalwarts Reynolds Honold and his wife, former party chair Linda Honold, took in the sights before leaving for a dinner engagement. Reynolds said the dinner, fancy as it might be, would end up costing him less than he spent on the mayor's little party. Zach Wisniewski was there, preparing a report for Blogging Blue.
Rep. Sandy Pasch was there, too, telling the mayor's brother, Clerk of Court John Barrett that she had been called for jury duty, as if she didn't have enough to do representing her diverse district, which includes the entirety of the villages of Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Fox Point and River Hills, along with a scattering of City of Milwaukee wards nobody else wanted and much of the better part of Glendale, such as it is.
Vince Bobot made his way past such notables as Peter Bock, Martha Love, Mark Goff and Jay Walia, and remarked that he had never seen the brewery's Palm Garden quite so full of people, thus confirming that he had never been there for a Saturday tour after a Marquette victory.
Gary Goyke of the Wisconsin Council for the Blind and Visually Impaired introduced his son Evan Goyke, a 2009 Marquette Law School graduate, saying the new lawyer might consider a run for the assembly seat held by do-nothing Leon Young. Dad credited some Milwaukeeworld Hound Dog reporting as an inspiration, or at least as a time-saver when it came to digging up dirt on Young.
Les Johns was there, saying he's been laying low during this slow political season, with the exception of a little action in a municipal judge race in Cudahy. That's where John A. Zodrow [Marquette '83] has caused quite a stir in a battle with the police department over access to computers and other south suburban stuff. Cudahy is owed over $800,000 in unpaid fines, including over $300,000 in fines that cannot be collected since Zodrow has not processed them as part of his dispute. (Big surprise! Zodrow's taken almost two years to probate an estate that only has a stinking $44,000 in it!) The city has cut his pay, and "it's all a mess," as Johns puts it. The election for the three-year Municipal Judge seat is in the spring.
Former Scott Walker County Executive challenger David Riemer was in the audience, as he was when his mayor announced his run for governor last month. Riemer was in the vicinity of his fellow neighbor Pat Curley, the chief of staff for the mayor who sees a Tom Barrett - Scott Walker match-up as being a battle between competence (Barrett) and incompetence (Walker.)  
Ald. Tony Zielinski, who has announced his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor, also milled about the audience, but didn't seem to be doing any campaigning. He didn't wear a name tag or a "Vote 4 Me!" button, but this is a rather subdued season, I suppose.
Eventually Milwaukee's fourth consecutive non-socialist mayor in as many decades made some remarks, after some preliminary announcements. (When will the democrats ever learn that it is not merely enough to have a microphone as part of one's public address system, but that one needs speakers as well?)
Anyway, after the apparent yet inaudible introductions were made, the mayor said something about why he would love to be the next governor. He told the crowd:

1. I love my family
2. I love my state

He also added his first priority as Governor would be:

• "Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs."
  

Barrett also alluded to the incident in which he was attacked outside of State Fair last summer, assuring his listeners that they would have a "fighter" in Madison if they elected him, so I guess that issue must have tested well. His right hand still is messed up, so the mayor must resist the natural urge to shake hands. Perhaps we can convince him to embrace the European tradition of kissing one on the cheeks as a form of greeting. How will that play in Hayward?

RECEIVER TAKES OVER RENAISSANCE BUILDING TODAY 

It appears that after a hearing yesterday, Monday, December 21st, 2009, that Chester J. Oszkandy has been appointed receiver of the Renaissance Building, 309 N. Water St. The developer, Robert Patch, et. al, of Heartland Development Group is being sued for foreclosure of mortgage on the venerable loft structure, designed by Ferry and Clas in 1896 for the mercantile firm of Goll and Frank.
Oszkandy, president of  NAI MLG Property Management has an Associates Degree in Heating and Air Conditioning from the Illinois Institute of Technology, although what the building could use right about now is a plumber to fix the leak on the overflowing 3rd floor urinal, a matter that should come to the attention of folks on the second floor and below in rather short order.
--Michael Horne