Priorities

Clancy has authored and supported a long list of legislation - from the Right to Shelter to the Right to Counsel
Milwaukee County is rich in positive assets; Ryan Clancy works hard to ensure that our budget and policies reflect our community priorities

Funding human needs

Every year, Milwaukee County residents make clear that parks, mental health, housing and economic development are important to them. Clancy will fight to ensure that these priorities are fully funded.

Safety through community investment

Milwaukee County residents want real safety, not abusive and unaccountable policing. Clancy will continue to fight for safety through investment in the community and by funding programs which make our neighborhoods better, safer places to live.

Housing 

Clancy authored Milwaukee County's groundbreaking Right to Counsel, which provides a lawyer to the 14,000 people facing eviction every year. He will fight to expand and continue this program into 2023.


​The Right to Shelter

Having volunteered extensively in shelters both here in Milwaukee and across the country during disasters, I know how important these services are. Warming rooms are an urgent, life-saving need for our most vulnerable community members, and I am thankful that we have dedicated non-profits and County employees who work to ensure that none of our neighbors without permanent housing are forced to be exposed to freezing temperatures overnight. It’s vital that we increase our shelter capacity and availability immediately, ensure that they remain accessible every night that the temperature drops below 32 degrees, and that we reject harmful and inaccurate stereotypes that opponents are using to oppose them.

During my first term, I successfully passed a resolution which declared a "Right to Shelter" for all County residents, and then created and funded additional positions through the Department of Health and Human Services' Homeless Outreach teams. Because of these efforts, we now have a second shift outreach team who can help our residents get access to shelter and other services when they need it the most.


​The Right to Counsel

I spent much of 2021 pulling together a wide coalition of groups and individuals to support the Right to Counsel. From Legal Aid, to Legal Action, to the United Way, this was a monumental undertaking. It was also incredibly urgent: even before the pandemic, Milwaukee County evicted 14,000 households a year.

I listened to residents, and did the research, and it told a dire story: the effects of eviction go well beyond housing, and that they negatively impact so many parts of our community. It was also clear from data from municipalities which had provided lawyers to people facing eviction how effective it was: reducing court backlogs, keeping people in their jobs, and even providing better educational outcomes for children, as they were kept in their schools and away from the dangers of increased lead exposure in moving in and out of run-down housing. With the moratorium ending, it was clear that we needed action.

And so I wrote the legislation, informed by both the people doing the work to prevent evictions and by the many residents who have struggled through it. And the community supported it, showing up - and sometimes waiting hours to give their compelling, heartfelt testimony.

Because of these efforts, residents in Milwaukee County now have a right to an attorney when facing eviction. Between my Right to Counsel legislation and advocacy for direct rent assistance, we're on track to prevent thousands of evictions a year moving forward.

We'll need to push to defend and make permanent this pilot program, which will require new funds from the Board of Supervisors in 2023. I got it passed, and I'll fight to ensure that we keep it.

If you are in need of legal services regarding eviction, see EvictionFreeMKE.org


​Working conditions and wages

For years, Milwaukee County (and other municipalities across the state) have passed or considered legislation to raise working conditions, protections and wages, only to see those important actions undone or pre-empted by state laws. I will continue my work with state legislators to reverse those preemptions, continue to fight at the national level for legislation such as the One Fair Wage Act, and to find creative solutions to protect working families, and to reduce the ever-widening gap between corporate profits and working class pay.

With COVID-19 already present, Wisconsin's striking down of Milwaukee's 2008 mandatory sick-time ordinance must be reversed. Employers allowing employees to stay at home when sick, and employees being able to do so while making ends meet, is not just an equity and social justice issue, but - especially in the service industry - an urgent matter of public health. 

As a small business owner and founder of PRAWN: the Progressive Restaurants and Activists of Wisconsin Network, I have pushed back on industry lobbyists who seek to keep service industry wages and working conditions low, and worked with state lawmakers to incentivize higher wages for employees. Here's some of that story. We can, and must, do more for working families and immigrants across Milwaukee County.


​Transparency

Transparency is important in government, and should be important in campaigns. I’m proud that each time that I filed a campaign finance report, that it was on time and clearly showed every donor to my campaign. You can also see exactly where we spent those donations. Reports for candidates in every race are available at county.milwaukee.gov. 
Campaign finance reports may not sound like the most exciting way to judge a candidate, but I’m proud of the number of small donations - from baristas, parents, blacksmiths, teachers, restauranteurs, elected representatives and organizers who have worked with me for years and trust me to represent them. I’m also proud of the many organizational endorsements that I've earned.


​Budgets as moral documents

Milwaukee County's budget is not merely a dry list of expenditures: it reflects our priorities and choices.

Each of the two budgets I've been a part of, I've proposed many amendments to. I listened to people around Milwaukee County: in person, via phone calls, emails, testimony in committee and even protests and rallies. Those stories and opinions reflect what the data from the Balancing Act tool shows: that residents want fewer dollars going towards administration, the Sheriff's budget and incarcerating people, and more money for mental health, parks, housing and our economy. For the 2021 budget, those 15 amendments which would have moved money away from the Sheriff's Office and into human needs didn't get a majority, and failed to pass. It started a conversation, though.

For the 2022 budget, I instead introduced 25 amendments, and succeeded. Those amendments moved $2.4 million dollars away from the worst excesses of the Sheriff, including a $700,000 surveillance camera array, and into human needs: a new playground at South Shore Park, restored benefits for County employees, parks infrastructure, a paid intern position to support the work of the Milwaukee County Human Rights Commission, and even funding to open nearly all County pools in 2022.

This move was unprecedented in Milwaukee County's history. It's not the full $18 million which the community demanded, and which I fought for, but it's a good start.

My budget battles are nothing new. Even before taking office, I noticed in July 2019 that Milwaukee County was doing business with Southwest Key, a technically "non-profit" entity, but one which was making millionaires by engaging in the practice of child separation at our southern border. I publicly called for a full divestment of the County (and MPS) from Southwest Key, on the radio and with a press release, and Milwaukee County responded by ending that $913,500 annual contract.

As County Supervisor, I have striven to ensure that our budget is one which reflects our values as a community, and will continue to do so.


​Transforming the jail and House of Correction

The Milwaukee County Jail is overcrowded and understaffed for the population it is tasked with serving. We need to reduce the number of people behind bars, both by funding the Post-Booking Stabilization program to provide housing and wraparound services outside of a jail cell, by reducing harmful and inequitable contact with law enforcement, and by keeping people accused of nonviolent misdemeanor offenses out of jail.

Although the CART program is a step in the right direction, the better solutions for many emergency calls involve reliance on specialized professionals, not law enforcement or jail employees, to address the complexities of mental health and addiction, and to get residents services instead of incarceration. Focusing on linking residents with services instead of jail cells will be a cost savings to Milwaukee County and the savings from lawsuits against the county stemming from understaffed facilities will also free up revenue for other vital programs which more directly serve our residents.

I have worked extensively with both the leadership and the people in our care at the House of Correction on fundamentally transforming the way that institution works, and to support their move from a model of incarceration to one focusing on positive supports and re-entry.

Based on my many conversations with people currently incarcerated and their advocates, I've introduced numerous resolutions to reduce the harm caused by incarceration in Milwaukee County. Understanding that the private companies running both food service and the commissary in the jail and HOC have a monopoly, I've limited the prices they can charge (some of which were at three to four times retail). Another resolution due to be considered in January will provide free voice and video calling to people in our care, so that Milwaukee County Families can stop paying the $1.5 million a year they are forced to pay to private companies and to pad our budget. Other budget amendments would have provided a stipend for work, as well as restoring part of the Work Farm program that was banned under Sheriff Clarke. 


​Transit

Milwaukee relies on, and benefits from, a robust public transportation system. Closing and limiting bus routes, especially those in underdeveloped areas, has negatively impacted the ability of our residents to attend work and school, and to engage fully in our communities. I will fight to restore and expand bus routes where they are needed the most, while advocating for the most sustainable, efficient upgrades - including moving directly to electric vehicles without hybrid as a stepping stone -  to ensure that they remain cost-effective and viable.

One of my amendments to the 2022 budget which did not pass was the expansion of MCTS to the House of Correction, which needs transit there to equitably restore face-to-face visitation, which has been banned and monetized for many years. I firmly oppose competing efforts to use TNC services such as Uber and Lyft for this same purpose. Those companies exploit independent contractors instead of creating union, family-supporting operator jobs. Privatizing transit is a slippery slope, and our residents deserve economic equity and good jobs.


​Taxes

Tax the rich.

Corporations and the extremely wealthy should be taxed at higher, fairer rates at the state and federal levels, with a portion of that revenue used to fund human needs at county and municipal levels.


​Sustainability and the freedom to thrive

Our public spaces, transportation -  and Milwaukee County's dedicated employees - are all assets worth caring for. Sustainability goes far beyond just our physical environment. A sustainable plan for Milwaukee County's future must also prioritize and fund the human needs of employees and residents instead of over-enforcement and criminalization.

The County Board's consideration of Deputy Sheriffs on buses is not acceptable. Aside from the unsustainable costs, relying on Sheriffs with arresting powers will not keep our MCTS operators nor passengers safer, and would only make our public transit part of the prison pipeline.

The onus for bus safety cannot rest with just our dedicated MCTS operators. We need a core group of trained County staff to:
  • cultivate relationships with both MCTS operators and passengers,
  • use that understanding to anticipate conflicts, and deploy themselves where they're needed the most,
  • provide short-term backup and support to operators during active conflicts on buses,
  • provide ongoing modeling and supplemental training to bolster operators' existing de-escalation training, and 
  • act as a resource for all parties to direct them to existing resources to help prevent and transform conflict in the future.

Rather than funding reactive policies, our limited County resources are better allocated towards funding human needs, especially in innovative City/County partnerships such providing doulas and the City / County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity. These will have longer lasting, sustainable effects on County residents for generations to come.

We must also ensure that our visitors and residents are treated fairly, that our constitutionally-protected rights to travel are preserved, and that we push back against profiling and discrimination. The unquestioned $25,112,809 for the airport expansion in the 2020 budget includes significant funds for Customs and Border Patrol, but no oversight of their activities. Although CBP's routine duties include checking bags, in border areas within 100 miles of the international border (including Milwaukee), they can duplicate much of the scope of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including detention and deportation facilitation. Given the immigration and profiling human rights abuses of the current federal administration, Milwaukee County must stop the practice of writing blank checks to facilitate this, and instead use our budget to protect the rights of our residents and visitors.

Similarly, I firmly oppose targeted efforts to increase criminal penalties, leading to increased incarceration and the chilling of free speech and non-violent, civil protest. I firmly oppose measures such as Senate Bill 386 which provided up to six years in jail for civil protest which did not result in harm to people and was clearly aimed at indigenous peoples and allies who oppose pipelines and threats to clean drinking water.

I was proud to be part of the group that shut down the ICE offices in downtown Milwaukee in 2019, and equally proud to stand beside the De La Cruz family when they were separated by collaboration between MPD and ICE. Here's my stance on immigration as it relates to the business community.

As County Supervisor, I will continue to obstruct collaboration with ICE and any CBP duties involving detention of immigrants, and oppose any legislation which seeks to criminalize civil action.

The Fair Deal

The longer-term solution to a healthy, vibrant Milwaukee County is to demand back more of the revenue that we send to the state of Wisconsin. Milwaukee County contributes far more to the state than what we receive back. We have good leadership, and know what priorities need funding, but end up fighting over scraps rather than being able to fully fund initiatives which will improve the lives of County residents.

Until we have the political will in Madison to return more funds to Milwaukee County, the "Fair Deal", which provides the ability for Milwaukee County to raise a sales tax, is a viable option. Sales taxes, even with exemptions, are inherently regressive, though. I support the Fair Deal with a provision that it sunset, but not as a permanent measure; to provide vital services on the backs of the poor and middle class is not just. I oppose strings being attached to local control of taxes, including mandating the bloated police budgets that have let to a reduction in human needs in the first place.

I am fully in support of a measure to instead tax more targeted industries and areas, including a countywide tax on lodging and tourism, and/or a tax on downtown entertainment districts, and believe that these options require additional consideration and analysis.
Authorized and paid for by Friends of Ryan Clancy