Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, who is trying to unseat Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in the state's upcoming recall election, skipped out on a ceremony honoring fallen police officers this week to meet with union organizers.
Wisconsin radio station 620 WTMJ reports:
Law enforcement officials are angered and looking for answers after Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett did not attend two separate law enforcement recognition ceremonies this week, including one that recognizes Milwaukee police officers killed in the line of duty.
On Tuesday evening, the Milwaukee police department held their annual Merit Awards Ceremony. Mayor Barrett was scheduled to be at that event. Organizers tell me he canceled so late that there wasn't even time to take his name off the program. It was on the printed program that evening.
The radio station reports Barrett was speaking with union organizers in Oshkosh. The Walker campaign was quick to respond.
"The fact that Mayor Tom Barrett skipped out on a memorial honoring Milwaukee law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty is offensive and wrong," a Walker campaign spokesman said in an email to the Free Beacon. "Barrett clearly thought his time was better spent campaigning to 50 union members in Oshkosh than to honor Milwaukee's fallen police officers. As if this wasn't shameful enough, Barrett's campaign speech was nothing more than an angry tirade against Governor Walker. Mayor Barrett's hypocrisy is stunning, and highlights his long record of putting his next failed campaign before his duty to those he was elected to represent."