Leadership, Views on News, public relations • June 27th, 2008

Surveying the landscape

by Chris Lato

The weekend is almost here, and my short attention span won’t allow me to focus on any one topic – a few things grabbed my attention this morning.

First, were you listening to Wisconsin Public Radio at 8 this morning? If not, shame on you. Catch the Week in Review in the archives here. Thanks to Joy Cardin, her staff and Matt Rothschild for a fun and enlightening hour.

Next….is there any doubt that Scott Walker is going to veto this thing? It’s the tax idea that simply won’t die in Milwaukee County- and great timing to boot, what with the economy and all.

Supporters say the money will go to aid parks and mass transit, while cutting back on property taxes…whenever politicians start talking about tax shell games such as this, alarm bells should start ringing and you should put one hand on your wallet at all times.

Granted, this has a long way to go before it would get before the voters as an advisory referendum. One thing’s for sure: if this ever did go before the voters in Milwaukee County, it’s safe to say this would go down in giant, red-hot flames.

A suggestion: if revenue is needed, consider such moves as outlined in the story – privatizing Mitchell Field, competitive bidding for transit services, concessions at the parks, etc. Consider trying something new and different. Imagine the points that could be scored if some of the tax-supporting supervisors got together and put some new thinking on the table, instead of beating their collective head against the wall with this notion of raising the sales tax.

Next, we travel to UW-Parkside, where a PR nightmare is brewing over the selection of a Chancellor with a highly controversial past. Turns out Robert Felner had received a ‘no confidence’ vote back in 2006 from another university, and has a criminal fraud investigation pending against him. Oops! I know, I know, innocent until proven guilty, but really, let’s be real: this can’t be the best choice to lead UW-Parkside. If it is, then it doesn’t bode well for the UW System.

You can read all about it here, here and here. Felner has handed in his resignation already, but the common theme from the school’s muckety-mucks is troubling: a defensive posture, a ‘what, me worry?’ stance, a refusal to take responsibility, and concern over what this means to Felner’s career instead of trying to remedy this big blunder in future hiring moves. Not the course of action I would recommend.

This properly raises questions about the process of selecting these top dogs for the UW. One spokesman for Parkside says this presents an opportunity for a ‘teachable moment’ and that officials will take ‘a moment’ to review the process. That observation earns the Understatement of the Week award. Hopefully they spend a bit longer than that and reconsider their public approach to this flap.

And, last but not least, WMC is paying the price for its spending in the recent state Supreme Court races. This is hardly surprising, given the bitterness that surrounded this contest and the political leanings of those involved. Something tells me WMC weighed the pros and cons here, and decided it could survive. After all, Shirley Abrahamson’s race is right around the corner.

And, with WMC under heavy ongoing fire, will WEAC continue to get a free pass on the criticism? Hmmm….

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Leadership, Views on News, public relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.