Chris Abele makes his victory speech at the Historic Pabst Brewery after beating Jeff Stone for the Milwaukee County Executive seat. Abele's wife, Miriam, is at right. Credit: Benny Sieu

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Chris Abele - a 44-year-old philanthropist, scion of a wealthy Boston family and political neophyte - handily defeated state Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) at the polls Tuesday to become the next Milwaukee County executive.

Abele had 61% of the vote to 39% for Stone, according to unofficial results with all votes counted.

Abele said he would immediately tackle tough county problems and work cooperatively with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and other leaders in the county.

"It is time for a new approach," Abele said from his election party at the historic Pabst Brewery. "It is time to stop working apart and to start working together."

He pointed to the undeveloped Park East property nearby as something on which the city and county needed to collaborate.

"I don't see the mayor as a competitor," Abele said. "I see him as a partner and a friend."

Stone conceded the race about 10:05 p.m., promising to work with Abele to help fix the county's problems. Stone called the campaign an amazing race run in "an unusual environment."

Abele campaigned with $1 million of his own money as someone with fresh ideas to tackle the county's nagging financial problems. Though light on specifics, Abele outlined an approach that emphasizes efficiency moves. He put much of his advertising firepower into trying to fuse Stone with Gov. Scott Walker and his controversial push to end most collective bargaining for public employees.

Stone said his loss "reflects the divide we have right now in Wisconsin." He also said the big turnout in Milwaukee "was a reflection of some of the unrest we had in Madison" over Walker's union measure.

Walker held the county executive slot for eight years before his election as governor last fall when he defeated Barrett.

Stone in his campaign faulted Abele as inexperienced and callous to everyday concerns, pointing to a long-delayed resolution of Abele's 1996 drunken driving case, his avoidance of state income taxes and his dispute with the IRS over a $2.3 million federal tax bill.

The win gives Abele the final year left in Walker's county term. Abele has said he plans to run for a full four-year term as executive in spring 2012.

Though a longtime supporter of Democratic candidates and liberal causes, Abele ran for county executive - officially a nonpartisan office - often sounding like a conservative. Like Stone, Abele vowed not to raise taxes and said he'd work hard to attract new business. Abele said he'll push to wipe out inefficiencies and service duplications and might turn to privatizations, selling off county assets and marketing park services to the suburbs.

He also hinted at layoffs as a way to bring the county's budget into long-term balance, promising unspecified "tough cuts."

He said he wouldn't be surprised "if we end up with a government that looks smaller."

Mix into that formula Abele's frequent assertion that he'll serve as a cheerleader for Milwaukee, whether stalking development and jobs or demanding a fairer shake for the area when lobbying the state.

Calls for cultural change

He's vowed to bring on a culture change in county government, where getting results is rewarded and poor performers are called on the carpet.

"The real key here is changing the way we think about stuff, changing this notion that the only solution to everything is either cutting services or raising taxes," Abele said.

Abele has never held a government job, in contrast to Stone, who has spent the past 17 years as a state and local official. Stone derided Abele as "an amateur" whose government inexperience would hurt the county.

Abele sought to make a virtue of his clean political slate and said he would apply what he's learned over the past 15 years in running the Argosy Foundation, a family charity, and two small businesses. Argosy and Abele personally have given heavily to arts, environmental, civic and community groups and Abele has served on many local nonprofit agency boards.

Abele's introduction to the county's financial concerns came as a member of the Greater Milwaukee Committee and a task force that concluded in 2006 that county government could be phased out, its services parceled out to the state, other municipalities and newly formed parks and transit districts.

As a candidate for county office, however, Abele has been more cautious. He says he'll put his faith in detailed studies and proven practices to fix what's wrong with the county.

Restructuring the county's mental health programs by shifting to smaller, community-based care is something Abele has identified for change. He also wants to push for creation of a local government insurance pool as a way to trim county health care costs. He says he'll cut back on county employees' use of cars and cell phones and will expand energy audits of county buildings.

Stone on defensive

Stone found himself on the defensive over Walker's collective bargaining bill since voting twice for it in February, following a three-week period in which news coverage of protests in Madison overshadowed other political news.

While often protesting critic's claims he'd be a carbon copy of Walker, Stone said he and Walker shared a similar conservative philosophy. Stone also advocated for county policies pioneered by Walker, including ruling out tax increases, pursuing a possible long-term lease of Mitchell International Airport to a private firm and relying on business expansion to drive a county financial resurgence.

A key part of Stone's plan to fix the county's long-term budget shortfall was to reform employee health care with a wellness incentives and primary care available in or near county offices.

The job pays $129,114 a year. Unlike Walker, who returned up to $50,000 in salary a year during his tenure, Abele says he'll accept the full pay.

Amy Hetzner and Mark Johnson of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.