Cieslewicz follows in Footsteps of Mayor Daley, Ronald Reagan and Tommy Thompson

Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley wrote the book on how to beat the civil service system. He knew that to maintain his style of political control he needed to place his people in more than the department head or cabinet level positions. The key was to control the civil service system. Rig it so that his people would get the jobs.

Ronald Reagan realized that he could not enforce his brand of conservatism on the federal government simply by passing laws and controlling the cabinet and deputy cabinet positions. He had to control the career civil service appointments and get young conservatives into these government posts. Tommy Thompson did the same when he became Governor of Wisconsin.

Now Mayor Dave Cieslewicz brings this boss-style politics to Madison. This pattern is well documented.

This week he appointed a friend of mine, someone I long supported in his campaigns for public office, Bill Clingan. As Marc Eisen notes in Isthmus, Mark Bugher and Tom Still resign from Madison Economic Development Commission:

It was surprising to learn he declined to accept the recommendations of the screening committee, especially when there was a candidate who truly fit the profile," Still said.

Both he and Bugher said they knew Clingan and liked him personally, but they questioned the appropriateness of his background. They said a screening committee had voted 4-1 to recommend Matthew Wagner for the job.

But the greatest insult to the integrity of government, the progressive tradition, and Bob La Follete came from mayoral mouthpiece, George Twigg:

Mayoral spokesman George Twigg defended Clingan's hiring, noting that Clingan was among three candidates the review committee certified as qualified for the post.

The ranking that put Wagner first was "for informational purposes," Twigg said, and that the selection of the new director was "not a majority vote kind of thing" but a mayoral decision.

Informational purposes???!! Are George Bush's White House speech writers turning this crap out? This administration has no regard for the intent and the purpose of personnel processes. This is some kind of psycho-babble, rendering the personnel process meaningless.

It has long been documented by Brenda Konkel, in her own repeated posts. Her latest is this one, City Commitee Resignations:

This was a trainwreck anyone paying attention probably could have seen coming. Just like trying to hire a Clerk/Treasurer, it's very difficult to find someone who has the skills in both areas. I even asked the question at the time and I was told "don't worry." And of course, the Mayor pretty much promised the business community an "Economic Development Czar" position, forgetting about the second half of the job which was the "Community Development Czar" part of the position.

I gotta say, this Mayor just doesn't care who he alienates. Didn't he learn anything from Sue Bauman?

When Mark Bugher, Tom Still, Brenda Konkel, and Paul Soglin all agree that the civil service process is abused, someone on the city council and in the city attorney's office had better take heed.

Comments

Didn't this happen at Overture, too?

[Marius]

The Mayor has been down this road several times before - City Clerk, Overture, now the Economic Development Council.

In the case of Overture, a so-called "national" search drew a grand total of eleven (!)applicants. That's because the best qualified people in the industry throughout the US knew that the interim incumbent, a recognized and "decorated" star in the field, had for over a year been doing an outstanding job of leading Overture out of a state of chaos, disarray and a PR nightmare brought on by the D'Angelo implosion.

Because of the peculiar, unprecedented and totally ill-conceived manner in which the Madison Cultural Arts District was created, a Mayor who dislikes the arts and distrusts the arts community ended up with th sole power to choose the new Overture head. He rejected the overwhelming recommendation of the search committee (that he appointed), the resident arts organizations at Overture, the Overture staff (as if their opinion mattered to him) and even several of his own staff. In an act of vindictiveness towards an arts community that had humiliated him at the City Council 15-to-1 on the Overture re-financing mess, he hired someone totally lacking in appropriate experience or credentials. But it's "his" man.

Now he's gone and stuck the same stick in the eye of the business community. What he did to the Overture interim President was despicable. What he did to the arts community was unconscionable. But then, conscience isn't his long suit.

[Troy Thiel]

Paul,

Count me in with the group of people who don't always agree that Mr. Cieslewicz is perhaps copying his hero Mayor, Richie Daley-whose overseen corruption and toadie hiring on perhaps the grandest scale in the history of American cities-a bit too much.

The Business community, which is amazingly progressive in Madison, has given him a "pass" for too long...he clearly doesn't get the interconnectedness of good economic development policy and quality community....if he did, why would he concentrate on unproductive policies?...trolleys, ineffective IZ and on and on and does not adjust...his big example of great goverment during the election was automated garbage and recycling....which now can't claim the savings he did during the election (see recent Cost over run stories)...not to mention that many other cities had long had the same systems-it's not like Davey invented them.

Poor strategies of his and his pals explain why job growth is far stronger OUTSIDE of Madison than in, DRIVING SPRAWL...not to mention his disinterest in pursuing basic needs...only now seemingly getting involved in Police, Public Safety, Inspection and other issues not "glamorous" enough to prioritize.

Recent management failures at Overture, Water dept, Clerk's Office (where the Clerk didn't even know the name of a temp handling the absentee ballots (see the Capitol Times story about it...one Mike Quieto-the Leon Segretti of Madison, a known political operative...and the Mayor discreetly breaks the tie at the council vote to address such a serious problem without comment, makes you wonder how Quieto...or who?...hired him if the Clerk didn't??? What kind of Mayor who holds the Ballot sacrosanct just moves away from such an issue?

His suit wearing ways gave him teflon status with the business community...I think those days are finally over. And a LOT of the remainder of the community are similarly questioning.

He has a long way to go before he can be called a good mayor...a LONG way.

I supported Dave in his first Mayoral bid over Paul Soglin. Boy do I regret that vote! I've never seen such a mismanaged office. He surrounds himself with “yes men”, isolates himself from the City Council and shows disdain for public opinion. For a guy who’s been around politics for the past 20 years or so, he apparently didn’t learn a thing. I thought Sue Bauman was a dismal failure but Mayor Dave makes me long for the Bauman administration!!!!! YIKES!!!!

Will someone of credibility please replace this thin-skinned, ineffective, tin-ear guy and his mouthpiece yes-men ... and woman? For my part, I will not attend, nor contribute to any local politician that showcases or leverages this mayor's "influence." As the saying goes, stick a fork in him, he's done, especially among the business-savvy, socially liberal moderates I speak with every day.

How will the mayor's one-man garbage plan play out in the winter, I wonder? Cost over runs ... privatization as the only option? Well, that's one way to axe city employees without paying too high a political price.