Given the dearth of possible challengers, the imagination of dream match-ups for the 2008 local races are starting to emerge. Courthouse wags suggest that Milwaukee County Parks Director Susan Black is considering a run for county executive against incumbent Scott Walker.

Black was hired by Walker to run the venerable and now vulnerable parks system. Walker's obsession with not raising taxes has taken its toll on the parks through reduced hours, higher fees and lower maintenance. He has accused Black in the past of causing deficit spending while Black has continued to try and rally public support for the parks.

Last year, Black -- under Walker's orders -- developed a revamp of the county's pool and water park offerings that closed most pools, something county supervisors immediately rejected. Now Walker is trying to look like a pool champion by extending hours and lowering prices. Despite the hatchet orders from the top, Black receives positive press and the former state parks director continues to earn praise from her department workers, too.

A campaign with parks as a key issue could transcend the property tax phobia that has permeated the Courthouse and the campaign trail since Tom Ament and the pension bunch was tossed out five years ago. Milwaukee people love their parks and their demise under Walker is well noted.

A race between the two would also bring fond recollections of the 1988 contest between then -- Parks Director Dave Schultz and then-County Exec Bill O'Donnell, when Schultz defeated his boss.

When first elected Walker said he would serve only one term, but, after seeing hopes for governor dashed by his Republican Party last year, he recently declared his intention to run for a full second term. He defeated former state budget director and city administrator David Riemer in 2004, with 57 percent of the vote.

Joe Klein -- who ran for exec in 2004 as a Green Party member and placed third in the three-way primary -- is currently serving in Iraq with the Army Reserves and has indicated an interest in a 2008 bid as well.

Women's Center Merged: It turns out there was more than an eviction going on at the Milwaukee Women's Center last weekend. It was the public beginning of the end for the Center, which operates a shelter and counseling center for battered women. Reports are that the Center, known for its gala fund-raisers with pricey ticket prices and fixings, as well as its posh office space at 611 N. Broadway and high administration costs (read salaries and overhead), is $800,000 in debt, including being six figures behind in rent.

So, it's no surprise that the Women's Center announced earlier this week a merger with Community Advocates, an agency more known for its work finding and keeping affordable housing for the city's low income population. (The Center apparently spared no cost in the announcement either, employing the services of the silk-stocking PR firm of Mueller Communications to make the announcement.)

Community Advocates is essentially taking over the Women's Center operations, but the Women's Center will retain its name on some of them. At stake are government grant monies that go to operate the Center, while allowing the Community Advocates staff to eliminate the Center's administrative overhead -- which had been considered extravagant by an independent audit. Community Advocates has a $6 million budget while the Women's Center was around $3 million, with administrative costs at one time accounting for 30 percent of that.

The City Comptroller's office warned in 2003 that the Women's Center couldn't continue operating due to overspending, calling it a "serious condition." Staff was cut and a building sold as a result but overspending continued.

Questions were raised in 2004 about not only the Center's finances but possible conflicts of interest. The wife of Ald. Willie Hines works at the center as well as his mother-in-law, who also happens to be the mother-in-law of Steve Mahan, the city's administrator of block grant funds, from which the center received millions of dollars over the years. The bulk of the center's funding comes from government grants. The two women are still listed as staff at the Women's Center.
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