By L. Younkers
The race for Milwaukee County Executive is on. Earlier this week, State Senator Chris Larson officially launched his campaign to challenge incumbent Chris Abele.
While this announcement was not a surprise, we were surprised, and disappointed, to see Congresswoman Gwen Moore standing with Larson during this event.
If Moore was serious about tackling the issues that her constituents face, she would be standing in Abele’s corner instead.
Abele has an extensive record of championing issues important to the city of Milwaukee and specifically the African American community.
His new brand of progressivism is exactly what the African American community needs. Abele seeks to empower community members through the use of efficient government.
Smart investments in public transit, the Pathways to Responsible Fatherhood program, job creation and training, health care, mental health care and meaningful reforms in our criminal justice is the right agenda for Milwaukee, and we are pleased to see Chris Abele championing this agenda.
Since the County Executive took over management of the House of Corrections, there has been a substantial increase in programming, offering inmates job interview training, enrollment into Obamacare, and specific job skill training so that when offenders reenter society they can find a job and support a family.
Milwaukee County has prioritized funding for the Court system to use evidence-based decision making tools to reduce sentencing and racial disparities.
Abele has quietly been the only progressive in Milwaukee to have taken on the massive problems in our criminal justice system, and he deserves credit for his attempts to reduce recidivism.
His economic agenda has also prioritized city residents.
By securing funding through the Pathways to Responsible Fatherhood program, there is more access for fathers to receive job training, recover lost driver’s licenses, and improve economic mobility.
He has prioritized funding for Milwaukee County Transit to expand routes and ensure that workers have access to jobs and students have access to their schools.
Abele has invested resources in job training programs to expand access to opportunities for residents all across the city.
We are also disappointed that Congresswoman Gwen Moore has ignored Abele’s record and chose instead to help put Milwaukee County back in the hands of an ideologue.
While Larson has spent his entire career using his elected office as a stepping stone for a future office, Abele has and done something that Larson seem very interested in at the moment: governing.
We get it; Chris Abele is not beloved by the eastside liberals that Chris Larson represents.
But like many white liberals in Milwaukee, they have often ignore the real problems facing the city and people they claim to champion.
Chris Abele does not fit that mold and has been an advocate for public transportation, reducing recidivism, and saving taxpayers money.
If Gwen Moore wants to see Chris Abele’s record first hand, perhaps she should stop spending so much time in Larson’s east-side district and more time back in her own community.
Normally we agree with Gwen Moore’s judgement, but not here.
In the contest between Chris Abele and Chris Larson for who has done more for the African American community, Chris Abele wins, and frankly, it is not even close.
