Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Gun-grabber Bloomberg’s epic fail in Milwaukee

By David A. Clarke Jr

Billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg could learn a thing or two from the biblical story about an Israelite soldier named David, who went up against Goliath, a giant of a man and a powerful foe. Using just a sling and a stone, David brought Goliath down to his knees and destroyed him.

Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, made a huge political miscalculation when he sauntered into my territory of Milwaukee County, Wis. — a solid-blue county that overwhelmingly votes Democrat — expecting an easy signature win for his failing crusade to disarm law-abiding Americans.

Willing to spend up to $50 million of his wealth to help defeat any pro-gun candidate, he focuses his aim on those running for state legislative and congressional offices. His plan is to enact gun-control legislation state by state, since he realizes there is no appetite in Congress to enact federal gun-control legislation, not even for the misleading idea called universal background checks.

Two years ago, I ran a series of self-defense local radio ads advising residents that they are the first line of defense in their own safety. I told them to consider taking a firearms-safety course so they could defend themselves and their families from imminent attack. In April, I spoke at the National Rifle Association's convention in Indianapolis, and that brought me into Mr. Bloomberg's cross hairs.

According to one Democratic Party source, Mr. Bloomberg said of his attempt to knock me off in my re-election primary for sheriff, "This one is personal with me." That is a sign of desperation. Yes, even billionaires can be greedy. Surely, Mr. Bloomberg saw me as an easy win that he could parade around the country as a warning to other pro-gun candidates to either get in line with his anti-gun movement or face defeat at the polls. He saw picking off a big-city, pro-gun sheriff as a prize worth landing.

So in parachuted billionaire Mr. Bloomberg, dropping $150,000 on my opponent in a weekend TV blitz that depicted me as a gun nut, hell-bent on arming every law-abiding citizen in Milwaukee County. The TV ads he financed depicted me telling residents to forgo calling 9-1-1 and to handle to handle local policing themselves, which is as contorted a view of my personal-defense radio ads as one could imagine.

Mr. Bloomberg's plan didn't work. People here are smarter than he thought, and they did not like this outsider rolling into town trying to oust Wisconsin's only black sheriff.



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