Daniel Bice

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

David A. Clarke Jr. has one pretty sweet deal as Milwaukee County's part-time sheriff.

It turns out that the $132,290 annual salary Clarke receives as sheriff is chump change compared to the money he is bringing in as a featured speaker on the conservative and law enforcement lecture circuit.

His recently filed statement on outside income shows that he collected $220,172 in speaking fees, gifts, lodging, airfare and other travel-related expenses in 2016 while speaking to 34 different groups around the country. That's up by about 50% from the previous year.

In 2016, Clarke received $105,727 in cash for his speeches and another $13,472 in gifts, including three guns, three shirts, two hats and a $3,940 cruise to the Cayman Islands. He had not said if he kept the money or donated to charity, as Gov. Scott Walker does with his gifts.

ONGOING COVERAGE: Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele criticized the sheriff, a frequent political foe, for being missing in action from his day job.

"The people of Milwaukee pay the sheriff's salary for him to do his job here in Milwaukee, not to spend 60-plus days of the year collecting fees to speak at events out of state," said Abele, who reported no outside income on his annual ethics form.

"Seems like if he's going to advertise himself as Milwaukee County sheriff on the six-figure speaking circuit, he ought to have to occasionally show up and be the sheriff of Milwaukee County," said Scot Ross, head of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now.

These numbers for outside income do not include reimbursements for travel expenses or payments he received while touring the country late last year as a surrogate for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign. Nor does it include any advance that he was paid to write his upcoming book, "Cop Under Fire."

State Rep. David Crowley, a Milwaukee Democrat who has called on the governor to remove Clarke, said the sheriff should have been focused on the deaths at the Milwaukee County Jail instead of lining up speaking gigs around the country. Four individuals — three inmates and an infant — have died at the jail since April.

"He is a national embarrassment, and I call into question his integrity and devotion to his job," Crowley said. A recent survey by Public Policy Polling showed Clarke's approval rating had dropped to 31% in Milwaukee County and had fallen to 13% among Democrats here.

The sheriff did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2014, Clarke was just another Midwestern sheriff with a penchant for provocative pronouncements.

But he burst on the national scene late in 2014 by beating back an effort led by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to oust him from office and with his defense of police officers in the face of protests around the country.

His profile as "America's Sheriff" has continued to soar with his frequent appearances on Fox News shows, where he frequently spoke out in favor of gun rights while issuing searing blasts at the Black Lives Matter movement and Trump critics, culminating with a high-profile speech at the Republican National Convention. Clarke is still believed to be in line for a potential appointment in the Trump administration.

To see how Clarke has cashed in on his newfound prominence, consider this: In 2014, he listed outside income of $1,609 for a .45-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun and a pair of tickets to a Washington, D.C., business banquet. His gifts, speaking fees and reimbursements for travel expenses this year were 136 times that figure.

Here are a few highlights from Clarke's recently filed ethics statement:

The National Review , a conservative magazine, footed the $9,434 bill for Clarke and his wife, Julie, to speak and serve as a panelist on a Cayman Islands cruise in November. The airfare for the cruise — the sheriff likes to fly first class — came to $4,232, more than the cost of the cruise itself.

, a conservative magazine, footed the $9,434 bill for Clarke and his wife, Julie, to speak and serve as a panelist on a Cayman Islands cruise in November. The airfare for the cruise — the sheriff likes to fly first class — came to $4,232, more than the cost of the cruise itself. Media outlets picked up the cost of car services totaling $27,550 for Clarke to appear on various news shows last year. That tab covered 108 round-trips and 10 one-way jaunts to interviews.

Clarke visited 21 states, Washington, D.C., and the Cayman Islands as he made speeches to groups around the country.

His largest honorarium was $15,000, an amount he was paid by each of two groups, the Aspen Glen Club in Colorado and the New Majority in Los Angeles. He was paid $10,000 to speak at Constitution Week in Grand Lakes, Colo., in September and again to speak at a seminar hosted by Hillsdale College in New York City.

in Colorado and the in Los Angeles. He was paid $10,000 to speak at in Grand Lakes, Colo., in September and again to speak at a seminar hosted by in New York City. Gifts given to the sheriff last year ranged from painted ponies and a DVD trilogy (the movie is not identified) to a Smith & Wesson handgun and a Silver Belly felt cowboy hat.

In 2015 and 2016 combined, Clarke received gifts, speaking fees, lodging, meals, airfare and other expenses exceeding $370,000.

That is nearly three times his annual salary as sheriff.

"I reported everything that I was required to report," Clarke said last year regarding his burgeoning side career as lecture speaker. He referred other questions at that time to his attorney, who refused to comment.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @ DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.