When journalist Jessica McBride penned a glowing, 5,400-word profile of Police Chief Edward A. Flynn for Milwaukee Magazine earlier this year, many in the Milwaukee Police Department jokingly dismissed it as a love letter to the chief.

Little did they know.

Sometime earlier this year, Flynn and McBride struck up a romantic relationship.

Asked about the affair, the 61-year-old chief issued a statement Thursday acknowledging his indiscretion - without mentioning McBride, 39, by name.

"I have done my wife and family a great wrong, and I profoundly regret the hurt I have inflicted on them and others affected by my conduct," Flynn wrote. "I accept the personal and public consequences of my private behavior. I have damaged my public reputation and violated the trust and love of my family."

McBride - a journalism lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a former Journal Sentinel reporter - has refused to respond to numerous messages about the liaison. McBride has been a prominent figure in the community, serving as a talk-show host and political blogger.

With his confession, Flynn adds his name to the list of public figures who have had an affair with a journalist.

This month, the Los Angeles Times disclosed that L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was dating a local television reporter - two years after having an affair with another newscaster that led to his wife filing for divorce. Late last year, a top Miami school official was linked to a Miami Herald reporter who had sent him a series of racy e-mails suggesting they were romantically involved.

No Quarter first became aware of Flynn's relationship with McBride this month when someone anonymously sent a letter and e-mails purportedly written by the pair to one another.

"Perceived you instantly - knew you were a good person who does things for the right reason," reads one signed Jessica. "As a result, I began to struggle with the story - having to give time to vitriolic baseless attacks."

The affair may violate a basic tenet of journalism, particularly if, as the exchanges suggest, the two became involved while McBride was working on the lengthy article for the magazine's May issue. Reporters are strictly forbidden from writing about individuals with whom they have strong personal ties.

"It taints the nature of the piece," said Jeffrey Seglin, a national journalism ethics expert from Boston.

McBride, who worked at the Journal Sentinel full time from 1994 to 2004, supervises an online student publication that writes regularly about the Milwaukee Police Department.

Another leading ethicist, Rushworth Kidder, agreed with Seglin but said the bigger issue has to do with Flynn.

"The nature of a police chief's job, with all due respect to the medical profession, is not like being a dentist or dermatologist, where you can go home and have your weekends to yourself," said Kidder, founder of the Institute for Global Ethics. "It's 24-7.

"What are we to make of the sense of integrity of an individual who has got to be treading carefully with a bunch of things he would prefer to hide on one hand and yet on the other side is being asked to be completely open and honest and to set the model for integrity for others?"

In his statement, Flynn, who came to Milwaukee in January 2008, said he has talked with those closest to him about the affair.

"The people in my personal and professional life who needed to know the painful truth, know it and I have apologized to them," he wrote. "This is a personal matter that occurred in my private, off-duty time. I will continue to devote myself to making Milwaukee a better place.

"I hope that the people of this city who so warmly welcomed me can eventually forgive me."

Flynn issued the statement after he and McBride spent the better part of two weeks dodging questions.

Last week, police officials barred No Quarter from attending a news conference for fear the chief might be asked about McBride. After a press event this week, the chief twice stopped and stared in silence when asked if he could talk about the matter. His press aide had been given a series of questions about the relationship this month.

McBride has remained mum. She did not return calls, e-mails to her personal account, or notes sent to her via Facebook. But her husband, former Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, has talked privately about the relationship with others. Bucher, who ran unsuccessfully for state attorney general in 2006, spoke briefly to No Quarter about the matter, saying it was a personal issue.

During her stint at the Journal Sentinel, McBride worked in the Waukesha bureau and later moved to the downtown newsroom, where she covered the Milwaukee Police Department. When editors learned that she was dating Bucher, McBride was precluded by the company's ethics policy from covering stories involving the prosecutor, according to Journal Sentinel Editor Martin Kaiser.

No Quarter has not yet determined the anonymous source of the letter and e-mails. Until Flynn released his apology, neither party would answer phone calls, face-to-face interview requests or written questions. Details in the letter and e-mails match recent events in their lives, including McBride's trip to Paris, Flynn's testimony before a U.S. Senate committee and the recent birth of his grandchild. The letter is a four-page, handwritten note addressed "Dear Ed" and signed Jessica.

"I think there was something from the moment we locked eyes in Anne's office," the letter says, apparently referring to MPD spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz.

Milwaukee Magazine Editor Bruce Murphy said Thursday that he was unaware of the relationship. But Murphy said he stood by McBride's magazine piece, suggesting it was tougher than anything written about the chief.

Asked if he planned to inform his readers about the affair, Murphy said, "I don't think it has any bearing on the story. It was a great story."

The story, entitled "The Cop Who Can't Stop," referred to Flynn as a "bold choice." McBride talked up his strong résumé, energy and fitness, edgy sense of humor and success at MPD's helm. He is referred to in the story as "blunt yet charming."

"Flynn is also a compelling physical presence: tall, iron-haired, fit (he once rode a bicycle 233 miles) and energetic. He has what one observer calls 'command bearing,' " McBride wrote of the chief. "But was he too good to be true?"

The handwritten note discussed her writing process.

"Just felt a little protective. Knew I didn't want to do you wrong," the letter says.

It says the two became involved after an interview at Brocach Irish Pub and Restaurant on Water St.

"I honestly had myself almost convinced that we were going to talk about the police department at (Brocach) that night!" it says. "Now that sounds so naïve. But something special happened between us that night; I will always cherish it. A complete meeting on all levels - mind, body, heart that I have never experienced. You completed me that night."

McBride has taught ethics as part of her journalism classes at UWM. The Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics says reporters should "remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility."

Paul Brewer, the head of UWM's Journalism and Mass Communications Department, declined to comment on the situation, saying he knew nothing about it.

Several of the e-mails suggest that both were love-struck.

In one, the author says he has had "an insipid smile on my face all day."

"Warm, no not warm, hot memories of beautiful moments . . . and visuals," the e-mails say. "I feel younger today than I did last night."

Sources say Flynn has talked with his boss, Mayor Tom Barrett, apologizing for his lapse in judgment. The chief flew to Virginia last weekend to inform his wife about the relationship, sources confirmed. She did not move to Milwaukee when Flynn took the job.

Late Thursday, the mayor's spokeswoman released a statement showing support for Flynn:

"Police Chief Flynn is a very effective chief who has done an excellent job working to make Milwaukee a safer city."

Daniel Bice can be contacted by phone at (414) 223-5468 or by e-mail at dbice@journalsentinel.com.