Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has said he might try to further cut Sheriff David Clarke’s budget in the wake of controversial comments the law enforcement official has made about African-Americans.
Earlier this year, Abele proposed a $9 million cut for the county sheriff’s department. County supervisors, in passing the annual county budget now on Abele’s desk, restored $4 million. However, Abele now says he might veto the $4 million following Clarke’s recent criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement, and of African-Americans in general.
Those criticisms included the following tweet made in late October:
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Before long, Black Lies Matter will join forces with ISIS to being down our legal constituted republic. You heard it first here.
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) October 28, 2015
Clarke has also strongly condemned Black Lives Matter during various appearances on Fox News programs, including on “The Sean Hannity Show” in October.
Said Abele on Thursday: “Honestly, I don’t like the idea of putting an exclamation point in any way, indirectly or not, behind the kind of asinine comments that (Clarke has) made on the national stage.”
Some Milwaukee County supervisors have also blasted Clarke’s remarks, but say they approved the $4 million in the interest of public safety.
On Saturday, the sheriff’s office released a new statement from Clarke: “Abele is a snake. He is a 1% er and one of the most despicable human beings I have ever met. He is dishonest, untrustworthy and vindictive. He is the guy who spent $263,000 of his personal wealth trying to defeat me in my re-election last November. I would never turn my back on him for one second.”
Abele will announce his budget vetoes next week. The board could still potentially override those vetoes.
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