By Doug Hissom Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Jun 20, 2007 at 5:16 AM

If a private school gets taxpayer funds to teach low-income kids, does that mean it still has to pay taxes? And if it doesn't pay taxes should it still get more tax money to keep the doors open? At Clara Mohammed School, 317 W. Wright St., they apparently forgot to pay taxes with all that tax money they were getting. The school was zapped with a federal tax lien for not paying $103,122 in income withholding, meaning of course, that the school was withholding money from workers' checks but somehow that money never made it where it was supposed to go. It should lead the state Department of Public Instruction to consider any further public subsidy of the school until it can get its tax house in order.

Camera Conflict Quelled

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, whose administration was berated last week for not finding the money to pay for surveillance cameras, has suddenly found some cash. The city needs $600,000 to pay for 20 cameras it wants to install in high-crime areas. The money will apparently come from little used Department of Public Works accounts and the police operating budget.

County Board Election Called

The Milwaukee County Election Commission has certified six candidates in the special election primary to fill the supervisory seat vacated by Ryan McCue, who resigned last month to serve as Cudahy mayor. The list features all-star South Milwaukee pol Ralph Lisowski. Besides being known as the cousin of all-time Milwaukee wrestling favorite "The Crusher," Lisowski served for 12 years as a South Milwaukee alderman. He also ran for county treasurer and was a key organizer of the recall movement that surged as a result of the county pension scandal.

The candidates also include Oak Creek resident Walter Kopplin III, Cudahy resident Patricia Jursik, South Milwaukee resident Christopher Kujawa, Cudahy resident Lee Maehl and St. Francis resident Michael Rusch.

The primary is July 10. The top two vote-getters will face off on Aug. 7. The district includes Cudahy, St. Francis, South Milwaukee and a portion of Oak Creek.

 

Doug Hissom Special to OnMilwaukee.com
Doug Hissom has covered local and state politics for 20 years. Over the course of that time he was publisher, editor, news editor, managing editor and senior writer at the Shepherd Express weekly paper in Milwaukee. He also covered education and environmental issues extensively. He ran the UWM Post in the mid-1980s, winning a Society of Professional Journalists award as best non-daily college newspaper.

An avid outdoors person he regularly takes extended paddling trips in the wilderness, preferring the hinterlands of northern Canada and Alaska. After a bet with a bunch of sailors, he paddled across Lake Michigan in a canoe.

He lives in Bay View.