Newspaper Sells Local Divide and Conquer Group As Community Leaders

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The Janesville Gazette carried two articles (combined into one on the Web, pay site) about the local political insiders club, the notorious Rock County 5.0, in Monday's edition. The stories, both obvious puff pieces, completely ignore the group's polarizing duality and political involvement in supporting and laying down a low-wage red state agenda.

The Gazette of course is a contributing supporter of the group, so their staff writer, no fault of his own, remains stuck on describing the group as a community leader and promoting their so-called accomplishments.

Extremely boring and repetitious, the only segment worth noting was Diane Hendrick's praise for local government and city councils. As one of the co-chairs of the RC5, Hendricks said they (local government) "didn't put up too many barriers" or close the door on business. She also said they need to stick their necks out and take some risks too, which is the opposite of the commonly held anti-government meme, get out of the way of business.

Truth is, there are absolutely no barriers (local ordinances) preventing businesses from starting or expanding in Rock County communities. The risk she is referring to however is a different story. Hendrick's statements come in complete contrast to previous statements she made about the role of government...

USA Today Excerpt: (Nov, 2010)
Governments have a role in this economy. They can provide things the private sector cannot, such as national defense and policing. They can also protect private property and arbitrate disputes. But government's role is not stimulus.

That's pretty bare bones government if you ask me. But which is it? Does she want government to stick their necks out or get out of the way? Now I have no idea.

What wasn't mentioned is that the Rock County 5.0 have perfected a highly deceptive format built on an architecture of easy access to key public officials that allows them to eventually leverage local governments with ultimatums of economic decline or business re-location.

This scheme has evolved into a model for a new entitlement society that now expects capital rewards (TIF surplus cash, tax credits, paid leases, loan guarantees, free stuff) from local governments for any plan or slight change in business activity.

So, has business been good and you're planning a modest expansion? Go to city hall and grab some TIF surplus cash. Does a part of your private business require a costly specialized system for toxic waste? Go to your local government and tell them you'll move out unless they assume that job. Economic conditions or demand forcing you to cut your workforce in half? City hall will have something to give you to maintain that half workforce. Those are with little exaggeration folks. That's how bad it is. Quite bizarre. The point is, is they have a plan of capital reward for planned expansion, planned shrinkage or even planned prevention using the power of government collectivism ...for the free markets. They're entitled. Got that?

To add insult to injury, the other co-chair of the RC5, Mary Willmer, gives credit to developers and business people who made the commitment to "not leave" she said, THEY DID IT. It's all THEM. But, why would they leave?

What was mentioned in these articles, believe it or not, is how outstanding the RC5 is, and how its leadership serves as a model for all economic development. If your local city or township treasury isn't already under pressure to pay "incentives" as I have described - it soon will be. It's my hunch that the insiders club of the RC5 will never disband, but the club will change their name OR integrate into a larger regional organization such as MadREP.

Free enterprise profits and attaining vast wealth are not incentive enough for these folks. They want it all.

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