Bizarre.

In a communication sent to Watchdog Milwaukee, Chris Kleismet, the local GOP shill-group spokesman, is now denying he has any qualifications to make the recommendations he’s been touting for the county.

Reacting to our column (CRG Celebrates Yom Kippur with Anti-Semitic Attack) and Spivak & Bice’s column (Citizens group takes personal agenda to judge), Kleismet said, “I have neither the market required qualifications nor the infrastructure to offer any Six Sigma services of any kind.”

So tell us Chris, if you had no qualifications and can’t offer the services, how can you say that Six Sigma is going to save the county a pile of money? Are you saying that Spivak and Bice got it wrong when they said “Kliesmet has been trained in Six Sigma and does work for one of its publications.”

So let’s say that Spivak and Bice did get it wrong and Kliesmet is in fact clueless about Six Sigma, why in an email sent to Watchdog Milwaukee does Kleismet say:

Six Sigma is the world renowned tool to use when improving quality, reducing cost, and assuring accountability is your objective. It is what Motorola and others used to win Baldrige Awards. Have your readers click this link http://www.quality.nist.gov/Issue_Sheet_Options.htm to understand the differences between Six Sigma, ISO, and Baldrige and the appropriate circumstances to use each.

Here’s the problem with Kleismet’s narrow-minded approach to quality management — the basic facts that he is basing his sales pitch on are wrong.

You cannot, by virtue of using Six Sigma, win the Baldrige award. Six Sigma is a collection of quality tools. Kleismet is not a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, but apparently he plays one in public. If he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, why is he talking about it?

Kleismet took umbrage to our assertion that his press release entitled “Spivak-stein and Bice-stein” was an opportunity to show off a little of CRG’s anti-semitism.

The fact that Kleismet and his cabal of conservative cronies cannot see the anti-semitic nature of their own press release at very least means they lack cultural sensitivity which is even worse than originaly thought.

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Here’s an interesting excerpt from George Stanley, Managing Editor of the Journal-Sentinel, responding to Kleismet who protested against the Spivak & Bice story:

Cary Spivak and Dan Bice have very detailed notes from a July interview and a second interview on Tuesday in which you talk quite openly about making money as a Six Sigma adviser to other government entities. Here are just a few examples of things you said to them:

“Yeah, I might be inclined to sell my services to those people (you were talking about other governments contacting you about Six Sigma services)
“Loss leader – that’s a good way to put it (you were talking about your work at no charge for Milwaukee County and later getting business from others)
“Could I make a dollar on it in the future? I guess the answer is true.
“I have no intention at this point of starting a company and doing this. But If somebody came to me and made me a better offer, of course I would.’’
“I’m also a capitalist. I don’t have any altruistic motives toward San Diego or any other place.’’

Given your openness about how your Six Sigma work for the county could lead to business with other government units, I see nothing inaccurate about today’s Spivak & Bice column.

When you lobby government officials, pressure them with your clout as a citizen organizer, and mention possible business dealings with them, you should not be surprised that this newspaper will watch you with the same scrutiny as we do others who lobby and do business with government officials spending taxpayers’ money.

We will continue to watch your actions in the future.

Sincerely,

George Stanley