All is fair in love and war, but what about politics? Few would argue there are tremendous barriers to overcome prior to gaining a public seat at the power table, but a local Sheriff's office is using its public authority to make those barriers even tougher.
Sheriff David Clarke Jr. of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin recently signed off on a department policy that prevents a political opponent from running against him without permission from, well, him.
The policy states: "No member (of the department) shall be a candidate for nomination, election, or appointment to any public office without prior written permission of the Sheriff. No member, while identifying his/herself as a member of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, shall permit use of their photograph or name for political or advertising purposes or participate, by any other means, in any political or advertising enterprise without prior permission of the Sheriff or his/her designee."
So if you work for the Sheriff's office and want to challenge the Sheriff in an upcoming election (Clarke is up for re-election in 2010), you need to ask his permission first. The directive does not specify if you have to ask nicely.
Edward Bailey, an aide to Clarke, told Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the wording of Clarke's directive may have been "clumsy" and that Clarke would not stand in the way of a deputy challenging him.
"He's certainly not afraid of anybody running against him as a challenger from within the agency, that's perfectly acceptable," said Bailey. "In fact, he promotes people getting involved in politics."
William Domina, Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel, said that he doubts any court would "support enforcement of that policy."
But this is not the first time Sheriff Clarke's actions grabbed headlines. In February, he leant a hand to Brian Allen, a motorist whose car had skid into a snow bank near a highway entrance ramp. Clarke noticed the stranded man, who had been locked out of his car when trying to push it back onto the road, and stopped to help retrieve Allen's keys by using a "Slim-Jim" lock pick.
At first glance this sounds like a heartwarming story of a Good Samaritan public servant helping out a citizen in need. Not so fast. What Clarke apparently failed to notice was that Allen had a blood alcohol level of 0.17, twice the legal limit, and a front seat full of empty (and at least one nearly-full) Miller Genuine Drafts. Only after Deputy Sandra Santoro arrived on the scene and pointed out Allen's altered state was the inebriated motorist arrested.
For her troubles, Deputy Santoro was put under departmental investigation for her "handling" of the case. The Deputies Union surmised that Clarke ordered the investigation to keep embarrassing information from becoming public. Once public, Allen told the paper that his deputy "did absolutely the right thing" by arresting the stranded motorist.
Of course the beauty of democracy is that in two years any citizen (who meets the requirements of course) that thinks they can do a better job than Clarke is free to challenge him for the privilege of being Milwaukee County's chief law enforcement officer. Just make sure to run it by Sheriff Clarke first.
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