Edgerton Company Begins Move With Blame Game

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JG Excerpt:
“It’s important for people to understand that Jim Grafft is entirely responsible for this move.”

Does it really matter how unreasonable one side may or may not be in a private business transaction? When two parties cannot agree on a contract for whatever reason – it's time to just move on. So why lob firebombs?

No question, this whole thing stinks.

JG Excerpt:
“The objective from Day One, given the problems between the company and its landlord, was to do everything we could to resolve the real estate issue in Edgerton, and if they couldn’t stay there then at least keep them in the county,” Otterstein said.

Once again Rock County tax payers are left in the informational dark ages regarding the level of county government's interactions and influence into these private transactions. It would be very interesting to see an honest timeline of all the landlord/renter negotiations including the effort to view and purchase the Lear Building. Of course if our local government played no part in this, then the entire deal is private and should remain so.

But whatever part of our taxes if any, played in this, (marketing, tax incentives, TIFs, DOZ, etc.) that information should be made public without request. Also, whatever part the county played "to do everything we could" in the marketing and sale of the Lear building should be no less the effort to do the same for the soon to be vacant former Dorsey Trailer building in Edgerton.

Local Alliance Needs Some Sunlight

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Sunday's Janesville Gazette contained an article titled They use one voice about a local governmental? economic development group working out of the Rock County Building to attract businesses here in Janesville.

Janesville, as most folks in the area are aware of, has suffered huge jobs losses in the past year with the closing of the GM plant. Obviously, Janesville needs all the help it can get to boost payroll activity, so some governmental interaction and cooperation is crucial at this important time.

But after reading the article and then cruising the Rock County Development Alliance Web Site, it became obvious that many important details were lacking regarding governmental accountability and transparency.

In the Gazette article, they refer to flying under the radar and working backroom deals as if it's the right thing to do. Secondly, there is an underlying premise projected here that simply because it's published and they're openly talking about it...well, that makes everything okay and acceptable. It doesn't.

But before I can sink my teeth into the questionable ethical aspects of their work, I am overwhelmed with a mountain of questions about the group that I can't believe a journalist did not ask.

JG Excerpt:
Each week, the group is in either Milwaukee or Chicago making detailed presentations to potential brokers, developers and investors.

Venable and Otterstein are both government employees. Who pays their wages when they are working under the umbrella of the Alliance? Who pays their dinner, lodging and travel expenses to trade shows around the state? Is the Alliance a non-profit organization? Is it a governmental agency? I assume it is but I'm not sure. The Gazette article did not clarify this and the Web Page lacks this information.

Is this a county taxed operation? Or is it paid for from taxes of participating locales. Where is funding coming from? Is this part of a $450,000 federal grant the county and Forward Janesville received a little while ago? If so, where is the breakdown of expenditures and future allocations?

How do individuals separate their governmental duties from their Alliance duties? The Alliance address is the Rock County Court House Building - under whose power and authority do they operate under? Do we assume the Rock County Board? If the Alliance is a multi-governmental body – who pays for what? Are local business owners involved? Who are its members? And what connection do they have in city, county and state government? What connection does the Alliance have to the local business elite? Where is the transparency?

Why doesn’t their Web page list their funding sources and all participating members?

JG Excerpt:
The alliance taps a bigger war chest of talent and money.

Whoa! That may be a good enough explanation for a Gazette journalist, but clue me in - I'm not smart enough. Whose talent and whose money? Is it a secret? An why is it a secret? State, federal, private? A combination? Explain? Are quid-pro-quos involved?

Look, it’s one thing being an informational and marketing kiosk for the county, that's a capable and necessary part government can play in attracting jobs. But it’s an entirely different thing when government employees participate in backroom deals greasing the way and blurring the lines between public and private while projecting an unfettered access to tax payer money. They should come clean on this.

Rock County Stadium Now Insignificant

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More buyers/developers are now stepping up to the plate and pitching offers to purchase the farmland at Highways 14/51 in Rock County.

An investment group led by Jeff and Don Helgesen have met with county officials and are willing to pay cash for the land without all the complications of a land trade as proposed by the Mulder/Fitzgerald group. The talks were preliminary and the suggested average price per acre is said to be around $25,000, which would put the price of the 420 acre property at $10.5 million.

The offers from the Helgesen group and the Fitzgerald land swap deal are very interesting no doubt, but some very basic questions need to be asked, and the answers should be made public before any deal is considered. 1. Is the property for sale? 2. If it is, shouldn’t the county begin to market it to a wider audience? 3. If the county sells the land, how will the money be used? 4. Is the property next to the county jail included?
Regardless of what the deal is, I certainly hope that if the land is sold, the money will not be used to offset annual budget obligations. The last thing the county wants to start doing is selling off assets to meet its bills.

Another story was printed in the Janesville Gazette this past Sunday regarding details of the Mulder/Fitzgerald land swap deal. It now appears that building the stadium is no longer the primary objective of Jim Fitzgerald as reported on earlier. To my disappointment, it was Fitzgerald all along who was the driving force behind the smoke and mirrors to begin with, and he apparently has made the mining operation and charity foundation his number one goal.

JG excerpt:
”The potential is incredible,” he said. The stadium and fairgrounds are “almost insignificant” compared to the foundations potential, Fitzgerald said. “Everything is dwarfed compared to that foundation.”

The idea of building a charitable foundation is noble indeed, but true philanthropies are not founded on quid pro quo’s, and Fitzgerald’s desire to leave a legacy in Rock County should not come at the expense of the environment or concocted in a plan to turn a profit for third parties.

Too bad because after the smoke clears, Rock County will probably have neither a Snappers stadium or a new fairgrounds and the land at Highways 14/51 will be sold off to the highest bidder, whoever that is.

Spending Cuts Begin At Home

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Like most other counties throughout the state of Wisconsin, Rock Counties 2007 budget includes a 9.7 percent increase over last year. The county needs to figure out how to raise about $15 million dollars without cutting services or jobs. Part of the increase is due to inflationary pressures while $11 million is earmarked to pay for the UW-Rock County expansion.
The county has suggested a half-a-cent sales tax increase for the past three years instead of piling on property tax increases. At least one county supervisor, Adam Peer along with unofficial members of the board, the editorial staff of the Janesville Gazette are against the sales tax increase.

JG editorial excerpt:
Rather than relieving property taxes, a sales tax just gives government more money to spend. It discourages commerce, especially in communities along the southern border, where Illinois residents often travel to avoid their states heftier sales tax on big ticket items. A sales tax is also regressive. Elderly people on fixed incomes and those working near the minimum wage are hit the hardest.

Assuming the tax is on all purchases, I don’t know how many elderly individuals would spend $10,000 in a year on consumer goods and food and not afford to pay the extra $50 in taxes. And as far as the neighbor to the south is concerned, our UW-Rock grads who flock there to live for the higher paying jobs don’t seem to mind the higher regressive sales tax. The argument about traveling 30 miles or so to Rock County in order to save a couple dollars in taxes for the sake of personal prosperity no longer applies and is dead on arrival.

I am against higher local taxes of all kind, but also realize there is a balance that must be struck in the name of social and economic progress. Unfortunately, sales tax on individual purchases ignores the consumers income and economic class, but a half-cent is relatively small compared to the $100 to $500 hits a property taxpayer absorbs annually for local expenditures.

Today, thanks largely to the White House economic policy, we live in a wildly unpredictable and inflationary economy that is held together with a patchwork of discretionary taxcuts, manipulated interest rates and poor paying middle-class jobs. Things have gotten so bad that we should now consider no tax increases as a tax cut.

Without this sales tax, I don’t know how the county will raise the revenue needed without raising property taxes again. If Adam Peer and friends think they can reduce spending by $15 million for 2007, I suggest they announce what jobs and services they will cut as soon as possible, before the elections. If they fail to do so, property tax payers will be stuck with another regressive tax increase and may have to make some tough spending cuts of their own to meet their obligations, starting with $200-a-year subscriptions.

Stadium Land Deal a Foul Ball

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A few well-to-do businessmen in Rock County have a plan to build a stadium, dig a gravel pit, swap some land, start a charity and move the fairgrounds, all in one fell swoop. How this all came about from a seemingly well intentioned plan to just build a new stadium is anybodies guess. But when motivation is high and interest is created, opportunities can be found, deals often happen. The private parties involved are said to offer a $7 million dollar gift to the county as a carrot to strike the deal. However, details of the plan are sketchy and the parties have placed a time limit on the county to speed up the process.

But the details of the plan are really unnecessary when you begin to dissect the basic premise of the offer. The initial offer was reported in the Janesville Gazette as the machination of several wealthy individuals whose primary goal is to build a new stadium, but somehow evolved into what really appears as a plot to exchange real estate. The land deal is backed by Jim Fitzgerald, one of several wealthy local businessmen who have voiced their desire to build a new stadium for the Beloit Snappers.

JG excerpt:
Fitzgerald – former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors – said he does not stand to profit from getting the Snappers a new stadium. He became friends with Snappers management officials recently, he said. “Ijust met these fellas, and they were frustrated,” he said. “I have one objective, and that’s to get that stadium built in that location.”

I kinda believe Jim Fitzgerald, but other members of his party might not feel the same way. As reported in the Gazette on Oct. 13th was the following:

JG excerpt:
Mulder would pay the county $7 million. Even if the stadium-fairgrounds complex or mine plans fall through, the county would accept the $7 million as further cash for the land trade.

In other words, no matter what happens to the stadium-fairgrounds and mining operation, the private parties involved here still want the land deal. They still want to unload those three parcels onto the county and wash their hands clean of them. Who could blame them when you consider that two of the three parcels are adjacent to I –39/90 and also have a railroad running between them. Good land no doubt, but they will also face some rigid local opposition for land use and the mining operation opens a can of worms. The interstate and railroad can pose some limitations for residential use.

However the location at Highways 51 and 14 is in a “sweet spot” when you consider it’s far enough removed from I –39/90, but still has excellent accessibility to the interstate from Highway 14. Yet the property is ideal for local traffic as well and close to new developments in Janesville and retail shopping. The potential here in the future for development is extremely high, it’s anticipated returns on investment are astronomical, this property is AAA+. In comparison, the three separate parcels offered to the county are a mixed bag of burdens with less overall potential.

That the “generous” private parties involved are willing to give a total of $8.3 million plus 335 acres of land for 420 acres of land with all the smoke and mirrors should raise some alarms. Fitzgerald is smart enough to know when he’s being played and should stick to his primary goal to build a stadium without involving opportunists who appear to have different primary objectives. My concern is for the county and as a resident I suggest we let this unsolicited land deal expire.

No Difference Between Republicans/Democrats?

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One thing about Rock County, it has a good share of concerned citizens who write regularly to the newspapers. I have been tempted to post letters from the newspapers and deconstruct their talking points, but I have this sense of respect for those who speak their mind publicly and sign their name to it, whether I agree with them or not. But sometimes, certain things stand out to me after I’ve read a few and I just can’t help but to debate their comments. I thought these were interesting and relevant to today’s political climate.

JG letter excerpt:
I’ve never quite understood why we elect a sheriff.
Does a Republican sheriff know more about law enforcement than a Democrat? Can a Democratic sheriff shape and lead people more effectively than a Republican? Personal political beliefs should have little impact on a person’s ability to enforce the law.

I agree that electing a sheriff seems awkward, but that’s the way it is and as long as that’s the case, we can’t ignore the fact it is a political office. I don’t know for sure if a Democrat is better than a Republican at law enforcement or as a coroner, but I do know that if all other things are equal, the political beliefs of a person is the only thing left which separates one from the other. People who study each candidate on merit, education, experience or integrity while ignoring the party affiliation think they are making the smart choice. I completely disagree. I believe if people took the time to read and comprehend each parties philosophical platform, they would be shocked to see the huge differences. The parties do have some things in common such as corruption and greed, but those are backward human traits that touches nearly everyone to some degree. Why it seems more important to some people about the candidates religious beliefs over their political beliefs for political public office is beyond me.

Our political system was originally designed so any American born citizen regardless of race, class, education or experience can run for political office. Knowledge is power, but I believe education is highly overrated in the grand scheme of one’s ability to make a difference. There are no degrees that guarantee competency, professionalism or leadership.

JM letter excerpt:
If you look at the deeds of Republicans and Democrats, you can’t tell them apart. They all receive special interest money that comes conditionally.

It depends on what your definition of deeds is. But again there are huge differences between the two parties. When nearly all candidates for high office turn down taxpayer financed campaign money in favor of special interest money, that should ring some alarm bells. The system is not only broken, our elected officials have legislated it to stay that way. Some people actually vote only for incumbents that are easily influenced by special interests while those who openly rebel against the power brokers are labeled as mavericks, oddities and politically weak.
Its time to restore trust, its time to take our country back.

Fed Money for Police...In Iraq

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Two law enforcement teams for busting drug dealers in the stateline area are being dissolved because Federal money has evaporated. Tough on street crime, the units known as Rock County Narcotics Enforcement Team or RCNET and the Stateline Area Narcotics Team or SLANT have brought good results and now local police authorities are left scrambling to patch together a gang crimes and drug trafficking unit based on “cooperation”. In other words, no money.

I’m sorry, but I don’t get how we can expect the same level of enforcement without the federal dollars. Why has Rep. Paul Ryan allowed this grant to dry up? More importantly, the Janesville Gazette editorial made the loss of revenue from the Fed sound like it offers positive consequences for our local crime fighting needs, when in all reality its just another blow to our domestic security. The Gazette never asks the important questions of why or how.

I would also like to know how much money was cut off, and how the local police are going to replace the funding? Will they use local money? Is this just another result of the Bush/Ryan Fed spending cuts? ….. at a time when the Fed is flush in Bush taxcut dollars? Someone needs to tell Paul Ryan that spending Federal revenues on advanced police work has nothing to do with pork! What happened to the Fed dollars?