Or, "TYPICAL JUVENILE TACTICS BY THE PERENNIAL CANDIDATE"

It happens nearly every election, I should not be surprised. The Schellinger signs pop up overnight like an unwanted crop of mushrooms.

 

My husband alerted me about this early today. He voted at 7am. They were all over across from our polling place. He called Brookfield's City Hall and spoke to City Clerk Kris Schmidt.

She indicated it would be taken care of. I think a poll worker could go take the errant ones down.

I went to vote at about 11:30am. That is when I snapped the 1st photo.  5 on one corner!

My Alderman Lisa Mellone had sent this photo to me in an email with this comment:

" Attached is a typical sign violation by Tom Schellinger (multiple signs placed in yard) placed in the final hours. Ask the residents on Chester St.(across from the District 7 polling place) if they gave Tom permission to place those signs in their yards.  Not surprisingly, it was discovered from at least one who was home, that Tom did not ask for permission.  Typical juvenile tactics by the perennial candidate." (Emphasis added)

This is typical Tom Schellinger.  He pulled another stunt even more juvenile  2 years ago when he ran for 3 races at once!

Lisa Mellone sent me this update at 1:49pm from Dean Marquardt, "Tom [Beinert, code inspector] just returned from this area.  He removed signs on five parcels.  Four of the properties were Schellinger sites, he pulled eight signs on these
sites.  Two Schellinger signs were left on each property (one for alderman, one more generic). "

Poor Kris Schmidt has been inundated with these types of calls today and she has an election to run! Unless something is extremely important, I think we have to let it go. 

Everything associated with campaigns is becoming "anything goes." Even with the referendum. Last night Chanel 4 did a spot on Elmbrook's referendum at Central High School. Molly Steffan was interviewed. The whole piece was slanted to why we need to spend $62.2mil. (No mention of why the school was allowed to get to this state.)

I was interviewed too, but I got a knock on my door around supper time and had about 5min.to think. Does that seem equitable?

Renee' Lowerr is playing by the rules. She has worked very hard going door to door, speaking with area residents.

Tom Schellinger went door to door too, to some selected residents if they had a Lowerr sign in their yard, to ask why they supported Renee'. He went to other households, but did not bother to ask to post a sign.

Is it any wonder Lisa Mellone defeated him in 2006?

I hope the same happens this election. 

I had this email early this a.m.:  "Interesting note--did you notice the Schellinger signs, which have appeared around the neighborhood in the past week or so?  (Spouse) has talked to a lot of these folks, whose properties the signs are on; of the folks (spouse) was able to talk to, none of them gave permission for the signs to be placed on their properties; some did not  even know they were there. Seems like Mr. Schellinger will never learn. Or perhaps he has and knows he is not wanted in the 7th district. Go Renee!" (Emphasis added)

Tom Schellinger was a Brookfield Alderman. He knows the law; he knows better. His method takes less work though, and that sums up "Mr. Roll-a-dex" pretty well. (He will be my County Supervisor, heaven help me if I ever need anything!) 

ACADEMICS, NOT ATHLETICS AND AIR CONDITIONING!

Brookfield Academy's $12.5 mil high school, we can too

Correction: C G SCHMIDT Cost summary of Referendum

Today is the BIG MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TUESDAY--no fooling  GO VOTE! 

 

Elmbrook School District Referendum Links:

Frequently Asked Questions  Not to be missed!

HSST Meeting Minutes 

Cost Breakdowns of Type of Work (cost per square footage)

Architect's Conceptual High School Floorplans--East and Central

Facility "Needs" comparison of failed 2007 and present 2008 referendums

Tax Calculator  

Former 2007 Referendum Facilities Facts Sheets (Still a good read)

 

Links:

Brookfield7, Betterbrookfield,  Vicki Mckenna 

I heard Dr. Alveda King speak yesterday on Vicki McKenna's radio program. Alveda is following in her uncle Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s footsteps in speaking out for civil rights for all. But the issue near and dear to her heart is one that her uncle could not even imagine--civil rights for the unborn.

Dr. King will be the keynote speaker for the Pregnancy Help Center fund raising Gala this Thursday, March 6, at Brookfield Suites. Contact Julie Caltreaux: 414-687-1691

Her mission is to make people aware that you cannot help the Dream survive while murdering children. She then gave the statistics on Planned Parenthood's genocide against Black babies. I had heard Vicki McKenna speak about this before, so  it caught my attention.

Vicki asked Alveda if she was going to vote for Barack Obama for President. Alveda stated she voted for Huckabee in the primary. (Huckabee is the most pro-life candidate.)

Dr. King then added if you are automatically voting Barack just because he is Black, go back and read King's I Have a Dream speech. His (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's) Community is not based on color of his skin but the contend of his character.

Vicki brought up how Sen. Obama used his Christian faith to defend his position on abortion and mentioned that while in the Illinois Senate, he wouldn't even vote for basic comfort care for babies that survive botched abortions. (If you are unfamiliar, read the post and excerpts below.)

The Elephant in the Room: Obama: A harsh ideologue hidden by a feel-good image:

That bill was the Born Alive Infants Protection Act...  Who would oppose a bill that said you couldn't kill a baby who was born? Not Kennedy, Boxer or Hillary Rodham Clinton. Not even the hard-core National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). Obama, however, is another story. The year after the Born Alive Infants Protection Act became federal law in 2002, identical language was considered in a committee of the Illinois Senate. It was defeated with the committee's chairman, Obama, leading the opposition.

Let's be clear about what Obama did, once in 2003 and twice before that. He effectively voted for infanticide. He voted to allow doctors to deny medically appropriate treatment or, worse yet, actively kill a completely delivered living baby. Infanticide - I wonder if he'll add this to the list of changes in his next victory speech and if the crowd will roar: "Yes, we can."

Alveda also mentioned Barack's Sermon on the Mount speech, where Barack stated that Jesus approved of same sex marriage. "What flawed reasoning" she said. I see some flaws in his content, she added.

Obama: Sermon on Mount OKs Same-Sex Unions:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told a crowd at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, Sunday that he believes the Sermon on the Mount justifies his support for legal recognition of same-sex unions. He also told the crowd that his position in favor of legalized abortion does not make him "less Christian."

"I don't think it [a same-sex union] should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state," said Obama. "If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans." ... St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans condemns homosexual acts as unnatural and sinful. (Hardly obscure, Romans 1: 25-28 is specific, plus the Bible teaches that all scripture is inspired.)

Dr. Alveda King is the perfect person to address these issues. She continues the great message of what America should be all about: We should judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

I hope people will look into the "content of their character" in their own lives as well as in their candidates.

 

Links: Betterbrookfield,  Vicki Mckenna 

.

One reader sent me this link: Obama and Infanticide

The technical often precedes the ethical. For me, the lines of what is legal get very blurry when you look at another side of the issue.  Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, Portraits of Love

One of my regular readers sent me this today. I think if fits in well with the latest vote yes postcard.

"Today's the big day! Will our community whimsically vote to add more debt to our already outstanding sum of $2,798.66* for every man, woman and child in the Elmbrook school district? (YIKES) Or will we Just Say No!"

The way you vote for this referendum today will speak volumes to your children about what is important in life.

If you are trying to teach them to be fiscally responsible, manage their money well, and live within their means, a Yes vote will not reinforce those ideas.

If you are trying to teach them to be good stewards, a Yes vote will reinforce the idea that you don't need to be responsible with "the little" to be entrusted with more.

If you are trying to teach your children to be considerate of others and respect their elders, a Yes vote again will not reinforce those ideals. Most seniors already have a hard time deciding on whether to eat or buy prescriptions. This referendum will bring them to tougher decisions.

Will your vote today teach your children to be ruled by wants and emotions and value only the shiny and new or will it teach them to base their decisions on facts and the reality of budgets.

Lastly, IF you had to bring a check to the polling place today, made out for the entire amount of the referendum and dated so that the district could take out their yearly allotment in order to cast a YES vote, would you still vote yes?

Today is MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TUESDAY! Go vote! Besides 2 no votes on the referendums, I am writing in Jon Wolff against Bob Ziegler and Cindy Kilkenny against Glen Allgaier.

Please attend the Public Comment session at Brookfield's City hall tonight at 7:45 pm. This will be your final opportunity to speak out against the moving of 2 fire stations to the west. East High School will lose its 1 minute response time.

Post WW2 era buildings = modern construction

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LINKS:Brookfield7 postings Betterbrookfield, Votenoapril3.com


*Source:
Wold Printing Services, Chicago, Il - online muni's
School District of Elmbrook, Waukesha County, Wisconsin Taxable General Obligation Refunding Bonds, posted 01/20/2005: $9,780,000 bonds w/ maturity 2006-2024
"direct, overlapping and underlying bonded indebtedness per capita: $2,798.66"

Last weekend, I went on the mechanical tour at both high schools. I saw many things that should have been attended to but did not require a referendum to do. Others were items that in other districts would have just been taken care of within their operations budget, like painting door jambs, etc.

The third category would fall into a capitol improvement project during the summer, such as new chemistry cabinetry and counter tops. Nothing I saw was anything that a bit of diligence and a modest increase in budget could not remedy.

Right now I would like to focus on two problems that were just out and out neglect: a hole in the ceiling and holes in the wall. These problems challenge the Elmbrook LINK statement: “While the schools are well maintained within the scope of annual operating budgets...”

I question this statement because both would have been inexpensive and relatively easy to fix.

The first picture is of the ceiling in the girls locker room at Central’s pool. I think it has been like this since I took a mother and child swim class (my son is now 18). It is an access panel for something. The question is why was the ceiling never re-plastered around the frame? This is not a functional problem, just a cosmetic. I could even repair this one!

But these holes in the electric room are a real problem. They are the remaining sleeves from the abandoned oil tank lines which passed through the electrical room at Central. As you can see from the photo, water is seeping in through these holes and collecting on the electrical room floor.

Now most people’s first reaction is that water and electricity don’t mix. Pity the poor electrician that needs to work on or shut off any circuit breakers in there! That is a problem, but it's not the worst problem. According to new standards, electricians are not supposed to work anything "hot" (live).

No, the real problem here is that the humidity is very high in this closed room, and humidity and electrical contacts don’t mix. High humidity causes the contacts in the circuit breakers to oxidize and corrode. This eventually will cause the breaker to fail. Considering how many breakers are in this vicinity and the expense of changing them out, you would think the district would get after this, or at the very least put in a dehumidifier.

This would be a prime example of a very inexpensive repair that the district is ignoring. It does not require a referendum to fix it, just effort.

We had a similar situation in our home. The underground oil tank lines came in through our basement wall and water leaked in around the pipes. My husband dug down with a shovel from the outside, cleaned up the area, and used hydraulic cement to patch the holes.

Presto. No more leak.

Cost? About $10.00 in cement and a bit of sweat equity. That is all it would cost the district too. If the area above that wall is not accessible, it could be patched from the inside with the cement and epoxy.

There is no reason that the district could not fix this either. They still can and save the circuitry. Any responsible property owner would do so.

So why have they been neglected? Seems to me the district is a strange mix of Slum Lord: do as little as possible, combined with a welfare entitlement mentality: why take care of it; the taxpayers will just buy me a new one.

I’m hard pressed to come up with any other explanation for neglecting these simple repairs.

ONLY 2 MORE DAYS UNTIL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TUESDAY!

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Be sure to read the Corridor Report

Certainly every parent wants to know their children are safe while at school. The district knows this too and makes it one of their reasons to vote for the referendum.

On Elmbrook’s “Fact” sheet #1, it states: “While it is now standard equipment in most high schools, neither Brookfield Central nor Brookfield East has a closed circuit security television system for monitoring activity in the hallways, common areas, or parking lots and for monitoring access to over 60 outside doors at each school.”

There is one BIG FACT missing from this sheet. The FACT that next year, the cameras will be installed regardless of referendum passage. Principal LaBonte told us this little known fact when I toured Central last month.

Here is another FACT you may be interested in. Other area schools have been in the process of getting their cameras installed for a few years now, working their way, school by school through their districts--without a referendum.

Time to dispel another fallacy: These cameras are not to protect against Stranger Danger or terrorist intrusion. I think when most people hear the words security system or closed circuit security cameras they immediately conjure up the image of the security checkpoint at the Pentagon!

THIS is NOT what these cameras are for. These cameras are primarily to monitor STUDENT activity, not STRANGER activity.

A recent Brookfieldnow article stated, “In a time when many high schools around the nation have dealt with incidents of school violence, a closed-circuit security television system is necessary to monitor activity in the hallways, common areas and parking lots, according to principals.”

Remember that most high school violence is caused by students, not strangers. The cameras record motion in the hallways or wherever they are mounted, and that information is stored for future use. As a rule, it is not monitored continually during the day as we would think of a closed circuit television system. It is only there if there is an incident, they can see who was involved.

While on the mechanical tour of Central, the guide told us that one of the stairways in the 3 story addition was seldom used. I asked why, since I had heard the other stairways were so crowded. He hesitated, then said, they were too isolated and things happened in the stairwells.

Whether we are talking hanky-panky or bullying or drug deals, I don’t know. I do know going back to the concept of a hall monitor might help. In any event, this is not a STRANGER problem; it is a STUDENT problem.

The real question is: Why has Elmbrook neglected this “need” until now?

Could it be the same reason they have neglected other standard maintenance issues? They are trying to present a needier picture of our high schools than there really is, and in the case of security cameras, they will be installed next year—even without the referendum.

ONLY 5 MORE DAYS UNTIL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TUESDAY!

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When I was on the mechanical tour last weekend, I did watch the “informative” video playing in the lobby. (I cannot call it unbiased.) I kept waiting for the commercial to break in.... (Read this in your best announcer voice.)

...And now a word from our sponsor, your Elmbrook School District.

...They brought you referendum, after referendum, after referendum, after referendum, from 1991 to 1995, until the 5th one for Swanson finally passed.

...The ones who brought you the Swanson Swap that you only found out about before the fact because of a leak to the press.

...The same gang who, after the community spoke out loud and clear to save Swanson, tried to change our school district from a Unified to a Consolidated School District so they wouldn’t need public permission to sell school property ever again. (That measure failed.)

...The same group who purposely neglected maintaining our high schools for at least the past 6 years and then have the nerve to whine about our school’s condition. (This is solvable.)

...Don’t forget our board’s approval of that “needed” 4K program, overriding the publics' displeasure of adding another $67 to our tax bills. It required dipping into our reserves to implement. (It still has some openings, and they said it was such a need?)

...And, last but not least, don’t forget my favorite: the $2.5 million dollar tax bite (defeasance) they took out of your wallet last year on your 2006 property tax bill. NOT TO PAY DOWN THE DEBT, but to invest!

When we voted in 2000 for the 2 new grade schools, we approved that referendum for $17,900,000 not an additional pre funding investment scheme.

Anyway, I thought you should remember who the SPONSOR is of this referendum.

Is it a name you can trust?

ONLY 5 MORE DAYS UNTIL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TUESDAY!

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Someone gave me their Vote Yes postcard yesterday, so I could take a look at it. (I did not receive one because I do not have children in the district.)

The first thing I noticed was that it was an appeal to the emotions. It asks: ...if you would FEEL compelled to help. It then portrays a list of below average and failing grades for various components in the high schools.

I don’t know what they based these grades on. To me a failing grade would mean it does not meet minimal standards—that it does not function at a reasonable expectation. Example: Mechanical Systems: “F” to me would mean we consistently have interrupted or inadequate service for heat, lights, water, electricity, etc. Anyway, that is their opinion; these grades are not based on facts. The school district's own literature contradicts those bad grades, stating that the schools have been "well maintained" (within operating budgets).

But this is one FACT they got WRONG: No opinion, it is simply incorrect.
And it's in regard to a major component: the price.

They state that the COST is roughly 50 cents a day.

THAT IS NOT TRUE!

THE REAL COST IS ROUGHLY 94 CENTS A DAY.

I added up all of the columns on the district’s cost calculator for referendum question #1 and #2, and it totaled $6,837.65 for an average Brookfield home of $335,000. (That is the number the district has been using, if you would add Elm Grove’s average home value into the mix, that number would be higher).

The postcard also listed various other problems below the report card that I don’t believe are accurate. Hopefully I will address them in a future piece.

I realize the question of the high school referendums is something that can be looked at from both sides: the proverbial water glass half full or empty. BUT one must portray the fact of the glass’ contents accurately or the merit of the argument does not hold water!

ONLY 7 MORE DAYS UNTIL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TUESDAY!

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LINKS:Brookfield7 postings Betterbrookfield, Votenoapril3.com