Walkers Killer Food Service

So what would a future in Wisconsin look like if Scott "wayward" Walker were governor? From Eyeonwisconsin:

If they gave you bad food, or food that you couldn’t or shouldn’t eat … you would send it back. Unfortunately, that no longer seems to be the case at Milwaukee County’s Behavioral Health Division. In the 2009 budget, Scott Walker initiated a proposal to privatize the food service at BHD (which the County Board ended up endorsing), even though the privatized food service at HOC and the County Justice Facility (county jail) was being less than successful, being ever more costly and having near riots due to the poor quality and quantity of the food … privatization was less expensive and more accountable than if the public sector provided the work.

But as it would happen, private for profit companies cut corners and save money for themselves by dramatically cutting back portion size eliciting complaints that patients weren't getting enough food…

Another big problem was that the food service agency was not following the specialized diet that many of the patients required. People without teeth were given foods that could end up being a choking hazard. Diabetic patients were not being given diabetic meals. Special orders by the doctors were being ignored … the already understaffed nurses … had to take extra time to not only make sure the trays were correct, but then … get the agency to send up the proper food. In other words, the private agency gets to collect all the money, but faces no accountability for when they screw up.

I was able to verify today that there was an incident a couple of weeks ago, when one of the trays brought to a patient was infested with bugs, reportedly maggots.

Scott "muddled" Walker can now blame the food service without taking a hit on his oversight responsibilities as county executive. For Republicans, it's all about blaming someone else. You know the drill; it's those communists, socialists, Democrats, too many regulations and taxes.

Over at bloggingblue, this Walker disaster:

Walker used his veto pen to shape the county’s budget as he saw fit, and in doing so, Walker imposed eight unpaid furlough days on sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers. When asked about the furloughs for deputies and corrections officers, Walker said he didn’t mean to subject sheriff’s deputies and jailers to eight unpaid furlough days next year…

Yet, when his gubernatorial foe Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett furlough Milwaukee police officers Walkers campaign complained

the eight budgets that Scott Walker presented have … reduced debt through creative solutions without cutting essential services, like firefighters and police officers.

Two huge points: In a shocking twist of logic, Walker is saying that Barrett intentionally furloughed firefighters and police officers, while he accidentally did.

Point two: Notice that Walker "PRESENTED" budgets, budgets that ended up being quite different written by the county board, that paid the bills in the real world. Walker's plans were dependent privatization, like selling off local parks, services and Mitchell airport.