Patrick McIlheran: The Brawler is an informed observer of business

What a world. Patrick McIlheran, who once advised the happily married and self sufficient Brawler to move out of his mom's basement and get a girlfriend, now considers him to be an informed observer of business.

OK, not really. But he DOES give that compliment to an emailer who reached the same the Brawler did about Menards' move to build some manufacturing/distribution facilities: It was driven by business and not, as Menards claimed, by bureaucratic resistance from the DNR. From Mr. McIlheran's blog:

It could be that Menard is lying

A reader of this blog emails to point out that Menard, the building supply chain, may not be telling the truth when it blames state regulators for its decision to expand in other states rather than in Eau Claire. True enough. As the emailer, an informed observer of business, points out, Eau Claire is a long way from the center of Menard’s distribution network. It may well be that the company decided to expand elsewhere and is just blaming it on the DNR. Mr. McIlheran posted this on Wednesday. This is what the Brawler, in a post titled You Get Big Lies When You Listen to Menards said on Monday (that is, two days earlier) after questioning whether Menards had any intention of building in Eau Claire: Menards is seeking to expand in the Midwest -- specifically Iowa and Ohio -- in face of fierce competition with Lowes and Home Depot. The Brawler would imagine that you would want to expand your manufacturing and distribution footprint in tandem with your retail expansion plans. Particularly given that we've entered an era of high gas prices. And the cost of gasoline, not to mention natural gas, has a significant impact on manufacturer/retailers like Menards that operate on tight margins. So, by the transitive property, the Brawler is an informed observer of business. Thank you, Mr. McIlheran. And no, the Brawler was not the emailer. But, unfortunately, Mr. McIlheran continued writing and turned into Paddy Putzmeister Mack when he says this: This would be just he-said, they-said if it weren’t for the reality that Menard isn’t unique in complaining about the DNR. Specifically, its complaints this time echo those heard from other businesses and heard for years: That the agency is slow and uncooperative — not necessarily that it’s too tough on pollution but that it just won’t get off the dime. The agency says it’s bending more than it used to. Yet the argument over how much development around Milwaukee can be shut down by a garter snake suggests there’s more work to be done. In any event, while we can’t take Menard’s statements as gospel, neither can we presume the DNR is blameless. When companies with options opt out of Wisconsin and cite reasons that others, too, have cited, it’s a signal that maybe the agency’s culture hasn’t changed as much as it has to. Remember, companies have options: It behooves the state the make sure they’re not leaving for reasons that have nothing to do with actually protecting the environment. Here's what Paddy Mack's own paper reported: Since 1976, Menards has applied for 35 wetlands permits from the DNR. Thirty of the requests were approved, while five were withdrawn by the company. They truly are jackbooted, job-killing thugs over at DNR, aren't they.