I'm not obsessed with David Clarke

Really, I'm not.

But here's one more story about the thing: Turns out the deputy that Sheriff Clarke re-assigned in retaliation is suing, given that the re-assignment violates the department's regulations:

The lawsuit was filed late Wednesday on behalf of Schuh and the union, the Milwaukee Deputy Sheriff's Association. It accuses Clarke of violating the deputy's right to free speech by reassigning him in retaliation for writing [an opinon column critical of Clarke in a union newspaper]. It also claims Clarke violated the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, which allows officers "to freely engage in political activity without adverse employment consequences." [. . .]

When Clarke read the article and spotted the union newspaper in several deputies' mailboxes, he demanded that each person who had received it write a report "explaining the reason for the presence of that newspaper in their mailbox," the suit says.

The area Clarke chose for Schuh's new assignment was a square mile defined in an earlier Journal Sentinel article as the "city's deadliest area" and a "high killing area," the suit says.

The union agreement calls for two weeks' notice of reassignment, the suit says. Department policy also requires proper training of deputies who are given new duties, it says. It claims Clarke violated both of these.

So there you go.

In the comments (well, the sole comment) to the post below was blog-neighbor Heraldblog noting that he's glad Clarke did not win the mayoral election last spring. Imagine the kind of huffery, puffery, and tyranny that Clarke could throw around from the City Hall. That got me thinking even more, on the drive to work today, about how Clarke might have reacted to losing the PabstCity vote, as Mayor Tom Barrett did the other day.

Now, I haven't been following the PabstCity stuff as much as I should have (a boy can only have so many irons in the fire, you know), but other blog-neighbor Scott noted the vote, and has commented elsewhere. It's clear from news reports that the Milwaukee Common Council just simply bucked Barrett: Aldermen who were thinking about supporting the city's involvement in the project reversed course to defeat the plan.

Barrett reacted with an angry press conference. Clarke, on the other hand, would have reassigned the aldermen to pick up recycling or something.

I suppose it should be noted that Clarke probably would not have supported throwing tax dollars into PabstCity, given how much he dislikes throwing tax money away--except when he doesn't. (Nod to Xoff for the pointer to the Milwaukee Sherriff blog.)