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:
Now from today's article, we see Clarke shooting himself in the foot by admitting his poor leadership: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.
"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.
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The deputy who was suspended for 20 days? Take a look at his personnel file and his suspensions from the past. You're trying to imply that this guy has been a saint and this is his first infraction. Nope. But it does make for a good blog post doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteEven if he had a bad record, 20 days for a mis-checked box is still extreme.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed on how much information the Journal Sentinel FAILED to give voters in what will probably be their only article on the Sheriff's race.
ReplyDeleteThe never mentioned that Moews was the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party. They never mentioned all the prominent figures in the black community (like Congresswoman Gwen Moore) that have endorsed Moews over Clarke.
How can voters make a decision on anything other than Talk Radio's eight years of free publicity for David Clarke, if the daily paper doesn't tell much if anything about his opponent?
Indeed, how to get the word out. Write letters to the paper, point out blogs like this to your friends and neighbors. Volunteer to help Moews' campaign to make calls, leaflet drops and go canvassing.
ReplyDeleteGo hence and MAKE yourself heard!
Moews is a Republican he supported Bush and McCain.
ReplyDeleteNo, he didn't. He was part of a board that did, but Moews voted against those endorsements.
ReplyDeleteClarke, however, did support for them, as well as appear at TEA Parties.
You people in Clarke's campaign will have to do much better in the next week if you don't want to be totally embarrassed.