Bice: Sheriff David Clarke would have gotten 35% pay raise in Trump job

President Donald Trump's administration was offering Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. a position that would have boosted his annual pay by more than $46,000.

According to a letter obtained by The Washington Post and confirmed by the Journal Sentinel, Clarke received a "tentative" job offer on May 5 to serve as an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

The job would have paid $179,000 a year, said the letter written by Michelle Monroe, a manager with the federal agency. As sheriff, Clarke makes $132,900 annually, meaning the job would have been a 35% pay hike.

In the past two years, Clarke has supplemented his sheriff's salary with speaking fees and other gifts while making the rounds on the conservative lecture circuit. Last year, he collected $220,172 in outside income and travel-related expenses while speaking to 34 groups around the country.

Of course, he might be in even greater demand after a stint in the Trump administration. 

Over the weekend, Clarke announced that he had withdrawn his name from consideration for the assistant secretary's post.

The one-page statement did not explain why the veteran sheriff had decided to reverse course after going public on May 17 to say he was leaving Milwaukee to join Trump's team. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm Clarke's announcement.

"Sheriff Clarke is no longer being considered for a position within DHS," an agency spokesman said on Sunday. "We wish him well." 

Clarke's tentative job offer was greeted with a chorus of criticism from civil rights groups and some 200 Democrats from the U.S. House. They raised concerns about the conservative sheriff's harsh comments about groups like Black Lives Matter, which he calls Black Lies Matter, and the death of four individuals at the Milwaukee County Jail under his watch in 2016.

In addition, CNN accused Clarke of plagiarizing his master's thesis. The school that awarded him his master’s degree has said it is investigating the allegation. 

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele — a frequent Clarke foe — said he was pleased the sheriff would not be taking a high-level job dealing with national security.

"I urge Sheriff Clarke to submit his resignation and allow Milwaukee to turn the page," Abele said in an email. "I am sure Gov. (Scott) Walker will appoint a good successor, and I look forward to working with whomever that is."

Known nationally for his colorful and incendiary rhetoric, Clarke did not disappoint in his response. In the past, he has insulted Abele by saying the county exec has "penis envy."

"Abele is pissed I will be sheriff until Jan. 2019 at a minimum. That's a long time," the sheriff wrote on the Facebook page for the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office. "He couldn't beat me at the ballot box in 2013 after spending $263,000 of his personal wealth trying to do it. I will resign right after that little mouse does."

Actually, Abele opened his wallet in July 2014 in an effort to defeat Clarke, but the point is pretty much the same.

More interesting is the suggestion in Clarke's Facebook post that he will stay in his job through the end of the current term. In his fourth term, he is up for re-election next year.

In the statement by Clarke's adviser, Craig Peterson, the sheriff is said to be "reviewing options inside and outside of government." 

It is, in other words, anybody's guess what the sheriff will do next.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.