Madison Asset forfeiture can be a sketchy exercise of state power where oversight and accountability are lacking, but sorely needed. Several exposes by reporters for various news sources from local papers to the New Yorker looked into the matter several years ago forcing some reforms. Asset forfeiture means that goods acquired through illegal acts can …
Category: Ideas and Issues
Unclaimed Property: Service or Scam?
Milwaukee “Unclaimed property” is an interesting concept. What is it really? Years ago, I would have thought it was some share of property in a farm somewhere in the country and people were looking for a long-lost relative who was named in the will, and the state was trying to lend a hand. Or, maybe, …
One Woman Against AirBnb is a Hollow Victory in New Orleans
New Orleans I wanted to share what I hoped was a simple story of one woman’s persistence prevailing over a giant, rogue company and the ineffectual enforcement by a city of its regulations governing the company. That story had as its activist, community hero a woman named Ada Phleger, a young attorney in the Federal …