Scott Walker's Limitations Lead To Failure

No urban underpinning.

No urban agenda.

No urban successes.

A trifecta of shortcomings as Executive of Mllwaukee County where 60-some percent of the residents live in the City of Milwaukee - - and even more if you count the populations of other cities, especially West Allis and West Milwaukee.

Walker instead preferred playing from his perch in a top urban government position the character of the anti-government, anti-city ideologue without even a hint of awareness of the deeply intellectually dishonest paradox from which he 'governed' everyday.

He seemed to enjoy his showy game of mutually-gratuitous footsie carried off with righty talk radio hosts while making a big show annually handing back a few, faux short-sighted bucks to conservative property taxpayers in more suburbanizd Wauwatosa, or River Hills, or Greenfield rather than using government's resources and opportunities, or even an ignored Bully Pulpit to tackle or address or minimally face up to real urban problems.

And to leverage development in these urban areas - - look no farther than his lengthy obstruction of a settlement of the $91.5 million in federal city/county transit dollars, and the long delays in getting county-owned land in the Park East corridor into projects that would get them on the tax rolls.

Walker was never a philosophical or actual urbanist - -let alone a pragmatic, down-to-earth, hands-on problem-solver - - though the territory and people he represented are urban and live in a particularly challenged environment, too.

He was and is a counterfeit leader, a political game-player, a place-holder at taxpayer expense looking to take as few risks as possible while timing his move up and calculating first and pre-eminently how every news release and utterance and semi-colon will fit into ideological templates and, someday - - sooner now rather than later - - into roughed-out ads.

Bad enough that he blew a seven-year chance to make a difference to people and institutions in the most populous county in the state, which also includes the state's biggest city, and its majority-minority populace.

But reason enough for the rest of us to ensure that adherence to self, worst-practices and benign - - make that willful - - neglect doesn't justify getting your ticket punched to the Governor's Mansion, lest "Stick It To Milwaukee" becomes the Scott Walker-inspired new state slogan.