Norquist's Term Milwaukee example essay topic

Failed Leader - John O. Norquist Executive Summary John O. Norquist took office in 1988. He said he would "shake things up". The question remains, is Milwaukee better off than in 1988? The termination of his mayoral career went beyond the sex scandal, his lack of communication skills were his true downfall. This lack of skills became evident with the number of missed opportunities that occurred during his tenure.

Even though he had some successes, the river walk, an increase in downtown housing particularly in the third ward, and his "new urbanism's", he failed the city on a whole. Some of the failures included not taking Milwaukee to join the competition for high tech businesses, to create a strong university connection in research and entrepreneurial innovation, and not creating strong regional and international transportation links. Democrat John O. Norquist elected mayor of Milwaukee Wisconsin in 1988. He was mayor for 15 years.

He earned a reputation for streamlining city government and promoting economic growth. Under his leadership, Milwaukee cut tax rates six years in a row. Mayor Norquist took bold positions on crucial urban issues. He called for abolishing welfare and was a vocal advocate for school choice. He authored a renowned book "The Wealth of Cities".

So, why is he considered the mayor of missed opportunities? Mayor Norquist, replacing the mayor of 28 years, Mayor Henry Maier, said he would "shake things up". Milwaukee felt it was time for a change and a new direction. It was time for a 38-year-old leader to take charge. He was welcomed him with open arms by the hopeful city. Norquist began his tenure with vigor, reaching out, connecting, and advocating the city.

He claimed that jobs were his primary focus. At the end of Norquist's tenure, the Journal Sentinel, polled the opinion of his leadership for the city, performed over 30 interviews and more than 130 questionnaires involving Milwaukee's most influential figures. The results indicated that there was "unhappiness with Norquist's ability to articulate and champion a vision". The unhappiness included but did not focus on his sexual involvement with former aide, Marilyn Figueroa. His primary flaws were his lack of communication skills, vindication of his enemies and not being able to unify the city to move forward to a prosperous future. The first asset of cities that have a go forward mission is that a city should have a strong university connection in research and entrepreneurial innovation.

Examples of cities that have a unity with at least one major university are Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus and Pittsburgh, while Detroit and Milwaukee do not. The US economy is daily changing into an information economy. The information / media technology industry is growing at a rapid pace, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that through 2005, an average of 95,000 new information technology (IT) positions will be needed each year. The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM) had a new chancellor, Nancy Zimpher during Norquist's term in office. In what seemed to be an effort of forward thinking, was only a veneer on her part. The Mayor vocalized his support for her and UWM.

However, there was no follow through to achieve the high tech goals. A link to Madison's world-class university was needed to have Milwaukee become a site for high tech businesses and start-ups. A train linking Milwaukee and Madison in less than an hour would have greatly increased the sharing of the two universities. Academic networks even beyond that of Madison are needed to improve the current situation of stagnation. An example of Norquist's lack of follow through, even though he had a Task Force on Public Support for Cultural Organizations, was the support and funding decline for UWM in the city. The task force cited that "Having a good art community draws businesses and provides those businesses with culture for their workers and the local skilled labor necessary for advertising, communications and other business needs".

The arts in the metropolitan Milwaukee area do not have stable funding and government funding is declining. Another example, even though Norquist supported the UWM's Digital arts and Culture Program (DAC), he spent many years trying to preserve Milwaukee's manufacturing economy rather than persistently searching for high tech businesses to come to Milwaukee. Other than GE Medical Systems, there is no world-class information business located in or around the city. Manufacturing does not appear to have a bright future in durable goods but does in high-end products. This is one reason why Harley-Davidson is so successful, while other manufacturers are failing. Norquist was approached regularly by local high-tech firms about their need for employees who have skills that extend beyond basic technical training, seeking people with creative abilities and strong conceptual skills, yet the DAC enrollment declined.

Milwaukee, despite the lofty claims of UWM studies, is still a very segregated city. Milwaukee ranks 47th out of the top 50 U.S. cities in the percentage of black middle class homes. 2 Milwaukee's has the sixth largest decline in population among U.S. cities and has fallen 20% since 1960.4 The Norquist inadequacy in academics goes beyond UWM. In the last five years of the Norquist reign, only $54 Million in city-issued bonds were allocated for reconstruction and maintenance for Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), when $1.2 were needed in capital improvements.

This would ensure that all children had access to early childhood education, lower class size, art, music, computer rooms, and fully accessible buildings. Norquist was correct to favor choice, charter and other educational reforms. He hoped to lure middle-class families to the city with plentiful education choices for their children. The problem with the choice program was that MPS was not prepared to afford the operating costs. It was a bunch of smoke and mirrors. How do you have exemplary instructional programs without funding?

The MPS system has developed citywide schools with specialty, language immersion, and arts as alternative choices to neighborhood schools. This exemplary MPS has developed since 1970 as a unique system of public school choice. The anti-public school and private school choice movement, that Norquist played a high role in, was successful in defaming MPS schools and their teachers who for over 30 years provided more choice of schools than any in the U.S. or the world. Unlike other school systems in the state of Wisconsin, all treasury function activities are controlled by the City of Milwaukee. The mayor legally leeched millions of dollars of investment income for his own use from the $1 billion in MPS budget cash flow and bonds, yet he was a militant supporter of vouchers and private schools. He also controlled the votes of a majority of the MPS Board of Directors.

Therefore giving him the power to sway the votes in his favor. Schools and teachers were used as scapegoats for the segregation, social and economic problems of Milwaukee that were ignored by Norquist. The mayor unjustly criticized MPS schools and teachers in his quest for the choice program by incorrectly claiming there is no choice in MPS. The second asset of cities that have a go forward mission is strong regional and international transportation links. 2 Milwaukee had the opportunity to become Chicago's third airport.

This would have helped Chicago's over-crowding air traffic problem and increased Mitchell's mere daily 400 flights. Chicago is an international city with a travel economy to share. Mitchell and O'Hare could have been linked with a high-speed train instead of only Amtrak service. The current Amtrak service needs to be increased, sped up and more amenities added. This could have been a great Norquist achievement.

Instead it was missed. A third indicator of a strong city is profitable tourism and recreation sectors. 2 Milwaukee has some strength in this area like Summerfest and other ethnic festivals. However, this is only 3 months out of the year. With such a beautiful lakefront location, the Summerfest grounds could be developed into a year round facility like Navy Pier in Chicago or Fenialhall in Boston. As stated by a high sales executive for John Hancock Financial Services in Milwaukee, Joseph Catalano, "Bringing clients to Milwaukee is not a travel perk for them.

There is nowhere to take them in the evenings, the lakefront is wasted and the downtown nightlife is dead. So, the big sales deals are performed in more exciting cities instead of bringing the clients to Milwaukee". Another example of neglected tourism opportunity is Norquist's lack of interest in the re-location of Potawatomi Casino to downtown. Potawatomi is the leader in bringing top acts to the city. It also has real money to spend on improvements. Instead of having just the beautiful river walk alone, which is never crowded, the city could have had a river walk with the bright lights of Potawatomi.

This would have revitalized the evening ghost town downtown that Milwaukee has become. Norquist hosted an anti-Potawatomi Casino rally at City Hall. It featured a handful of civic and religious leavers denounced the tribe's expansion proposition on moral grounds. They also questioned the tribe's economic boasts. The crowd of about 200 appeared evenly matched Pro and Con. The new construction would have created construction jobs with a $17 million payroll. It also would have created 700 casino jobs.

Another 1,200 jobs for goods and services from other businesses would have been available. $4 to $5 million was predicted to be spent annually on Potawatomi patrons at local hotels. The city was expected to yearly receive at least $3.4 million and the county $3.2 million. The Common Council approved the expansion, voting 10-6. The Mayor vetoed the approval and the expansion and move of Potawatomi the downtown area did not occur in the city. Some other things that the Mayor did accomplish, besides the beautiful river walk, were the demolition of the Park East Freeway and trying to get Miller Park downtown.

The Park East Freeway demolition was to be part of a rebuilding downtown strategy. He argued that the limited access highways carved throughout the city have been pointlessly destructive. Rebuilding the 30-year-old structure would have cost $100 million, whereas tearing it down and replacing with streets cost about $25 million. The rebuilding strategy had included the building of a Harley Museum. Even before the demolition was completed, Harley changed its mind to build.

The Harley Corporation people knew that there was not enough tourism traffic to make a major museum pay profits. They watched the fiscal difficulties of the Art Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum and sports teams that were already downtown. Property values near the demolition remain depressed and no new structures have been erected in the demolition area. The downtown location of Miller Park would have revitalized the area, concentrating the tourist attractions in one central area.

Other cities have been successful in centralizing sports with downtown rebirth. 2 Even though there was lengthy debate over where to put the Milwaukee Brewers' baseball stadium, a legitimate site never emerged to be offer as the site. Along with these efforts for the downtown location of Miller Park, we need to remember during Norquist's term Milwaukee lost it's hosting of the Green Bay Packers. Norquist's sex scandal was the final flaw that broke the career. At the time he was married and still is to Susan Mudd, CNU Board Member.

The scandal sounded like a small town version of Clinton's near end fiasco. It was revealed that Norquist and Marilyn Figueroa, a former mayoral aide, had an adulterous affair. Most of the sexual encounters occurred while he was at work. Figueroa filed a sexual harassment suite, claiming that he used the power of his office to coerce her to giving him sexual favors. These threats included cutting off the aid to African-American and Hispanic Neighborhoods.

Norquist's threats to cutoff block grant funds should have been investigated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Wisconsin's attorney general and the FBI for felonious conduct. If Norquist used his power in much the same way a rapist uses force, he should not have been able to get away with it. If it would have been proved that the threat to cut off aid to some of his city's most impoverished neighborhoods to extort sex from his former aide, John Norquist should have been put behind bars. The accusations were never investigated by those agencies. Norquist claimed it to be "a consensual" sexual relationship. He also stated that he was the victim because Figueroa tried to extort money from him to keep her silence about the affair.

He denied the allocation that he threatened to withhold Community Development Block Grant funds from some of city's minority neighborhoods if Figueroa, a Hispanic, didn't warm up to his sexual advances. Neither party had their day in court. Instead, the two settled the case April 2002 for $375,000. The money was taken out of Norquist's own campaign funds. There was also over $200,000 in legal fees paid by the city taxpayers. There was also the national embarrassment for Milwaukee.

The mayor left office early to take a job as president and chief executive officer for New Urbanism in Chicago in June 2003. He chose to end his term early and not to run for another term. New Urbanism is concerned about prettying up downtown areas with shrubs, river walks and fancy dwellings rather than looking at larger problems of poverty and race. His choice of a new position coincides with the theme that ran throughout the time he was in office.

Norquist promoted the increase in downtown housing particularly in the third ward, while not reducing racial inequality. He succeeded only to push the black ghetto north by northwest, with it growing instead of reducing. The problem of increasingly high rates of violence is linked to this. Milwaukee's homicide rate has increase from 15 per 100,000 in 1988 to 20 per 100,000. This rise occurred even though there were 200 new police positions added. Norquist blamed the police chief for the rise in homicides.

However, policing style does little to prevent homicides. 2 The police chief he blamed was Arthur Jones. Arthur Jones, Milwaukee's first black police chief, had a seven-year term ending in November of 2003. He had formerly been Norquist's bodyguard. In April of 2002 a federal jury returned a verdict finding that former Milwaukee Police Chief Arthur Jones had systematically discriminated against 17 white men in repeatedly bypassing them for promotions in favor of less qualified minority candidates. The jury also held that the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission likewise discriminated against these individuals by simply rubber-stamping Jones's elections.

The jury awarded the plaintiffs a total of $2.2 million in punitive and compensatory damages. In addition, all plaintiffs were entitled to back pay and front pay. The City of Milwaukee was also responsible for reasonable attorneys fees for the plaintiffs and any interest on the judgment making the total cost of this lawsuit to the City of Milwaukee close to $4 million. Arthur Jones then filed a racial discrimination suit in June 2002 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing the city's Fire and Police Commission and Mayor John Norquist of bias.

He claimed that because of his contract renewal was denied. Arthur Jones was not solely to blame for the mess the City of Milwaukee found itself in. At the time Jones was appointed Chief by former Mayor John Norquist, many people inside the Milwaukee Police Department knew that Jones was ill suited to the job for a variety of reasons. Nevertheless Norquist bypassed several much more qualified candidates (including other minority candidates) and pushed Jones through, believing that Jones would be a willing pawn for the Mayor. At the beginning of Norquist's tenure, he benefited from support combined with his strong intellect.

By the end he lost the support and his intellect had become preoccupied with smaller matters. He started out strong and confident. However, ended moody, antagonistic and somewhat withdrawn. The mayor was often described as vindictive to those who offended him.

1 He was too blunt and sarcastic to successfully navigate the minefield of ever-aggravated big city constituencies. Most of his opinions on education, welfare, free trade, federal assistance and the role of government were not widely held among his peers. There was constant in-fighting and power-plays between Norquist, the Milwaukee Common Council and other offices held with in the city. He continually blamed bad government policy for what has gone wrong in the city. His legacy will not be remembered as successfully taking the City of Milwaukee to new heights. Instead he will be remembered for his missed opportunities to take the city into the next millennium of high tech.

Bibliography

1 D. Walker & A. Bors uk (2002, January 27).
In Norquist, an Opportunity Lost. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. J Hagedorn (Winter 2004).
John Norquist's Legacy. Wisconsin Interest, p. 25-29. College of Letters and Science Faculty Document No. 578. (November 2, 2000).
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee College of Letters and Science. Center for Urban Initiatives and Research. (1990).
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee URBAN Archives: Arts and Culture. Neighborhood Schools, Busing, and the Struggle for Equality. (Spring 1988).
Rethinking Schools. Volume 12, Number 3. D. Redovich. The Milwaukee Public Schools Provide the Finest Example of Choice in Public Schools in the World. Retrieved from web Mecca Public And Private School choice. Catalano, John Hancock Financial Services, Senior Vice President of Sales, personal communication, May 16, 2005.
Mayor Leads Anti-Gambling Rally But Potawatomi Indians Need More Jobs... (1999).
Gambling Magazine. Article #21/13 and #21/19. D. Wickham. Was it Harassment By Mayor or Sex Scandal? Retrieved from web Antlfinger. Milwaukee mayor Leaves Office after News Making Tenure. (January 2, 2004).
J. Wagner. A Season in Hell - Arthur Jones and the Milwaukee Police Department. News radio, W TMJ 620. April 7, 2005, 11: 04 a.