Gimbel comments called inaccurate, racist
Eleven members of the Milwaukee Common Council on Wednesday slammed remarks made by the attorney for ousted Police Chief Alfonso Morales on a radio show earlier in the week as “inaccurate and racist.”
“Attorney Frank Gimbel shared his thoughts on the history of policing in Milwaukee,” the council members said in a statement. “They were profoundly disturbing. He then followed these thoughts with inaccurate and racist remarks about the current make-up of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.”
In response, Gimbel said that throughout his career he has “always, always been on the side of racial justice” and that he was offended by council members’ suggestion that he was a supporter of former Milwaukee Police Chief Harold Breier. He also said one of his comments regarding the commission was “probably not very well articulated.”
Council members were reacting to comments Gimbel made on WTMJ-AM (620) Monday morning where he called Breier “an old-fashioned law and order guy if ever there was one.”
The comments came days after a judge reversed the Fire and Police Commission’s decision to demote Morales, which had prompted him to retire, sue and request a judicial review of the decision. The aldermen took particular offense at a comment Gimbel made about the current makeup of the Fire and Police Commission, and compared it to the membership when he was on the panel.
“Perhaps using ZIP codes to appoint people to that commission rather than IQs may contribute to the kind of faltering steps that they’ve taken in recent years,” Gimbel said.
The council members charged that by “ZIP codes” Gimbel was comparing the races of the commissioners today compared to when he served on the commission in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“If Mr. Gimbel meant something else when he divided people by ‘ZIP code’ other than their race, we encourage him to share it. We can’t think of what that might be,” wrote the council members.
The statement came from Ald. Ashanti Hamilton, Common Council President Cavalier Johnson and Alds. Nik Kovac, Nikiya Dodd, Milele A. Coggs, Khalif Rainey, JoCasta Zamarripa, Chantia Lewis, Mark Borkowski, Jóse G. Pérez and Russell Stamper, II.
The aldermen said their statement should not imply they agree with all of the commission’s decisions.
Gimbel said he was offended by the suggestion that he was a supporter of Breier’s and said his reference to Breier being a “law and order guy” was not a
compliment.
“We went at each other on a regular basis but not in an outrageous, public display,” he said. “And if those people who criticized me and put me under the covers with Chief Breier would look at the facts, they would see that Commissioner (William) Gore and I and the other members of the commission at that time were staunchly prointegrating the Police Department and aggressively attempting to have more minority members of the department promoted.”
Criticized for his failure to rein in excessive force, especially when it was used against African Americans, Breier was condemned by the Common Council in 1984 for making racist remarks.
The statement from the aldermen said: “The late Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane called Chief Breier ‘a racist administrator, a borderline fascist, and the man who contributed to the segregated reputation of Milwaukee more than any other.’”
Gimbel said his reference to ZIP codes rather than IQs was “probably not very well articulated.” He said he believes that in communities of color there are people with experiences relevant to overseeing the Police Department but that the people on the commission currently do not have that experience.
“My record on being a person who’s sought to diminish and to eliminate racism in government is long-standing from the time when I was a young lawyer. … I’m very, very resentful that they would suggest that I am racist,” he said.