Will Rebecca Bradley Condemn Fundraiser David Clarke’s ‘Reprehensible’ Comments

MADISON, Wis. — While the world remained stunned and grieving in the aftermath of the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, France, which claimed at least 120 lives, Tea Party Milwaukee County Sheriff Clarke publicly called for Republicans to exploit the tragedy for political gain. One Wisconsin Now is calling for three-time Walker appointee Rebecca Bradley, who has been using Clarke to raise money for her Supreme Court campaign, to condemn the actions and return campaign funds she received from his help.

On Friday night while much was still unknown about both the number of victims and whether a number of the terrorists carrying out the attack were still at large, Clarke tweeted: “If GOP plays this politically smart they can end any chance that the Dems win the WH in 2016. War is politics carried on by other means.”

“This is where the rubber meets the road for Rebecca Bradley: Will she condemn David Clarke’s comments and return the money he raised for her, or does she support his reprehensible comments,” said Scot Ross. “Urging Republicans to exploit the Paris terrorist attacks for partisan political gain is something everyone on the ideological spectrum with an ounce of common sense and decency should be condemning. Yet this is someone who Rebecca Bradley has chosen to approve as her messenger. It is appalling.”

One Wisconsin Now noted that Clarke has a long history of accusing his opponents of “exploiting” violence for political gain.

In 2014, Clarke said “That’s the anti-gun movement in this country and they lay dormant and they’ve laid dormant for a long time because there is no public support for the kind of nonsense that they’re suggesting and they know it, so they lay dormant and when a situation arises, they exploit that. They exploit it, the misery and the tragedy of the people of Newton, Connecticut, the Sandy Hook school. They exploited their tragedy for political gain. They have no soul to do something like that.” [Project Veritas, Gun Control Issues With Sheriff David Clarke, video, 3/29/2014]

In 2012, following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Clarke berated “liberals for exploiting tragedy once again in our country and try(ing) to use tragedy as a reason to take our rights away.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/19/2012]

As reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, just this August, Clarke told Sean Hannity in the wake of the televised shootings of a reporter and cameraman in Virginia, “Shame on the left, shame on the Democrats for once again exploiting misery and tragedy to pursue a political agenda…Shame on the president of the United States to invoke terrorism into this horrific incident that happened in Virginia.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11/14/2015]

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported earlier this month that Bradley was using Clarke to raise campaign money for her.