After avowed socialist Francesca Hong hit the road this week to campaign for fellow Wisconsin leftists, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley offered a mealy-mouthed response when asked whether he would campaign with his former opponent. Crowley, who squeaked by the foul-mouthed Hong in the August primary to capture the state Democratic Party’s nomination for governor, was noncommittal.
The decision presents a double-edged sword for Crowley, up a couple points on Wisconsin Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany in what promises to be another tight gubernatorial race. Inviting Hong on the campaign trail may energize some highly-motivated Democrat voters on the far left. It could also alienate the party’s more moderate wing — what’s left of it anyway. Hong’s uber-radical record (See: Cancel Thanksgiving) comes with obvious liabilities, even for socialist-lite Crowley. The DEI-centric Crowley once derided user fees at the county’s parks, golf courses, and beer gardens as mostly paid by “white users.” To Crowley, the funding source constitutes “racial inequity,” “born from a history of systemic racism & injustice.”
But Crowley doesn’t have time to talk about his radical record from “Woke 1.0.” He’s sticking like glue to the Dems’ No. 1 talking point, a message they believe will unleash a blue wave all over next month’s midterm elections.
“Look, we’ve been traveling across this state and agree we need to lower costs for working families,” Crowley said of Hong earlier this week. “We’re going to continue doing the hard work of earning every single vote across the state of Wisconsin, and we don’t plan on leaving no stone unturned.”
By “hard work” he means hiding from a record of big-government and social reengineering policies that have made life painfully unaffordable for Milwaukee County residents. Crowley’s cheerleaders in Wisconsin’s accomplice media are making it easier for the incompetent county executive to hide in plain sight, generally avoiding questions he finds uncomfortable. When actually pressed, Crowley falls back on the magic, mindless abstract noun that he clearly doesn’t understand.
He’s like criminal genius Vizzini in The Princess Bride who repeatedly shouts out “Inconceivable!” whenever his plans falter. The hero, Inigo Montoya finally tells little Vizzini, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
‘Making Everything Cost More’
In one of the more awkward ads of the race, Crowley attempts to connect with the average working man and woman. The black professional politico, who has used race as a political cudgel and ladder, takes the “I feel your pain” route as he stands in a nicely appointed kitchen and commiserates with the camera.
“Between the mortgage, utility bills, health care and all the other financial stress that comes with raising three beautiful daughters, we’re making the same choices and feeling the same pressure that families across Wisconsin are feeling every day,” said the county executive pulling down nearly $130,000 a year with the kind of government benefits a lot of people in the private sector could only dream of.
But Crowley isn’t just going to talk about “the challenges families face.” He says he’s got a plan to “actually lower costs and deliver relief.” He hasn’t yet in his six years at the helm of Wisconsin’s largest economy, but better late than never. Crowley doesn’t provide details, but he does promise that he will “lower property taxes and health care costs.” He’ll “make housing more affordable for working families, young people, and seniors.” And he’ll “fully fund public schools.” Just how dumping more money into an already bloated and failing public education system will make life more affordable for the average Cheesehead isn’t clear. But … “affordability.”
If the county executive’s record in office is any indicator (and it is), making things more affordable would not be his forte as governor.
Crowley led an initiative to jack up Milwaukee County’s sales tax by 80 percent — from a half percent to .9 percent. The Legislature and Democrat Gov. Tony Evers, Crowley’s far-left mentor, gave cities the sales tax lever to bail out their budgets. Crowley and the leftists that control the Milwaukee County Board, didn’t waste time implementing the highest combined state and county sales tax rate in the state, at 5.9 percent.
“David Crowley has almost doubled our sales tax, making everything cost more, and he bragged about it while families like mine picked up the bill,” said a Milwaukee County nurse and mother of three featured in a Tiffany campaign ad. “Milwaukee County families have paid enough because of David Crowley. Don’t let him come for your paycheck next.”
Sales taxes hit lower-income families particularly hard because, unlike income and property taxes, everybody pays on the taxable sale of goods.
Crowley and friends celebrated, cutting a victory cake after the county executive signed the sales tax boost in July 2023. When asked by WISN 12’s Matt Smith whether Crowley thought the sales tax hike would be a burden for some residents, the Democrat said, “No, I don’t think it would be a burden.” It’s only four-tenths of a percent, the county executive argued.
‘Consistent Champion for Higher Taxes’
Perhaps Crowley was thinking the same when he and his chums on the county board signed off on a $3 fee that users of ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft now must pay for being dropped off at Milwaukee-Mitchell International Airport. That’s on top of the $3 “pick-up” fee assessed.
As Urban Milwaukee noted, the charges go directly to the big ride-share corporations, not to the drivers. The revenue — projected at $1.7 million annually — ultimately is sent to the airport. Mitchell spokesman Harold Mester told WISN at the time that riders would note ride-share fares going up.
“The Airport receives no tax dollars from Milwaukee County, and our day-to-day operations are entirely funded by user fees. This fee is an example of how only the users of the Airport pay for the Airport,” Mester said.
As Crowley has noted on the campaign trail, every price hike adds up.
For Milwaukee County property owners, some government-driven price hikes add up quickly.
Crowley’s most recent budget proposal raised the property tax levy by around $12 million. As Americans for Prosperity noted, the county executive pushed property tax levy increases three years in a row. Now projections are that the county could be looking at a $46.7 million deficit, ballooning to $168.7 million by 2031 ”without intervention.”
That’s as “affordable” as it is sustainable.
“Seventy-two percent of Wisconsin homeowners will tell you they are not getting their money’s worth from their property tax bill, and Milwaukee County is the reason why they are right,” AFP-WI State Director Megan Novak said in a press release. “David Crowley has been a consistent champion for higher taxes and wants every county in Wisconsin to follow his lead.”
Despite the challenges, Crowley’s Milwaukee County remains all in on its “Racial Equity Budget Tool.” What on earth is that? REBT, as the woke warriors call it, is a “structured racial equity lens” for departments to use to critically assess the impacts of budget decisions on communities of color. The point is to retain a “diverse and inclusive workforce” in county government. Such DEI initiatives have proved to be cash cows — for the coordinators and consultants of the programs, but a pathway to “affordability” they are not.
‘Looking for Ways to Make You Pay More’
The so-called established Democrats pulled Crowley from the ruins of his gubernatorial campaign mid-summer. He had left the race but was urged to reenter after Democrats worried Hong and her socialist skeletons would cost them the governor’s office. But Crowley has said he and Hong are aligned on a number of principles.
“To be honest with you, there’s not a lot of policies we really differ from,” the county executive said when asked if he would implement any of the Democratic Socialist’s policies.
And if there’s anything anyone with any sense of history has learned from dalliances with broader government control: socialism has never been a system known for affordability.
Crowley has shown he’s a socialist wolf in “affordability” clothing.
“David Crowley is always looking for ways to make you pay more, whether it’s raising taxes year after year as Milwaukee County Executive or slapping a surcharge on ride share drop-offs at the airport,” Tiffany said in a statement to The Federalist. “My priority as governor will be making Wisconsin more affordable. I’ll return the state surplus to taxpayers and slash taxes. Crowley wants more of your money. I want you to keep more of it.”
