Misdirection reigns supreme as 4th District, Mayoral campaigns tie-in
Local politics is almost run like clockwork this campaign season. Days after Franklin Today (FT) posted a piece highlighting collusion concerns between Mayor Olson, other elected officials and candidates, the Baleful Blogger comes out with a hit piece on District 4 Alderman Steve Taylor (pictured right).
Taylor's opponent has many of his campaign signs directly below Olson’s for that hopeful tag-along vote. More help is on the way with the mayor’s blogging bud putting out negative press about Taylor. Olson should be more cognizant of his friend's blog-bashing on the same individuals he may need to work with if there is not much change in the election.
As is typical these days, the blogger doesn't post much factual or even original content. He utilized the copy/paste functions to plaster up a selection of reactions made on a video put up on several community groups, and shared on Mayor Olson's re-election Facebook page. The piece was done by a young man working for a realtor group, which was recorded in what appears to be the Mayor's office at City Hall (during campaign season?). It highlighted Olson campaign talking points, including his desire for another business park on 27th St at the Milwaukee/Racine County border. He also made his points by highlighting issues Franklin faces for landing new retailers and restaurants, to which Alderman Taylor replied:
"As an Alderman since 2008 I don’t agree with anything Steve Olson spoke about. This video is an embarrassment. I spoke with Hank Meijer at a ribbon cutting in Oak Creek and he blames Olson and Olson alone for Meijer not being in Franklin. Olson has shown zero leadership since being elected mayor. His main focus has been helping his developer friends on a business park that no one supports. I have never seen an individual spin so much garbage. What has he accomplished since he was elected??? Besides trying to raise taxes two of his three budgets. I will wait for his response….."
While no response was observed to Taylor from Olson, the Olson Facebook Patrol dug in going for the jugular. It turned from the Mayor's puff video to a redirection on claims of Taylor’s preferred mayoral candidate. The Baleful Blogger steps in again, now offering up Taylor's signature to work his angle that anyone signing Basil Ryan's nomination papers means the same support at the polls.
Why the aldermanic attacks coming from the Olson Camp?
Perhaps it's because in Olson’s 3-year mayoral term, the most he can claim is a $1.5 million dollar playground that upset neighbors, ultimately resulting in the recall of then-Alderwoman, Janet Evans. He also can’t pull in the Council with 4-2 votes and in many cases 6-0 unanimous votes often not in the his favor. But to give him some credit, he did miraculously post a response to a question on Facebook regarding economic development, stating,
"I put a plan on the table in June of 15."
While FT couldn't find any "plans on the table" in the news during June 2015, we did find plenty in November 2014 when Olson highlighted $328 million in three big projects for Franklin. This announcement left some aldermen wondering how all three could get accomplished given the limited amount of funds the city had available for TIFs. It led to questions of showboating said $300+ million in projects, when in reality, the Mayor simply wanted to build a business park along 27th St. in the far southeastern portions of Franklin.
Not helping matters were people connected to Mayor Olson who began lobbying hard against the "downtown"-like Ballpark Commons Project, one that could fulfill citizen hopes and aldermanic campaign goals to bring Franklin a "downtown" area. This lack of unified goals to bring a community-gathering area that could help lower taxes in the Franklin School District, along with Olson on the bus by himself, has created separation between the Council’s hopes to have a central area and more of Olson's apparent philosophy of sprawled out development. In the meantime, his blogging friend is making sure this gap in a plan keeps getting wider and deeper at every opportunity.
Franklin's "Big 3" turned into the Ballpark Commons (met with a less-than-enthusiastic Mayor), the business/warehouse park (met with a less-than-enthusiastic Council), and a mixed-use plan for the 6th District near 116th & Loomis that recently has started with unknown land use results provided by the developer.
How does this relate to the Kosovich booster by the Baleful Blogger?
Because "Peko" Pete Kosovich, Taylor's opponent, was known very well during his stint as an alderman for the 4th District as nothing more than a yes-man on the Council. He typically sided with then-Alderman (now Mayor) Steve Olson. With a Council not in agreement of Olson’s lackluster warehouse "vision", Olson needs to tie up the Council. Who better to give a rubber stamp for the far-end of Franklin vision than the guy who has zero ideas and couldn’t stay awake at meetings - Sleepy Pete Kosovich.