Ald. Bob Donovan is challenging Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the April 5 election. Credit: Mike De Sisti

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Milwaukee Ald. Bob Donovan walked out of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board meeting Monday over the presence of the newspaper's watchdog columnist, Daniel Bice.

Donovan said he had no intention of sitting down for an interview with the editorial board if Bice, whom he called a "gossip columnist," remained in the room.

"Write whatever you damn well please," Donovan said before leaving just minutes after he arrived.

David Haynes, the editorial page editor, told the south side alderman that it was the newspaper's longtime policy to allow reporters and columnists to join meetings when the editorial board interviews candidates and others.

"This will be a short meeting then," said Donovan, who is challenging Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the April 5 election.

"Then the meeting's over," Haynes said. "We're done."

"No, that's fine guys. Thank you," Donovan said.

Donovan's campaign largely has been focused on public safety and crime.

But Bice recently wrote about some of the south side alderman's past troubles with the law, including a 1992 citation for disorderly conduct for peeking through a hole in a partition between restroom stalls in a men's room at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Donovan was in his 30s at the time.

Bice's column also noted that in 2005, Donovan agreed to pay a $2,500 fine and to avoid any involvement with nonprofits for two years as part of a deal in which federal authorities dropped a misdemeanor fraud charge against him.

"I am not interested in speaking with an editorial board focused more on gossip and personal attacks than our city's real issues," Donovan later said in a statement.

Haynes disagreed.

"I'm disappointed in Alderman Donovan's decision to walk out of our meeting today," he said. "We demonstrate our interest in the serious problems facing this city every day on our pages and digital editions. Our invitation to the alderman to discuss these issues is, in fact, evidence of that."

Barrett has been comparing Donovan to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, raising questions about whether Donovan has the temperament to be Milwaukee's mayor.

In radio advertisements released earlier this month, Barrett accused Donovan of having "unsteady, erratic behavior" like Trump. The ads cite a pair of incidents involving Donovan, including a 2007 clash in which a constituent accused Donovan of cursing him out and trying to slap him in front of the man's 6-year-old niece. The man previously had two other people file restraining orders against him, and had been urging Donovan to help him take on a problem property next to his house.

In the other incident, which happened in 2008, Donovan was bloodied after scuffling with an apparently drunken man who had urinated in front of a store in his south side district.

"Alderman Donovan's main issue has been the need to get tough on law breakers," Journal Sentinel editor George Stanley said. "Dan Bice reported that the alderman paid a federal fine after voting to steer $200,000 in taxpayer money to a nonprofit that he founded. Bice reported that Donovan was cited for disorderly conduct after getting caught peeking into men's room stalls at UWM. He reported how a Donovan campaign staffer pleaded no contest to three counts of theft and owes a bunch in back taxes. Given that the alderman is seeking authority over fighting crime and spending millions in tax dollars, Bice has reported relevant facts, not gossip."

Donovan, who was first elected to the Common Council in 2000, is also running for re-election to his Common Council seat representing District 8.

Donovan's challenger in that race, Justin Bielinski, released a statement calling his behavior "childish."

"While not surprising to those who know him, the childish behavior displayed by my opponent today is not acceptable for any elected official, much less one who wants to be the mayor of a great city like Milwaukee," Bielinski said.