Commentary Update for March 4, 2002: Bloechl Little Spender Award, Mather v. McCormick on Concealed Weapons, Marshall Michigan on Logo

Oshkosh Common Councilor Melanie Bloechl, one of the more outspoken members of that august body for the last 12 years, appears on Commentary this week to talk about her legacy and a variety of issues. Bloechl has been very critical of Governor McCallum's plan to end the state's shared revenue program. McCallum has called local government officials "big spenders." During our taping, Dan Rylance made a surprise visit and satirically handed Bloechl a "Little Spender" award on behalf of McCallum. Here's the text of the award certificate:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/schedule.htm#littlespender

In other web site news, many of you are aware that the Wisconsin State legislature (those 132 courageous and principled statespeople who cannot reform campaign finances, figure out how to plug the huge deficit, or bring clean government back to the state) in its lower chamber (very low) passed a concealed weapons bill last week at 3:55 a.m. on a 58-40 vote. Employing a wretched pun, State Senator Brian Burke (D-Milwaukee) said the bill is "dead" on arrival in the Senate. Regardless of the merits of concealed weapons, somehow the legislature doesn't see how much of a national embarrassment it has become when one looks at its priorities in relation to the problems the state is facing. Jim Mather ended up getting into a bit of an email spat with State Representative Terri McCormick (R-Appleton) over her vote in favor of the concealed weapons bill:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/mvm.htm

Finally, I have received feedback on the Indian logo issue from literally all over the country. Of particular interest is a situation in Marshall, Michigan. The school board there recently, by a 5-2 vote, retired the high school "Redskins" nickname and logo. The 5 yes votes are now facing a recall being pushed by the "Save the Redskins" committee. Significantly, the School Board did not act until they received a report from task force representing a variety of views. The task force ended up with a 50 page report, which I personally think is very well written. Copies can be found online here:
http://www.socialmarketing.org/MPS.html

Best,

-Tony