Taxpayers on Hook in Milwaukee County, as Sheriff Clarke Refuses to Cut 27 Deputies! Where’s the outrage?

Budget Cuts are only good when Republicans are going after Democratic things I guess. Now County officials are suing the rogue Sheriff to make the cuts stick. According to Clarke, no one can dictate how to protect the public…or spend their money?

For conservative who whine constantly about cutting public employees, along with their wages and benefits, they seem okay with Republican Sheriff David Clarke’s 27 unbudgeted deputies. He’s syphoning money the county doesn’t have. Sheriff Clarke is at this point picking the voters tightwad pockets, yet I hear nothing but crickets from the far right.

jsonline: The battle over layoffs to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department spilled over into the courtroom Tuesday, with the county suing to force Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. to drop 27 deputies … an injunction to stop Clarke from disregarding 2012 budget actions and to get on with the layoffs. When elected officials go rogue, like Clarke, what can be done? Republicans are flexing their conservative activist court muscle right now, knowing judges will take their side. There really can’t be any other explanation.

Corporation Counsel Kimberly Walker said Clarke was putting county taxpayers at risk by continuing to deploy the 27 deputies who should have lost their jobs Dec. 31. Anyone issued a speeding ticket or arrested could argue that action was invalid because the laid-off deputies no longer work for the county, she said. Arrests made by the laid-off deputies could be portrayed as kidnapping or a civil rights violation, Walker said. "We've got a potential liability," Walker said in an interview. "These people shouldn't be doing work for the county."

Abele said Clarke's inaction on the layoffs "threatens to create a budget deficit and liabilities that would land on county taxpayers."

But so what, Republican voters won’t say a word.

Michael Whitcomb, Clarke's lawyer, said Clarke can't be forced to act on layoffs by Abele and the County Board. "No one can dictate" to Clarke how he should do his job of protecting the public, Whitcomb said after a brief court hearing. "The sheriff is a constitutional officer. He's not a county employee."

Well than maybe he can get all the funding he needs from...the “Constitution?”