Clarke, usually full of bombast, exits quietly

Sheriff’s resignation comes amid increasing controversy over his words and actions

The tenure of former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. — so full of sound and fury — ended in a whimper.

His assistant dropped off a one-sentence letter of resignation to Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson at 3:16 p.m. Thursday. That was followed by a two-sentence press statement.

“After almost forty years serving the great people of Milwaukee County, I have chosen to retire to pursue other opportunities,” Clarke said in a statement.

In his words, he was simply retiring. Or resigning. Or quitting.

Available at the drop of a Stetson to join Sean Hannity, the sheriff couldn’t muster the energy — or interest — to stand before the voters of Milwaukee County, the ones who elected him to his $132,290-a-year job four times, to explain exactly why he was leaving before his term was up.

In the past, Clarke has been quick to argue that he has no problems handling his national media commitments

and activities while still doing his day job.

“I can do this at the same time,” Clarke said last year, referring to the job to which he was elected. “It’s doable.”

Besides, he said at the combative interview, he was needed elsewhere. “This is not Mayberry R.F.D.,” he added, saying he can be easily reached when on the road. “For some reason, for some reason, my voice has grown nationally.”

Fox News and Breitbart News were beckoning.

Many of Clarke’s critics have argued that Clarke lost interest in Milwaukee County long ago.

Over the past two years, he has parlayed his anti-Black Lives Matter message into a lucrative side business, having taken in more than $370,000 in speaking fees, gifts, lodging, airfare

and other travelrelated expenses while speaking to numerous conservative groups.

Not a bad little parttime gig.

And that doesn’t count all of the time Clarke has spent on the road campaigning for President Donald Trump. In the final weeks of last year’s tumultuous campaign, the sheriff was flown around the country by a pro-Trump super PAC stumping for the Republican nominee.

“I am pleased to learn of the resignation of David Clarke, who obviously no longer wanted to be sheriff of Milwaukee County and had lost touch with the people,” said Milwaukee County Supervisor Supreme Moore Omokunde.

A handful of local conservative officials remain big fans of the sheriff, even if they’re a little defensive of the fact.

“Whether you agreed with him or not, he had the guts to take a stand,” said Milwaukee Ald. Bob Donovan.

Asked to rate Clarke’s performance during his 15 years in office, Gov. Scott Walker, who will appoint his successor, took a pass.

“I will leave that to law enforcement experts,” Walker said. “That’s really not what I’m paid to do.”

Clarke’s extended leave of absence didn’t go unnoticed.

Over the years, when I wrote about the sheriff, readers and callers were pretty much split 50-50 in their views about Clarke and what I wrote about him. But starting last year, those critical of the sheriff far outnumbered his defenders.

Plenty of times, people called to say they had supported him in the past but no longer. They said Clarke had gone AWOL. They said his public statements had gotten too nasty. They said he had changed.

Perhaps. But the truth is, Clarke — the selfdescribed “bare-knuckle fighter” — has always enjoyed poking his many critics in the eye. Remember that he accused Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele of “penis envy” long before he famously called for “pitchforks and torches” on the campaign trail last year.

It’s not like there was nothing to do here.

Reporters from outside Milwaukee are always surprised to find out how small the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office is and how few serious crimes it investigates. Clarke’s budget had been cut and cut again and the agency’s responsibilities have been trimmed.

But Clarke’s operation had still struggled to handle its remaining tasks.

Five people have died at the Milwaukee County Jail since the start of 2016. An inquest jury has recommended criminal charges against seven of Clarke’s staffers for their role in the death of Terrill Thomas, a mentally ill man who died of dehydration in a solitary cell last year.

And long before that, workers at the jail had been accused of giving lap dances to one another, taking lewd photos of their fellow employees, stealing from an office fund and raping an inmate.

Clarke walks away while still facing a handful of lawsuits.

But Clarke has been nearly silent — for him — since his possible job in the Trump administration blew up.

Clarke announced in May that he would be joining the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a high-level job before anyone in the agency announced the appointment. Then he was accused of plagiarizing portions of his master’s thesis, which has still not been put back online. All the while, the sheriff was left cooling his heels as Homeland Security officials remained mum about the job.

After a month, Clarke pulled the plug on the federal post.

Since then, he has gone to a national conference, posted a smattering of tweets, made an appearance or two on Hannity and even got in one last shot at Abele.

“Abele is pissed I will be Sheriff until Jan. 2019 at a minimum,” Clarke wrote on the Facebook page for the Sheriff’s Office on June 19. “That’s a long time.”

Or maybe not.