Critics say Walker should release mental health complex report

Critics of Milwaukee County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker say he should release a report to the public about patient safety at the county’s Mental Health Complex.
The Mental Health Complex has been plagued with problems, including several sexual assaults and other violence, as well as the starvation death of a patient.
In 2008, a private attorney hired by Walker’s administration commissioned a report on safety issues at the Mental Health Complex, according to County Supervisor Theodore Lipscomb.
Critics of Walker are complaining that the report on the Mental Health Complex has not been released to the public.
“Scott Walker wants this potentially explosive report withheld simply to protect his political hide,” said Scott Ross, executive director of the liberal political advocacy group One Wisconsin Now.
“The county executive has not seen the report and does not have the report,” Walker spokeswoman Fran McLaughlin told BizTimes. “You would have to contact corporation counsel. (I) also wanted to remind you that the corporation counsel is insulated legally from pressure from either the county executive or the County Board.”
Acting corporation counsel Timothy Schoewe could not be reached for comment today.
“The county executive maintains that he has not seen the report, and does not know what is in it, but it is Walker’s duty to know, he is responsible for the operations of the Mental Health Complex,” said 1st District Milwaukee County Supervisor Theodore Lipscomb. “It is time for the Walker administration to tell us what is in the secret report that they have kept hidden from view. What should we have known two years ago, and what are they going to do to ensure public safety?”
– BizTimes Milwaukee