P.A. Bergner exec who led Carson's buy retires early

Milawaukee Art Museum under construction

     Alan Anderson, the executive who negotiated P.A. Bergner's 1989 acquisition of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. exactly two years ago, is now out of a job.

     Milwaukee-based Bergner announced Monday that Anderson, chairman and chief executive of the Swiss-owned company, took "early retirement" from the 69-store retailer last week, and will relocate to Florida in the near future.

      Spokesman Ed Carroll said Anderson's departure would result in "a minor restructuring" of Bergner's senior management, though he wouldn't elaborate. However, Carroll said the company is not planning to close stores or eliminate store personnel.

      Reports have circulated in recent weeks about financial woes at Bergner, due mainly to losses entailed at Chicago-based Carson's. While privately held Bergner won't comment on its financial performance, officials haven't disputed a recent published report stating that Bergner lost roughly $25 million in its latest fiscal year, against a $26 million loss in the year-ago period.

      Asked if Anderson was removed from his job, Carroll said, "We can't go beyond what's in (the company's) release."

      In recent weeks, there have been rumors that Bergner might be looking for a buyer for all or parts of its retailing operation as a result of its financial situation. Names such as Dillard Department Stores and the May Co. have surfaced as possible suitors, though both companies have a policy of not commenting on possible acquisition.

      Asked if Bergner may be looking for a buyer for all or part of its operation, Carroll replied, "No."

      Now the search is on at Bergner for a new chairman, and it has hired a New York retail executive search firm to look for the chief. Bergner said its remaining top managers, led by President and Chief Operating Officer Stanton J. Bluestone, will continue to run the company.

      Bertrand Maus, principal of Maus Freres, the Swiss-based company that has owned Bergner since 1938, said of Anderson's retirement, "My partners and I would like to thank Alan for his many contributions to the growth of Bergner's and wish him well in the future." Maus could not be reached for comment Monday.

      Maus Freres bankrolled the $453 million Carson's deal announced May 1, 1989, after a tense negotiation that ended when Bergner agreed to make the purchase without the traditional "due diligence" - examination of the financial books.

      Bergner hasn't disputed reports that Maus has had to infuse Carson's operation with an additional $80 million, which some sources speculated Monday could have caused Bergner's change at the top.

      However, Maus is regarded as a financially healthy company that can afford to keep its U.S. retail operation afloat.

      At the time of its acquisition, Carson's was facing financial troubles of its own, largely stemming from problems it had digesting the 1987 acquisition of the Minneapolis-based Donaldsons department store chain. Those Minneapolis stores are still believed to be struggling under Bergner's leadership.

      Before the Carson's buyout, Bergner - which operated stores in Illinois at that time in locations such as Peoria and Joliet - had been consistently profitable.

Milwaukee train shed job slips away from Immel

Milwaukee River

     Howard Immel Inc. will not build a new train shed at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station even though the contractor submitted the low $17 million bid for the job.

      Milwaukee Intermodal Station Train Shed and Platforms (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act Funds), Milwaukee, Milwaukee County

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is relieving Green Bay- based Immel and is in the process of awarding an $18 million contract to the next-lowest bidder, Fond du Lac-based C.D. Smith Construction Inc., according to WisDOT spokeswoman Peg Schmitt.

      She said she did not immediately have details of the circumstances that led to the decision to relieve Immel of its bid. Schmitt declined to say if Immel would lose its bid bond or if the bid contained an excusable error.

      WisDOT opened bids for the project Sept. 29. Immel bid $17,030,371, nearly $1 million less than Smith's $18,092,023 bid. Other bidders on the project were Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah, with an $18,646,764 bid; J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc.'s Brookfield office with an $18,861,951 bid; and J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., Madison, with a $19,161,935 bid.

      "We do not have the contract yet," said Gary Smith, president of C.D. Smith. "The state has requested additional information, but I do understand that the contract is coming in our direction."

      Kelly Hafeman, Immel president, said Wednesday there was no official decision from WisDOT. He declined to say whether Immel had asked to be relieved of its bid.

      For weeks, WisDOT officials declined to comment on the status of the bids. William McNary, the chief proposal management engineer, would say only that all the bids were being examined and that the delay was somewhat unusual.

      Bid errors happen but are infrequent, McNary said.

      "If a bidder misses something, they can ask to be relieved," he said. "Or they can say, 'Well, we're going to eat that because we have enough someplace else in the bid.'"

      Under some conditions, bidders can ask to be relieved of their bids. State law lets a bidder request relief if an error is made and if it was not the result of carelessness or an act of omission. The bidder must show clear evidence the bid contained an error and must promptly request relief in writing, according to the statutes.

      The owner, in this case WisDOT, has several options, according to state law. The agency can let the bidder make a correction, waive the bid bond, declare the bid bond forfeited and sue for damages, reject all bids and re-advertise or simply award the contract to the next-lowest bidder.

      The 50,000-square-foot train shed is being built largely with federal money that is not directly tied to the $810 million high- speed rail line that is to connect Milwaukee and Madison. Money for the shed was approved long before the high-speed rail and is intended to meet federal laws and city ordinances regarding access for the disabled, fire safety and homeland security. The shed is just south of the station and protects passengers from the elements as they board and disembark trains.

      Wisconsin's two gubernatorial candidates have clashed over the wisdom of the project. Republican Scott Walker earlier said the work is unnecessary, while a spokesman for Democrat Tom Barrett said the improvements are needed to comply with federal law.

      Marie Rohde

Brewers backwashed in Cubs sweep

Milwaukee, Miller Park

     Brewers manager Ned Yost acknowledges he isn't good at math and even got a "D" in geometry. He only needs simple addition to determine just how bad Milwaukee has played this week.With first place in the NL Central on the line, the Cubs rolled into town and never looked back, completing a four-game sweep with an 11-4 victory on Thursday."They kicked our butts," Craig Counsell said. "They played about as well as a team can play and we didn't."Chicago scored 31 runs to 11 for the Brewers and it could have been much worse after the NL Central leaders left 35 men on base over four games."They did everything right this series," Yost said. "They pitched great, they made every play defensively, they found every hole offensively. Everything went right for them. When that is happening, confidence is sky high."Milwaukee starts a six- game road trip on Friday and is two wins away from the longest road winning streak in franchise history at nine."We're playing so well on the road now," Yost said. "It'll be nice to get away, just go some place where there's not a freaking billion Cubs fans."And that was part of the problem. A short drive up I-94, Chicago invaded Miller Park - or "Wrigley North" as Cubs fans love to call it - and dominated from the start as the games drew more than 180,000 fans.Chicago scored first all four games and only trailed for one inning on Monday night.The Cubs topped Milwaukee's pair of aces - reigning AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia and NL All-Star starter Ben Sheets - and showed their pitching strength with Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Rich Harden."They did a good job of doing everything they could possibly do," Brewers center fielder Mike Cameron said. "We just didn't swing the bats that well. They threw some good pitchers at us and they did a good job."Milwaukee has been part of another ugly sweep this season, when the Brewers lost three straight in Boston in May to fall to 20-24. But Milwaukee went 39-19 from that point to set up this series and erased the Cubs' five-game lead in the NL Central on Saturday in a span of nine days."After Boston, I felt like we didn't expect to win. I think we expect to win, they're just a lot better than we are right now," said slugger Ryan Braun, who finished the series 4-for-15 with seven strikeouts. "Bottom line, they've outplayed us in every facet of the game. They've been a lot better than us. It has nothing to do with our approach or our expectations or anything like that. They've just been better than us."Now the Brewers are behind by five games again."Seriously, what this is is a dress rehearsal for September," Yost said. "There's no real penalty for it."It just means our work was going to be a little bit easier or our work's going to be a little bit harder," he said. "As you can see, we didn't pass this first test real well. But that doesn't mean anything. We'll regroup and get back again in September, it'll be here again and this time it'll count."Yost said the young Brewers never panicked even as things quickly turned sour from the start against the Cubs."They have not freaked out and they've continued to come to the park every day ready to go," Yost said. "When they get uptight, then I get uptight. When they're relaxed, then I'm relaxed."At that point, a reporter pointed at the sharp object sitting on Yost's desk."It's called a letter opener," Yost said.Braun agreed that the hype surrounding the July series made the games seem more important."It's not the end of the world," Braun said. "In the end, it's no more significant than any other game in any series."Plus, Milwaukee will get another chance. The clubs play six more times in the final 12 games, including a three-game regular season finale at Miller Park, where Chicago is 8-2 since 2007."It definitely will not be a happy plane ride to Atlanta," Yost said. "This is not a death sentence by any means. If this was September, it would be different. We have plenty of time to recover from this and get back on track."

Lowe's masterpiece stymies Brewers: Capuano the loser in arms race

Milwaukee

     Sep. 7--Chris Capuano is not a door kicker, glove thrower, water cooler abuser or wall basher. 

      "He's smart enough to know he has gone out and done his job," Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost said.

      That's a good thing, because if any of the Brewers' pitchers has the right to do some venting, it's Capuano. Over the past few weeks, he has been hung out to dry more often than sheets at a country motel.

      It happened again Wednesday night as Capuano lost a fast-paced duel (2 hours, 4 minutes) to Los Angeles right-hander Derek Lowe, who pitched the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory at Miller Park that salvaged the finale of the three-game series. Capuano fell to 11-10 despite allowing only five hits and two runs over eight innings, his major league-leading 24th quality start of the season.

      "It was a fun game to be a part of from a pitcher's standpoint," said Capuano, who thrives on competition. "I grinded through eight innings and pitched well but Derek was masterful. He's tough to beat right now."

      Capuano, who often was the beneficiary of banner run support last season, has not been as fortunate in 2006. Over his last six games, he has compiled a 2.03 earned run average yet is 1-2 over that stretch.

     "I'm keeping my team in the game. That's rewarding to me personally," Capuano said with the diplomacy of a United Nations ambassador. 

      "There's really no advice I need right now. I'm throwing the ball well. Nothing needs fixing."

      Capuano didn't have the best of luck when the Dodgers scored their first run in the fifth inning. Matt Kemp led off with a grounder down the third-base line that just eluded diving third baseman Jeff Cirillo. Leftfielder Kevin Mench thought the ball would carom off the grandstand where it juts out but it hugged the wall instead and rolled into the corner for a triple.

      "I wasn't sure what it was going to do," Mench said. "Sometimes, they hit the corner and kick out. There's not much you can do to defend that. I waited and it didn't hit the wall, so I missed it."

      After Jason Repko drew a walk, Lowe sacrificed him to second, with Kemp holding third. Rafael Furcal then delivered a sacrifice fly to tie the score, 1-1.

      More often than not, Capuano's best pitch is his change-up, a back-strainer that has hitters out front with their swings. He scuffled with command on that pitch this time out, however, and paid for it in the seventh.

     Dodgers catcher Russell Martin led off with a double to left and Kemp followed with a RBI single in the same direction, and that was it. The 2-1 lead was enough for Lowe, who used his phenomenal sinker to record 20 of 24 outs on the ground before turning it over to closer Takashi Saito. 

      "I didn't have a good feel for my changeup," Capuano said. "It was a little flat, and I was leaving it up about half the time."

      It took an error by Los Angeles leftfielder Andre Ethier for the Brewers to score their only run off Lowe in the second inning. Bill Hall scored all the way from first on Geoff Jenkins' opposite-field double down the line when Ethier momentarily bobbled the ball, trying to pick it up.

      Lowe, who allowed only three hits and threw only 79 pitches, didn't allow another runner past first until the eighth.

      Afterward, there was so much cap-tipping in the home clubhouse that the Brewers were lucky nobody got struck in the eye. After scoring 15 runs and collecting 27 hits in the first two games of the season, the Brewers knew a pitching masterpiece when they saw one.

     "That's the best I've seen Derek," Mench said, "and I faced him a lot when he was in Boston. He really had his sinkerball working." 

      Yost also praised Lowe's sinker, saying, "The bottom falls out of it. You've got to work hard to make him get it up. The ball just disappears."

      So has Capuano's run support but the line of winless pitchers has formed to the rear in recent weeks as the offense has scuffled for the most part.

      "They need to control what they can control," Yost said, "and Cappy did that."

Poor pitching leaves baseball with black

Milwaukee

     Jack Morris, one of baseball's dominant pitchers in the 1980s, wants to use a stint in the Northern League to audition for major league scouts. Considering the state of major league pitching, who can blame him? 

      This is being called the golden age of hitters, with players such as Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Belle and Cecil Fielder expected to make a run at Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs in a season this year. As I recall, they stuck an asterisk after Maris' name in the record book because his 162-game season went eight longer than Babe Ruth's when he hit 60 in 1927.

      Well, if anyone even approaches Maris' mark this year, there better be an asterisk in the book with the notation that it was accomplished during a season with the most pathetic excuse for major league pitching ever seen.

      Juiced ball? Maybe, especially when you see Cleveland's Omar Vizquel blast a screaming liner deep into the right-field seats at Yankee Stadium.

      But putting a superball into play is merely adding insult to the already injured state of pitching. Just consider the following stats for starting pitchers compiled through Thursday's games:

      Of 76 starters in the American League, 26, or more than a third, have earned run averages of 7.01 or more. There are only 21 with ERAs lower than 4.00. The other 29 float in the eye-popping range of 4.01 to 7.00.

      Of 79 pitchers who have started games in the National League, 48, or 61 percent, have ERAs above 4.00. There are only 31 below 4.00, 11 of whom are above the old quality point of 3.50.

     The average ERA for AL starters is 5.50; in the NL it is 4.37. 

      "The way it's going, if you can get your team ERA between 4.00 and 4.50, you're doing pretty good job,'' Milwaukee manager Phil Garner said. 

      So far so good for the Brewers. Their team ERA of 4.20 was the best in the AL through Thursday. But consider the competition. Nine teams, led by Detroit's 7.46 mark, are over 5.00.

      The National League, in which pitchers work in more spacious parks and face weak-hitting pitchers, is better. But better is a relative term. While Atlanta and Los Angeles are under 3.00, 10 teams are over 4.00. Cincinnati allows opponents to hit at a .312 clip. That's even worse than Detroit's .300.

      There's little help on the horizon, either. Montreal's Pedro Martinez is the winningest pitcher 25 or younger with 35 career victories. Jason Bere of the Chicago White Sox is tops in the AL with 32. No one else has more than 21. A decade ago, Fernando Valenzuela had already won 90 games by the age of 25. Doc Gooden had 57 and Roger Clemens 40.

      Reasons? Start with expansion. Move on to stupidity. Then conclude with how times have changed.

      The addition of Colorado and Florida opened up at least 20 more spots for pitchers. A fielder -- one with a glove and not Cecil -- will be in more danger in 1998 with the addition of two more teams (Arizona and Tampa).

      Pitchers are too cute for their own, or the game's, good. "They're trying to prevent the hitter from making contact at all when they should be trying to get the hitter to hit his pitch at someone,'' Garner complained. "That's why you see so many 3-1 counts. When you saddle yourself with a 3-1 count, the hitter has a much better chance of teeing off.'' 

      And the addition of the aluminum bats at all levels of play other than pro baseball has turned baseball into a game of hitting and little else. Double-digit scores are no longer the exception.

      "I just don't see kids throwing for fun anymore,'' Garner said. "I don't mean pitching in an organized situation at a young age but just throwing on your own, which is where you develop your arm and your passion for pitching.'' 

D'Amico shuts down Minnesota

The calatrava

     Part of the Milwaukee Brewers' future wreaked havoc on the Minnesota Twins' present. 

      Right-hander Jeff D'Amico, Milwaukee's No. 1 draft pick of 1993 and the youngest player in the major leagues, allowed four hits and one run in seven innings, his longest and best outing of the season, as the Brewers rolled to a 6-1 win over Minnesota on Monday night.

      Marc Newfield, 23, who came to the Brewers three weeks ago in a trade with San Diego, supplied a three-run homer that broke open a 2-1 game in the sixth inning. Milwaukee now has won four of its last five, all against wild-card contenders Chicago and Minnesota.

      "It was definitely my best outing of the season,'' D'Amico said. "I didn't throw too many pitches (87 in seven innings) and was able to work ahead of the hitters. I had a couple of bad starts in a row, so it was nice to pitch well. I feel good about my progress.'' 

     D'Amico, who doesn't turn 21 until Dec. 27, was 0-3 in his last three starts and won his first start since July 21. He only lasted three innings in his last previous start, his shortest outing of the season, but he set down the first eight batters he faced Monday and spaced four hits in four different innings. 

      "We didn't hit well against the kid,'' Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "He dominated us. He threw a good fastball and change-up. He did a super job.'' 

      Milwaukee manager Phil Garner said D'Amico's cool and calm approach seems to work.

      "This kid seems to be pretty mature,'' Garner said. "If he was thinking about (his previous struggles), he sure wasn't showing it. He looks like he has ice water in his veins. He doesn't show much emotion, but he appears to be in command of his feelings. He has an idea of what he wants to do. He keeps his frustration level down, which is something I've never been able to do.'' 

      The Twins started the night second in the majors for fewest errors with 68 in 123 games, but infield breakdowns -- two errors and a third missed chance -- doomed starter Frank Rodriguez (11-10), who lost his third consecutive start despite allowing one earned run and five hits in six innings.

      "Nine times out of 10, they're going to make the plays behind me,'' Rodriguez said. "I credit five or six of my wins to the defense.'' 

      Rodriguez allowed three hits and one earned run through five innings and trailed just 2-1. He got the first out in the sixth before shortstop Pat Meares erred Kevin Seitzer's grounder to open the door for three unearned runs for the Brewers. After Jose Valentin singled and Matt Mieske flied out, Newfield pushed the lead to 5-1 when he connected with a two-out, three-run homer to center, his fourth of the season.

      Dave Hollins' throwing error and John Jaha's single that rolled under Meares' glove led to a two-run fourth for the Brewers.

How to view supreme court race

Bridge Downtown Milwaukee

      Hang on to your hats. Here are documented, undisputed revelations about the candidates for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court: 

    Incumbent Jon Wilcox is a political conservative and always has been. 

      Challenger Walt Kelly is a political liberal and always has been.

Pretty shocking, huh?

      With the April 1 election a little more than two weeks away, both campaigns are working feverishly to ``expose'' the political leanings of the opposition.

      Kelly's campaign has pitched reporters on writing more about the legislative record of Wilcox, who was a Republican member of the Assembly in the 1970s before he became a trial court judge.

Is pro-life Wilcox a political conservative? That's putting it mildly. He hails from Waushara County, one of the most Republican counties in the state. You can find lots of deer and even an occasional bear in Waushara County, but liberals are rare critters in that neck of the woods.

      Some members of the Wilcox campaign -- including one Republican legislator who released false information about Kelly's defense of a drug kingpin -- are doing their best to portray Kelly as a card-carrying liberal.

      Painting Kelly as a liberal is not a hard job.

      Milwaukee lawyer Kelly has been a civil rights and labor advocate for years. He's worked on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union and for abortion rights. Kelly was director of the Wisconsin Council on Criminal Justice in the early 1970s and belonged to a special state committee on ``offender rehabilitation'' that issued plenty of liberal recommendations, even for that liberal era.

      While this is important contextual information in this campaign for a 10-year seat on the court, voters should keep it in perspective.

      Remember: A political conservative can be a judicial activist, freely interpreting laws or even ``legislating from the bench'' by writing opinions that stretch statutory law. A political liberal can be a judicial conservative, construing laws and legislative intent narrowly.

      Knowing judicial candidates' political leanings is important, but not as important as knowing how they might actually perform on the bench. During the Feb. 28 ``We the People/Wisconsin'' forum, citizens asked Kelly and Wilcox how they would have ruled on actual cases decided by the court. Clear differences emerged on the court's line-item veto rulings (Kelly called Wilcox a ``radical'' for wanting to expand the governor's powers) and expanding school choice to religious schools (Wilcox accused Kelly of having prejudged the case; Kelly said Wilcox is a sure vote for expanding choice).

      In the two weeks before the April 1 election, voters should pay more attention to the temperament, experience and intellectual vigor of the two candidates, and less to where they may fit in the political spectrum. This is a non-partisan race for a reason: Good judges don't decide cases based on politics, but on their impartial reading of the law.