E PR WAUKE ESS CL MIL UB ONCE AYEAR 2014 S EE IX D AUK EGREES OF MILW EDITOR CLAIRE HANAN MILWAUKEE MAGAZINE CONTENT DESIGNER KRISTA SCHMIDT MILWAUKEE MAGAZINE SPECIAL THANKS TO SPONSORSHIP COMMITTEE JODY LOWE THE LOWE GROUP LORI RICHARDS MUELLER COMMUNICATIONS, INC. CLUB ADMINISTRATOR JOETTE RICHARDS 262-894-2224 Once A Year has been produced annually by the Milwaukee Press Club since 1886. At the center of Milwaukee. All of the issues are archived at the Golda Meir Library of the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee and are used frequently for historical research. Mueller Communications, Inc. is an integrated PRESS CLUB MEETING PLACE marketing and public relations firm that NEWSROOM PUB combines modern technology with the 137 E. Wells St., experience, skills and relationships of Milwaukee, WI 53202 a team of seasoned professionals. milwaukeepressclub.org 4 PRESIDENT’S LETTER MARK KASS 6 SACRED CAT JONATHAN ALTER HEADLINER 8 MAILING ADDRESS MICHAEL PINK PO Box 176 10 HEADLINER North Prairie, WI 53153-0176 STEPHEN ROELL 13 MPC AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN MPC and MPC Endowment Ltd. thanks this year’s inde- WISCONSIN JOURNALISM WINNERS pendent panel of contest judges, active journalists from press clubs throughout the U.S., including Florida, Idaho, SIX DEGREES OF MILWAUKEE: Michigan and Pennsylvania and in Houston, New Orleans, 21 San Diego, San Francisco and Syracuse. A special thanks CONNECTED FOR 168 YEARS to Maryann Lazarski, Joette Richards and the MPC contest committee for their oversight of our contest. Each year, ROSTER OF MEMBERS the Milwaukee Press Club is asked to judge similar contests 23 of press clubs in other cities throughout the country. If 27 THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS you’d like to serve as an occasional judge for such con- MuellerCommunications.com (414) 390-5500 1749 N. Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202 tests, please contact the MPC at 262-894-2224. Facebook.com/MuellerCommunications.com @MuellerComm ONCE A YEAR 2014 | MILWAUKEE PRESS CLUB 3 Your local business news source online and in print. PRESIDENT’SLETTER County Executive Chris Abele and Po- Any president’s letter needs to include an update on the lice Chief Ed Flynn. club’s financial condition and I’m happy to say we are in a very In 2013, we added a new of event solid position. Thanks to the effort of Mueller Communica- called “Behind the Headlines,” which tions, Inc. President and Press Club Treasurer Carl Mueller. He BAUTER ALISON presents a panel discussion of commu- has trained us all to make sure we ask, “What would Carl say?” STACY VOGEL DAVIS VOGEL STACY RYAN SEAN nity leaders talking about the major before we approve any club expense. LOCKWOOD DENISE KIRCHEN RICH topics impacting southeastern Wis- And the Press Club would not be the strong organization it consin. They are then questioned by is without the hard work of Joette Richards, our club adminis- a three-person media panel. Over the trator. I am constantly amazed by the way Joette keeps every- past year, we have held events focusing thing organized – from setting up for all of our events to orga- on the impact of the federal Affordable Care Act, the increase in entrepreneur- ship and innovation in the Milwaukee area, the business case for promoting women and the push for a new arena Downtown. ONE OF THE BIGGEST In each case, these events have been well-attended and prompted interest- EFFORTS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY ing discussions and debates about these BY THE PRESS CLUB IS AN major issues. And they have made news, something we believe should happen at OVERHAUL OF OUR WEBSITE. all Press Club events. I want to thank board members Marilyn Krause, Mary Van de Kamp Nohl, Jim Nelson and Jody Lowe for all of their efforts in putting together these nizing our popular Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism awards events. contest. Thank you, Joette, for everything you do. We have also continued our strong Being president of the Press Club has been a very humbling series of newsmaker events held at the experience. When you consider the fact that we are the oldest Newsroom Pub. One of the most ex- continuously operating press club in North America, you know citing newsmaker luncheons featured how special this organization is. But if you ever need a remind- the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s er, I urge you to check out the signatures from so many prom- Frank Almond, just days after the po- inent people that line the walls of the Newsroom Pub. This is a lice recovered the multimillion-dollar special organization and one that all of its members should be Stradivarius that was stolen from Al- very proud to be involved with. mond in a case that received worldwide I want to congratulate our Headline Award winners Mi- media attention. I want to thank board chael Pink, Milwaukee Ballet artistic director, and Stephen Ro- A YEAR OF POSITIVE CHANGE member Steve Jagler, who has led our ell, recently retired CEO of Johnson Controls. I have had the newsmakers effort for many years. honor of getting to know Michael and Steve over the last de- The beginnings of a new website and a new set of panel discussions contribute to I also want to thank Lori Richards cade and fully understand the important role they have played Press Club’s ongoing success. BY MARK KASS and Jody Lowe for their hard work in our community. in finding corporate sponsors for our It is also an honor to award our esteemed Sacred Cat to Jon- many events. Our events are a financial athan Alter, who is a multi-media journalist, national author, WHEN I WAS ASKED TO CONSIDER serving as president of the success as a result of their efforts. reporter, columnist and NBC News political analyst. Milwaukee Press Club last August, I thought about the club’s long his- One of the biggest efforts currently underway by the Press Club is To them, and to all of the winners of the MPC Excellence in tory and its strong board, which I have had the pleasure of serving on an overhaul of our website. We have spent several months reviewing Wisconsin Journalism Awards: congratulations. for the last several years. our website and identifying opportunities to improve the information Please join me in toasting them. ■ Unlike other boards, the Milwaukee Press Club board is a work- presented and additional ways to provide services to our members. ing body where members are always volunteering to help plan an We have chosen a local vendor to greatly improve the usability event or recruit a new member. And those board members have been of our website and increase the information that we can provide to kept quite busy this past year with the Press Club’s growing roster of our members, including adding a section that will list open media events. positions in the area. Mark Kass is proud to accept its Milwaukee Press Club Our signature event, the city’s birthday party, drew its largest I really want to thank our website subcommittee, which consisted Milwaukee Press Club President Awards for its extensive daily and weekly crowd in years as it has become a can’t-miss networking event. Where of Jim Nelson, Mary Van de Kamp Nohl, Jody Lowe and Fraser En- coverage of Milwaukee’s business commuity. else can you go and find business and community leaders network- german, for their hard work in putting together the request for pro- ing with a long list of elected officials, including Mayor Tom Barrett, posals and selecting the firm that will work on our website. milwaukeebusinessjournal.com I (414) 2787788 4 MILWAUKEE PRESS CLUB | ONCE A YEAR 2014 ONCE A YEAR 2014 | MILWAUKEE PRESS CLUB 5 SACRED CAT Obama will be remembered for ending a long era in our history when, if you or your child got sick, you had to sell your home or declare personal bankruptcy. Unless Obamacare is repealed, which is unlikely, future generations won’t have to worry about this. The many flaws in Obamacare will fade in importance next to the ban on discrimination against those with preexisting conditions. If the Republicans win control of both houses this November, would that effectively end President Obama’s second term? No. Presidents have plenty of power – particularly in foreign affairs – even if the other party controls Congress. Ei- senhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush all faced Congresses controlled by the other party, though the partisanship was less. What will become of the Tea Party? People will recognize it for what it is: a collection of old, white, anti-Washington conservatives. Such voters will always ex- ist but the name is already becoming pe- jorative, which means it will soon slip into disuse. Do you think Hillary Clinton will run for president in 2016? THE LONG VIEW Yes, if her health stays good. She wants a woman president and knows she is the A Q&A with Jonathan Alter, whose political reporting experience provides best bet for one. illuminating perspective. BY STEVE JAGLER What do you think of the chances for Gov. WHEN IT COMES TO being dialed into Goodman. It’s for these reasons and more Scott Walker and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as It’s all business to us. the powers that be in the Washington, D.C., that the Milwaukee Press Club selected the presidential candidates? Jonathan Alter has few peers. award-winning author, reporter, columnist If Walker wins reelection convincingly, As a committed corporate citizen with 170,000 employees serving clients in 150 countries, we take the business of Alter spent 28 years at Newsweek, where and television news analyst as the 2014 Sa- he will be a strong candidate.