Tuesday, July 15, 2025
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Tuesday, July 15, 2025

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Bipartisan Milwaukee County Supervisors Raise Concerns About New Museum: ‘We Were Misled’

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“The decision for Milwaukee County and the state to hand over money to a private entity now unaccountable to the public remains a serious mistake. We were misled.” – Milwaukee County Supervisor Ryan Clancy

Four bipartisan Milwaukee County Supervisors are raising serious concerns about the new $240 million Milwaukee Public Museum project, the project’s transparency, and the degree of public money involved.

County supervisors told Wisconsin Right Now that they are “absolutely concerned” about the new museum project, questioned the “massive shortfall,” called it a “serious mistake,” and raised concerns about the “lack of transparency” from museum officials.

The concerns from liberal and conservative supervisors alike come after former Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele urged the county to reconsider its investment in the project, saying the county has more critical needs, like parks maintenance and the public safety building.

We reached out to the County Board and County Executive David Crowley about the museum project, which is languishing in fundraising. The museum project has raised more public than private money and remains approximately $92 million short with groundbreaking suggested for December. We also reported that the County never signed a term sheet spelling out conditions for the $45 million in county money for the project. That raises the question if the money could be shifted elsewhere.

See all of our reporting on the museum here.

Here are the responses we have received so far:

Milwaukee County Supervisor Kathleen Vincent

Milwaukee county supervisorsMilwaukee County supervisor Kathleen Vincent told WRN that she is “absolutely’ concerned with MPM’s ability to move forward with a new museum, and would support a resolution to revisit and potentially revoke the agreement with MPM, especially in light of the fact the agreement was never signed and does not believe the museum is being transparent about the current fundraising efforts.

Vincent was not a supervisor when the March of 2022 vote was taken to approve the $45 million in bonding for the new museum, telling us she found it “interesting” that the decision was made right before a new set of supervisors came in through a new term and thinks more questions would be asked by the current set of supervisors.

Vincent initially thought the new museum was a great idea, but then started to hear constituent complaints about the potential loss of certain aspects of the museum. Vincent also raised concerns about the lack of public input for a new museum.

After she took office, Vicent did tour the museum and saw some of the problems but said she thinks solutions exist with the need to build a brand new museum, which would include building an off-site storage to store artifacts.


Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve Taylor

Milwaukee county supervisors“I wasn’t on the County Board when this $45 million dollar contribution was voted on. Like many, I am disappointed that certain exhibits at the current museum aren’t being relocated to the new museum, specifically The Streets of Old Milwaukee, and this information was only relayed to the Board after the money was allocated. I won’t say the Board was misled but I will say that museum officials weren’t as transparent as they could have been.

The $92 million is a massive shortfall and the Board and residents deserve answers. I also agree with Chris Abele that Milwaukee County does have higher priorities. This is why I have been so vehemently opposed to any local funding for upgrades to AM Fam Field. Revoking is a huge step but I feel that all options should be on the table.”


Milwaukee County Supervisor Ryan Clancy

Milwaukee county supervisors“The decision for Milwaukee County and the state to hand over money to a private entity now unaccountable to the public remains a serious mistake. We were misled. We’ll soon be left with a crumbling building, a commitment to fund a private museum’s borrowing of our collection of public artifacts, and a significant amount of debt, without anything of substance in return.”


Milwaukee County Supervisor Patti Logsdon

Milwaukee county supervisors“As a Milwaukee County Supervisor, I am required to be considerate and conscientious of Milwaukee County taxpayers and financial salience. To the best of my ability, I research possible issues with all projects with the County. The Milwaukee County Museum is a substantial project of which I have concerns over the lack of transparency and available information. It appears that the museum will not meet their requirements of agreements with Milwaukee County so further evaluation of the $45 million Milwaukee County project is necessary.”

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“In Washington County our budget cycle starts right now, and it’s not due until November. We will propose our budget goals to the County Board in the next couple of months. We will share ‘This is what we’re thinking.’ It gives them months of time to think those through, give us feedback, and [have] that kind of dialogue,” Schoemann explained in an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN.

Schoemann said that is far better than the approach Evers is taking again this year.

“That’s not how government is supposed to work,” Schoemann said. “It’s not the vision of the governor. It’s not the vision of any one person.”

Evers and the Republican legislative leaders who will write the budget have been involved in on-again, off-again budget talks this month. On Thursday, the governor’s office said those talks were off once again because of gridlock in the Senate.

“Ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not,” Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a post on X.

Schoemann’s criticism of Evers is nothing new. He has long been a critic of the governor and has turned that criticism up since launching his campaign for governor.

But the recent criticism was also aimed at other Republicans who may jump into the 20206 governor’s race later this year.

“Nobody else in this race on the Republican side, being rumored to this point, has the executive leadership of skills and history to be able to show ‘This is how I’ve done it before, and here’s how we’ll do it Madison,’” Schoemann said. “The results in Washington County speak for themselves.”

Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany is also rumored to be looking to get into the Republican race. Before he went to Congress, Tiffany was a Republican lawmaker in Madison.

Businessman and veteran Bill Berrien is also on the short list of likely GOP candidates for 2026.

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