Every four years, Milwaukeeans elect in nonpartisan elections a Mayor and Common Council (aldermen and - women).  They also elect three lesser-known city-wide officials: the City Attorney, Comptroller, and Treasurer.

The City Treasurer oversees those city employees who receive payments and issue checks.  The Treasurer’s office sends out the combined property tax bills, and has a hand in the city’s investment policies.  It is essentially a “watchdog” position, (supposedly) focused on the city’s long-term financial condition.  Click here for a 2004 report from the Public Policy Forum showing that the city’s per-capita debt increased 98.8% in just one decade, rasing the question, What good is a watchdog that hasn’t barked in over 30 years? 

The incumbent City Treasurer is Wayne Whittow.  He has held that position continuously since 1976.  During that entire time, the only person to run against him has been Rick Kisséll: in 1988, 2004, and 2008.  For details on what happened when Rick Kisséll first challenged Whittow in 1988, click here.

Before being elected Treasurer, Whittow was a conservative Democratic member of the State Assembly and Senate.  He was part of the “Maier machine” that ran Milwaukee’s City Hall in the 1960s and 70s.

When Whittow went from being a State Senator to being City Treasurer, he simultaneously lost 99% of his political power, and doubled his salary (and pension).   Former Ald. Lorraine McNamara-McGraw once commented, “in the eight years I was on the Council, I saw Wayne Whittow three times.”

In the summer of 2011, Whittow announced that he would not seek re-election in the spring 2012 municipal elections.  With that, a number of politicians suddenly developed a deep concern for the city’s finances, among them two state senators –sound familiar?—and a former State Treasurer (who has had to move to Milwaukee to run).