Some say Sheriff Clarke did more to protect Romney in WI than Obama

Democrats criticize Sheriff Clarke over dignitary protection

MILWAUKEE -- Democrats are accusing Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke of playing politics with protection. They say Sheriff Clarke put more effort and resources into protecting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney during a rally Sunday, August 12th than he did protecting President Barack Obama in Milwaukee six months ago.

"It looks like he put his hands in the air and said 'hey, whatever you want from me.' We'll send our Milwaukee men and women out there to guard you at a partisan political event when he wouldn't do the same thing for an elected President of the United States," Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski said.

The Sheriff's Office sent the Milwaukee County Bomb Squad to Sunday's event in Waukesha. The Bomb Squad is commonly used in Waukesha County -- as Waukesha doesn't have its own bomb squad.

Now, Zielinski and at least one county supervisor are concerned the resources went much further.

"The fact that he's not telling the public right now just how many men and women were put on this detail shows that he's hiding something and I think the public deserves a full account of why he's doing this," Zielinski said.

Sheriff Clarke would not grant FOX6 News and interview on the topic Monday -- instead, issuing a statement discussing how County Executive Chris Abele eliminated funding for dignitary protection in his budget.

Clarke's statement reads: "As a person who has received extensive training in dignitary protection with the Secret Service, rule one is that we do not discuss publicly specific aspects of the security operation.

It was erroneously reported that we cut back on protection for the president in February.

At that time, we provided what the Secret Service asked us to provide. Despite County Executive Abele’s decision to eliminate all funding for dignitary protection in the 2012 budget, we continue to provide the requested resources for presidential and vice presidential candidates.

This fabrication that some dignitaries are receiving more protection than others is inserting political gamesmanship into a protection operation where it doesn’t belong. This nonsense puts protectees at risk."