What makes Lena Taylor Run??????

[midnight]

Read the latest Shepard Espress to find out why.....She’s the hardest working
candidate I’ve ever seen,” her longtime friend and
adviser Les Johns said.)
On any of the issues that exist in our county—transit,
parks, unemployment, education, corrections—where was
the leadership from the county executive?” Taylor asked the
debate crowd. “You need someone who will think out of the
box, who will seek out innovative ideas. You need someone
who is determined, no matter how hard it is, to make it
work.”
http://www.npaper-server.com/shepherdexpress;see-8EXy8FMt97rr4xaL;page-1

[undeterred]

1. She will go far in politics.

You meet her once, and you never forget her. I met her at a fundraiser where she gave a warm endorsement for Justice Butler. I wish I lived where I could vote for her!

[midnight]

2. Isn't she... Her awareness of other people and their

struggles are brought together and somehow she finds a resolution... People of Milwaukee co. get out at vote for Lena Taylor for Milwaukee Co. Executive......She is determined to bring service back to Milwaukee Co...

[undeterred]

3. Big contrasts dominate top county race

Sharp differences divide the candidates for Milwaukee County executive, a nominally nonpartisan race with heavy partisan undertones.

Scott Walker, the incumbent and a former Republican state legislator, wants to make the race about taxes, crime and competence. He's arguing for a continuation of the conservative approach that he says has begun to stabilize county government in the aftermath of the pension scandal.

State Sen. Lena Taylor, the challenger, wants to make the campaign about what she calls mismanagement and deterioration of county parks and programs under Walker.

Often, they sound like polar opposites. Walker rails against Taylor, a Milwaukee Democrat, as a tax-and-spend liberal and tool of unions and left-leaning interests. Taylor calls him a pro-business Republican loyalist whose budget-cutting mantra has harmed county assets and vulnerable citizens.

Taylor, 41, grew up working in her grandmother's north-side restaurant, yielded to her mother's insistence on attending college and wound up collecting a law degree. She worked as a public defender, built her own legal and rental property businesses and won election to a vacant Assembly seat in 2003. Taylor has served in the Senate three years.

Walker, 40, grew up in small towns in Iowa and Wisconsin, an Eagle Scout and preacher's son who honed his speaking skill from the pulpit.
He attended Marquette University, detouring in his senior year to a full-time fund-raising job with the Red Cross. After nine years in the Assembly, Walker rode the anti-pension scandal wave into the county executive's office in 2002.

Focus on taxes
Walker has focused on holding down property tax increases, saying higher taxes could prod businesses and families to leave. He uses language of diminished expectations in the post-pension scandal era. "We are finding ways to make do," he says.

Cleaning up the pension mess still defines the Walker years, as the county has struggled to pay for generous benefits. He points to a slowing of property tax levy increases - about 2% a year during his tenure - and curtailment of pension enhancements for new employees.

In a rare point of agreement, both candidates favor a borrow-and-invest plan to pay off the county's unfunded pension liability.

Taylor says that after years of chipping away by Walker, the county's parks are tattered, its bus system shrunk and more costly for riders. Management bungling has hurt the House of Correction in Franklin, the county's mental health programs and its welfare office, according to Taylor.

"The present county executive, although he's a very nice guy, he's mismanaged," Taylor says.

Walker only belatedly paid attention to shortcomings in the county's care for people with mental illness when a Journal Sentinel investigation pointed them out, she says.

Walker talks up innovation to trim county costs. He says he would like to privatize more park functions and lay off full-time employees, perhaps turn over operation of Mitchell International Airport to a private company under a long-term lease and work for a regional bus system.

More state, U.S. funds
Taylor suggests she would be better able to lure more state and federal cash to the county. Although promising to work to cut waste and inefficiency first, Taylor says she then would consider a fraction of a cent increase in the sales tax to pay for parks and transit.

Walker has ruled out a county sales tax boost and says Taylor's record in the Legislature hints at a predilection to tax more. He points to her support for the state budget that has plunged into the red and a costly universal health care provision that didn't pass.

Walker has tried to make crime-fighting a central theme of the race, playing up his support for beefed-up lakefront patrols in the summer and his role as a legislator in pushing for sentencing reform. Walker calls Taylor soft on crime for backing legislation to allow judges to try 17-year-olds for nonviolent crimes in juvenile court.

She blasts him over security lapses, staff shortages and high overtime costs at the House of Correction and downtown work-release center, problems that Walker says are being fixed.

Lena C. Taylor
Age: 41
Address; time in county: 1518 W. Capitol Drive, Milwaukee; 38 years
Occupation: State senator
Elective offices: Served in the Assembly, 2003 to 2005, and in the Senate, 2005 to present
Other government experience: Member of the board, Business Improvement District 19
Education: Law degree, Southern Illinois University
Family: Single; one son

Scott K. Walker (inc.)
Age: 40
Address; time in county: 520 N. 68th St., Wauwatosa; 21 years
Occupation: Milwaukee County executive
Elective offices: Elected county executive in 2002, re-elected in 2004. Served in Assembly, 1993 to 2002
Other government experience: Chairman, St. Lawrence Seaway Commission
Education: Attended Marquette University, 3 ½ years
Family: Married; two sons

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=731248

Go Lena! :kick:

[nels25]

4. No problem just as long as Milwaukee

does not become a Cook county Ill.

I may get nailed for this but I do believe that there is such a thing as to much taxes (not saying Milwaukee county is there yet, but if the combined city/county tax situation ever go to 10% plus like in Chicago/Cook county then I believe that would not be constructive).

Of course I am no the best versed in economics, just no that a certain point a tax rate starts to become an impediment to people who want to excel.

At a certain point of almost all your money is going to go to this or that government institution, then where is the incentive to earn more??

Earn more just to give it to the government??

Not worth the effort.

Now I said I do not think we are at that point yet, I just wish we would be just a little more prudent than to always yell tax first.

(And yes I know the wealthy need to be taxed a little more right now then they are being taxed, and that the Bush tax cuts should not be made permanent and that the rich can and should pay more. I just do not want to cross that line where tax gets so high that like I said it ruins incentive to work or invest. BTW: I think pray and hope that we get some serious regulation of investing in this nation God know we need it).:hi:

[midnight]

5. I'm not sure that raising taxes is the important issue here....

Look at Countries like Denmark...high taxes, but they live very well. Good healthcare, retirement communities that are very nice. Our tax base needs to support these areas. Milwaukee County Mental Health is in a few lawsuits because of keeping taxs down. The hiring freeze of adequate staff at the hospital has cause problems, and people are taking legal action... compare how economic it would have been if there were safe patient/staff ratios vs. law suits.

[midnight]

6. Vote Ajpril 1 for Lena Taylor County Executive for Milwaukee

That is next Tuesday.....

[undeterred]

7. Walker v Taylor on the issues

[midnight]

8. This is good information. Thanks for sharing.

Please get out and vote on Tuesday, and bring a friend or two.... Vote Lena for Milwaukee Co. executive!!!!!