June 17, 2009

What was Gary Becker hiding?
$10,274.28 will provide some answers

What else was Gary Becker hiding?

Our former mayor quietly (if not secretly) negotiated a deal with SC Johnson to save the company hundreds of thousand of dollars per year and net the city hundreds of thousands of dollars for Becker's Uptown Artist Relocation program.

He also bought a $40,000 sculpture from an artist he was trying to lure to Uptown ($40,000 conveniently happened to be the amount the artist needed for a down payment on his building).

Then, setting aside his alleged Internet habits, there are series of other allegedly questionable deals and relationships he engaged in during his six years as mayor - many we may never know about. But we can still ask the question: What was Gary Becker hiding?

One existing glimpse into Becker's legacy as mayor exists on city computers, or more specifically, on city-owned data tapes. Every email Becker sent as Racine's chief executive is stored away as a public record, legally available to the public.

But while the records are open to the public, they're not necessarily available.

RacinePost filed a records request for Becker's emails and was quoted a price of $10,274.28 to fulfill the records request. Here's the explanation of the cost from Assistant City Attorney Nicole Loop:
I relayed your request ("all of Gary Becker's emails from his time as mayor (2003-2009)") to MIS Director Paul Ancona and he provided me with information on the process and costs.  Per Mr. Ancona, the retrieval will be done from backup tapes using DAT tapes.  As to the retrieval process, the department would first need to retrieve the offsite tapes and load them (1.5 hours of time).  Then, they would need to go to each year-end tape, retrieve the mailboxes, go through them and retrieve Becker's mailbox.  This process would take about three hours per tape (7 years x 3 hours = 21 hours).  Then, they would need to read through the restored mailboxes and retrieve his e-mails, process them into a form that can be read outside of exchange, and save it to electronic format.  This process would take approximately 2 hours per tape (7 years x 2 hours = 14 hours).

I would need to review all of the e-mails to prevent the release of information that may be confidential or otherwise protected by law, which is even more time-consuming than the above processes. On an estimate of 100 e-mails per day sent and received, that's about 26,100 e-mails per year (using 261 work days-subtracting the weekends). Assuming I can get through 8,700 e-mails in an 8-hour work day, I would estimate that it would take me 3 days per tape (8 hours x 3 days = 24 hours x 7 years = 168 hours). This is an extremely conservative estimate.

The cost to the city to locate this information would be $51.35 per hour for the MIS Department's time, and $50.00 per hour for the City Attorney Office's time. Wis. Stat. 19.35(3)(c) permits the city to charge the "actual, necessary and direct cost" of locating the materials if the fee is $50 or more. In this case, I estimate the actual, necessary and direct cost of locating the materials you requested to be $10,274.28 (36.5 hours x $51.35 = $1874.28; 168 hours x $50.00 = $8400.00). If it took less time, you would receive a refund; if it took more time, you would be required to pay the additional costs. If you wish to proceed with the request, we would require pre-payment of the entire estimated amount.
I believe it's within the public's interest to make these emails available to the public. If we're going to learn from Becker's mistakes, we have to bring them to light. These emails are a step toward fulfilling this critical task.

Legal or not, such a review shouldn't cost $10,274.28. It shouldn't cost a penny to review the actions of an elected official, particularly an elected official who left in a cloud of suspicion. We're asking the City Council to direct the release of these emails to the citizens of Racine at no cost. We believe it is their duty as overseers of the executive branch to undertake this exercise in the name of good and open government.

No doubt the emails will contain uncomfortable truths for powerful city leaders. Many people reading these words may have the thought: "What did I ever write to the mayor? Do I want that public? Probably not."

Others will argue that it's time to move on and leave the past as past. We have a new mayor and local officials are settling in to work on balancing the budget, reducing crime and attracting jobs and development. Looking back only promises to resurrect old wounds.

Both thoughts are misguided. Wounds fester when covered in the darkness and heal when brought into the open. But more simply, the public has a right to know. Enough question marks have been raised about our previous mayor to demand a full review of his actions. Releasing these emails to the public would be a good start.

67 comments:

  1. The city I think could and should offer copies to both the Post and the J-T, for free.
    Myself I am very interested in who from RCEDC may have went with Becker to what out of town meetings.

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  2. Art T. Lange6/17/2009 4:12 PM

    Just think, that $10,274.28 could buy a little over 20% of that red sculpture thingy!

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  3. Actually the city should be jumping at the opportunity to clean up the government and go thru his emails and if anyone else is up to no good then bust them too. Misconduct in office for Becker big time. Wonder if the justice dept got charged the same too going thru his computer files? Maybe they have copies they'll share

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  4. So what is stopping them from loading Becker's mail box back into Exchange and allow you access from City Hall property? You could probably sift through all those emails quite quickly. Why? The title of the email usually will give an idea to the content. So unless you want to read absolutely every email you could alternatively read only those emails most likely to provide the information you may want. Then if you find emails you want to keep then print them. Send those to legal to pass their approval process and bam, the project is done. Only thing they would have to do is charge you for the electricity on the terminal you used to look at the emails. Gee, would they actually do that?

    My guess is they already know about this option but do not want to make it easy. Gee, I wonder why? Dustin, I think you already addressed that.

    Allowing you to perform the sifting eliminates any of the cost they would otherwise have to charge you for. And I would think you would have no objection to the investment of your own time in this project.

    This sure would be a test of how transparent the City of Racine wants to be. If they tell you that insurance blah blah prevents you from doing it at city hall then merely tell them you could do it from home and you would merely give them the date and time for each email you wish printed. They can prevent printing from home. Oh, so they would be worried about what you saw that is too sensitive and is protected by law. All they have to do is lock down or prevent from being available those emails which contain key words they choose. This would be done when the emails are loaded back to exchange and prior to your access. I am stating this as I doubt the number of emails that you would not have legal access to be low and would be easy to identify by key word.

    Trust me, there are many technical options that do not cost $10,000.

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  5. It's ridiculous for the city to subvert the law in this fashion. If it's too time consuming for them, just provide access to the tapes so researchers can review them for themselves. Government should be free and open, for any citizen to see, without multithousand-dollar barriers thrown up to frustrate that perfectly legitimate right for citizens to review their government's actions.

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  6. Dustin I believe that you are on the right track. I really do not think that the Alsermaen have the back bone to divulge this information. Alderman Helding what are you going to do when the people find out that you were involved in the Sandra Tingle scandal because Gary Becker was going to take a sitting Alderman and put him in a staff position without letting anyone know.

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  7. Dustin - It would appear Attorney Loop spent a fair amount of time researching the (questionable) process and associated costs for your request.

    I'm surprised she didn't consider it billable hours and send you an invoice for a few hundred dollars...or did she?

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  8. We got the flaming hot cheeto thing for only fourty grand. This is a steal jump on it!

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  9. Paul Ancona was also in your story about cost of getting Gary's email. Now you know how he would pay for returning the contracted position to an employee position. The idea that the move from contracted to employee will save money with all the City's benefits is a joke. Someone is playing with the numbers to make up that excuse. It appears that the Council got duped by the same guy hiding Gary's emails.

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  10. Public record requests are detailed in Wisconsin law, wis.stat. 19.31-19.39 and clearly urge cooperation in the public interest. When the government is not cooperative, they inflate the cost rather than deny the request. The law also provides every citizen the right to "inspect" the records, without incurring copying costs. Another approach would be to reduce the size of the copy request. Also a complaint can be filed through the DA's office on the inflated price obstruction!

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  11. I would like to know HOW WOULD ANYONE AND I MEAN ANYONE be able to do their job if they got 1000 emails a day??? Think about it, the amount of time it would take to open each one and quickly decide if you need it (1 minute each email) 60 minutes in an hour. 60 emails an hour ummmmm that meant that Mr. Becker would have to work 16.67 hours a day just on emails. WHAT A CROCK OF BS

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  12. and spam emails don't go thru they are blocked by the IS dept.

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  13. Michael Kroes6/17/2009 7:34 PM

    Anonymous 7:25pm, I did not see any thing about 1,000 emails per day. The article did mention 100 emails per day.

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  14. Marc Anderson6/17/2009 7:59 PM

    You people do not know what you are talking about. I know about privacy law and public record law and the City of Racine is doing what every other business does. Gary Becker did deals in person and on the phone. He knew e-mails were public record.

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  15. Colt - I have some information I'd like to give you to dig into, I believe you'd be interested in it.

    How can I contact you?

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  16. Send it to the Post. They will do a good job with it I am sure.

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  17. Get the money from the same place the money came from for the red stain.

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  18. This all seems perfectly reasonable to me. If there's anything worth reviewing in those emails $10,000 would be an absolute minimal cost and as a taxpayer, the city should be commended for assessing and providing an estimate of what it would take to dig through the cob webs. I would imagine the city is barraged by requests like these and considering it's scope of six years, seemingly ridiculous. While Becker may have self destructed as is obviously the case should our tax dollars be wasted on every wingnut's poorly conceived request. Did anyone notice theres a new Mayor? Becker can't do much more for better or for worse from jail. These people have jobs to do I suggest they pay attention to that. By the way, working in the IT field I can assure you E-discovery systems to block keywords cost a lot more than measly $10k and a consultant to restore the e-mails from disaster recovery media will barely make it to your door for $5000 and that's just to get started. Raise our taxes! Hire more employees!

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  19. Why doesn't the current Mayor John Dickert step in and over-rule Loop's outrageous request???

    Colt, contact Dickert about this and see how great of a man he is.

    I'll be the first to apologize if he does something here.

    I know he won't though.

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  20. Anon 5:28- It might also be a good time to ask Alderman Helding how he was able to get his brother hired on the Racine Police through the backdoor. I'm sure there are plenty of emails to Becker about that little "favor" too!

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  21. We should cut a $10,000 chunk off that ridiculous eyesore the city calls a "sculpture", sell it for scrap, and then use that money to pay for these Becker email records.

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  22. Downtown Denizen6/17/2009 10:10 PM

    I wonder how many of those e-mails our current mayor doesn't want to come to light. This will be a lesson to our city council not to put anything damaging in future e-mail messages. It might be time to watch for increased telephone use from their homes and offices, or to watch for increased business expense receipts from private meetings now that e-mail is going to be better scrutinized. Anyone who thinks there's no more "behind the door" dealings going on just because Becker is gone is being rather naive. Just look at the prior business dealings of our current mayor and it will speak for itself.

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  23. Public officials should know that their communications are or will come under public scrutiny. That's what keeps the public's business honest. Didn't we just learn this lesson?

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  24. I would be shocked if there were anything worthwhile in the e-mails. All the elected idiots at city hall know those are kept forever.

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  25. Your research is a waste of time. You do however show the complete lack of public access to historical government records at the local level. But, since huge blocks of email information are simply "lost" at the federal level, I doubt after any redaction, you will find anything but times when Becker was coming home for supper and when the childrens recitals were scheduled. In addition, wouldn't this process have already been done by local authorities to determine the level of "sexual" criminal activity he carried out while on the job? That will likely come out in trial. As far as him aiding his good friends, feel free to introduce me to ANY elected official that does not take great strides to aide and abed the people who donate and support his/her election? Even the great change artist in DC is paying back old friends. Book on it. That is government.

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  26. Both Brian O'Connell of the city and Kristin Niemiec of RCEDC were both staunch Becker puppets who had their hands all over the $50k "sculpture". Remove them and use their salarys to pay for the emails, and whats left over, hire someone to do their jobs who have a clue.

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  27. Couple of things:

    1. We've seen several comments about Brian O'Connell and Kristin Niemiec in recent weeks. We've deleted the most crass comments, but they keep coming back in different forms. So, let's try this: In my experience, both are hard-working local officials who trying to make good things happen in Racine. There are far, far bigger problems in the city than Brian and Kristin. To whoever keeps posting about them: Please stop. It's just mean-spirited.

    2. Good points on Becker carefully monitoring his emails and the city possibly redacting useful information. I've been told Becker warned city officials to be careful with email because it's a public document. That said, we've broken several stories based on city emails forwarded to us in recent years. It's also worth pointing out that email is only a public record if they're available to the public. Burying old messages in fees essentially removes them from the public record.

    I agree with an earlier comment: If the city was looking for economical way to make these messages available to the public, something could be worked out. It could take something as simple as a request from an alderman ...

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  28. So Dustin, because you like OConnell and Kristin and you believe they are hard working people - that means everyone else should share your view and not talk about them? Just saying.

    I suppose on the flip side, if there is an individual you personally feel is not hard working or perhaps you don't like, they are fair game and you won't delete their comments? Just curious.

    If you are going to delete crass comments about one person, then in fairness you should delete them all. Your personal opinion of the particular individual should have no bearing.

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  29. Again, Let's see what a great man Dickert really is.

    Dustin, You are a friend of his. Why can't he let you get access to the "public records"???

    This will be THE TRUE test as to how great of a Mayor he is or will be.

    I can't wait to see what happens here.

    If he doesn't get involved, Uh OH, there may be some things he doesn't want the Naive citizens of Racine to see.

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  30. If all it takes is an alderman or mayor requesting these emails, then maybe someone should step up to the plate and request them. Looks like people are scared of what they'll find...

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  31. Yes we should ask our city council to get theses emails.
    All of them should be in support if not what are they hiding?

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  32. Move On - Get over it.

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  33. I'm glad that the City isn't going to jump through hoops for this blog site! The people in the real world shouldn't have to pay for the entertainment of all these trolls! DUSTIN, this is all about promoting you and your blog site. If you think that there is $10m worth of publicity in those tapes, then pay for it, take up a collection from your troll audience and pay your own way. DO NOT ask taxpayers to finance your fishing trip! And BTW why don't you pay the city for estimating the cost of your FISHING trip for you, too!

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  34. "I've been told Becker warned city officials to be careful with email because it's a public document."

    Hmmm...that is pretty much a standard warning at all levels of government now. Take a job with the state, and during orientation I'll bet you are told "don't put it in an e-mail if it can be taken care of in a phone call or a walk down the hall". That is just standard operating proceedure these days.

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  35. "On an estimate of 100 e-mails per day sent and received, that's about 26,100 e-mails per year (using 261 work days-subtracting the weekends)"

    Only 100 e-mails a day? Really? That seems low to me.

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  36. I'm not friends with Brian or Kristin. But I am concerned with the steady drumbeat of personal attacks on them. They're public officials and certainly deserve public scrutiny, especially given the areas they work in. But many comments have drifted from scrutiny to just plain meanness. So, sure, question how the city spent $55K on a sculpture or made a deal with SCJ for tax-exempt buildings. Just don't make ridiculous, indefensible comments in the process.

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  37. They should be GOING THROUGH ALL HIS EMAILS ANYWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  38. Maybe they should just hang him in Monument Square. Hey - he's gone. It's time to move on with the new mayor and try and get some good things going in the city. This continued desire to dig up more dirt is just a waste of money, time and energy. Becker will get what he has comming and there is no undoing what he may of done in the past. MOVE ON!

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  39. Nicole Loop said 100 emails received/sent per day not 1000. Nicole Loop is doing her job (and following the law) in sending the response she did. If the Council desires to waive all or a portion of the costs, it can. Brian and Kristin are good people and have done many good things for this community. Do not lump them in with problems associated with Gary Becker.

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  40. It just seems like there are some people who Dustin will protect by deleting posts he deems as too "mean".

    I've seen plenty of "mean" posts on this website about other people. Some I considered to be "good people" as well. The things is, whether one person finds them good or another bad, if Dustin is going to delete blog posts than he needs to keep it a standard procedure across the board.

    He should not pick and choose who is allowed to get beat up on and who isn't based on his personal opinion of the person. If he from this point on decides to delete all mean posts, then so be it. But keep it fair.

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  41. What is with the confidential BS. An email is not the format for anything confidential. She has her head in her butt.

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  42. If you think Dustin is inconsistent - you've never dealt with that clown O'Brien at the JT's. He is totally inconsistent with how he handles posts.

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  43. Dustin:

    You may find the following Wisconsin Open Government guide useful in this discussion:

    http://www.rcfp.org/ogg/index.php?op=browse&state=WI

    Whenever government officials (attorneys) start quoting statutes then that is my queue to check them too. Please note in the link above item D sub-item 3 which states:

    An authority may waive fees where a waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest. Wis. Stat. § 19.35(3)(e).

    So, as you can see, you do have State Law on your side and can request Becker's emails because of the public interest nature of the request. You can then remind them of Wis. Stat. § 19.35(3)(e).

    By the way, the open government guide is prepared by:

    Foley & Lardner LLP
    777 East Wisconsin Avenue
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202-5367

    (scroll up to top of left pane to view who the guide is prepared by)

    If, after your request the City does not comply with your request, then that, in itself, would be huge news and I suspect politically, the City of Racine would not want to be seen not cooperating knowing now what you know.

    City of Racine officials...
    Give Dustin what he wants and waive the fee. His request is reasonable and you sure should be seen as cooperating to the extent of the law. It was less than transparent when Nicole Loop provided only part of the whole truth about open records. You are only digging a bigger hole by not complying with this reasonable request from a representative of the media.

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  44. "Give Dustin what he wants and waive the fee."

    I do not expect the City to drop $10k just because a blogger wants some info. I like Racine Post, but it would set a precedent that could be easily abused costing taxpayers big bucks in spurious requests.

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  45. Attention Dustin - you've got some "mean" comments on another blog going right now. Janelle Grammer is being referred to as a "lazy tramp" which regardless of anyone's personal opinion, is very "mean".

    I'll be waiting to see if those mean comments are deleted.

    But regarding this topic, maybe it's just time to move on and leave the past behind. What good would dredging up any more crap from Becker's past do at this point?

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  46. Anon 11:19 - Both comments are deleted.

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  47. Anon 11:19 - that's funny because now it is posted out there again under your post!

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  48. What, just because you waive a fee it does not cost anyone anything. The taxpayers will end up paying the cost and for what. Give it up and move on!

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  49. Anonymous cowards. Attacking the author of the blog you are posting on is an odd hobby; you don't have to surf here.

    Hmmm, maybe you are listening to those voices in your head that instruct you on what to type again?

    Yeah, I mean Fox news.

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  50. Lets get this money, even if it takes several months to raise it! Racine needs to see those emails. Racine also needs to see all of Jim Smith's emails from when he was mayor. The flood gates will open! Change will happen through those emails. This could be a great thing for the city. The history of corruption in Racine needs to come to an end!

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  51. Downtown Denizen6/18/2009 5:53 PM

    Yes, Becker is out of it. But what I'm curious about is what those who are still in office have been doing with Becker, behind our backs. Some may call it "digging up more dirt," but I think uncovering just one crooked politician isn't enough. I think the taxpayers have a right to know if any of those still holding office have had any back room dealings with Becker and, if so, what they were. And, if any of them were illegal or unethical, they should be held accountable for their actions.

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  52. What if a person has a case against the city. That person needs to review emails to help their case. Would the courts then require those emails be provided for free?

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  53. "Anonymous cowards."

    Okay, 'Allen' with the private blogger profile.

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  54. Give it up - move on.

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  55. We do not have to "move on". That is what the guilty say. The amount of counter intention to getting these records public tells me that we should find plenty. The city is being unreasonable in the amount of fees they are asking. You should contact Orville with Citizens for responsible government. He has experience getting the impossible. www.crgnetwork.com

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  56. Who cares what went on. Let's worry about the future of Racine and put our efforts towards something worthwhile. If you don't think there are inside deals in every political arena - you are naive. Support the current mayor, get involved in committees or civic organizations - you make the difference. Expend your energies in this direction instead of whining on this blog.

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  57. Gary Becker is already through politically. What possible good would come out of dredging up even more potential wrongdoing while he was mayor?

    How about if everyone just keeps their eye on the ball from now on and the aldermen don't become puppets again?

    How about if the aldermen get the kahoneys to challenge the mayor from now on and take a closer look at the budget?

    The past can't be changed but we sure can learn some lessons from it.

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  58. Downtown Denizen6/19/2009 11:54 AM

    The only way to learn from the past is to KNOW about it. If we "just move on" and ignore unethical or illegal dealings made by current government officials with Becker or industry, we set a precedent of "water under the bridge" and send the message to these current elected officials that they got away with screwing the people of Racine. Would you not pursue any other criminal for his prior crimes just because you didn't catch him in the act?

    We know the liberals in this town don't want their elected liberal buddy's scrutinized because they just might get caught and lose their jobs. I say that it doesn't matter what party, if any, an elected offical belongs to; a crook is a crook no matter what political color you paint him/her and if they are committing crimes or unethical behaviors against the people of Racine, they should be removed from office! Anyone, from the mayor on down to the last citizen of Racine that doesn't agree with that is probably part of the problem.

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  59. My guess is many in City Hall do not want those emails read, groups like RCEDC and RAMAC are on the phone talking to lawyers about how to delay this (reading of the emails) if not stop that all together.

    Then when The Post gets the Emails will they sanitize them so groups/ projects they like do not have the light of day shine on them?

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  60. You guys are a joke - I'm sure there was major criminal activity going on - let's get Elliot Ness. He'll get to the bottom of it. And by the way, I'm not liberal nor do I have any ties to any elected officials RAMAC, RCEDC or city employees.

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  61. Get ahold of Orville Seymer at CRG-Citizens for Responsible Government. The municipality in question canNOT charge more than is reasonable. CRG can help you get those emails.

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  62. Sounds like a lawsuit that this stupid city will end up settling out of court like all of the rest of the scandals plaguing this city.

    Why isn't John Dickert getting involved in this??

    Very curious to me.

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  63. If these e-mails ever come to light, they should be responsibly reviewed. Anything that is not strictly Racine government official business should be billed back to Becker as manhours wasted. It Would probably exceed the 10K they are charging for the retrieval.

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  64. I think some people are nervous about these emails being released. Make me want them more. lets see who else should be on the naughty list. We have the chance to start fresh only after we really start fresh. Becker gone is just part of the solution. Lets have it all.

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  65. Dustin,
    Why not just ask for the last year of Becker's reign? That should give you something to work with to see what's there and if it would be worth it to buy more.
    Or ask for the time frame that the SCJ emails regarding the tax gift were dated if you want to focus on that.
    If you pick a time frame that should only cost a couple of grand I bet you could hold a fund raiser to get that amount.
    Besides, think of the book you could write with that information. Maybe even a publisher would put out that for the full amount if you promised a book on the whole Becker escapades years?

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  66. You guys need to get a life.

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  67. Downtown Denizen6/25/2009 9:21 AM

    You know, Dustin, Kay just might have a good idea there about getting the emails over just the last year or two of Becker's reign. In fact, the prosecutor's office might be interested in that as well.

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