3 Dems, no Republicans file in race for sheriff
Aug. 14 primary winner likely to win the office
Three Democrats with law enforcement experience are running for Milwaukee County sheriff in the Aug. 14 primary — with the winner likely to take office because no Republican is on the ballot.
Each of the candidates — Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt, Deputy Robert Ostrowski, and former Milwaukee Police Department Capt. Earnell Lucas — will build campaigns upon their law enforcement records and promote separate plans for changing department priorities after the departure last year of former Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.
The primary winner, barring a successful write-in campaign, would be expected to cruise through the Nov. 6 general election.
No Republican candidate qualified to be listed on the ballot. The filing deadline was 5 p.m. Friday.
Nomination signatures collected by Deputy James Villwock, who had registered as a Republican candidate for the office, were rejected this week because he had used a form reserved for candidates for nonpartisan elections, County Election Commission officials said.
Villwock’s name will not be on ballots. Villwock said he is considering registering as an official write-in candidate to challenge the Democratic Party nominee.
Schmidt, 62, is the former senior commander of the agency who took over when Clarke resigned in August 2017. In April, Gov. Scott Walker declined to appoint an interim sheriff, so Schmidt is assured of serving through the end of Clarke’s term on Jan. 7.
Schmidt is a 31-year veteran of the agency. Since June 1986, he has worked in the jail and on patrol duty and was promoted to sergeant in 1996. He became a captain in 2002, deputy inspector in 2003 and inspector of detention services in 2006. Clarke promoted him to senior commander in 2010.
After stepping into the role of acting sheriff last year, Schmidt announced a series of initiatives to put his own mark on the agency.
He established saturation patrols on freeways to reduce reckless driving and speeding. He pledged to trim department spending and prevent a budget deficit this year.
Schmidt moved several top commanders from law enforcement duties to the jail to provide more supervision in the wake of seven custody deaths in the previous two years.
Schmidt is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety Executive Management Program.
Lucas, 59, had expected to challenge Clarke for the job when he became the first candidate to register a campaign for the office in April 2017.
Lucas is a 25-year veteran at the Milwaukee Police Department. He retired as a captain in January 2002 and subsequently took a job with Major League Baseball as supervisor of security and executive protection for thenCommissioner Bud Selig. He currently is employed as MLB’s chief liaison of security and investigations.
He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Northwestern University Traffic Institute School of Police Staff and Command.
“I will bring fresh, new leadership to
Milwaukee County,” Lucas said. “The current administration seems focused on covering up the failed leadership of the past.”
Through his work at MLB, he has collaborated with the leading law enforcement officials in the U.S. and around the world, according to Lucas.
One of his goals is to restore a high degree of professionalism in the Sheriff’s Office, he said.
Ostrowski, 50, has been a deputy sheriff for 16 years, with experience in several divisions, including patrol, airport, courts and jail. He is a former president of the Milwaukee County Deputy Sheriffs Association.
Ostrowski said the agency needs more deputies on the freeways to better serve the public and reduce the burden of overtime on officers, specifically eliminating the need for deputies to work 16-hour shifts.
The agency is not replacing retirees fast enough and not all new hires are adequately trained to be able to drive a squad car and step into patrol duties, he said.