Discussing transportation funding and the causes of increased Milwaukee crime rates, tensions rose in the Joint Finance Committee meeting Wednesday with several heated exchanges over the issue of gun control.

Climbing crime rate in Milwaukee

With 124 Milwaukee homicides as of Oct. 22, the city’s homicide rate is the highest it has been in a decade, according to a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice filed a request to create two Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney positions with a small allocation of funds. The proposal was for $220,000, though the final resolution was approved with smaller salaries. While the motion passed unanimously, both Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, and Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said the measure is not strong enough to combat crime in Milwaukee.

“We’re not having the conversation we need to have,” Rep. Taylor said. “We’re not having the conversation about gun safety measures that are reasonable, that people want.”

Sen. Taylor supported the creation of two new ADA positions, but said she believes a lack of available employment opportunities is the main cause of the high crime rate.

Committee vice-chair Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, disagreed with Sen. Taylor, blaming the situation in Milwaukee on absent fathers.

“What kids need in Milwaukee is not more district attorneys, they need more fathers,” Kooyenga said.

Citing a study, Sen. Taylor argued against the idea that absent black fathers raise the crime rate, circling around to her point that a lack of viable careers is the cause. Kooyenga later corrected Sen. Taylor, stating that he never referred to black fathers specifically, simply fathers in Milwaukee in general.

Rep. Dean Knudson, R-Hudson, spoke out against the points raised by his Democratic colleagues. He said he believed the arguments they were making were not relevant to the matter at hand.

“It’s easy to demagogue here and start talking about guns and gun control. This is really about violent crime,”  Knudson said. “We’ve got a violent crime problem in Milwaukee.”

Funding for road construction

Four JFC Democrats also joined six Republicans to approve the borrowing of $350 million for use on state road construction.

Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh,  vocalized frustration toward Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans for not proposing the plan to decrease transportation problems sooner.

“This has been going on for three budgets in a row,” Hintz said. “Does anybody in this room or in this state honestly believe that anything is going to change in our transportation system as long as Governor Walker is in office?”