Saturday, November 22, 2014

Fake outrage over Milwaukee civilian police staffer's outside consulting

Talk radio was kvetching over some paid consulting work that Milwaukee police chief Ed Flynn's chief of staff is doing on his own time occasionally in Pittsburgh.

You know what?

So what.

The critics don't like Flynn - - who approved the brief consulting arrangement - -  or Mayor Barrett, so this is being framed as something to fret about.

AM 620 WTMJ's Jeff Wagner, for example, wondered if it was double-dipping.

Which it is not.

But while we're on the subject of who may not be sitting at his or her desk giving full attention to their assigned tasks - - did the critics care that Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke spent considerable time in California working on a Master's degree?

Do they care that Gov. Walker has spent and continues to spend days, weeks, and months continually and cumulatively on the road these last four years campaigning and fund-raising, and preening for media?

OK - - Clarke and Walker are elected officials, and they more or less make their own schedules, but don't those jobs entail substantial responsibilities which require an approach that goes beyond phoning it in, literally?

And some of the micro-managers and finger-waggers in town who think they've spotted something scandalous about all this are, mind you, the same people who pushed hard to let Milwaukee police officers move out of town.

I guess one employee's freedom of availability and scheduling is another person's dereliction of duty.

And here's a question:

Will Flynn's internal critics complain loudly enough to put their own second-jobs in retail, or, gasp - - consulting - - or in security work, etc., under the microscope?

And, you know, it's possible that Flynn's aide will come back to Milwaukee after his brief, vacation-day trips to Pittsburgh with some fresh ideas to plug into Milwaukee, as if he'd been attending workshops or seminars, rather than leading them.

No charge.

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