Belling.com

OVERVIEW

Bob Baffert is back at the Derby.  Following a multi-year ban from Churchill Downs, Inc. on running in the Derby or any other race at any of its racetracks, the Baffert ban is lifted this year.  The fact that Baffert is still allowed to train horses at all rankles many in the sport (including me) while others believe Baffert has been persecuted and that Churchill Downs has a vendetta against him.  Baffert was banned from Churchill Downs after one of his many Derby winners, Medina Spirit, tested positive for a banned substance that Baffert initially denied the horse was ever treated with.  But the ban is lifted and Baffert desperately wants to win this race this year to stick it up all of his critics’ real ends.

Baffert has two horses entered, last year’s two year old champion Citizen Bull and the more highly touted Rodriguez, who unlike Citizen Bull, has improved this year.  But all of the attention is on a different California-based horse weirdly named Journalism.  Journalism may be dead in the US but it is very much alive on the racetrack.  When Journalism destroyed a field in December in the Los Alamitos Futurity, I declared him my 2025 Derby horse.  He’s only gotten better and has the best speed figures in the race.  He has to beat 19 horses and deal with all of the extraordinary Derby circumstances but I see him as the strongest pre-Derby horse in the past 25 years.  If he wins the Derby, I think he will win the Triple Crown.

I’ll analyze each horse in the field in post position order.  KEY NOTE: One of the best horses in the field, #21 Baeza, needs a horse to scratch before Friday morning to draw into the field.  If Baeza doesn’t make it in, simply delete him from where I have him in the selections and exclude him from suggested wagers.

THE FIELD

#1 Citizen Bull – Trained by Baffert, this horse was the champion American two year old and while he hasn’t really regressed this year, his two 2025 races don’t show improvement.  Normally, the #1 post position is awful in the Derby because of the potential for early traffic trouble, but this horse has excellent early speed and should be able to get a decent early position.

#2 Neoequos – This one would be an easy toss-out were it not for his trainer Saffie Joseph who has attracted as much suspicion with his training career as Baffert.  This is another horse with lots of early speed, and like Citizen Bull, will likely be gunned early.

#3 Final Gambit – The horse is reportedly training very well at Churchill Downs but has never run on dirt and in the race because of a dominant win on a synthetic track.  He can’t be totally dismissed and his trainer Brad Cox wins a staggering number of races.

#4 Rodriguez  – This one is Baffert’s best shot at winning the Derby.  Although he was soundly beaten by both Journalism and Citizen Bull in starts this year in California. he was shipped east for his final Derby prep and won the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in convincing wire to wire style.  Jockey Mike Smith has been in the Hall of Fame for years and at age 58 would be the oldest rider to win the Derby by four years!

#5 American Promise – D. Wayne Lukas is still around!  The Wisconsin native is 89 and while he has nowhere near as many horses as in the past, he still has some good ones and won the Preakness last year.   This horse got in the Derby field by beating a weak field in the Virginia Derby.

#6 Admire Daytona – This is one of two Japanese-based horses in the race and won the UAE Derby in Dubai in March.  But that field was very soft and the win was in an ultra-close photo finish.

#7 Luxor Cafe – This is the other Japanese horse.  At some point, a horse trained in Japan will win the Derby and it should have happened last year when Forever Young was in a three-way photo finish for the win despite being jostled in the stretch.  I believe Japanese horses are the best in the world and Luxor is this year’s best Japanese entrant so I’m giving him a shot.  I like the fact that he didn’t go the Dubai route but qualified for the Derby by winning races in Japan.   His rider, “Magic” Moreira was a legend riding in Hong Kong before moving to Japan.  It’s unclear where the horse will be positioned in the race and it’s safe to say he’s never experienced the rodeo-like Derby that results in horses blasted with dirt in their faces the whole race.

#8 Journalism – I don’t have a single knock on this horse, only quibbles.  He’s won four races in a row, each with stronger competition than the race before.  He has decent early speed but won’t be on the lead.  He finishes his race as well as any early three year old I’ve seen in years.  Trainer Michael McCarthy is very good and west coast-based jockey Umberto Rispoli is fine.   The breeding  couldn’t be better for a horse trying to win a 1 1/4 mile race.  The private clocker I use is raving about his recent workouts at Churchill Downs.  His speed figures tower over the rest of the field.  The quibble?  It’s possible he has already peaked.  Horses run far less now than in the past and top performances often set them back.  He’s not a cinch because the Derby is the Derby but this horse is so good I give him a 50-50 chance of winning.

#9 Burnham Square – He comes from off the pace which is a good thing in a race loaded with speed.  He won the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in Kentucky in his final Derby prep and improves with every race.  His rider, Brian Hernandez, won the Derby last year and, in my opinion, is one of the five or six best jockeys in the country.

#10 Grande – This horse has raced only three times but recent Derby winners Mage and Justify had the same lack of experience.  Trainer Todd Pletcher is one of the best of all time but has a record of only 2 for 65 with his many derby starters.  He finished second to Rodriguez in his last start and has a perfect running style for this year’s race in which he will likely be five or six lengths off the early torrid pace.

#11 Flying Mohawk – He’s running for the first time on dirt and has the slowest speed figures of any horse in the race.

#12 East Avenue – He has tremendous early speed but will likely be be caught up in a rapid early speed duel.  Excellent trainer in Brendan Walsh.  The ownership, from the ruling family of Dubai, is the most successful racehorse ownership in the world.  I’d like this horse’s chances a lot more in the Preakness in two weeks than in Saturday’s Derby.

#13 Publisher – This one has never won a race!  That’s a function of his come from behind style in which he always seems to run well but can never pass the last horse.  He is rapidly improving.  Trainer Steve Asmussen is probably the best trainer in the country who has never won the Derby.  I actually give him a slight chance here because of the pace scenario and an even bigger chance of closing late to finish third or fourth.

#14 Tiztastic – Another Asmussen trainee. This horse won the Louisiana Derby seven weeks ago and I like the long break before the Derby.  That race is also longer than the other Derby preps so we know he can get the distance.  His speed figures are only OK.  I rate him almost dead even with the above mentioned #13 Publisher.

#15 Render Judgment – He has had a foot abscess and his trainer (who won last year’s Derby) did not want to run in the race but was overruled by the horse’s owners.

#16 Coal Battle – Cinderella story here.  The trainer has been around forever with a nice record but has never won an important race before this one came along.  Coal Battle is a classic overachiever who won four races in a row although the speed figures were slow.  I see him somewhere in the middle of the pack early and late.

#17 Sandman – Every year there’s a horse I’m torn on and can’t figure out.  Sandman is the horse this year.  He will attract a lot of betting attention from novices because one of his fractional owners is a high profile influencer and because of the horse’s name (famous comic book character and now part of a huge Netflix show).  Sandman did win the Arkansas Derby but his come from behind style was greatly aided by an insanely fast pace.  But, he did win and has an outstanding trainer.  Jockey Jose Ortiz has been hot all year.  He will get a fast pace again but I’m just not sold that he’s fast enough.

#18 Sovereignty – If Journalism doesn’t win, this one might.  I love the way he’s coming into the race.  He won the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park in March which got him into the race but then drew an awful wide post in the Florida Derby at the same track.  He ran an excellent second despite the fact he wasn’t fully cranked up and the post position was terrible.  Trainer Bill Mott has been in the Hall of Fame for years, has won the Derby (because of a DQ) and has prepared this horse perfectly.  The wide post  position here is OK because his running style is to come from off the pace.  Jockey Junior Alvarado is Mott’s favorite rider but he is erratic.  He can give you both great and terrible rides.

#19 Chunk of Gold – I kind of like this horse.  I bet him at huge odds to win the Louisiana Derby and he ran an excellent second.  He ran identical speed figures in his last two races and that often means a big improvement in the next race.  Very low profile trainer but one who has handled this horse perfectly.  Jockey Jareth Loveberry is also low profile but fine.  Loveberry and the horse will have to work out a trip from the wide post and there are quite a few better “on paper” but he’s not a total tossout.

#20 Owen Almighty –  The excellent trainer has flat out said he doesn’t want to run in the race but his goofy owners have Derby Fever and insisted on it.  He qualified by winning shorter races by running on the lead.  But there’s too much speed in this race for him to get to the lead and the wide post position is a disaster.

#21 Baeza  – He needs one horse to scratch to get into the race but if he draws in he’s a possible winner.  He finished a strong second to Journalism in his last race and actually galloped out past him after the wire.  He made a huge move on the final turn last race and that often portends an even bigger race next out.  The trainer has very few horses but when he gets a good one, he excels.  He trained a monster longshot to win the Derby a number of years ago and was trainer of Zenyatta, the best female American horse of the last 25 years.   The jockey, Flavien Prat, is one of the two best riders in the country.  Because he didn’t qualify in the top 20, he’ll be stuck with the farthest out spot position if he draws in.  This horse appears to have extraordinary talent.

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

SUGGESTED WAGERS

Listed in order of preference.  Adjust dollar figures up or down based on your budget. Never underestimate win, place and show betting

• $35 to win place and show on #8 Journalism ($105)
• $20 exacta 8 with 18-21 ($40)
• $4 exacta 18-21 with 8 ($8)
• $8 to win place and show 18 and 21  ($48)
• $5 exacta 8 with 4-7-9-13-14-18-21  ($35)
• $1 exacta 4-7-9-13-14-18-21 with 8 ($7)
• $3 exacta box 8-18-21 ($18)

Again, simply exclude any horse that is scratched and watch to see if #21 Baeza draws in. I am unable to update this copy.

SPECIAL WAN

I co-own a horse running in Race 5, the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile.  She is #10 Special Wan and is the 5-2 favorite in the race.  Obviously the wide post position is not good but our rider, Luis Saez, is sensational and really good with horses with tactical speed like ours. Special Wan won a Grade 3 at Gulfstream Park two months ago and we’re now trying to win a Grade 2.  She is training super for our trainer Brendan Walsh.  Even though she may win, I will not be in attendance (Derby Day is not on my “bucket list” as I’ve done it five times but it is on my “places to avoid list.”)

FRIDAY

Good Cheer is the heavy favorite in the Kentucky Oaks, the filly version of the Kentucky Derby.  I like her to win also but can’t recommend a wager at such low odds.

HOW TO BET

The only legal way to bet in Wisconsin is with one of the numerous online wagering sites.  I don’t endorse any, but all are fine and reputable.   Some names are: Xpressbet, Twin Spires, NYRA Bets and TVG.  There are others and signing up is easy and usually comes with sign-up bonuses.  You have to deposit your money before you can bet.   So far as I know, none of the tribal casinos in Wisconsin (including Potawatomi) offer race wagering anymore.

I reported last year that a Racine County man accused of attempting to kill a DNR warden on northern Wisconsin was released on a signature bond by a pathetic judge in Forest County. Yesterday, that same judge finally ordered the defendant, Mark Szczerba II of Kansasville, be sent to prison 20 months after the original incident.

After prosecution of the case was taken over by the Wisconsin Department of Justice after dubious handling of it by the DA in Forest County, Szczerba entered into a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to battery of a law enforcement officer. Other counts were dismissed but “read in” to the record. A charge of attempted homicide against Szczerba was dismissed as part of the deal.

According to the criminal complaint, which I reported on extensively on belling.com and my former radio show, Szczerba and his girlfriend were riding a UTV after dark. His daughter was driving another UTV. A DNR warden pulled the daughter over for speeding. The complaint alleges Szczerba, who has a criminal record, intervened. The warden said he feared for his life.

The warden alleged Szczerba attempted to strangle him. The warden fired a taser shot and struck Szczerba. Officers from multiple law enforcement agencies then responded and Szczerba was arrested.

However, the small town judge, Forest County Circuit Judge Leon Stenz, released Szczerba on a signature bond, meaning he was freed without posting any cash. It wasn’t until Szczerba eventually pleaded guilty that the lenient Stenz made him put up $25,000 cash.

Yesterday, Stenz sentenced Szczerba to four and a half years in prison with supervision after that. The court record indicates Szczerba expressed remorse at his sentencing hearing. The sentence was virtually identical to what was requested by the state Attorney General’s office.

So Szczerba, who has had numerous run-ins with the law, is now finally headed to prison. Warning to the officials there: Szczerba has a history of attacking wardens.

Mark Belling
March 6, 2025

Ex-Washington HS Basketball Player Murdered Last Month Was Key Figure In Massive Drug Probe
By Mark Belling

The convicted felon who former Milwaukee Washington High basketball coach Freddie Riley refused to kick off his powerful 2019 team was a key figure in a massive drug bust announced this week by the state Department of Justice.

Deontay Long, the former Washington player, was murdered last month in West Allis. State officials, in announcing the charging of 14 local men in a fentanyl distribution ring, say long was a key player in that operation and his murder was linked to the drug ring.

Riley became notorious after allowing Long, already a felon when he was a high school senior, to play on Washington’s team which finished second in the state Division Two basketball tournament. The Riley-Long affair resulted in the WIAA implementing a rule banning felons from competing in high school tournaments.

Long was convicted in 2018 in a series of armed robberies that included a carjacking of an elderly woman on Milwaukee’s east side. He served six months in jail and was welcomed back to the Washington team by Riley. It was merely one of many refusal by Milwaukee Public Schools to implement any disciplinary standards in the awful school system.

Long had multiple college scholarship offers but most were rescinded after his conviction. Riley, the then-Washington coach, refused at the time to answer my questions as to why he allowed Long to stay on the team. Riley is now the head basketball coach at Menomonee Falls High School. Falls officials told me when Riley was hired they were aware of his refusal to discipline Long.

Long kicked around at a couple of small colleges but his basketball career amounted to little. But his criminal ways resurfaced. Long and another man were murdered last month in what authorities are now saying was directly linked to the enormous drug ring officials say they have now busted.

There is no way of knowing if Riley had forced Long to face consequences for his 2018 felony if Long would have gotten on a better path. It is certainly fair to say Long remained a serious criminal after his lenient treatment from Freddie Riley.

Mark Belling
January 29, 2025

From: Philip

To: BELLING, MARK C.
Subject: [EXTERNAL] A Listener List

Hi Mark,

I enjoyed listening to the 10 defining moments segment on your last terrestrial radio show. It was a fun reminder of the early days of your show. I’ve been a regular listener from almost the beginning and have many memories of standout moments from your show over the years. I suspect you would not approve of it, but some of us would really enjoy the ability to re-listen to some of those early shows that pre-date the existing podcast era. I thought I would share some moments not in your list that were memorable to me for various reasons as a listener:

• The “worst sports decision in Wisconsin history” – when the Brewers let Paul Molitor go the Blue Jays and your show covered this story like nowhere else in Milwaukee, having all the key players on for lengthy interviews (Molitor, Bando, Selig)
• Yount’s 3,000^th hit – this was also the day Selig became Commissioner your coverage/retrospective was again just better than the competition
• The first two items above were only a few months apart in 1992 and even though the Brewers were not the main focus of your show, your coverage cemented your program for me as the place to really know what’s going on in Milwaukee as a young person at the time
• The blue shirt at the airport – which led to you hilariously hanging up your own blue shirt on the TV show
• The orange asterisk on the lakefront – this along with other art and architecture critiques (e.g. corporate names on tall buildings) were unique to your program
• The light rail battle – which was effective until they finally corralled that federal money for The Flop
• Coming back from your suspension to the music lyrics of I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again … You’re Never Gonna Keep Me Down! – classic
• All of the segments where you didn’t reveal your opinion until after arguing both sides with callers – this was a good teaching tool at effective argument making
• The week in review with Todd Robert Murphy, JJ Blonien, and Walter Farrell – it didn’t last for the long haul but I liked that panel and format
• The crescendo peak – this term from a caller that you often referred back to for a while to remind us the futility of timing markets perfectly
• Incredible sex appeal – this one is obscure but sometime in the 90s a caller insulted your appearance and you immediately shot back at him about his failure to recognize your incredible sex appeal (a great comeback)
• Mark’s music club – short lived but I found the selection interesting
• Mark as a Brewers broadcaster – not from your show but that was a fun inning you did when the Brewers had guest broadcasters on
• Mark as the traffic reporter – after losing an on-air sports bet to Anne Catalane the two of you switched roles for the next show
• Chuck Chvala hosting – I think this was another lost bet but somehow he got to host your show for a day
• Rationalization is the second strongest human drive – probably the most famous recurring theme of the show

I was kind of expecting your last radio show to once and for all reveal what you rank as the first strongest human drive. I assume survival is first. Guess I’ll have to listen to the new podcast to find out. Anyway, Happy New Year and enjoy Florida.

Thanks,

Phil

My friends,

This is devastating. I’m furious and very sad, but I want to start with gratitude. Thank you to every one of you for doing everything you could to prevent this outcome. You did everything we asked and more – giving money, knocking doors, making phone calls, having difficult conversations with loved ones, showing up with joy and enthusiasm and determination. We did our very best and still fell short, but it wasn’t for lack of doing the hard, necessary work of campaigning and election.

When I broke the news to my daughters this morning, one still wearing her Kamala shirt, my 10 year old did the math quickly and said, “There’s only one more presidential election until I get to vote.” This is a scary time for so many of us in the US and around the world, but nothing is permanent and giving up is not an option.

Despair is the autocrat’s most powerful tool. They want us to disengage, to feel it’s all futile, to retreat to our own private corners. We will NOT. The future is NOT WRITTEN yet, and we have more knowledge and resources than we did when we faced this 8 years ago. Granted, this is a much more dangerous situation, but we also have much more political power now and a well-oiled field and fundraising machine that will help us maintain and build our power at the local, state, and national level in every election. They will overreach, and we will hold them accountable by directing the electoral backlash.

For instance, in 2016, we had only 7 state Dem trifectas while Republicans had 23. Today, we have 17 Dem trifectas, and the GOP still only has 23. 40% of Americans live in a state with a Dem trifecta, and millions more live in blue regions in the midst of red states. We must get ourselves ready—physically and psychologically—to resist and refuse to accept illegitimate directives from the Trump administration.

Resistance to immoral and unjust laws is a great American tradition. Oppression is as well. Throughout history, people have joined together in difficult times to help each other and make change. And so will we.

There are a couple of things you can do right now to get started:

1) I’ve said it for years, but you need to order abortion medication right now. Go to AidAccess.org and have it shipped to you. Abortion will likely be completely unavailable in a matter of months; this is a top priority for Trump/Vance/Project 2025 and it will almost certainly be far more dangerous and difficult to access abortion meds by mail very soon. We need to take care of ourselves and each other. It has a very long shelf life and is indistinguishable from a miscarriage. Use a private browser and delete your emails.

2) Download Signal and use it for messaging. We don’t know how effective Trump will be at going after his political opponents, but we should all practice good security hygiene with our organizing and communications. Signal is encrypted and makes auto-delete easy, and it is less likely to be manipulated into collaborating with law enforcement and turning over our data than major companies like Apple, Google, Meta, etc.

3) Recurring donations. Money made a huge difference in races around the country. So did our field operations. Find a candidate you care about and give a recurring donation amount that is meaningful to you. Here’s my link. I also recommend giving to the State Senate Democratic Committee, because the Senate is the most likely to flip in 2026, preventing a potential GOP trifecta here (more on that later).

4) Our most urgent campaign work is the upcoming April election. Speaking of candidates, we must elect Susan Crawford to the Supreme Court. Currently, the court is 3-3, and this seat will determine whether we have a conservative court that is a Trump/Vos rubber stamp again, or whether we keep the Wisconsin democracy we’ve just rekindled. There will also be important local elections, and we need to make sure we are electing strong Democratic candidates (even in nonpartisan races) everywhere, at every level.

5) Keep informed and support our journalists. In a time of increased and unified government power, we need our Fourth Estate even more. I never canceled my WaPo subscription because it doesn’t hurt Bezos, but the loss of millions of subscribers means hundreds of excellent journalists will likely be fired. Subscribe to your local papers and to a few national outlets like NY Times or Washington Post. You won’t like everything they print—nor should you in a diverse democracy like ours—but it’s true what they say: democracy dies in darkness. Supporting trustworthy legitimate media is a necessary and powerful tool for combating fascism.

6) Search for understanding, not blame. Of course we’re angry and devastated. But we don’t fully have the data about who and how and where this election went wrong, and we certainly don’t know enough about why. It may be tempting to cast blame on people or places we think failed us by not showing up or voting wrong. Please be careful about making assumptions and generalizations, or blaming demographic groups and further dividing us. If we are going to survive this and overcome Trumpism, we need to expand our tent and take a clear eyed look at what happened, not simply assume whatever narratives our curated info diets are pushing. There are Democratic voters in every community in this country, and in every demographic group imaginable. The reverse is true as well. Every one of us is an individual, and we should not be damned or praised because most others who share our characteristics voted a certain way. Trump thrives on division and group denigration—let’s not emulate the worst of him.

Now, about Harris. She was as close to a flawless candidate as we could have asked for. She brought enormous energy, discipline, and fundraising like we’ve never seen. Her debate performance was incredible, and her mastery on the stump and in interviews was inspiring. She made no unforced errors. I cannot accept any explanation that blames her, the candidate, for this loss. There are certainly criticisms to be had of her campaign’s strategic choices, for instance focusing on democracy/fascism in the closing days rather than the economy or abortion. But overall, she executed as good of a campaign given her 107 days as anyone could have. The circumstances facing Democrats were not of her own making. And given the scale of this loss, it’s hard to think anything would have changed the outcome.

This election is both complicated and very simple. Complicated because how could our country so willingly walk into authoritarianism, elect someone so manifestly unfit, dangerous, and malignant? But simple, because we have a deeply unpopular incumbent, are still reeling from COVID, social and economic disruption, the biggest inflationary period of most of our lifetimes, and countries all over the world are throwing out their incumbent leaders. We knew it was incredibly close, even though we didn’t want to believe it.

If there is one bright spot it’s that Dems in Wisconsin are likely to take the state senate majority in 2026, thanks to massively outperforming national GOP headwinds and sweeping ALL FOUR competitive seats last night! We went from 11-22 to 15-18 last night. The Assembly likely won 45 seats, taking them from 36-63 to 45-54. The Assembly is a harder lift given the GOP-friendly map, but the 3 Senate seats we need to win are the same or more favorable than the 4 we just flipped. With the governorship up in 2026, a Democratic trifecta is very much in reach! We also reelected Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

In addition, abortion referenda continue to prove that even the reddest states are pro-choice. Seven states, including Montana and Missouri, passed measures to protect abortion rights, most by large margins. In Florida, the pro-choice amendment got 57% of the vote, 1.5 million more votes than the antis, and it only failed because the GOP raised the threshold for passage to an outrageous 60%. Even so, abortion rights activists almost got there — battling an illegal and false state-funded multi-million dollar propaganda blitz. In Nebraska, dueling amendments confused voters but even so, the pro-choice measure came very close to winning. If you don’t already, subscribe to Jessica Valenti’s substack and buy her book.

Part of what makes this so painful is seeing how many of our fellow countrymen voted for Trump because of or despite who he is—a racist, misogynist, fraudster, sexual assaulter, serial liar, felon, and traitor. They just liked that bacon was cheaper when he was president.

It’s disorienting and heartbreaking to see that America is not what we deserve, and to know that many people here and around the world will suffer grievous harm and death as a result of this election. While certainly many voted for him because of his rank misogyny and racism, many others who voted for him in spite of or indifferently to those things will be shocked by what they actually get from his presidency—a wrecked economy, morality policing by white Christian nationalists, civil unrest, and more handouts to right-wing billionaires at our expense. It’s our job to make that known, win back some of these voters, and repair fractures within our coalition, so that we can triumph next time. This is hard work, but hard work is joyful work.

Together, we can move forward. We must. We will. Read this, and then LFG.

Yours in service and solidarity,
Kelda

HOW I BROKE MY BIIGGEST SCOOP IN MILWAUKEE

The untold story of my exclusive on the killing of the Milwaukee Sentinel

By Mark Belling, WISN-AM

It started with a conversation after an AA meeting.

* * *
(What follows is my first-ever explanation of how I in 1995 broke a news story that roiled  local media and produced years of speculation and rumors about who spilled the beans in what was a tightly guarded secret at Milwaukee’s then media monolith.

The internet wasn’t a thing yet. The only cable news channel was CNN. Newspapers and television were the dominant news sources for almost all Americans. In Milwaukee, one company, Journal Communications, controlled much of it. The Milwaukee-based company owned the legendary evening newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal, and the morning paper, the scrappy Milwaukee Sentinel. They were the two biggest circulation papers in the state with the Journal having a daily circulation of about 240,000 and the Sentinel 170,000. In addition, the company owned WTMJ-TV, usually the highest rated local news station, and WTMJ-AM, the top radio station in terms of listenership and the biggest FM music station, WKTI. The Journal Company essentially was the Milwaukee media.

Competitors chafed about this. Andy Potos, the general manager of Channel 6, fumed that the newspapers shilled for Channel 4 and the Journal radio stations. I used my suddenly hugely successful radio program to focus on the bias of all the Journal outlets and their tendency to use one outlet to pump up another. WKTI even paid a Journal gossip columnist to appear on their Reitman and Mueller morning show and the reporter, Meg Kissinger, would return the favor by writing frequent items about the hilarious stunts pulled by the two. It was all rather nauseating.

The Journal Company was huge. But things were changing. The web revolution wasn’t here yet but afternoon newspapers were dying all over the country. Readers preferred getting fresh news first thing in the morning. The Milwaukee Journal was the company’s flagship and still had the bigger circulation but the Sentinel was catching up. The Journal had a bigger staff and was the pet of the corporate leaders but the afternoon delivery time was leading it to dinosaur status.

What to do? They decided to kill the Sentinel. I found about it.)

* * *

I have broken scores of major news stories in my career, both as a traditional and award-winning journalist before I came to Milwaukee in 1989 and then as a talk show host after I got to WISN-AM. I was good at it. I have never ever revealed a confidential source. It’s one of the reasons people feel comfortable tipping me off to things.

Most people in the news business adhere to an unwritten rule that if a source has died, it is okay to reveal their identity. I don’t buy that in all cases, particularly if the info the source dished out was a result of a violation of the law or something like that. But in this case, my sources were merely telling me something the biggest news organization was trying to conceal. They’re mostly all dead now. So I’m telling the story and naming some names.

My radio station, WISN-AM, had recently been sold by Hearst Corporation to SFX Communications. We continued to share a building with Hearst’s WISN-TV but had no common ownership. An employee of the new corporation (who is still alive) gave me an astounding tip. To this day, I have never heard of anyone getting a tip on a major news story this way.

My acquaintance from the company is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. A fellow AA member confided to him that he was rearranging all of his finances because his employer was going to have a major reorganization and some positions would be eliminated. The employer was Journal Communications and the reorganization was going to be ending the afternoon newspaper and moving the Journal to mornings with most of the Journal’s top bosses running a newly branded Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Some Sentinel employees would be retained but the Journal would be the dominant survivor. My acquaintance told me what his AA friend confided.

The story sounded very real and very credible but the sourcing was ridiculously thin. (The Journal Company employee who passed along the information died many years ago.) I obviously needed confirmation from somebody either in the company or in a position to know everything.

Newspapers are hornet’s nest of gossip. (At least they were when actual news hounds worked there and there were a lot of them, as opposed to the glorified stenographers who practice what “journalism” has degenerated into.) I figured if something like this was going on, a lot of people had to know. I started with the union that represented the reporters. Joel McNally, who held a zillion jobs at the paper before the post-merger downsizing led him to other local media gadfly opportunities, was the head of the union. I called him up. He said I was probably wrong. Joel told me he had heard nothing. There had been rumors over the years of something like this but nothing lately. All quiet, he said. This invigorated me. If McNally didn’t know, no reporters knew. I was sitting on a scoop that nobody else had.

I was in my sixth year in Milwaukee and already had a lot of sources and some pretty well-connected friends. I tried to figure out who would know and might be willing to spill the beans to me if I promised I wouldn’t name them. I started with Bob Dye, the Journal Communications public relations chief. Dye wouldn’t confirm anything but his denial was mealy-mouthed. I already had twenty years in the news business behind me and I’ve been lied to, spun and misled a lot. Dye’s denial kept including what I perceived as hedges. Saying stuff like “nothing is happening right now.” I was sharp enough to know that the use of words like “right now” constituted a non-denial denial. Still, I got nothing from Dye. I worked him hard. I have found that public relations people can be great sources because they have a need to build relationships in the future with reporters. I thought I could get Dye to give it up. He didn’t but his weaseling around convinced me I was on the right track.

The head of Journal Communications at the time was a gruff old guy named Robert Kahlor. He was old school, to say the least. He was a downtown insider and on the boards of lots of civic organizations. I knew there was zero chance Kahlor would spill the beans on his own deal but thought there was a good chance he would give a heads-up to some of his buddies. The dominant Milwaukee insider group at the time was the Greater Milwaukee Committee. It’s still around but in a very invisible type of way. Not in the 1990s. The GMC had its finger in everything. The executive director was a former Kohler Corporation executive named Bob Milbourne. He had been on my show a few times and was very savvy in knowing how to handle people in the media, even a wildcard like me.

I called Milbourne and asked him if he knew anything. He confirmed the story. He seemed to know everything. He said there would be one paper and the leadership would mostly be people from the Milwaukee Journal. He said company executives were convinced circulation would be higher than at either the existing Journal or Sentinel. They could save a fortune by consolidating. I didn’t ask Milbourne how he I knew but I knew it had to be Kahlor or somebody like that.

Now, I knew I was right. But I wanted more. Putting a story out there like this and being wrong would have been humiliating and would have killed my credibility. I also understood that nothing would infuriate the reporters for the Journal and Sentinel more than to know I scooped them on a story in their own building. I also knew many would freak if they knew some of their jobs were going to be eliminated.

I tried Dye again. More non-denial denials. I called a few other people in the company and don’t remember anymore who they were because none gave me anything. Some probably didn’t know and others were just lying to keep the secret a secret. I figured there was a good chance the mayor’s office would be alerted to something like this. The problem was that then-Mayor John Norquist hated me. I was constantly dogging him. Still, if I’ve learned anything it’s that sources don’t have to like you or be on your side ideologically. (I’ve probably gotten more big stories from Democrats than Republicans over the years.) My recollection is that Norquist didn’t get on the phone but one of his aides called me back. I was told the mayor didn’t have any specifics. I felt that was a coded confirmation.

I went back to my company acquaintance who had the talk with his AA friend. He provided way more detail. The AA member (I knew who it was) was clearly in a position to know everything).

I decided to go with what I had. I went on the air and said that the Sentinel was to be killed and there would be one surviving newspaper. I said I didn’t know when this was going to happen and knew nothing about how it would be structured and whether it would be called a merger. I didn’t know the name of the combined paper or how many people would be fired. I did say the surviving paper would have more leaders and staffers from the Journal than the Sentinel.

All sorts of people reacted and called me after I put the story out. But, in what has come to be typical of a Milwaukee media that was drifting toward being a lazy clique, nobody else picked up on anything. They didn’t even ask the Journal company if the story was true. Nothing appeared in the Journal or the Sentinel. It was a Tuesday, as I recall.

I was told that the two newsrooms were in a tizzy. They didn’t know if the story was true. Some reporters obviously thought I was a half-cocked radio hack in over my head and others, who knew me better, knew I was likely onto something.

I doubled down. I spent an hour on it the following day and tried to shame the paper into commenting and shame local TV stations into asking questions. I was trying to flesh the story out, hoping somebody else in the know would talk, preferably to me. In the meantime, back at the Journal Sentinel building reporters were demanding to know from their bosses what was going on.

I called Dye, the company flack, again. I worked him hard, telling him the company and the papers’ credibility would be shot by covering up a story they themselves were involved in. Dye softened and said he had nothing for me right now. Hmmmm.

A local TV station covered the story on (I think) Thursday. It never quoted my reporting but merely said “rumors” were swirling. Finally, something appeared in print. The Sentinel ran an item seemingly denying my story. It quoted Keith Spore, the Sentinel editor and a rising star in the corporation. Spore said reports of the paper’s demise were wrong. “Milwaukee will continue to have its morning newspaper,” he said.

My instincts were that Spore was lying through his teeth. The denial was fuzzy and oddly worded. This was going on around the time Bill Clinton was weasel-wording about everything. Still, I was concerned. Lots of people started mocking me saying I had the story wrong.

I called Milbourne to triple-check our earlier conversation. Bob told me I had the story exactly right and then said “My impression is this will happen sooner rather than later. It is imminent.” I knew Milbourne was telling me the truth. He had no reason to lie and he was the best connected guy in town. He knew. And, as a result, I knew.

I went back on the air and tripled-down. I said Spore’s denial was a crock and that the axe falling was imminent. In the meantime, two top editors at the Journal weren’t returning my calls, I said. If I was wrong, they’d be denying it in my face and rubbing it in. Their silence told me they didn’t want to be lying on the record. I hammered and hammered the story.

The following Monday, the Sentinel called a staff meeting. Somebody went out and got Milwaukee Sentinel baseball caps for everybody to wear. They knew what was coming. In the meeting, the staff was told the two newspapers would be “merged” and there would be open competition for all positions on the staff. A news release followed. Both papers then plastered the story on page one spinning it as best they could.

My radio management wanted to take full advantage of my huge scoop. We commissioned a big ad to be placed in both papers. It featured my picture and the station’s call letters with a big headline that read: “When The Journal Company Decided To Kill A Newspaper, You Didn’t Read It In This Paper.” And, under my picture, the headline read: “MARK BELLING’S Listeners Heard About It One Week In Advance.” The Journal and Sentinel both refused to run it. It is currently framed and hanging in my office.

* * *

For years people have asked who tipped me off. Wild rumors started. The weirdest actually had a shred of truth amid a story that was preposterous. That rumor stated I was having lunch at the University Club with Summerfest boss Bo Black and we overheard Bob Milbourne blabbing about it at an adjacent table. Panelists on my then TV show all heard it and were convinced it was true. The weird thing is Milbourne was the key source but nothing was ever overheard at a lunch involving Bo Black. Bo and I did go to lunch there once and maybe somebody saw us together. Maybe Milbourne was in there. Who knows? But it had nothing to do with getting this story.

That story was also one of about 900 rumors over the years dealing with me and Bo. Speculation about what kind of relationship we had was a constant subject of gossip. Bo, a Milwaukee icon and a wonderful human being, passed away several years ago. The University Club is closed too but, in a total coincidence, I live very close to it.

A former panelist on the TV show (he was a blowhard) told people that I simply took a wild guess. Indeed, there had been speculation for years of killing off one of the papers. The idea that I would guess is idiotic. I was making a huge name for myself. I was a constant critic of the media. Guessing, and being wrong, would have been fatal.

Others thought McNally from the union told me. I got along with Joel fine over the years and he was a spectacular panelist on the TV show. But he has never given me a news tip in either of our lives and often wrote critical things about me. I even heard that the Sentinel’s Spore leaked it to me. I never denied that even though it wasn’t true. Since Spore was forced to walk the plank with the inaccurate non-denial denial, if some people wanted to guess he was the blabber mouth that would be fine with me.

Bob Milbourne died this week. He left Milwaukee a few years after the Journal story and spent a long time as a big wheel in Columbus, Ohio. Bob Dye passed away a few years ago. My corporate employee who knew the Journal insider from AA is still alive but has struggled with health issues for many years. The Journal insider? He too passed away a long time ago. I am not naming him but not because of his role in leaking the newspaper story but because it would identify him as an AA member (although I am told it was never a secret).

Mark Belling
October 17, 2024

1. The Godfather

STRENGTHS: Brilliantly acted with Marlon Brando resurrecting his career and Al Pacino making his breakout on the way to becoming one of the greatest actors of all time. New York street scenes were remarkably realistic. Incredible musical score including Nino Rota’s theme. Historically accurate depiction of mid-century mob wars and accurate depiction of ruthless violence. Movie was far ahead of its time in portrayal of the anti-hero.

FLAW: One-dimensional movie never really gave any insight into the characters or what made them tick or any feel for their personal lives.

2. Goodfellas

STRENGTHS: Astonishingly realistic and credible look at mid-level Mafia operating in New York from the sixties through the eighties. Perfectly crafted characters based on real life figures portrayed in Henry Hill’s account of mob life and turning into government informant. Movie contrasted the glamour of mob life with the ugly reality of sociopathic behavior and amoral lack of loyalty. Star turn performance by Lorraine Bracco as the middle class girl seduced by mob life. Scene stealing performance by Joe Pesci as sociopathic mid-level mob thug. One of the great soundtracks of all time. “The Long Take” scene at New York’s Copacabana one of the greatest directorial scenes in cinema history.

FLAW: None.

3. The Godfather, Part 2

STRENGTHS: The perfect sequel in that it told both the back story of the days before The Godfather (Part 1) and after. Pacino’s performance as the calculating and emotion-less don was epic. Told the story of the mob’s move from the east to Las Vegas. Less romanticized than the original, Part 2 examined the brilliant calculating of mob bosses and their remorseless and unapologetic violence. Exposed the notion of “family” as Pacino character essentially kills everybody.

FLAW: Entirely forgettable music score.

4. The Irishman

STRENGTHS: Director Scorsese uses freedom of Netflix to take the time to tell a 45-year story tracing a hitman’s interactions with mob’s biggest figures. Will age well as YouTube snippets get tens of millions of views. Use of technology to make actors look younger and older was remarkable. Retrospective nature as dying mobster narrates whole movie by “confessing” to priest without really confessing was a creative device that worked. Not many picked up on it but the allegory of Hoffa’s daughter as God in judgment was brilliant. Greatest mob movie cast ever. Based on real life characters and historically accurate although the Hoffa assassination narrative is unproven. DeNiro at his best. Pacino at his best. Pesci at his best. Scene stealing performance by Stephen Graham as Tony Provenzano. Opening scene of DeNiro using walker in nursing home a great take-off on “The Long Take” from Goodfellas.

FLAW: Female characters and family life totally undeveloped

5. Donnie Brasco

STRENGTHS: Johnny Depp, before he went nutty, perfectly captures an undercover FBI agent almost developing “Stockholm Syndrome” as he identifies with mobsters he is busting. Realistic portrayal of mid-level mob life. Another great Pacino role as the mobster suckered in by Depp’s FBI agent.

FLAW: No mention of the extensive time “Donnie” and “Lefty” spent in real life working with Milwaukee mob.

6. A Bronx Tale

STRENGTHS: Chaz Palmentieri’s semi-autobiographical story of a kid growing up under the wing of a Bronx mafia boss. Credibly transitions from life as a little kid to teenager despite necessary change in actors. Great mob scenes including the beatdown of the bikers and the craps games in which bad luck losers were exiled to standing in the bathroom. Another great supporting cast role by DeNiro as the law-abiding dad who resented his son’s relationship with the mob boss (played by Palmentieri himself).

FLAW: Overly romanticized portrayal of mobster Sonny as nice father figure.

7. Casino

STRENGTHS: Visually beautiful look at Las Vegas in the sixties and seventies as the bob took control. Iconic performance by Sharon Stone as the hooker with no heart of gold, just a love for gold. Yet another scene-stealing performance by Pesci playing a character based on legendary mob goon Tony Spilotro. Based on real life characters and story. Excellent depiction of the push-shove of criminal mobsters muscling Vegas while also trying to be acceptable businessmen. Great “cheater’s justice” scene. Another Scorsese epic.

FLAW: Often compared to Goodfellas but not as good.

EXPLANATION:

This is a list of Mafia movies, not mob or gangster movies. Not included are many other mob movies in which the mob wasn’t specifically Italian, or the Mafia. Not included are TV shows like “The Sopranos” or “Boardwalk Empire.” Films with partial Mafia references like “Bugsy” and The Untouchables” were also excluded as they weren’t pure Mafia movies. Comedies with mob characters are also not included. The list is restricted to these seven because others don’t measure up.

By Mark Belling, WISN-AM

The 17-year old accused of wounding a mother and her son during a gun battle in Milwaukee’s Butterfly Park has had his bail drastically reduced by one of Milwaukee County’s most lenient judges. The two were struck in the crossfire of a gun battle that police say may have involved multiple individuals. 24 bullet casings were found.

The suspect, Ivan Wade, had his bail lowered Friday by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Katie Kegel, a former public defender elected in 2021 with the support of most Milwaukee progressive organizations. Wade is no longer listed on the inmate locator list of the Milwaukee County Jail, an indication that he may no longer be in custody. Wade was charged as an adult with felony counts of first degree reckless injury and dangerous use of a weapon. His bail was originally set at $50,000.

Wade’s lawyer requested Friday for a reduction in bail. The request was opposed by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm’s office. But Kegel sided with Wade and slashed the cash bail to $15,000 and applied a series of conditions.

The Butterfly Park June 15 gun battle attracted significant media attention and several politicians spoke out against the latest instance of children being struck by bullets. The child victim is six years old. State law allows judges to consider the safety of the community in setting bail but doesn’t require them to do so. In this instance, the bail reduction request was so egregious that even Chisholm’s assistant DA, Michelle Grasso, strenuously opposed it. But Kegel ignored her pleas. Let’s hope Wade doesn’t go on any more shootouts now that Kegel has sprung him.

Mark Belling
August 19, 2024

IRG Action and WILL Urge Voters to Vote Yes on August 13 Referendum Questions

Effort to Bring Accountability to Problematic Spending Practices by Wisconsin Governors

July 25, 2024

The News: IRG Action Fund and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty have launched a six-figure, public awareness campaign urging voters to approve two Constitutional Amendments on the ballot during the August 13th Primary Election. Both organizations believe that these proposed amendments aim to preserve the constitutional checks and balances that vest spending authority with the Wisconsin Legislature and prevent any governor from acting outside of their authority with taxpayer money.

The Quotes: WILL Policy Director, Kyle Koenen, stated, “Unlike most states, Wisconsin’s governor can spend billions of dollars of federal funds without any approval from the legislature, the branch of government that has the power of the purse. WILL and IRG Action are partnering to preserve this fundamental check on the governor’s power and ensure that spending decisions are made by the representatives closest to the people.”

“Kids learn in school that the legislative branch has the power of the purse, but that’s not happening today when the governor spends federal dollars,” IRG Action Fund Executive Vice President Chris Reader said. “These amendments make certain that the legislative branch maintains that long-standing power and has oversight over how billions of tax dollars are being spent. With that oversight, the system is prime for special interests and the politically connected to influence spending decisions.”

Additional Background: Under current Wisconsin law, Wisconsin governors have the sole authority to accept and distribute federal funding. With this power, Governor Evers has single-handedly spent billions of dollars, including nearly $5 billion dollars during COVID-19, without any approval from state lawmakers.

On August 13th, voters will weigh in on two questions to amend the Wisconsin Constitution to bring more accountability over federal tax dollars flowing to the state. These amendments would help restore the power of spending back to Legislature and ensure that the Governor must receive approval before spending federal funds.

The amendment questions are as follows:

• Question 1: Shall Section 35 (1) of article IV of the Wisconsin constitution be created to provide that the legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated?
• Question 2: Shall Section 35 (2) of article IV of the Wisconsin constitution be created to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the legislature by joint resolution or as provided by legislative rule?

The campaign will include, but is not limited to, radio ads, digital advertising and grassroots engagement campaigns. Both WILL and IRG Action have strong followings in the state and can effectively mobilize their networks to act ahead of the August 13th election.

Read more:
• Additional Information

• Amendments Quick Guide 

Read and share this release online.

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IRG Action Fund is the 501(c)(4) advocacy partner to the Institute for Reforming Government.