Larry Gamble is giving Jeff Stone a run for his Money

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

The Milwaukee Journal – Sentinel reported yesterday:

State agency predicts heavy turnout for Sept. 14 primary

By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel

Sept. 2, 2010 | Madison - The state’s elections agency is predicting a record or near-record turnout in the Sept. 14 primary, with up to 28% of the voting age population expected to turn out.

With Gov. Jim Doyle not seeking re-election, there is the first open governor’s race in the state in 28 years as well as an election for U.S. Senate. Up to 1.2 million of the 4.4 million people in Wisconsin who are old enough to vote are expected to do so in the primary, according to the Government Accountability Board.

“There appears to be tremendous interest in this election,” said agency director Kevin Kennedy. “The governor’s office is open for the first time in many years, as are 20% of seats in the Legislature.”

In records going back to 1960, the highest voter turnout in a September primary was 27.9% – reached in 1964, according to the Accountability Board.

Wisconsin’s elections system doesn’t require voters to declare a party to be able to vote in the partisan primary, but voters can choose candidates only from a single party in the various races.

Keeping this in mind, I have observed more Larry Gamble signs going up and even replacing some Jeff Stone signs after Larry Gamble or his wife Edith come knocking on their door. I believe the key to this elections is “who is more conservative” Jeff Stone (who has become more complacent) or Larry Gamble (the Tea Party backed candidate). My bet is on Larry.

Larry recently published a paper on his website that gives residents a better view of Jeff Stone and his laissez faire attitude toward the RTA situation here in Wisconsin. READ LARRY’S POSTING HERE

Quoting Larry in his final lines of his post:

Eight voting actions on AB 282 clearly show that Rep. Stone supports both of the governor’s commuter trains and fully endorses commuter rail expansion as stated as the SERTA goal and ultimately the car speed train to Madison.

Rep. Stone is known as a proponent of comprehensive regional transit cooperation.  Call these eight actions political gamesmanship or flip-flopping on the issue, but as a six term incumbent and member of the Committee on Transportation, Rep. Stone knows exactly what he is doing.

He is hoping that you do not know what he is doing.  And frankly, saying you never supported something is not the same as voting against it.

I have observed that even Jeff Stone’s fellow republicans in the State legislature are not endorsing Stone in this primary.

I will close this posting with another reminder of how voters are getting tired of the run of the mill, complacent Republican Candidates and are replacing them in office with Tea Party backed candidates. The most recent example is Joe Miller (Republican Tea Party Backed) primary winner in Alaska’s election just days ago beat Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.  READ L.A. Times POSTING HERE.

With a real down to earth, door to door campaign, Gamble has a real chance of winning the State’s 82nd Assembly District seat.

Even the liberal, campus paper in Madison – The Isthmus has this to say:

  “The “true conservative” in the 82nd Assembly District GOP primary takes Rep. Jeff Stone to task for supporting regional transit authorities. Funny, I remember Rep. Kelda Helen Roys telling me that she liked working with Stone on occasion. No wonder he’s getting primaried.”

 

 

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Can you find more Cuts?

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

Below is the list of the current budget reductions for 2010 – 2011.

Can you find additional savings for the Franklin Public School to bring down the tax Levy for this year?

If so please contact your School Board members. Here is a link to Board of Education’s page on the Franklin Public School website where you can find their e-mail addresses.  CLICK HERE

Reductions

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They didn’t even see the train coming!

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

Wednesday nights Meeting of the Electors,  a State required dog and pony show occurring every year in Franklin and other Wisconsin municipalities, resulted in a surprise for administrators. I was in attendance with about 12 other electors (besides the 7 member board and Dr. Patz).  In retrospect I  truly believe that this years meeting results with a 10 to 10 tie vote for approval the tax Levy for debit service shocked Franklin Public School Administration.

In a vote of ten YES and ten NO, Dr. Patz looked rather stunned along with Board President Deb Larson.  Deb had no idea what to do about it until Dr. Patz prodded her move on, as apparently it just wasn’t written what to do in the script that was in front of her.

In her usual pompous attitude, former board member Mary (“education for the 21st century”) Karolewicz tried to explain her YES vote by stating that the electors (that voted no) just don’t understand all the costs and how they just can’t be cut. Mary you may remember, was one of the board members that a) pushed for a new high school  b) was part of the questionable referendum meeting which was forced fed to FHS seniors and c) was know to have no concept of how to cut budgets.  Mary did start tearing up in the end when she explained how the unrelenting spending past boards approved helped HER children make it through school.

Mary (I’ll spend your money) Karolewicz

One other resident that spoke, was Don Reed, a man who reminds me much of my feisty father-in-law.  Don asked the board what administration and teachers paid toward their own health benefits. The answer was 5% and 9% depending on when they were hired. Mr. Reed then suggested that this could be a point of savings in future negotiations to bring health care shares more in line with the private sector which pays closer to 12 to 15% of health care costs.

Board member Janet Evans offered the idea that the administration could go to the ground level workers (such as secretaries, aids and staff) for possible ways of less spending instead of just the administrators input. This is a tried and true method of getting real cost savings in private companies. Janet pointed out that when she worked for WE energies this was common practice too. MY NOTE: The company I work for did this early on during the current recession and this has helped to keep it in strong financial standing.

In the end two current board members did vote NO for the (projected) 3.9% tax Levy increase. Those were Janet Evans and Linda Witkowski. While all the rest voted with a YES.

When it comes down to the bottom line on Franklin School Districts spending are a few observations and opinions:

  • Most of the board members are going to let this budget ride because they have been told this is all they can cut.
  • The additional money that the state has given Franklin will maybe, just maybe, make the tax levy a little lower. I think administrators and board members are counting on this.
  • The Obama money will restore the Guidance Counselors for the next two years but it can’t be used to reduce the tax levy.
  • Next year the administration will stuff the meeting with people who work for FPS to make sure that a 10 to 10 vote never happens again. It was an embarrassment that was not a unanimous YES.
  • David Works will be voted off of the Board in April due to his support of the budget.
  • After the one year grace period of being re-elected (you can not recall in the first year after elected), residents have had it with board members Deb Larson , Jeff Taylor, Melissa Klein and will work toward a recall (I have seen the emails). Many of these same people feel the same about Judith Bialk and look to have her removed also.

 

 

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Read Our Lips Steve Taylor: NO FULL TIME MAYOR

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

This is the first time, in a long long time, there has been actual agreement between, bloggers Kevin Fischer, Greg Kowalski and myself when it comes to the subject of a full time Mayor and how “it is all about Steve Taylor”. 

In addition there is virtually unanimous agreement among the majority of the  Aldermen and the Mayor when it comes to an issue of a full time Mayor being pushed into referendum by Alderman Steve Taylor.

Taylor apparently threw a hissy fit as most of his fellow aldermen (with the exception of Tim Solomon) blasted the idea piece by piece at last nights Committee of the Whole meeting.  According to Greg Kowalski who attended the meeting and wrote about it on his Franklin Today posting “The only alderman refusing to surrender to that thought is CCP Steve Taylor, who would argue with his supporters that the question is necessary and that voters need to decide.”

As I have said before, Steve’s anger management issues got the best of him while discussing the issue, his anger grew as even the Mayor could not buy into his proposal. 

Coverage of the meeting stated that Mayor thinks the current system works but he and Director of Administration Mark Luburda need to have a discussion about his contract and structuring it more like a Chief Financial Officer. The Mayor stated that has not heard of anybody pushing for a full time mayor position in Franklin and that the only ones talking about it are the aldermen (I believe what he means to say is Alderman Steve Taylor). In addition the Mayor thinks it is “ill advised” to put this issue forward, and feels the public will be “dead against it”.

In the mean time the child like temper tantrum continues by Alderman Steve Taylor:

Alderman Taylor brought up for the milionth time about his La Crosse memories of the mayor’s role  something this Alderman likes to do as he seems to live in the past during his college glory days.

The 1 term alderman then exasperated says “You want the Director of Administration going to ribbon cuttings!?”  Boy I would be so embarrassed if I came up with that remark!

Some of the other notables from Steve Taylor are: 

I promise a “very long night” at the regular Common Council meeting Tuesday night regarding this matter. I would bet that Alderman Steve Olson is glad he is out of town so he can be saved from this circus!

With a final whimper Steve Taylor stated “ aldermen aren’t really brought up-to-date on events in the city, including ribbon-cuttings, etc”. What this has to do with anything is any body’s guess, but this is to be expected from the juvinile antics of Alderman Taylor.

 So now it really comes out, the truth, the alderman loves the lime light of the job of Full Time Mayor. Honestly Steve most people in this community would care less if we had a trained monkey cutting the ribbon at a supermarket opening.

Bottom line is that:

  • The only two people pushing for Mayor is Alderman (I want to be Mayor) Steve Taylor and Alderman Tim Solomon.
  • The Mayor is opposed to the full time Mayor referendum much to Alderman Taylors chagrin.
  • There is no reason to push this referendum, especially since it will go down in flames because nobody really supports it (see the FranklinNOW unofficial poll).
  • The cost of a full time Mayor is a concern, along with the benefit package and how it would limit who would be running for the position. An example is that someone like former Mayor Fred Klimetz was an attorney besides Mayor not leaving him time to put into his law practice. This would leave us with either 1) Political wannabes 2) People who are incompetent in their current job that they can’t make enough at that.

Here are the other blog postings. All of them have valid points.

UPDATE: August 18th

As expected, Alderman Steve Taylor held his breath until his fellow council members voted 4 to 1 to approve the referendum for the November 2nd ballot. Alderman Ken Skowronski (a friend of the Mayor) was the lone dissenting vote (Alderman Olson was on vacation but I am sure he would have voted no also). The most amusing part of the discussion was when Alderman Schmidt asked ” Are we going to have to put this up for referendum every year?” (assuming it won’t pass) The Mayor did not VETO the question of the referendum so Alderman Taylor says he plans on educating the public as to why they should vote for this.

My question is: When the electorate  votes this down, will he finally be educated?

Nope that will take his removal in April of 2011!

WARNING -Level CODE RED ANGRY – Coming tonight from Alderman Steve Taylor
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Gamble has first Meet and Greet

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

Candidate Larry Gamble, who is running in the Republican Primary on September 16th against Jeff Stone for the State’s 82nd Assembly District seat is having his first meet and greet.

Voters interested in meeting the candidate are invited to join in on Tuesday, August 3rd at the Root River Center’s sports bar, The Pickled Pig from 7 to 8pm for Larry Gamble’s first “Meet the Candidate” session.

Larry believes that over the last several years, we have seen the career politicians run our state to the edge of bankruptcy and we have a $2.5 Billion Dollar budget hole looming over our heads.  Gamble will start the evening with a short statement about his plans to make the government more accountable to the people, he will then open the forum for your questions and comments.

Check out his page on facebook: Larry Gamble for Assembly

Also look at his website:  www.Larrygamble.org

I did notice a Jeff Stone campaign sign on Drexel Avenue so I believe Jeff is taking Larry’s bid for his seat seriously.

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B-O-R-I-N-G : An update to last nights School board meeting.

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

Attending last nights School Board meeting, two words come to mind a) boring b) apathetic.

Let me explain the second word “apathetic” first. I have seen all the ongoing emails messages by Robinwood Parents making all sorts of plans with such topics as “Picketing the board meetings” or “forcing the board to include Tom Reinke’s statements in their agenda”. The closest it got to the boards agenda was item 12 (which I eluded to in my post yesterday) when the board met in CLOSED SESSION to discuss Tom Reinke.

The apathy was the fact less than  a dozen people showed up at Wednesday’s board meeting, 4 spoke about Tom Reinke, with 3 of them repeating the same mantra of how we need Tom Reinke as principal at Robinwood. The only one who spoke, that truly made any impact, was soon to be retiring 2nd grade Robinwood teacher Lynn Lueck. She described the uncomfortable atmosphere and fear of repercussion from fellow teachers that supported Reinke’s accusing guidance counselor who brought charges against Reinke. Mrs. Lueck described how Tom Reinke helped her through a difficult time last year due to a death in her family despite the issues that were going on in the school. Her remarks were the only ones that received a round of applause from the audience.

Now on to the BORING part.

Jim Mullarkey and Greg Kowalski, co-leaders of a civic movement called Citizens for Community Development presented an ill-fated power-point presentation (damn Apple Computers) to the board in an effort to get the board to come on board to the idea of a Froemming Park/Milwaukee County Sports Complex site. I like Jim and I appreciate his civic efforts along with his jovial personality. But after the presentation ,  School Board members just came away with a blank look and a “what do you want us to do about this” from the presentation. Mr. Mullarkey was looking for a unified stamp of approval for the idea from the Franklin School Board as he said the CCD has received from the City of Franklin’s Planning Commission. All he got was a, we will look at it response from board member David Works.

One of the other things I noticed in attending this meeting is that their is little or no discussion by board members about any of the issues that come before them. It often seemed like they were afraid to speak as their is no banter or exchange that is found in a City Council meeting.  Members do not follow Roberts Rules of Order as most of the time Board President Deb Larson seems to be lost as how to run the meeting and often defers to Dr. Patz’s advice. When something is brought up, Dr. Steve Patz is quick to downplay the board members statements. Board member Linda Witkowski during one discussion had requested that Jim Milzner (Asst. Superintendent and Business Manager) present the vendor purchase broken out by vendor and then compiled from most money spent to least spent, then broken out in an itemized form. Milzner said that would take a lot of work, Patz commented that the board should not be really looking at line items. WHAT!

No wonder most members of the board don’t want to speak during these meetings, with the exception to use phrases like “it’s for the kids” or “education for the 21st century” (oops I forgot, Mary Karolewicz is no longer on the board – I wonder if she uses that phrase continuously in EDC meetings?).

I really would like to attend the next meeting which is in August and just happens to be the famous MEETING OF THE ELECTORATE which a rubber stamp of the budget gets passed year after year.

But I have a Technology Commission meeting to go to that night so I will have to depend on you to attend for me.

Update: See below the picture of Robinwoods NEW Principal.

Chad Nelson - Robinwood Grade School NEW Principal - FPS Photo

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Interesting School Board Meeting Tonight

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

I am looking forward to attending tonights Regular School Board meeting in the Franklin Education and Community Center, 8255 West Forest Hill Avenue held at 6pm (why can’t they ever let me eat dinner first ?). 

Word has it, there may be parent protesters picketing the meeting to voice their concerns about the Robinwood principal fiasco now confronting the administration. A group of Robinwood parents are not happy with the decision to move Tom Reinke from Principal at Robinwood Elementary to a “special project” dealing with the block scheduling at the high school.  In addition, budget minded residents are concerned about the need to hire a Principal for Robinwood while running out Tom Reinke’s contract in this non-required job. Nothing like drama to make for an exciting meeting. 

Please note that even though the agenda says 15 max for community comment, I am told that community speakers can request more time.  Please also note item 12 on the agenda.

Here is the revised agenda:
Agenda 072110 Revised

In addition Tom Reinke has written this letter to the community:
Reinke Letter to Residents

Look forward to seeing you, the administration and the board at the meeting too!

Franklin Public Schools Board of Education and Dr. Patz - Photo Credit: Franklin Public Schools

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Local Franklin Blogger Kowalski tracks your identity

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

Using technology that comes with many blogging packages, local blogger Greg Kowalski uses it to write about you or your employer. Take a look at his blog entitled Keeping Tabs on Reinke discussion.

Quoting Greg:

“I thought it was interesting that hits coming from PCs out of Franklin Public Schools have really spiked. For months, it would simply be a view here and a view there, presumably from employee(s) on break. Today, however, the site was flooded with hits!”

One might ask the question: If Greg collects this information and is willing to put this on a public blog, who would he be willing to give this or other information he tracks from his blog to, if asked for it? School Board Members,  Dr. Patz, The Mayor, Friends that are Alderpersons? Get’s you thinking!

He has told me that he only allows people he oly allows some people’s comments such as a Franklin  Alderman who apparently uses the name of Haunchie on Greg’s blog. He has personally told me he tracks my IP address (the information that tells who you are on the INTERNET and how you are connected) to no allow people he does not want to comment under a pseudo-name unlike his friends.

So be careful out there my friends, as Greg may blog about you and your employer, as he has done on his blog before. No one is safe, except if you are a friend of Greg.

What Would Greg Do?

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IT’S OFFICIAL – Larry Gamble has filed his Nomination Papers

Posted on July 12, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

The race for the 82nd district assembly seat is now official.  I received an e-mail from Larry Gamble that he has submitted more than the required 200 signatures needed for his nomination papers to become official.

Jeff Stone will not be running unopposed and I have yet to see the Democrats announce a candidate for that seat.  Larry told me he had no problems getting the signatures from conservatives in Franklin, Greendale and Greenfield. They are tired of Jeff Stones moderate stance on the issues and are looking for someone more conservative. We are talking Republicans here folks, not the mamby pamby Democrats that fill the State Senate and Governors house.

My discussions with other right leaning citizens is that Jeff has gotten too complacent, has not represented the folks in Franklin and basically is to moderate for their taste. If the trend continues as it has across the country, then Larry with his ties to the GrandSons of Liberty (a local tea party group) will be a shoe in for the spot in the State Assembly.

The way I see it, as I have said before is that Larry Gamble is good for Franklin. I look forward to letting you know more about the candidate as time goes on.

Larry Gamble’s Press Release:

(Franklin, WI) – It’s official, the Larry Gamble for Assembly campaign entered its next phase. Gamble filed his nomination papers with the Government Accountability Board on Monday afternoon. He started circulating his papers on July 1st. In this short time, the citizens of Franklin, Greendale and Greenfield signed 31 pages of nomination papers for Larry Gamble to challenge Jeff Stone, a six term incumbent, to represent the 82nd Assembly District.

Gamble, who is considered a conservative candidate with roots in the popular Tea Party movement is a new comer to politics and making his first attempt at winning public office. He is a retired US Air Force Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, former businessman and airline pilot.

Meanwhile, Jeff Stone is described by a local blogger in “Franklin Today” as a moderate Republican who enjoys immense respect among area business and political leaders. When asked why run against Stone now, Gamble said; “Stone’s been in office since 1998 and we need to give the people of the 82nd District a fresh, conservative alternative.”

Gamble and Stone face off in the September 14th Primary with the winner advancing to the November 2nd General election.

###

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Larry Gamble is well on his way to the September Primary

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Bryan Maersch

Larry Gamble, stopped by our home tonight to collect three more signatures for his nomination papers in his run for the 82nd district assembly seat moving closer to the 200 signatures required to file papers.

Gamble a Franklin resident resides at 3121 W Southwood Drive with his wife, Edith and two of his three children. My wife and I have know the Gambles for many years as Larry’s wife Edith was my son Nick’s pre-school teacher when Nick was 3. My daughter and his youngest daughter have been friends through high school. So Larry’s run came as no surprise when it was announced the other day.

The September Republican primary for the 82nd District looks to be a final election for the district unless the Democrats can pull together a candidate with the required signatures by next week Tuesday, July 13th. Currently Larry has a campaign website and blog site in it’s early stages.

This can be a WIN – WIN situation for Franklin residents.

If Larry wins, Franklin wins. If Larry does not win, he will have had major exposure in the City of Franklin, giving him the opportunity to run for another office in April possibly Alderman or Mayor.

Larry is a resident of the Aldermanic 4th District! 

Other Reading:

BizTimes Article – Tea Party candidate hopes to challenge Stone in GOP primary

Larry Gamble

Candidate Larry Gamble

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