Milwaukee's New Sheriff, Same As The Old Sheriff

It is no deep secret that when David Clarke was Milwaukee County Sheriff, he didn't do much but shoot off his mouth and acted like a bully. It was not unusual to see stories of Clarke abusing the powers of his office to harass, intimidate or retaliate against anyone - deputy or private citizen - who would defy him, show him up or embarrass him

So it should be no surprise that he filled his command staff with loyalists who behaved much the same way as he did.

Before Clarke fled to Washington DC to become a top acolyte to Trump, he spent most of his time gallivanting about, collecting hefty speaker fees, stumping for Trump and/or schmoozing up to Russian spies. During these times, he would leave his right hand man, then Inspector Richard Schmidt in charge. These times included when six inmates died in the county jail, including one that was denied water for a full week.

When Clarke did finally make his exit stage radical right, Scott Walker appointed Schmidt to be acting sheriff. Now, a year later, Schmidt is running in his first election bid. Just as Clarke did, Schmidt is running as a Democrat even though he is anything but one.

While no polls have been done on this race, campaign finance reports indicate that Schmidt is running a distant second to the front runner, Earnell Lucas. Schmidt knows this too as shown by him becoming increasingly negative and pandering to special interest dark money to bolster his failing and flailing campaign.

Unfortunately for Schmidt, his past will continue to haunt him going into these final weeks before the primary, which is actually the general election since no one is running as a Republican. This would include his above-mentioned deaths in the jail he was overseeing.

Recently, a letter from three years ago has surfaced. The letter is a complaint against Schmidt, accusing him of harassment, retaliation, sexist remarks and defamation of character. It was filed by a woman captain that was denied a promotion and punished after suing to protect her rights.

Schmidt Complaint by Chris Liebenthal on Scribd

Some Schmidt apologists have tried to defend him by saying he was just following Clarke's orders, but that is a lame excuse. First of all, any person, but especially a law enforcement officer, should always do the right thing, even if it might make them uncomfortable. Secondly, it is sincerely doubtful that even Clarke would have ordered Schmidt to tell a woman that she just "find a rich guy, get married and quit."

Schmidt, like Clarke, is obviously unfit for office and needs to be voted out. Hopefully, Milwaukee County voters won't keep making the same mistake this time around.

Angela Walker Speaks On The Issues In Milwaukee County

Angela Walker, a socialist candidate running for Milwaukee County Sheriff, speaks out on the issues facing Milwaukee County and of David Clarke's abysmal failure in that position:



I fully support and will be voting for Walker on November 4th.

I Will Vote For Walker In November!

Angela Walker, that is.

And from my email comes this fabulous news:

ANGELA N. WALKER TAKES ON DAVID CLARKE FOR MILWAUKEE COUNTY SHERIFF

“Sheriff Clarke is an overseer for the ‘New Jim Crow.’ We’re tired of plantation politics.”

On November 4th, 2014, Angela Nicole Walker will take on Sheriff David Clarke for the seat of Milwaukee County Sheriff. Angela is running as an independent socialist and advocates addressing the root causes of crime and violence to build a sustainable strategy for keeping all of Milwaukee County’s streets safe.

Born and raised in inner-city Milwaukee, Angela has a background in transit and social justice advocacy. She says that a fresh perspective is what's needed to make our city safe. "We know that mass incarceration is the “New Jim Crow” and Sheriff Clarke’s tactics have cemented Milwaukee’s place in that system. Wisconsin is the worst place in the country to raise a black child and leads the nation in incarcerating brown and black people. I believe that it's time to rethink criminal justice. It's time we look at the impact poverty and harsh punitive measure have on crime rates, and advocate for policy changes that will increase opportunity for everyone in our community."

Angela is running on a platform of economic and social justice, sound policy advocacy, and genuine cooperation within and between the neighborhoods of Milwaukee County. As Sheriff, Angela plans to:

• Advocate for a living wage, work with community partners to strengthen transit and job opportunities, and push for the full funding of public schools.
• Seek to expand alternatives to incarceration, such as treatment alternatives and restorative justice measures.
• Advocate for the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana, for its benefits to our local tax base and for its impact on mass incarceration rates in Wisconsin.
• Invoke the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Detainer Ordinance passed in 2012 that allows the Sherriff's Office to refrain from ICE sweeps that devastate neighborhoods and separate families.
• Take an active stance against human trafficking in all forms.
• Advocate for the restoration of voting rights for people who have been incarcerated, including those newly released from prison.
• Work to keep people in their homes by limiting manpower to banks for foreclosures.
• Advocate for the public ownership of vacant public buildings and for their repurposing to address the issues of homelessness and poverty in Milwaukee.

Angela Walker will hold a campaign kick-off press conference on Thursday September 18th, 2014 at 3:00 PM at the Wells Street entrance in front of the Milwaukee Court House.

Today's Political Ad Is Brought To You By The Letter "E"

The Republicans are circling their wagons fast and hard around their favorite cowboy, Sheriff David Clarke.

Among his biggest supporters is the ALEC/dark money group, NRA, which has been running ads left and right.

That said, one has to wonder how much they really support the cowboy.  Take a look at these screenshots of the ads they've been running on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's website:

The gentle reader will notice that not only is the "e" in Clarke silent, it's gone missing!

You would think that if they wanted to support the guy, they might want to at least spell his name right.

I reckon that we can say that NRA should really stand for Not Real Astute.

Fortunately, after Tuesday, we can learn how to spell Moews, as in Chris Moews.

Or is it Chris Meows?

Republicans Encouraged To Do Crossover Vote For Clarke

Ever since he was appointed as Milwaukee County Sheriff by then Governor Scott McCallum, David Clarke has not had an opponent that presented as a serious threat to being reelected to office.

That has changed this year with Chris Moews running a solid campaign.  For months, one could not attend an event in Milwaukee County without running into Moews being there, working the crowd like a pro.

But as hard as Moews has been working to win this election, he has not had a bigger asset to his campaign as Clarke.  Clarke has been consistently been doing more damage to himself than Moews could have ever done.  Clarke has been embarrassing himself regularly with his immature temper tantrums, outlandish comments, ineffective law enforcement, scandals, and irresponsible stunts, like telling people that they shouldn't call 911 in an emergency.

Clarke's behaviors and failures have been so egregious that even some of his fellow conservatives are pulling away from supporting him.  Fortunately for Clarke - and unfortunately for the rest of us, he still has the NRA and its deep pockets supporting him.

But even with the dark money behind him, Clarke and his supporters know that he is in serious danger of losing.  And with that knowledge, they are getting desperate.

Besides sending out whackadoodle mailers to random households, his supporters are urging Republicans to cross over in the primary to vote for him.  The most notable of these attempts is a letter that was sent out by former Governor TOMMY!!! Thompson:

As with Clarke's mailers, Thompson's letter was apparently mailed to random homes.  These images of the letter are courtesy of State Senator Chris Larson.  I am quite sure that Senator Larson was already planning to vote in the Democratic primary.  I am also quite sure that he won't be voting for Clarke.

It is stunts like this that shows the importance of voting in each and every election.  Yes, it's "only" a primary. Yes, it's in the middle of August, when most people are squeezing in vacations and enjoying the warm weather while it lasts.  But it is the lackadaisical attitude towards voting that has allowed people like Scott Walker and David Clarke to stay in office as long as they have been.

Milwaukeeans need to make sure that they get themselves to the polls on Tuesday, August 12, to vote Clarke out once and for all.

David Clarke's Funniest Flier Yet!

David Clarke, the current Milwaukee County Sheriff, has been proving himself to be quite the fool and the spendthrift by sending out multiple campaign fliers to people like myself and James Rowen, who simply demolished Clarke's first mailer.

I have received three such fliers from Clarke so far.  Most of them have the same talking points.  He touts his education, even though he doesn't know that heroin is a depressant and not a hallucinogen. And of course, Clarke boasts of his law enforcement expertise, such as helping drunk drivers get out of snow banks.

It is Clarke's third and most recent mailer that had me laughing out loud.  Take a look for yourself:

The first thing one would notice is the picture of Clarke, playing cowboy.  That is one of the biggest examples of the way Clarke loves to squander taxpayer dollars.  Instead of using that money for fighting crime or something, he uses it to rent a horse and pose for photo ops.

Also, if one looks at the postage mark, one would notice that the mailer originated from West Bend.  Why would a Milwaukee County official seeking reelection for a Milwaukee County office send their mailers from Washington County?

But the thing that made me do a spit take was the middle paragraph in the center.  It reads:

As you know, in Milwaukee County there is a political class that does not tolerate a different viewpoint like mine.  However, I have made the Sheriff's Office nonpartisan, and I have provided high-quality law enforcement for all.  This disturbs the courthouse "insiders." If they succeed in their all-out efforts to end the Sheriff's Office mission of protection, and return it to politics, you, the people, will lose your voice in public safety.

Really?! He made the Sheriff's Office nonpartisan?  Really?

Do I really need to mention how Clarke pulled Milwaukee County deputies to escort and guard then presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Republican, for an event in Waukesha County?  Or how Clarke refused to provide even basic protection for President Barack Obama, a Democrat?  How is that not political?  I should also point out that Clarke has a pattern of speaking at the Koch Brothers-funded TEA Party events.

Needless to say, Clarke made the office as partisan as he possibly could.

Now, if the gentle reader would like to see what a nonpartisan sheriff would look like, we can see a glimpse of the future with Chris Moews, who is the only person who could pull of being pictured with the very progressive Marina Dimitrijevic and her bipolar opposite, the plutocratic Chris Abele:

Let us be rid of that doofus Clarke once and for all.  Vote for Chris Moews on August 12th!

There's A New Sheriff (Candidate) In Town

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that, to the surprise of no one, David Clarke has filed to run for reelection as Milwaukee County Sheriff.  The only people that even thought Clarke would do anything else are the rabid teahadists of the right, the Chicken Littles of the left and the paper who was pushing the story in order to increase their circulation to the dozens.

The rest of us who practice critical thinking knew Clarke wasn't going to go anywhere.  He can't win a race without the conservatives in the suburbs, so he wasn't going to run for the Mayor of Milwaukee.  Besides, all of the idiotic things that Clarke has said and done over the years keeps him from running for a higher position. The only other race he might have had a chance of winning would be county supervisor, but he's not going to challenge fellow nut job Deanna Alexander only to have his pay cut to about one sixth of what it is now.

What I do find hilarious in its hypocrisy are all the Democrats complaining about Clarke running as a Democrat again, pointing out how he speaks at Tea Party rallies and is buddies with the likes of Charlie Sykes.  They complaints might have had some meaning if they weren't also embracing Chris Abele, who supports Teapublican candidates and has spent more than his fair share of time on squawk radio.  Heck, they gave Abele a prominent speaking spot at their Founders Day Dinner, despite him behaving exactly like Clarke, if not even worse.

But the big news isn't about Clarke or the hypocrisy about conservatives running as Democrats.

The big news is that it appears that the election for sheriff doesn't end in August with the primary between Clarke and Chris Moews.

Angela Walker, a political activist, is running as an independent for the sheriff.  While many might dismiss her candidacy offhand, since she is running as an independent, she has a message that the other candidates aren't willing and/or able to send and one that I think will resonate with a lot of people.  From her Facebook page:

I am looking to be on the November ballot against Sheriff Clarke for a few different reasons. I believe that the problems facing the inner city are NOT going to be solved by adding more punitive measures. I don't think that either candidate for the office of Sheriff will address the huge problem of mass incarceration in Wisconsin, much less in Milwaukee. I don't believe the candidates connect the dots between failing schools, deteriorating neighborhoods, a complete lack of living-wage jobs, limited access to healthcare, inadequately funded transit, and mass incarceration to the violence in these communities. I KNOW that neither candidate will acknowledge the fact that these conditions are CREATED and sustained by racism and continuing discrimination. They are by design.

I can speak to those things. Somebody needs to!

Now, I can't say that I expect the local corporate media to give Ms. Walker much more attention between now and Election Day, but I think that Ms. Walker's message is a good one and one that needs to be heard. I'd expect that the gentle reader will hear more about Ms. Walker at this site in the upcoming weeks and months.

Walker might be considered to be a long shot, but given that she was able to organize a signature drive and get the necessary number of signatures in literally just a few days shows that she is a force to be reckoned with.

Sideshow Clarke

By Jeff Simpson

After watching the clownish antics of Sheriff David Clarke in Milwaukee, I am very glad to be in Dane County where we have a Sheriff who cares about the rule of law and actually doing his job! 

Sheriff Clarke in Milwaukee is at it again. 

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. recently announced that he had been named the "sheriff of the year" for 2013 by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.

Clarke put out a press release saying he was "both honored and humbled" by the award, which will be given out at a convention later this month.

What the sheriff doesn't disclose, however, is anything about the little-known group behind the award.
Perhaps with good reason.

Founded in 2011, the sheriffs association is the brainchild of Richard Mack, a former Arizona lawman who says he wants to organize sheriffs who understand their primary duty is to protect local citizens from the tyranny of the federal government.

His association, he says, will be "the army to set our nation free" -- albeit a non-violent army, he adds.
"The greatest threat we face today is not terrorists; it is our own federal government," Mack says on his personal website. "If America is conquered or ruined it will be from within, not a foreign enemy."
In a 15-minute chat this week, Mack -- or "Sheriff Mack," as he prefers to be called -- reaffirmed these sentiments and went even further. He voiced his support for states to nullify federal laws they deem unconstitutional. He also called the U.S. government "universally corrupt."
In other words, Mack's group is not your typical trade association.

The Southern Poverty Law Center-- an Alabama-based nonprofit that tracks hate groups -- has accused Mack of espousing "radical-right" views and trying to create a "nation of county sheriffs who believe the government is the enemy." Mack's group got some media attention when it compiled a list for more than 400 sheriffs who vowed not to enforce President Barack Obama's gun control measures.

 How cute, a sheriff happily accepting an award from a hate group.  Sheriff Clarke must be so proud.  That would look  very well next to a John Birch "Man of the Year" award and the Joseph McCarthy Advancing Democracy Award!

Milwaukee, it is time to end the circus and elect someone who actually wants to be the Sheriff of Milwaukee!  

Chris Moews - Show up here to support Mr. Moews!  

Too Bad He Didn't Do A Staycation

Another waste of tax payer money.

This time it's to pay for Sheriff Clarke's ego trip.

David Clarke Admits To Poor Leadership

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an article highlighting the Democratic primary race for Milwaukee County Sheriff. In said article, they point out that both the D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R. incumbent David Clarke and his challenger, Chris Moews, are running on Clarke's record. If that's true, Clarke just gave the race away.

We already know that Clarke is a poor excuse for a law man, when he not only tried to aid a drunk driver get back on the road, but then tried to cover up his error by smearing a good deputy who happened to be the one to prevent further tragedy.

Then there was the failed GRIP program which diverted officers and funding from the normal duties so that Clarke could bathe himself in glory by taking all of the guns off of the mean streets of Milwaukee, which is normally the jurisdiction of the Milwaukee Police Department. But despite all of the money and manpower spent on this project, it netted only six or so guns.

Clarke also violated his deputies' Constitutional rights by having religious groups preaching to them during roll calls.

Then there was the problem with Clarke's office not collecting DNA samples like he was supposed to and then lying about the problem. Even more telling was the reason why they failed:

Again, sources in the department who are familiar with the situation gave a very different story. They said they are certain that inmates and others were released without giving DNA samples. In addition, the sources said, there are many more individuals at the County Jail who may have been missed.

"This wasn't done intentionally," said one source, who suggested the problem was due to lack of staff and supervisors. "It fell through the cracks."

[...]

Not usually the self-effacing type, Clarke acknowledged that his department had slipped up. He said he didn't have the manpower to assign someone to DNA duty full time.

Now from today's article, we see Clarke shooting himself in the foot by admitting his poor leadership:

"You can lead by fear all you want and people are going to follow you - to a point," said the 38-year-old Moews, accusing Clarke of an autocratic style. "But if you are an effective leader that gains the respect of your peers and workers, they are going to work that much harder for you."

His rapport with deputies and other local law enforcement officials would bolster his effectiveness, Moews said.

Clarke, 54, said Moews was just plain wrong.

He believes in strong leadership and admits to rubbing some deputies the wrong way over his efforts to overcome years of complacency, Clarke said.

Keep in mind that Clarke has been the sheriff since 2002. Either the complacency developed while he was sheriff or he has failed to straighten the ship in eight years. Either way, it is an admission of failure.

To further enforce the suspicion that Clarke's leadership style is more about egomaniacal control than anything else, I recently learned that Clarke has suspended an officer for twenty days without pay. The officer's penalty to receive such a harsh sentence? Taking off for his father's funeral and putting the time off in the wrong slot on Ceridian. That's something that could have been fixed in less than minutes. To give a grieving officer who just lost his father that much time for a silly mistake is beyond excessive.

All of this only serves to show why Chris Moews is having a groundswell of support from all corners of the county. We are in need of responsible leadership, not grandstanding narcissists.

Duckhorn Blunders On First Day of Campaign For Sheriff

Steven Duckhorn is the sole Republican candidate running for Milwaukee County Sheriff.

Or perhaps I should say, the sole Republican candidate stumbling out of the gate for Milwaukee County Sheriff.

He has launched his website for his candidacy, and there is already a couple of problems with it.

One, there is no "authorized and paid for" notation on the site:

Then to add to the fun, on this site that is proudly designed and hosted by Mr. Duckhorn, is his contact page:

Why would someone who is running for Milwaukee County Sheriff have his office in Menlo Park, California?

My, how the race has quickly narrowed down to one candidate that is worthy: Chris Moews.