Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Did Abele Pull A Security Scam On Taxpayers?

As I noted in the previous post, there was a debate between Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele and his opponent, State Senator Chris Larson.  One of the issues that were raised in the debate was Abele's Hollywood bodyguards.

If the gentle reader might remember, three years ago Boss Abele asked for $400,000 from the county budget so that he could have a private security force.  Abele claimed at the time that there had been credible threats to his personal safety. Abele needed a private security firm because he refused to work with Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke in making arrangements for deputies to provide security like every other county executive had done.

Fortunately, the county board had the foresight to cut his request to $100,000.  Abele still went with his elite Imperial Guard but paid the remainder of the cost out of pocket.  In the 2016 budget, the county board went further to say he would get no taxpayer dollars unless he used deputies for his security.  He still refused to do so.

In Monday's debate, Abele shared the story for the first time on why he wanted the elite security force:
Abele became animated when recounting the story. He said he was out to dinner, and a babysitter was at home with his children when a man came to the door.

"(The sitter) starts to open the door. It gets kicked open. The sitter gets knocked off her feet. Papers fly out of this guy`s hands that have all sorts of crazy threats. And he starts saying, 'are you Mrs. Abele? Are you Mrs. Abele?'" Chris Abele said.
I'm sure that the incident was very frightening for the babysitter.  However, it should be noted that the alleged assailant had never been arrested, much less charged.

But there are a couple of questions that rises from the story.

One is if it was such a horrible and immediate threat that he needed a premium security force, why did it take him over a year to hire them?

Secondly, how would the bodyguards have helped in this situation if they were with him and not at the home?

Abele's words and his actions just don't add up.

On the bright side, Milwaukeeans do have a better option.

Chris Larson said that he would work with the Sheriff's Office to use deputies for his security.  And if that didn't work out because of Clarke's idiocy, he would use one of the municipality police forces:
Larson said "I think people know" that he and Clarke wouldn't get along either, but said he had a different plan if he couldn't use a Milwaukee County deputy.

"If that`s the case, we`ll go to another law enforcement (agency)," Larson said. "We have 19 municipalities (in the county), and they have police officers. We would have a public safety official when we have that need."
Like I said, we have a better option.

Larson is more frugal, more honest and a helluva lot more likable.

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