January 28, 2022

That conversation at Meadhouse at 5:22 a.m.

I'm downstairs about to make my second cup of coffee, and this text is the first sign that Meade is awake:

Here's the article he was texting me about: "After failed search for police monitor, Madison oversight board opts for recruiting help" (Wisconsin State Journal). 

The search for someone to fill this newly created position was deemed to have failed "after the person recruited and selected by the board, with help from the city’s Human Resources Department, took himself out of the running amid revelations that he’d discriminated against a woman he’d been having an affair with and violated state licensing requirements at a company he ran more than 15 years ago." 

We're told the position will pay $125,000. I can't picture it ever being properly filled, yet apparently now we're going to pay people to try to fill it, because God knows, they can't back down.

ADDED: More about Eric A. Hill's lawsuit here

[H]e began looking at the public social media pages of members of Madison’s Police Civilian Oversight Board [and found]... “29 separate instances of biased, defamatory statements — occasionally containing obscene language — impugning my race, gender and former profession, among the social media accounts of seven out of the 11 voting members in charge of hiring for this position,” he says....

“As a white, male, former military policeman, I found their brazenly racist, sexist and anti-military posts not only personally demeaning, but professionally deleterious to my status as a candidate for this position, as I was additionally required — and not permitted to decline — to self-identify my race and gender to the city of Madison in its initial application form,” Hill said in a statement....

39 comments:

Enigma said...

The madness ends only when enough people find courage in their convictions. Some...utopians...are sincerely moral while others employ an ends-justifies-the-means strategy in pursuit of the next fantasy.

The the problem is that the left is at war with itself not the right: Women vs. Transgender persons. Contemporary Redistribution Equity vs. old-generation Great Society Equality. One faction must smash the other, or one faction must defect to a centrist (right allied) voting block. The left requires self-awareness (aka "consciousness raising") in its own ranks.

rehajm said...

i feel that I sound like an aristocrat on the way to the guillotine in the french revolution

You disparaged cake…

mezzrow said...

Tom Petty nods.

rehajm said...

Repeating the offending text with a mocking faux accent Ancien RĂ©gine works in our house…

David Begley said...

I just can’t see Althouse in the back of a wagon headed to the guillotine. Althouse and Meade would have left for England long before it got to that point. You two are no dummies!

During the French Revolution, the government had a Committee on Public Safety. Today’s Dems are obsessed with safety. Coincidence? I think not!

Gator said...

Is it just me or is Madison the biggest s--thole in the country, even worse than Ann Arbor, how is it that you can stand to live in that city?

Tina Trent said...

Who in academia or government or big firms doesn't use outside consultants to hire people? God knows universities hire consultants to decide when all the deans should take their next dump.

And that's usually what these firms have on offer. They charge millions and never, ever get held responsible when, say, the latest uni president they recommended turns out to be a sociopath with a long and varied history of sociopathic behavior that, somehow, was overlooked. I can think of dozens of examples.

Why are there no culpability clauses that apply to their main task: to offer reliable and competent candidates? Answer: the people elected to the boards that waste money on consultants to do their own jobs aren't going to be responsible for that, either. Madison voted these spineless nutcases in, and now they're getting what they asked for, good and hard. Zoom might be the best thing that ever happened to democracy.

Heartless Aztec said...

Government is self racheting.

Meade said...

“I just can’t see Althouse in the back of a wagon headed to the guillotine.“

Let them eat vegan avocado toast.

gilbar said...

Althouse and Meade would have left for England long before it got to that point.

i'm pretty sure,
that Althouse has said over and over, that she WON'T MOVE; that she is staying in Mad Town

Gahrie said...

“I just can’t see Althouse in the back of a wagon headed to the guillotine.“

The same was said of Danton.

Bob Boyd said...

Alternate headline:

White Applicant Cornholed By COB?

exhelodrvr1 said...

I hope Hill's lawsuit is wildly successful, as a starting point.

Bob Boyd said...

Eric Hill has no one but himself to blame. What was he thinking?

It's not like they asked him to put his race and sex on the application. They asked him how he self identifies. Obviously, you don't put white male. Sheesh. At the very least, if he had anything on the ball, he'd have indicated he's gender questioning, bi-curious and wearing something frilly that the panel can't see, but there are pictures on his Instagram if they want to.
Clearly, he's not qualified to be milk monitor in today's Madison.

MadTownGuy said...

"We're told the position will pay $125,000. I can't picture it ever being properly filled, yet apparently now we're going to pay people to try to fill it, because God knows, they can't back down."

The powers that be are still putting the 'mad' in Madison.

Ann Althouse said...

"It's not like they asked him to put his race and sex on the application."

Well, you didn't read the article:

"“As a white, male, former military policeman, I found their brazenly racist, sexist and anti-military posts not only personally demeaning, but professionally deleterious to my status as a candidate for this position, as I was additionally required — and not permitted to decline — to self-identify my race and gender to the city of Madison in its initial application form,” Hill said in a statement."

Ann Althouse said...

Oh... sorry... I didn't read your whole comment before reacting.

Never mind.

David Blaska said...

I propose creating a Taxpayer Civilian Police Oversight Board to oversee the Civilian Police Oversight Board.

mikee said...

I enjoy a good man bites dog story as much as anyone, but there is a larger point here, and that is the failure of the present day understanding of racism to have any mechanism for elimination of racism over time. Not a program worth following, as it leads only to more racism, forever.

mikee said...

That permanent need to fight racism forever might be of benefit only to race hustlers, but hey, grifters gonna grift.

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

29 separate instances of biased, defamatory statements — occasionally containing obscene language — impugning my race, gender and former profession...

As a white, male, former military policeman, I found their brazenly racist, sexist and anti-military posts not only personally demeaning, but professionally deleterious to my status as a candidate for this position


I thought for sure he mentioned military policeman because he wanted to take advantage of anti-police comments. Surprised to see that, no, it's anti-military.

It is my belief that the road back to Sanitytown involves lots of lawfare.

Achilles said...

Bob Boyd said...

Eric Hill has no one but himself to blame. What was he thinking?

It's not like they asked him to put his race and sex on the application. They asked him how he self identifies. Obviously, you don't put white male. Sheesh. At the very least, if he had anything on the ball, he'd have indicated he's gender questioning, bi-curious and wearing something frilly that the panel can't see, but there are pictures on his Instagram if they want to.
Clearly, he's not qualified to be milk monitor in today's Madison.


I know you say this in jest, but large numbers of white males are doing just that. They usually choose Native American.

Forcing a conquered population to accept and mouth known lies is a top 3 tactic in subjugating them.

Gerda Sprinchorn said...

Who in academia or government or big firms doesn't use outside consultants to hire people? ... Why are there no culpability clauses that apply to their main task: to offer reliable and competent candidates?

A malpractice attorney explained to me that malpractice is all about "standard of care". You can't guarantee the outcome, so having a bad outcome isn't enough to support a claim of malpractice. Rather, you have to look at whether or not the standards of care were followed.

Hence consultants. Hiring them allows you to say you acted appropriately by hiring an expert in how to hire people. You did what you could so you can't be blamed if things don't work out. Consultants, in turn, are experts at making sure the standards appear to have been followed and they are experts in creating the documentation necessary to show that the standards of care were followed.

Accountants perform the same function.

Sally327 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sally327 said...

The attacks or slurs on white men aren't surprising, no one these days seems to think that has to be hidden, but I am surprised that they would be open in casting aspersions on the military. I think the left despises the military and exploits it for nefarious purposes for that very reason but they usually try and hide all that.

Bob Boyd said...

Taxpayer Police Civilian Oversight Board Oversight Board

The TeePeeCOBOB

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

I'll accept that position as long as I can work remotely. Covid, you know. COVID now, COVID tomorrow, COVID forever! My canned response will always be "Sin no more, my [son, daughter]. Here's your $25,000 so you will do better."

That's all the seriousness this new position deserves.

The Tangerine Tornado said...

I came for the Althouse.

I stayed for the Meade.

"That's gold, Jerry! Gold!"

BG said...

I know of some neighboring Wisconsin counties looking for a few good men like Eric Hill.

The pay may not be as good but money isn't everything.

Ice Nine said...

I'm intrigued by the notion of having conversations by text while living in the same house.

n.n said...

Diversity, inequity, and exclusion (DIE).

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

OK, state law requires an investigation of any officer-involved death by an outside law enforcement agency. The "monitor" will also "be able to conduct investigation." (Subpoena power?.)

The "monitor" has power to investigate, but not to fix. I see two alternatives:
..find lots to complain about in the Police and Fire Dept.s; make no friends and many enemies amongst your fellow workers;
..sit back, do nothing, collect your $125K/yr.

In either case, be sure to lobby for a $80K/yr "deputy" and a $40K/yr "office assistant" to expand your empire.


Ann Althouse said...

"I'm intrigued by the notion of having conversations by text while living in the same house."

Sometimes we're even in the same room!

We have texted from across the table

Meade said...

Your slip is showing.

Ice Nine said...

>Sometimes we're even in the same room!
We have texted from across the table<

You should send selfies across the table. You know, why bother looking at each other?

Bob Boyd said...

Althouse said...Sometimes we're even in the same room!

We have texted from across the table



Quiet is the most beautiful sound, followed by the gentle ding of an incoming text message.

Lucien said...

If I seriously thought there might be a civil war, then I wouldn’t want to be on the side reflexively insulting the military.(Of course, if I were a NYT columnist trying to persuade people to do something, I wouldn’t call their party a cult, either.)

Bunkypotatohead said...

$125k per year is merely your property tax for the next decade or so. You should be proud of the gov't you've elected there.

Biff said...

Ann Althouse wrote: "We're told the position will pay $125,000. I can't picture it ever being properly filled, yet apparently now we're going to pay people to try to fill it, because God knows, they can't back down."

In 2022, I have no idea what "properly filled" even means.