Kohl's Cronies Begin to Fall: Walter and Burr Step Down

Two of former owner Herb Kohl's henchmen have taken their golden parachute in as many days.

It was announced on Tuesday that Ron Walter was stepping down from the position of Executive Vice President of Business Administration that he'd held under Kohl since 1999. 

This is pretty much the first domino to fall in line of dominoes that need to fall. There's really no telling how much of the last 20 years of mediocrity and losing was tied directly to Walter and the rest of Kohl's inner-circle but there certainly wasn't much winning in that time.

According to the story by Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Walter had been a law partner at Milwaukee law firm Foley & Lardner before coming to the Bucks and had worked with the Selig family (when they owned the Milwaukee Brewers) as far back as 1992. 

Incidentally, 1992 was the last winning season for the Brewers before they became the laughing-stock of Major League Baseball from '92 until 2007 when they finally saw another winning season. Remember when the Brewers would trot out a lineup that included the likes of Jack Voigt, Matt Mieske and Jesse Levis? When they had no one (outside of Jeff Cirillo) even sniff a .300 batting average? 

I'm not saying, I'm just saying, he might have been involved in some of those decisions.

Anyway, as a member of the Bucks' front office, he said his best accomplished was joining forces with Kohl to help enact a league-wide revenue sharing plan to help small market franchises compete with the larger markets.

That's really great, guys. However, how well did they end up using said revenue sharing plan? 

Who's next?

Gery Woelfel tweeted out on Tuesday that Mike Burr could be the next of Kohl's lap dogs to take his golden parachute.

As expected, VP Ron Walter is leaving Bucks. Is another long-time Herb Kohl crony, CFO Mike Burr, next?
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) June 17, 2014

Then, on Wednesday, Woelfel took a victory lap and confirmed that Burr will indeed be searching for greener pastures himself.

Yesterday, I hinted Mike Burr, Bucks CFO and Kohl crony, could be leaving Bucks? Told today, he is indeed moving on.
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) June 18, 2014

It would appear that there are two remaining "cronies" are John Steinmiller and Theodore Loehrke. However, Steinmiller's son, John Steinmiller, Jr. announced via Twitter that he and his wife took new jobs were moving to Arizona. Steinmiller, Jr. had worked in the Brewers' PR department for the last several years.

Does this mean that Steinmiller, Sr. could be joining him out in the desert? I wouldn't count on it but I also wouldn't rule out him being the next to go.

As far as the basketball side of the organization, Lasry and Edens have been fairly coy about their intentions especially when asked about the fates of GM John Hammond and head coach Larry Drew. 

They've been adamant that they're working with Hammond on the draft and not necessarily promising anything after that. However, the longer this drags on, it would appear that the basketball side might make it out to see next year. 

While I'd be disappointed to see Drew retained, I could talk myself into being bad again next year for another high draft pick.

P.S. As I'm writing this, news breaks that Joel Embiid might have broken his foot. I'm glad the Bucks have the #2 pick so we're at least guaranteed one of Wiggins or Parker. We'll see what happens next Thursday night when the draft gets underway.