By now you’ve probably heard of Sheriff David A. Clarke, currently of the sheriff of Milwaukee County. He’s a big Trump backer and generally a right-wing nut job known for getting booked on cable news shows to attack the Black Lives Matter movement.
A Milwaukee man saw Clarke on a flight, the sheriff was decked out in all Dallas Cowboys gear on the very day they were playing the local Green Bay Packers in the playoffs. Dan Black shook his head at Clarke as he walked down the aisle toward his seat and when the landed, he was questioned by police on Clarke's orders!
But when he got off the plane, Black said, he was met by a group of six uniformed deputies and two dogs, all of whom were accompanied by the sheriff. Black said he was then escorted to the waiting area and questioned by two of the deputies, who said Clarke had told them that Black had made "some remarks" to the sheriff on the plane.
And last but certainly not least, there have been several disturbing deaths at his Milwaukee County jail, including a detainee who was denied water for seven days and a female inmate who died giving birth on the jail cell floor, while shackled.
Last month, Sheriff Clarke announced he was leaving Milwaukee because he'd accepted a position as an Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, something the agency would not confirm.
Only days later, evidence emerged that Clarke plagiarized portions of his master's thesis on homeland security. The Department of Homeland Security announced Clarke was no longer a candidate for any role at DHS. That didn’t stop Clarke’s adviser from issuing a statement that is akin to “you can’t fire me, I quit!”
Craig Peterson, a political adviser to Clarke, said in a statement that the sheriff notified DHS Secretary John Kelly late Friday that he "had rescinded his acceptance of the agency's offer" to join the department. The Washington Post first reported on Clarke's decision.
I reject you rejecting me and reject you first! Either way, this is a win for the people of Milwaukee and a win for the Department of Homeland Security, who avoided this train wreck of a sheriff before he embarrasses an important law enforcement agency our puts people in harm’s way.