Telling the King to Shove it

The battle lines are being drawn at the Milwaukee County Board.

Six County Board members won't resign over vote
By DAVE UMHOEFER

Six Milwaukee county supervisors involved in the move to try to force out County Board Chairman Lee Holloway will not resign from leadership positions, they told Holloway on Friday.

Holloway asked the six committee chairmen or vice chairmen this week to resign while he fights ethics charges - if they believed they could no longer work with him.

We are confident in our abilities to carry out our committee responsibilities faithfully and in the best interests of the citizens of Milwaukee County; it is those citizens to whom we owe our allegiance," the supervisors wrote. "Should you disagree, as Chairman, you possess the authority to remove us from these positions."

The six - Paul Cesarz, Dan Devine, Lynne De Bruin, James Schmitt, Joseph Rice and Ryan McCue - are among a group of 10 who requested a special County Board meeting on Feb. 20 to attempt to conduct an extraordinary election for board chairman. In their letter Friday, they reiterated their request that Holloway step down as chairman until the ethics case plays out.

The legality of the chairman election is in doubt. Supervisors were told Friday that State Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager has been asked for an opinion on whether a new County Board chairman can be chosen between the regular election cycle of four years.

Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel William Domina asked Lautenschlager for the opinion earlier this month in hopes of getting it by the Feb. 20 meeting.

Domina already has given the opinion that although the special meeting can be held, the chairman can be removed only for cause by a two-thirds vote - a lengthy process requiring special hearings. The group of 10 - which constitutes a majority but not two-thirds of the board - contends that the special election may proceed because state statutes do not explicitly preclude electing a chairman out of cycle with a simple majority.

Lautenschlager's office is reviewing Domina's request, her spokesman Kelly Kennedy said. Lautenschlager's opinion, like Domina's, would be advisory, not binding.

Supervisors leading the move to elect a new chairman filed their request Feb. 2 for a special meeting. They say Holloway is too distracted from fighting his ethics case to effectively conduct county business.

The next few weeks ought to be pretty darn interesting. I personally am interested in how Lautenschlager and her office handle the request for an opinion. Hopefully all of this will result in better leadership at the helm of the Board.

I'm not holding my breath, but I am following with a keen interest.