It is no deep secret that when David Clarke was Milwaukee County Sheriff, he didn't do much but shoot off his mouth and acted like a bully. It was not unusual to see stories of Clarke abusing the powers of his office to harass, intimidate or retaliate against anyone - deputy or private citizen - who would defy him, show him up or embarrass him

So it should be no surprise that he filled his command staff with loyalists who behaved much the same way as he did.

Before Clarke fled to Washington DC to become a top acolyte to Trump, he spent most of his time gallivanting about, collecting hefty speaker fees, stumping for Trump and/or schmoozing up to Russian spies. During these times, he would leave his right hand man, then Inspector Richard Schmidt in charge. These times included when six inmates died in the county jail, including one that was denied water for a full week.

When Clarke did finally make his exit stage radical right, Scott Walker appointed Schmidt to be acting sheriff. Now, a year later, Schmidt is running in his first election bid. Just as Clarke did, Schmidt is running as a Democrat even though he is anything but one.

While no polls have been done on this race, campaign finance reports indicate that Schmidt is running a distant second to the front runner, Earnell Lucas. Schmidt knows this too as shown by him becoming increasingly negative and pandering to special interest dark money to bolster his failing and flailing campaign.

Unfortunately for Schmidt, his past will continue to haunt him going into these final weeks before the primary, which is actually the general election since no one is running as a Republican. This would include his above-mentioned deaths in the jail he was overseeing.

Recently, a letter from three years ago has surfaced. The letter is a complaint against Schmidt, accusing him of harassment, retaliation, sexist remarks and defamation of character. It was filed by a woman captain that was denied a promotion and punished after suing to protect her rights.

Schmidt Complaint by Chris Liebenthal on Scribd

Some Schmidt apologists have tried to defend him by saying he was just following Clarke's orders, but that is a lame excuse. First of all, any person, but especially a law enforcement officer, should always do the right thing, even if it might make them uncomfortable. Secondly, it is sincerely doubtful that even Clarke would have ordered Schmidt to tell a woman that she just "find a rich guy, get married and quit."

Schmidt, like Clarke, is obviously unfit for office and needs to be voted out. Hopefully, Milwaukee County voters won't keep making the same mistake this time around.