Milwaukee has gone from being one of America’s safest cities to one of its deadliest but the city’s movers and shakers are more concerned that we keep that dirty fact a secret because it might make us look bad. Kudos for Sensenbrenner for speaking the truth.

Among those blasting Sensenbrenner: Mayor Tom Barrett, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, Spirit of Milwaukee (whatever that is), local advertising agencies, two newspaper columnists etc. In the meantime, Milwaukee continues to rocket ahead in the murder standings. The city now has the 10th highest murder rate of all major American cities. Formerly deadly cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York are all behind Milwaukee.

Rather than fret about the image, there ought to be a little more concern about the actual murders. But that, of course, would require accepting responsibility for the reasons. It would mean doing something more than blaming guns. It would mean looking at the four disgraceful decades of molly-coddling from District Attorney Michael McCann and the sentencing practices of at least half the county’s judges. Nope. Can’t do that. Let’s worry about our image.

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One of the teenagers accused of the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl has a juvenile court record that goes back eight years. He was only out of Ethan Allen for four weeks before the assault on the girl. His mother has seven kids. She’s a heroin addict and doesn’t even show up for her son’s multiple court appearances.

The accused murderer of Brandon Sprewer, the young man who was waiting for a bus at 91st and Silver Spring, also has a criminal record. Only one year ago he was convicted of a remarkably similar crime dealing with a robbery and shooting. The sentencing judge, Elsa Lamelas, sentenced him to probation with no prison time.

Milwaukee has one of America’s worst murder rates because of judges like Elsa Lamelas and prosecutors like Mike McCann. Milwaukee has an image problem not because of what Jim Sensenbrenner says about the truth, but because of the truth.

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Despite all the murders, most of Milwaukee is relatively "safe." Virtually all of the killings occur in the central city or near southside. A shootout near a hip-hop club this summer was downtown’s first murder in three years. The downtown area, in fact, is so safe that it is in the midst of an astonishing housing boom that shows no signs of slowing. But as safe as much of the city is, the inner city is a virtual war zone.

Ignoring that reality is a big part of the reason why the problem has worsened. Politicians, image makers and a newspaper that provides cover for them are in a state of denial. Sensenbrenner has merely introduced some reality.

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There’s a brewing scandal in Menomonee Falls. A citizens group has filed a well-documented complaint that the community’s village president does not even live in the village! What’s more, they have strong evidence he hasn’t lived there for months and many other Menomonee Falls officials knew about it.

What we do know is that Richard Rechlicz sold his old house and is planning to move into a new residence. What is alleged is that he has been living in an apartment in neighboring Sussex in the interim. Even by the standards of the Falls, if this is true, it might set a new record for political outrageousness.

State law, not surprisingly, says officials elected in a community have to live there. That’s why the mayor of Brookfield doesn’t live in Crandon. If Rechlicz was actually spending the majority of his time in another community for more than a month, it would not only be a scandal but would raise questions about the integrity of everybody else on the Menomonee Falls Village Board who knew about it.

Did the village manager know? How about the village clerk? The police chief? Did they all cover up the embarrassing and illegal information? The complaint is in the hands of the state justice department, aka Peg Lautenschlager. How appropriate. The attorney general who tried to claim her office is actually in Fond du Lac and not Madison is now in charge of investigating whether Menomonee Falls’ leader isn’t even from Menomonee Falls.

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SCOOP: Look for an announcement within days of one of the biggest condominium complexes ever built in Wisconsin. It’ll be just south of downtown Milwaukee on Lake Michigan. I’m hearing as many as 500 units.

(Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show and a Sunday television show. His column runs Wednesdays in The Freeman.)