Milwaukee Country Sheriff wins primary

Politics & Elections
1

Milwaukee Country Sheriff wins. He’s a Democrat, but no Republican is in the race, so it looks like he’s the guy.

My interest in this race was the infusion of $150,000 of campaign financing to Clarke’s opponent:

$150,000 was more than what Clarke and his opponent had spent on their entire campaigns combined prior to that point.

So I see two topics for discussion. One: here’s another example of a huge infusion of cash NOT swaying the results of an election. Two: here’s another example of a pro-Second Amendment politician – a Democrat, no less! – holding the line against Bloomberg and his brethern.

Both of these are good things.

2

Analyzing binary outcomes is a poor way to assess the effect of cash on voting outcomes. If the polling was 80/20 before and 55/45 on the day of the election, no one would conclude that cash doesn’t buy elections. They would just conclude that this amount of cash wasn’t enough to buy this election because of the wildly lopsided split.

Conversely, if the polling was 55/45 before and after the cash infusion, that would be good evidence that this particular cash dump didn’t matter. Though even then I would question whether Bloomberg’s tactics are sui generis, since every time he does this the right-wing media makes an in-kind donation to the other side in a way that almost never happens, on either side, with other moneyed interests.

Of course, polling at this level is often pretty spotty. So there may not be all that much we can conclude either way.

3

nevermind

4

I see from reading Volokh Conspiracy that the 2010 primary had the same match-up, and the difference here was only 1 point in Moews’s favor.

That’s at least some evidence that cash didn’t radically alter the race, though it would still be interesting to know what the dynamics were this year before the infusion (as it is of course possible that Clarke was more unpopular this year for some reason).

I think it’s also worth noting that buying 1% (if we could reliably conclude that this happened, and I’m not saying we can here) is actually pretty effective. How many races across the country are decided by margins within 1%? Enough to matter, I think.

5

Where’s the country of Milwaukee, and why do they elect their national sheriffs?

:smiley:

6

As I said on on another web site:
Clarke may come across how you want a Sheriff to be. But he is a full blown narcissist and exhibits every symptom of that personality disorder to the Nth degree. He is a real [expletive deleted] to work for and treats his employess like [deleted].

It does not enhance safety for the public to be served by disgruntled deputies and correction officers whose morale is at zero and has been for the past 12 years.

My attitude yesterday was, if it takes the likes of a scumbag like Bloomberg to end the political career of this megalomaniac, SO BE IT!
Clarke is not an effective leader and is not a fiscal conservative. The way he overspends the taxpayers money is nothing short of scandalous. His “commission” is about his own glory and ego.

Just because he babbles a few talking points on the radio that we like to hear does not make him the right man for the job. .
Do some research into the huge decline in actual criminal investigations and arrests made by the S.O. since Clarke took over. That agency is no longer a law enforcement agency but a tool for his inflated sense of self worth.

Clarke and his flying monkey lackeys make sure that there is no dissent over his mishandling of the office. A few make it miserable for the many and greatly disserve the county populace. One does not want to be a detective working in the jail because they stepped on the wrong egg shell. (and yes, detectives do end up working in the jail on floor control simply for rubbing the fur in the wrong direction).

Eventually Clarke will be gone and the office will return to actually being a law enforcement agency. The public will be stunned at the difference that will make to the safety of the community.

Clarke doesn’t even want to be Sheriff, he wants to be a warden. The majority of his focus is now on the courts and the jail as opposed to actual public safety in the field.

He criticizes local police departments yet his agency does little (2% county wide per the DA’s office) actual law enforcement.

During his tenure he has cut staff by almost 2/3 but consistantly goes over budget by millions with huge amounts of paid overtime. It would cost the taxpayers less to increase staff and pay less overtime, and it would enhance public safety.
Doing more with less is an admirable goal, but Clarke has failed miserably at it.

Due to the low morale and rotten work conditions he has more employees on FMLA than any other agency in the state.

He has foolishly spent taxpayer funds on unnecessary programs and equipment, yet he has cut vital services and duties previously provided by the Sheriffs Office.

Cronyism is a norm in politics as well as police work. But Clarke has taken it to a ridiculous extreme, promoting unqualified people to important positions, and then CYA when they screw up.

He is also guilty of political cowardice. He should at very least run as a Republican, the party he casts the appearance of identifying with. Though, upon closer scrutiny he does not exhibit many of their cherished traits: He is not a fiscal conservative, he is not a respected leader, he is not an efficient manager, and he quite simply is not an effective law enforcement officer.

Just because he appears to hold our belief on 1 issue should not earn him our support. Even if Clarke holds our values they are trumped by all his other failings.

The voters have once again been conned by his cowboy persona while they pay for his incompetence.

He has gutted the Sheriffs office to remove actual patrol deputies and investigators from the streets. His mismanagement has cost millions in overtime at the jail. And morale among remaining staff is so low the quality of the services the public receives is diminished.

We have precisely the government we deserve: Garbage in, garbage out!

7

Just north of the Bridges of Madison Country.