Chris Moews, on the street
Bold and often controversial public statements by Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke have lured past challenger Chris Moews, a homicide lieutenant within the Milwaukee Police Department, out into the open, where he’s begun campaigning roughly a year in advance of the February 2014 primary that will pit him against the rabble-rousing incumbent and fellow Democrat.
Moews and supporters held a kickoff event last week (one of a few) at the cozy Brocach bar on Water Street, and other events held at Gus’ Mexican Cantina in Franklin and on the North Side on Tuesday suggest the long-time cop is getting sort of serious this time around. Moews lost in the 2010 primary 47-53, after a relatively quiet campaign.
Moews started promoting his 2014 campaign on Facebook way back in October 2012, when he held a “jumpstart” event at La Fuente Mexican Restaurant (we’re going to have to ask Clarke what he thinks is the best chimichanga in town). “This election will be upon us sooner than we think,” Moews wrote. (Oct. 1 was also Moews’ birthday, so that made everything convenient for his friends.)
Since then, the early bird campaign has amounted to waiting for Clarke to say something that’s contentious and that could be depicted as outlandish in a tart reply.
In response to Clarke’s recent suggestion that the federal government is more dangerous than international terrorism, Moews said, “The people of Milwaukee County deserve better … They deserve someone who cares about putting public safety before conspiracy theorizing. They deserve someone who isn’t advocating for overthrowing the government.”
The Moews family lives in the Jackson Park neighborhood, ever a welcoming milieu for those of the law enforcement persuasion. Nearby aldermen include Joe Dudzik, son of former police union president Jerry Dudzik, and Bob Donovan, Mr. Law and Order himself.
Burying Clarke in his own rhetoric may seem like shooting a big ol’ turkey in a barrel, but he’s a survivor; and it’s easy to underestimate the number of conservatives living in Milwaukee County, where 32 percent voted for Mitt Romney in 2012, versus 46 percent statewide in a state that has twice endorsed allowing Scott Walker to serve as governor for four years.
Below is a video of Moews hitting some doors in 2010.
