GOP Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has hired a Florida consultant to help with crime lab testing delays which have defined his tenure in office.
Ah, the Hire-a-consultant-gambit. Well played, sir.
It's the classic first step by a public official who is a) acknowledging that there is a problem, but b) passing off the responsibility to get it fixed to someone else c) using more of your money.
So look for these follow-up do-nothing-real steps:
Step 2. Issue a proclamation, pretending that words are actions.
Step 3. Appoint a Blue Ribbon Task Force, with more strong words and responsibilities assigned to others.
Step 4. Give the Task Force a 'report-by' date after the election, but keep their updates coming and publicized. Illusion sells better if momentum can be conjured.
Step 5. Convert the issue into a campaign video and post it with a claim to leadership, just as Schimel did when touting his 'leadership' on the state's worsening opioid crisis.
Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel has hired a consultant to identify ways to speed up testing at the state crime labs as criticism over delays mounts.
Ah, the Hire-a-consultant-gambit. Well played, sir.
It's the classic first step by a public official who is a) acknowledging that there is a problem, but b) passing off the responsibility to get it fixed to someone else c) using more of your money.
So look for these follow-up do-nothing-real steps:
Step 2. Issue a proclamation, pretending that words are actions.
Step 3. Appoint a Blue Ribbon Task Force, with more strong words and responsibilities assigned to others.
Step 4. Give the Task Force a 'report-by' date after the election, but keep their updates coming and publicized. Illusion sells better if momentum can be conjured.
Step 5. Convert the issue into a campaign video and post it with a claim to leadership, just as Schimel did when touting his 'leadership' on the state's worsening opioid crisis.
Yep, anything to stall on the issue and twist it. Similar to how those "school security" grants are nothing but tax-funded photo ops that do next to nothing to stop the potential of guns in a school.
ReplyDeleteThis incompetent slime has to go in November.
Funny that you point out that task forces are meaningless gestures that do nothing other than to let politicians hide from any real action or accountability.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest fiscal drags on the Wisconsin economy is the inequitable -- in fact downright awful, outcomes in our urban schools for non-majority students. For many many years now, Wisconsin ranks as the worst place in America to raise African American children.
One gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Tony Evers, has had years to do something meaningful, instead, he pulled a blue ribbon commission stunt a few years ago. You can see this sham report here: https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/excforall/exc4all-report.pdf
Yes -- I agree that Schimel has no intention of doing anything. The lab consultant just kicks the can down the road and wastes money. No one has any doubt what kind of findings they will return. You are right to point out that the next step to doing nothing will be to form a "blue ribbon task force".
I can only hope that your readers are willing to be consistent -- Wisconsin has a serous problem in its public schools. Large communities are being under-served and there is no meaningful dialog on how to change this. We know why the republicans do not work with these communities to improve the outcomes in Wisconsin's schools.
Evers has acknowledged there is a problem. While not entirely created under his watch, it is a consistent and growing problem during his stewardship of Wisconsin DPI. If you and your readers want to mock Schimel for meaningless and costly gestures, then it is appropriate to point out that the leading democratic contender for governor has done nothing more than issue proclamations and formed a meaningless task force.
Polling data that places Evers in the lead ignore this realist: Turnout is all that matters. The communities in Wisconsin's cities that could swing this election have no reason to turn-out and vote for Tony Evers as the needs of those under-served children are entirely ignored. When your readers vote in the primaries, I can only hope they will vote against any and all candidates that hide behind proclamations and task forces.
Dr. Evers record of "achievement" in Wisconsin schools does not warrant kicking him upstairs to the Governor's office. This comment is relevant to your post because you are appropriately mocking task forces. If they are meaningless stunts for Schimel, the "achievement gap" task force was also a meaningless stunt.