MILWAUKEE — During the recent cold weather in Milwaukee, the race for mayor has started to heat up. Current Mayor Tom Barrett has been in office for the past 15 years, but others like State Senator Lena Taylor have started to ramp up their campaigns.
Three months out from Milwaukee's mayoral primary race, Barrett and Taylor came within an arm's reach without acknowledging each other as they both promoted African-American leadership at an event Friday. When questioned about the battle for mayor, Barrett declined to comment.
Taylor took the opportunity to attack.
"The buck will stop with me making sure that inclusion is not just something I show up for, for a photo-op, but that it's what I do in the acts of my administration," she said.
About an hour later, the state senator held a campaign news conference in front of Milwaukee's City Hall.
"It is time for a change and Tom Barrett, time is up," the state senator said.
Taylor continued to call out Barrett on a separate issue, the law enacted in 2013 allowing city employees to live outside of city limits.
"When individuals do not live in the city and take the dollars outside of the city and do not contribute to property taxes, that is a crisis," Lena Taylor said.
Under Barrett's leadership, the city challenged the law and lost in the Wisconsin Surpreme Court a few years ago. The mayor has offered city employees a 3-percent pay raise if they live in Milwaukee, hoping to expand this to firefighters and police officers. He even spoke on the issue to firefighters who were sworn in Thursday night.
"I think we're a stronger community when our employees live in this city," Barrett said.
If elected mayor, Taylor said that she would fight to implement additional incentives, but declining to explain what they would be.
Barrett's campaign sent TODAY'S TMJ4 a statement saying:
"Lena Taylor's allegations are baseless and absurd. She knows that Tom Barrett fought tooth and nail against a hostile, Republican-controlled legislature and Governor to keep them from ending residency."
Several local officials have entered the race for mayor like Alderman Tony Zielinski. Other candidates include Daniel Crowley, Tremell Noble and Paul Rasky.
