To shrink or not to shrink...

Reversing it's direction for the 423rd time in the last few months, the Waukesha County Board has decided NOT to take the issue away from the Waukesha Taxpayers League and deal with it themselves. The Spring City Chronicle has done a great job of updating the issue on a daily basis. A couple of thoughts...

• For the political junkie, this is the best of all scenarios. The Board has basically thumbed it's nose at the WTL. After years of inactivity, the taxpayers league has become a force again lately with a series of huge wins. A lopsided defeat of a school referendum and numerous wet, sloppy kisses from the newly elected County Executive both preceded the County Board issue. The fact that the Board almost acted to reduce the number of Supervisors out of fear of a binding referendum speaks volumes to the newly found political capital of the WTL. Can they get 11,000 signatures? Even with talk radio carrying their water, THAT'S A LOT OF SIGNATURES! We will soon find out.
• From a personal point of view, the idea of a referendum interests me. I'm not quite as sold as the rest of the blogosphere that downsizing is the right answer. On one hand, 35 members is a whole lot of members. I've never sat on a committee or worked with a group that large that didn't have to work to get ANYTHING accomplished. On the other hand, do we want to lose another level of government? The Federal governement has long been beyond the reach of the ordinary citizen to make his voice heard. Several years ago, we lost our State government as well. When was the last time you contacted a State official and didn't get a form letter in return? On the local level, however, government is still within the reach of the ordinary citizen. Call or write a letter to your local trustee, school board member or supervisor and more times than not, you'll get a response. Not a canned version but , in many cases, a real conversation. Will a smaller board representing a larger number of people result in us losing government at the County level as well? That's probably a stretch but it is certainly moving in that direction. It also helps to explain why the most powerful special interest group in the county is so hell bent on lowering the number to 11.
• Why did Jim Dwyer vote for the reduction in committee and vote against it at the full board?
• Will anyone ever talk about the issues that would actually bring about a more responsible county government in Waukesha? Forget the size of the Board... or whether we should have a County Executive...why aren't we as citizens demanding that meeting be held at night when most of us could attend and exercise our right to free speech and why aren't these meetings on TV? Those two changes would bring needed accountability to the citizens, not a particular special interest group.

The next six weeks should be interesting...