Sheriff Clarke responds to investigation
When Dan Black filed a formal harassment complaint against Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. last week over an incident on a Milwaukee flight, it wasn’t clear what would happen with Black’s filing. Now we know. Melissa Baldauff, a spokeswoman for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, confirmed that his office referred Black’s complaint to the county Audit Services Division, which has now launched an investigation into the matter.
“And we advised people who asked to refer their complaints to the (county) Ethics Board,” Baldauff added. The head of the Ethics Board declined to say whether her office has received any Clarke-related complaints.
In recent days, Matthew Hart, a forensic auditor with the county Audit Services Division, interviewed Black, according to Black’s attorney, William Sulton of the law firm Peterson, Johnson & Murray. Sulton said he could not divulge any details from the interview.
“I will confirm that Mr. Hart interviewed Mr. Black,” Sulton wrote via email. “I will not say anything beyond that at this time.”
Auditors also have been at Mitchell International Airport conducting interviews as part of the probe.
In a lengthy Facebook post, Clarke labeled the probe a “fake investigation” driven by politics.
“In an act of political grandstanding, the political witch hunt continues by Democrat politicians and operatives,” the sheriff’s post said. “This is nothing more than an attempt to harass and bully Sheriff Clarke. This is fake news.”
Clarke noted that Abele, whom he called a “little man,” backed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, while the sheriff was a staunch ally of President Donald Trump. He also said the county exec had spent $263,000 from his own pocket trying to defeat Clarke in the 2014 Democratic primary.
Clarke emphasized that staffers in his agency will not cooperate with the probe.
“The latest political stunt by County Executive Abele is a waste of time,” the statement said. “He does not have the authority to investigate the Sheriff’s Office, and the sheriff is making it very clear that personnel responsible to him will not be talked to by anybody from the county executive’s office.”
Abele countered with his own strongly worded statement.
“The sheriff calling people names on the internet isn’t news,” Abele said. “The four deaths in the sheriff’s jail and his
refusal to answer questions about them aren’t fake news. The sheriff taking accountability for any of this and treating his office with the respect the people deserve — that would be news.”
Black, a 24-year-old Riverwest resident, alleged in his complaint that he was harassed by Clarke on Jan. 15. Black claimed he was confronted, interviewed and then escorted out of Mitchell airport by a group of deputies after a brief exchange with Clarke on a flight from Dallas on Sunday.
In the one-page complaint, Black says he saw Clarke — decked out in a Dallas Cowboys baseball hat and shirt — on the American Airlines flight on Jan. 15 but wasn’t sure it was the sheriff because he wasn’t wearing his signature Stetson. The Cowboys were playing the Green Bay Packers later in the day.
“As I passed him,” Black wrote. “I asked if he was Sheriff Clarke, and he responded in the affirmative. I shook my head as I was moving on to my seat near the back of the plane. From behind, he asked if I had a problem. I shook my head ‘no’ again and continued to my seat.”
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 deputies for 15 minutes and escorted from the airport.
Audit director Jerry Heer declined Tuesday to say whether his office is investigating the allegations in the Black complaint. He said his office looks into cases of waste, fraud and abuse.
If his agency finds that an official has crossed the line, Heer said, it can refer its findings to officials ranging from a manager for his or her review to the Milwaukee County district attorney for possible criminal charges. In the case of an elected official, Heer said, his office also could turn the matter over to the county Ethics Board, which can censure or fine officeholders.
Heer said his agency conducts very few investigations into officials accused of abusing their power. Such abuse allegations often involve a misuse of resources as well, he said.
Clarke has criticized Black on the county website and Facebook page for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.
“Next time he or anyone else pulls this stunt on a plane they may get knocked out,” said one Facebook post. “The sheriff said he does not have to wait for some goof to assault him. He reserves the reasonable right to pre-empt a possible assault.”
That was followed by a Facebook meme with a picture of Black that read: “Cheer up, Snowflake. If Sheriff Clarke were to really harass you, you wouldn’t be around to whine about it.”
Heer declined to say how long any investigation might take.
“I tell (forensic auditor) Matt Hart and people who work with him, ‘Take as long as you need to get it right because we can’t get it wrong,’ “Heer said.
Clarke has declined to give his account of what happened with Black on the American Airlines flight or at the airport.
A reporter for WISN-TV (Channel 12) quizzed the sheriff last week at an event in Washington, D.C., the night before Trump’s inauguration. Clarke was a frequent surrogate for Trump on national TV and at campaign events during the 2016 election.
Clarke responded to the reporter by saying twice, “Make America great again.”
“We just want to get your side of the story,” said reporter Patrick Paolantonio.
“Looking forward to it,” Clarke said in his non-response response.