Buying Local . . . did you notice it passed?

How does it happen that when Ray Allen and Mayor Dave, the Common Sense Coalition and Progressive Dane, Brenda Konkel and Russ Frank (Madison Top Company), Vicky Selkowe and Larry Palm agree on something . . . it still takes a year to get it passed through the council?

Take a look at the few events you might have seen in the news.

March 17, 2006 - Common Sense Coalition continues their call for a "buy local" initiative and I decide to draft a resolution to get the discussion started.
October 7, 2006 - "Buy local" is now the Mayor's initiative.

Ald. Jed Sanborn said that it would be "kind of absurd" if every municipality focused on buying services within its borders, and Ald. Zach Brandon questioned the ability of the city to define what's local and what's not, as well as the costs of doing so.

and

"It sounds good, and it feels good," Brandon said. "But we have to have a much larger discussion about what it means."

October 16, 2006 - WSJ slams the proposal.

It also could lead to retaliatory measures in other cities, hurting the many businesses in Madison that sell elsewhere.

and

There is no problem, just an opportunity to pass a law that sounds good to Madison's liberal constituency leading up to an election. And along the way, the proposal is likely to increase the city's tax burden and red tape.

and

A careful look at the consequences should show that "buying local," when mandated at the local level, won't change much and might even hurt.

October 25, 2006 - Opinion piece from Progressive Dane.

Meanwhile, in City Hall . . .
March 21, 2006 - Resolution introduced to study local purchasing. Resolution was sponsored by Brenda K. Konkel, Tim Gruber, Brian Benford, Robbie Webber, Austin W. King, Michael E. Verveer, Judy K. Olson, Zachariah Brandon, Paul E. Skidmore, Noel T. Radomski, Paul J. Van Rooy, Judy Compton, Larry Palm, Tim Bruer, Lauren Cnare and yet it takes until August 8, 2006 for the resolution to pass.

October - We get reports from the City Attorney and Comptroller's office.

November 7, 2006 - Larry Palm introduces his own ordinance, which is later "placed on file" - i.e. tossed in the garbage.

December 2006 - The committee fininshes their work.

April 17, 2007 - A policy finally passes! Unanimously.

Why and how does this happen? It was a great idea. Nearly everyone agreed it was a good idea - except the WSJ who has a knee-jerk reaction to anything Progressive Dane supports. We had the information we needed 7 months ago. A committee was formed, they met, they made recommendations that were widely accepted and finished their work last December.

Was it the wrangling by Mayor Dave and Alder Palm to take the credit? Was it petty politics to make sure that nothing the Common Sense Coalition supported passed the council? Was it election year politics?

Whatever the answer is, we shouldn't let this happen again. There is no reason for something that is good for the community and widely supported to take so long to pass.

And finally, when something that is good for local businesses passes the council, where is the media coverage? Read more!

Loitering: It's Ba-a-a-c-k

Doesn't it sometimes seem that we keep changing the players but having the same discussions. It's true about smoking, even something I favor - Section 8 discrimination and now loitering. That's right, appearently, according to the State Journal this morning, we've brought back another ground hogs day issue . . . kind of. Sort of. We just don't know what it is yet.

I'm kind of curious, how can 11 people on the council make up their mind that this is the right thing to do without seeing the details? What kind of information did they base their support on? What problem did they identify? Do they think the problem they identified would really be solved by this proposal? Did they just do it because a lobbyist asked them to support it? Is it because it is symbolic and political as the Mayor and Verveer suggest? Is it because they lack imagination to come up with anything new? Aren't they concerned that 80% of the tickets were given to black people the last time this ordinance was in place? What about the proposals that the police chief and police department have proposed for the Downtown and King Street? What's wrong with them and why is this other proposal needed? Well . . . I'm shouting into the wind, I doubt any of the proponents of this proposal will answer any of those questions . . .

Oh, and one more thing. This is yet another issue with lobbying. Here we have a majority of the council and a lobbyist group making decisions for the city before there is even a hint of public discussion. So I should be able to look at the lobbying reports and figure out what happened right? Hmmm . . . when did Quigley do all this lobbying on behalf of the "grass-roots" Common Sense Coalition? It certainly didn't show up on their recent lobbying report. And I don't see lobbying listed as one of the legislative issues they are going to work on . . .

Hmmmm . . . . smells funny . . . . I guess I'll have to wait until next February to find out any information . . . Read more!

Lobbying: Chamber comes in #2

People on thedailypage.com forum are upset with me for raising the lobbying issue.

They seem more upset about my posting on lobbying on the paid sick leave issue than the lobbying on the inclusionary zoning issue.

I'm not sure what it is about this issue that gets people so nuts. All I did was wonder aloud about all the money being put into lobbying by the Chamber of Commerce. This is a significant change from what we have seen before. I didn't even get into the bigger issue that I found that would also drive them nuts - - there are over 200 registered lobbyists (It's a moving target cuz there's several registrations not on-line that are sitting in the clerks office) and less than 100 filed their forms. (I sure hope they do so soon!!!)

What struck me about the money was that the Chamber of Commerce had the highest amount for any one lobbying group that didn't have a specific project before the City. (Joseph Freed, who did the Hilldale project, was the one registrant that spent more than the Chamber of Commerce at $94,929) While the Chamber of Commerce spent $44,758 the following groups only spent the following - their total combined is less than the Chamber!:

Common Sense Coalition $8,000
Downtown Madison Inc $2,416
REALTORS $11,673
Smart Growth Madison Inc $5585
Madison Area Builders Association $3120
Apartment Association $553

Even our most frequent flyers with all their clients combined (based on what I found in the basket - some appear missing) did not individually surpass the Chamber of Commerce

Ron Trachtenberg - 12 different clients - $32,750
Bill White - 3 clients - $20,442
Michael Christopher - 3 clients - $16,080

Even the bigger developers (based on what I found in the basket) didn't spend that much - combined!

Veridian - $22,592
Alexander Company - $7930
Gorman & Co - $3845

The Chamber made up nearly 15% of the cost of lobbying of the $311,413 I found reported. That's significant. That is a change. We have not seen this kind of money put into lobbying by one group before. They made a record number of contacts with alders. And I suspect, that also had a record impact on the Council . . . but I'll let you decide - cuz that's what caused all the controversy with my friends on thedailypage.com forum!
Read more!

CSC: They are . . . They aren't . . . and they are again . . .

Ok - is the Common Sense Coalition going to endorse candidates, or not? Yes? No? Maybe?

Is the answer yes, once and for all?. Geesh . . . why didn't they just admit it up front?

As of July 26, 2006 they have registered as a PAC and it looks like they will at least be funneling money to candidates . . . at least, presumably, the ones that they "endorse"? Are they done pretending? Read more!

CSC and BK agree on Local Purchasing

This morning I trekked out to the west side to the Common Sense Coalition's meeting regarding small businesses. It was quite the adventure, but not because of the snow . . . this story begins on last Tuesday.

Talking to Russ Frank
On Tuesday afternoon, Vicky Selkowe and I went out to visit Russ Frank of the Madison Top Company to talk about the paid sick leave ordinance. After I got in the door (which was problematic as Aaron tried to lock me out!) we actually had a pleasant conversation despite some of our differences. In fact, we found things we could agree on. So much so, that I told Russ Frank that I would introduce a resolution at the next council meeting to get us moving towards giving preferences to local businesses when the city is purchasing goods and services.

Previous thoughts on Local Purchasing
I made that promise with some confidence because over a year ago when I was on the Board of Estimates, we had a little controversy over the labor practices of Cintas and we asked the City Attorney to brief us on the purchasing policies for the City of Madison. On September 17th, 2004 the City Attorney gave us a draft memo with a list of where one could find our purchasing policies for the City of Madison and then said that the staff team would be working on a comprehensive purchasing policy book. At the time, I took the memo, looked up all the APMs, ordinances and state laws and threw them in a folder. I also did a little research on my own and rediscovered the newrules.org website. And had some good intentions, but never followed through.

Talking to others and researching a local purchasing resolution
On Wednesday I talked to Susan Schmitz at Downtown Madison Inc. about another matter, but gave her a heads up about the resolution that I was working on and she suggested that I talk with Jim Bradley at Home Savings which I did. We were able to talk about the local "buy local" initiatives and how to approach getting the city to purchase locally. I then went home and did a bunch of research. (One of the things I found on the comptrollers website was the recipes! Which, by the way, I'm not being critical of, I just find it funny in a midwest-'consin-church picnic-potluck kind of way. Lord knows when you might need some "no-fuss party potatoes" don't cha know . . .)

What I discovered was that most of the purchasing policies that are implemented in cities and states throughout the United States are for bidding and requests for proposals (RFPs). However, the City of Madison breaks down purchasing as follows:

• Up to $1,000. Best value judgment is used to purchase low dollar commodities.
• Between $1,000 and $5,000. Informal price quotations are obtained unless reasonableness of price can be determined without competition.
• $5,000 - $25,000. A Request for Quotation or Bid is prepared and published in DemandStar.com. and Vendornet. Required response time is approximately three days to three weeks.
• $25,000 and up. Formal sealed bids/proposals are obtained on all purchases for goods and services Bids/Proposals will be posted in DemandStar.com and Vendornet. Additionally, notices may be published in the Wisconsin State Journal and other relevant publications as prescribed by applicable laws. Processing will take four to six weeks.

And I began to think that many of the ordinances adopted throughout the nation don't really deal with alot of small dollar amounts of purchasing that might be done locally and that we may have purchasing methods that wouldn't be covered by some of the resolutions and ordinances that I was looking at. In fact, I was quite certain that such ordinances wouldn't cover City of Madison purchases under $5,000 and I suspected that only purchases over $25,000 would be covered. We purchase goods in the following ways:

• Purchase of Goods
Products, supplies and equipment are purchased through competitive processes using the Bid Thresholds as a guide.
• Purchase of Services
Consultant, professional, and technical services are often obtained through requests for proposal, which consider skill and experience as well as cost in the evaluation process.
• Cooperative Purchasing Agreements
The City utilizes available state, university and federal contracts at its discretion.
• Sole Source Negotiation
Also called noncompetitive negotiation, this method may be used when competition does not exist or would not be in the best interests of the City. For example, scientific equipment manufactured by only one vendor.
• Contract Methods
Purchasing Services creates annual blanket and contract purchase orders for various supplies and services. Many of these contract orders are established through the bidding process. Once contracts are awarded, city agencies can use Limited Purchase Orders (LPO) and Purchasing Cards to purchase miscellaneous items or predetermined items on the contracts directly from vendors.
• Purchasing Card
The Purchasing Card is a tool for agency employees to make low-dollar purchases (typically under $1,000) for official agency business needs. It allows for a faster and more efficient process of purchasing supplies.

And quite frankly I got concerned about a list I found for blanket purchase orders that had a list of vendors that had some local places and some non-locally owned places, but I couldn't quickly figure out how you got to be on this list:

Blanket Contract Vendors Approved for P-Card Purchases

SUPPLIES
ACE HARDWARE
BADGER WELD.
CAMERA CO.
CAPITOL LOCK
CORP. EXPRESS
DORN HARDWARE
FASTENAL
FULL COMPASS
HOME DEPOT
JOHN S HYATT
KUBICHEK
LINDE GAS
MAUTZ PAINT
MENARDS
MESSNER INC
OFFICE DEPOT
OFFICE MAX
PEPSI
PERKINS OIL
PROF EQUIP
QPR
RUNDLE-SPENCE
SHOE BOX
STREICHERS
SUN BADGE
TAPCO
TEMP SYSTEMS
TOP PROMO.
UNISOURCE
VONDRA ENG
WASHINGTON EQUIP
WERNER ELEC
WINGRA REDI-MIX

SERVICES
ARAMARK
CAPITAL NEWSPAPERS
FED. EXPRESS
ISTHMUS PUBLISHING
OSI ENV.
REYNOLDS TRANSFER
ROTO ROOTER
TERMINIX
TRIGGS PLUMBING
UMOJA
UNION CAB
US CELLULAR
WASTE MGMT
WIL-KIL
XER-LITH
(10/10/2005)

Drafted Resolution
So, I ended up drafting a resolution that had the following in it:

Now, therefore be it resolved, that the Comptrollers office provide a report to the Common Council by xxxxxx regarding the following:

1. The fiscal and administrative feasibility of providing a local purchasing preference for local businesses.
2. Additional costs or costs savings that may be a result of a local purchasing policy.
3. Economic benefits to the City of Madison of a local purchasing policy.
4. Administrative challenges of a local purchasing policy.
5. Appropriate level of preference given in the bidding or rfp process.
6. Possible policies to encourage local purchasing through LPOs, Purchasing Cards and Purchase orders and any other method of purchasing items that do not require a RFP or bidding process.

CSC meeting this morning
So, imagine my surprise this morning when I heard that the CSC would be "mandating" that the City of Madison purchase locally. They even had their press release that went out a 5 am the morning of the meeting.

Talking to Russ Frank . . . again . . .
So, after the meeting, I talked to Russ Frank and asked him what I should do. Should I go forward as planned with some version of my drafted resolution, or was this a Common Sense Coalition issue and would I be stepping on their toes. Russ kind of shrugged his shoulders and said "I just want something to happen". I agreed with him and am moving forward with my resolution which I will finish drafting and pass around the council on Tuesday for sponsors.

I'm not sure how much of this is coincidence, how much of it was just curious timing, or if this was, as many have suggested, some attempt to steal the credit, or what . . . but what I do know, is that I don't care who gets the credit (btw - it likely belongs to Russ Frank). We should just work to make this happen to the degree we can do it. And hopefully the resolution I drafted will be a first step . . . It certainly does more than another press release.

Read more!

"Not a Political Party" Liar!

Remember this . . .

When asked if the group would support a mayoral candidate, or if any of its members were considering running for the job, Allen said the coalition was "not a political party," but dedicated to policy.

"What we're running for is a better city," he said.

And now this . . .

The Common Sense Coalition is proud to announce the endorsement of three Dane County Board candidates who we believe share our values, and our vision for Dane county's future.

I thought they were dedicated to policy . . . what policy? They formed 9 months ago . . . have you seen any policies they have tried to get adopted? Or anything they've done that has been anything less than a shameless political stunt/press release? Read more!

Buy your illusion of democracy here . . . .

Remember when, a little group called Smart Growth Madison, Inc. got started . . . way back in January, 2003? Remember who wrote the letter founding that group? Remember who the executive committee of that group was? (Answer: Gary Gorman, David Simon, Jeff Rosenberg, Curt Brink and Terrence Wall) These guys and others (who remain anonymous because Smart Growth won't say who their members are) ponied up about $73,000 to form this group. Remember that their staff person Delora Newton (now working for the Chamber of Commerce) was the first one to bring up the quote from Dave that started all this anti-business crap. And remember how poorly Smart Growth Madison's candidates did during election time.

Fast forward a bit . . . remember when the Common Sense Coalition got started . . . way back in April 2005? Remember who wrote the letter (and denied) founding that group? Notice some familiar names on the executive committee of that group was and who appeared at their news conferences? (Answer: Delora Newton, Curt Brink, Terrence Wall, Dan Guerra) Try searching their site - I tried to figure out who holds those 11 seats on the executive committee, but couldn't find it. Remember how they hired a consulting firm Putnam Roby to get this group started? And how they said they wanted to be a broad coalition, but definitely wanted to leave some people out? We don't know yet how much they ponied up for this group (but they did offer sponsorships at $5,000 to $25,000) or even what the group does besides issue press releases.

Remember that Spring Out the Vote campaign. This time Wood Communication Group and the Chamber of Commerce seemed to be in charge. It was supported in the press by Gary Wolter, president of Madison Gas and Electric Co., and chairman of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. Companies who tried to get their employees to vote included: Capital Newspapers, MG&E, American TV, UW Hospitals, WPS Health, UW-Madison, Oscar Mayer, CUNA Mutual, American Family Insurance and Rayovac. Jennifer Alexander at the Chamber of Commerce didn't know how much the effort cost when asked by the Wisconsin State Journal in the article about how this effort failed, but that it was in the "four figures".

Did you read today about Civitas? See any familiar names? It was formed by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and Wood Communications Group. Its main sponsors include CUNA Mutual Group, the Curt Vaughn Brink Cos., Madison Gas & Electric and Wood Communications. It also draws funding from American Family Insurance, First Weber Realtors, the Blettner Group and T Wall Properties.

Here we go again . . . This all feels like one really bad re-run. How much money are these supposedly smart business people going to sink into these silly groups that don't work? How long before they figure out that they can't buy a political front group, give it a cute name, hire someone to do the work for them and force employees to attend a seminar then call it democracy. Read more!

Common Sense = Press Release?

On cue, the Common Sense Coalition does what . . . drum roll please . . . issues a press release. Now, this wouldn't be so funny, if it wasn't so predictable.

The essence of their press release is as follows:

• We want the following self-serving things done to serve our personal interests (i.e. give the police, sheriff and fire unions whatever they want cuz we need to claim their members to make us look legit) but we don't have any actual proposals and aren't going to do the work to get them done . . . but we do have a press release
  

• We don't like the mayor, so we've issued a press release

And then, the goofy contradictory position of

• We're non-partisan, but recruiting and endorsing candidates for spring elections, and here is our press release

As I've noted before, the Common Sense Coalition continues to claim it is a broad inclusive coalition, but it is purposely excluding a certain group of people (Progressive Dane and "the left") and isn't coming clean about it. Just ask Lisa Subeck who "applied" to be a member months ago and still, months later, hasn't been accepted . . . or rejected.

More specifically, and to the point, let's take a look at their 2006 agenda outlined in their press release.

Bringing Best Value Contracting to Madison

The Common Sense Coalition (CSC) is leading a working group made up of
representatives of management, labor, and elected officials to create a
win/win Best Value Contracting policy for our city. By the end of 2006,
CSC wants to see Best Value Contracting a reality in Madison.

Interesting, have you seen any public notices about these meetings of the "working group"? If you wanted to discuss this issue, would you know how to participate? What elected officials are they working with? Is this the way we should create policies, in closed door back room discussions of a select few that claim to promoting greater public participation? If they really want to have everyone attend, why don't they note the time and place of the meeting on their own website and invite people to participate? Or better yet, we have a vast community process, they could get one of their elected officials they are working with to form a committee and work on it in the community where people could participate.

Increased Leadership from the Mayors Office

Controversial issues like the proposed "Sick Leave” ordinance are too
important to the future of our city for the Mayor to take a passive position
on. Madison needs leadership from our elected executive on contentious
issues.

Um . . . I'm not usually one to jump to the defense of the Mayor . . . but . . . do you think they realize that the Mayor is not King of Madison? The Mayor didn't take a "passive position" on paid sick leave, did he? He pretty clearly said this isn't the right time, but he's the executive branch of government and this is a legislative proposal. What do they expect him to do? The council members have the right to introduce a proposal and have it referred to committees and the Mayor, with all due respect, can't really do anything about it. What do you think they think he could do and how would he do it? And is that the way you want your government to be run, if the Mayor says we can't talk about controversial things that is the end of the conversation? Nice open government and way to encourage public participation.

A Greater Focus on Local Economic Development and Job Creation

Local government is the best economic development tool we have. Madison needs to better utilize that tool by forming incentives for the creation of family wage paying jobs, especially those in the middle income bracket.

This one cracks me up. These are the same folks (Realtors, Smart Growth Madison, Inc, individual developers) that will tell us that the market should just take care of the affordable housing issues that we have and the government shouldn't interfere in how they run their businesses, but they have no shame in coming to locagovernmentnt for hand-outs?

And finally, the contradiction of:

"The Common Sense Coalition has a vision of putting politics aside and instead focusing on creating good public policy. Our goal is finding workable solutions to the issues that impact our community.” Said Ray Allen, spokesman and Chair of the Board, “This is one of many reasons why I am proud to lead our coalition and to help bring some positive changes to our local government.”

and then

GetMore Citizens Involved in Local Government and Elections

CSC will promote greater public participation in spring local elections and local government. Greater voter turnout is essential to having a representative elected body.

So which of the candidates in the 10 out of 27 contested county board races are they supporting? And is that how they "put politics aside"? Puh-lease. I hope the dismal array of candidates this spring isn't any indication of their best efforts to get people to run for office. Do you think that it occurs to them that the constant bashing of local government officials doesn't really inspire people to run? I guess, technically, their press release talks about "voter turnout", but their website indicates something else:

Interested in Running for a Non-Partisan Local Office?

The Common Sense Coalition is looking to support and endorse quality candidates that share our values and our vision for this community.

If you are thinking about running for a non-partisan elected office and would like to bring practical and consensus building policy to local government, please contact us:

info@commonsensemadison.com

So, while I'm at it, and as a complete total aside . . . ever think about the words "common sense".
This is the definition I found on dictionary.com

common sense n. Sound judgment not based on specialized knowledge; native good judgment.

I just gotta ask, how good can that judgment be, if not based on knowledge? Is there something better about a judgment made if it is done without knowledge?

And, also, while I'm at it, and admittedly, being a little snarky this morning before the caffeine kicks in, who paid the money to get this group started? I never heard. Come on (good ol') boys, fess up! Read more!