Reduce Reduce Reduce!!!!!

Its all the rage among the "Government is Bad" crowd. It started with the Tom Ament recall and subsequent reduction of the Board size in Milwaukee County and is now become the topic de jour in Waukesha where the Waukesha Taxpayer's League has started a petition to reduce the size of the County Board from 35 to 11. I can agree that 35 is a bit high for a County of this size but to arbitrarily reduce it to 11 without fully examining the issue and impact on representation is about as irresponsible as it gets.

Now I am not a huge fan of the County Board. This Board after all was so arrogant, stupid, and beholden to special interests that it voted to block the change in zoning to allow for the Aurora hospital in Oconomowoc (no I am not an Aurora employee). Fear not residents of western Waukesha County. You'll be getting your Aurora Hospital soon. Although the County and City of Oconomowoc taxpayers will be footing the bill after the lawsuits are settled.

The reduction to 11 is basically reduction for reduction's sake. Wouldn't their time be better spent combing through the County and Local budgets in Waukesha County and seeing where there could be cuts? My suggestion would be to start with Fire and Police no matter how unpopular it is. I believe the most wasteful spending is done under the guise of public safety. Then move on to municipal libraries. Oh wait, that won't garner the headlines so I guess we have to resort to arbitrarily cutting the size of elected bodies. Heck, maybe they should spend their time encouraging all of the lazy bastards in Waukesha County to get out and vote. The Waukesha mayoral primary attracted something like 11 percent of the population! That is disgraceful.

I am guessing that the Taxpayers League doensn’t have a redistricting map drawn up yet. If they do, I would love to see how they plan on dividing the County into 11 districts that ensure adequate representation of all Cities, Villages, and Townships in the County.

Even the Republican's knight-in-shining armor Dan Vrakas (the current County Executive) has advocated for 25 or 19, which seems like a more reasonable reduction.

Consolidation of representation in Waukesha County will do far more harm to the communities that are mostly affected by County decisions namely the 12 individual townships as it is likely their representatives will live in incorporated Cities and Villages, who have more local control. For those unaware of the County's role in township government, I would suggest you do your homework before you come knocking on my door begging for a signature.