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Vol. 34 • No. 114 • Thurs., April 9, 2015 - Wed., April 15, 2015 • An NCON Publication Serving The Milwaukee Area • 65¢
Spring 2015 general election results
Michael Bonds Milwaukee School Board District #3 Wisconsin voters went to the polls on Tuesday, April 7, 2015 to elect a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and a host of candidates vying for circuit court positions, county board seats, municipal courts, aldermanic seats and school boards. On the ballot statewide, incumbent Associate Justice Ann Walsh Bradley handily defeated her challenger, Rock County Circuit Court Judge James Daley. Bradley received 463,571 votes while
Wendell J. Harris, Sr. Milwaukee School Board District #2 Daley garnered 334,632 votes. During a meeting with Pastors United on April 1, 2015 at Jerusalem Baptist Church, Justice Bradley hinted her opponent had been influenced by special interest groups, which she felt should have no influence in a non-partisan judicial election. Bradley touted the endorsement of 100 judges and her independence. Locally, voters elected two Milwaukee County Board
Ann Walsh Bradley Supreme Court
Supervisors to the 10th and 15th Districts respectively. On Milwaukee’s Northside, the son of Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Supreme Moore Omokunde, won the 10th District board seat, which became available last November when former Milwaukee County Board Supervisor David Bowen was elected to the 10th Assembly District. He resigned from the Count Board last December.
Supreme Moore Omokunde Milwaukee County Supervisor District #10
Edward Cullen, the son of Milwaukee County Treasurer David Cullen, won the 15th District Milwaukee County Board seat. For Omokunde and Cullen, this was their first campaigns for an elective office. In the race for Milwaukee School Board, Wendell Harris, Sr., defeated incumbent, Jeff Spence, who was first elected to the board in 1999. The incumbent School Board President, Michael Bonds, overwhelmingly de-
feated challenger Stephany Pruitt who works as a counselor and psychotherapist. Board members are elected to serve four years, earning $18,121 while the board president is paid $18,667 and health benefits. Voters also approved changing the state constitution to allow supreme court justices to elect their own chief justice.
Property ownership theme at Pastors United second annual Dinner Gala and Awards Banquet By Steve Waring Special to the Milwaukee Times The leadership of Pastors United Community Advocacy, Inc., revealed more of its plan for helping members of the African American community transform their Milwaukee neighborhoods into safe and prosperous places in which to raise a family during the second annual Dinner Gala and Awards Banquet held Saturday, April 4, 2015 at the Italian Community Center. “Power relations are totally predicated on one’s ability to own and manage property,” said Minister Gregory Lewis, president of Pastors United in remarks printed in a program booklet. “Through our churches, we can create a pipeline of potential buyers of property. We have to put our people in a position to buy and own property. We do not have enough people in position right now, but we can prepare and put them in position.” During an after-dinner address, Minister Lewis said that Pastors United had re-
cently purchased two foreclosed inner city Milwaukee houses which the organization intends to refurbish and sell. Minister Lewis acknowledged the many hurdles, including lack of access to credit, that often prevents African Americans from acquiring property. He pledged that Pastors United would allow no obstacle to stand in the way of the organization achieving its goal of a higher private property ownership rate among African Americans. He specifically mentioned the idea of starting a community bank as one idea. Later in the evening Minister Richard Schwoegler, of BASICS, encouraged member congregations to adopt a neighborhood block and to transform it step-by-step into a safe and desirable place to live. “You do not need experience,” Minister Schwoegler said. “We do need your help. We can get you set up in 90 minutes with a program to take back this city.” Keynote speaker Bevan Baker, commissioner of (Continued on pg. 2)
Photo by Kendal Suffold Pastors United for Advocacy, Inc., a two-year old organization of pastors, ministers, business men and women, hosted their second annual Dinner Gala and Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 4, 2015 at the Italian Conference Center, 631 E. Chicago Street located in the Third Ward in downtown Milwaukee. The program theme was: “Moving Forward – Empowering Families,” which was rated the top priority issue among sixth other areas of concern by members of the organization. This year’s acknowledgment page of the program book states “empowering families will be an ongoing process in our community, which will involve mutual respect, critical reflection, caring and group participation through which people lacking an equal share of valued resources gain greater access to and control over those resources.” Pictured above (top row from left) are: Jim Bartos of Wisconsin Community Services; Elder Robert Shannon, representing Bishop R. J. Burt, Sr., Pastor of Greater New Birth Church; Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Nathan Conyers of the Milwaukee Times newspaper; Bevan Baker, City of Milwaukee Health Commissioner and keynote speaker at Pastors United Dinner Gala; and Pastors United President Minister Gregory Lewis. Pictured in the (bottom row from left) are: Dr. Hillary Wynn of the Oneida Behavioral Health Clinic in Green Bay, Wisconsin; Milwaukee Times Publisher and President Lynda Jackson Conyers; and Dolly Grimes-Johnson of the Sojourner Family Peace Center. Also honored, but not pictured was Pastor Robert Pyles, of Abundant Faith Church of Integrity.