I’ve known Sheriff David W. Zoerner for more than a decade—he’s my friend. I supported him when he lost. I supported him when he won. I believed in him. But today, I’m disappointed—and I have an obligation to say so.

Before this publication even existed, I stood by Zoerner through two failed campaigns for Sheriff. I believed he was the right man for the job. I still believe that good men can lose their way—but only if people stop holding them accountable. That’s not something I’m willing to do, even for a friend.

I quit drinking in 2010, but if I were driving drunk and got pulled over, Zoerner wouldn’t order a deputy to let me go—and rightfully so. He has a job to do. I do too, however. I have to hold those in power accountable, including him and his sworn deputies.

I’ve had to sue Zoerner for making illegal redactions. He wouldn’t give me an unredacted bodycam footage of a call for service at Ted Kmiec’s house. Ted was reportedly having a mental health crisis and accused me of planting bugs and a camera in his home. It is unknown if this was caused by drug use.

Speaking of Ted Kmiec, he is an attorney that Zoerner gives criminal immunity to. In December 2024, the Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at Kmiec’s residence related to multiple allegations of sexual assault. No charges were ever filed against Ted. When I pressed for answers, I encountered silence. According to court records and affidavits, dope was found in almost every room of the house—including Ted’s bedroom, office, living room, and kitchen. The Sheriff’s Department reportedly ordered that he not receive any charges. Ted didn’t deny possession and ownership of the dope. Remember—Zoerner ran on “pot is evil.” Apparently not for the elite—pot is OK for them.

I wrote about this abuse of power and Zoerner wasn’t happy with me. But I did my job. He didn’t do his. No one should be above the law, a stranger to the Sheriff, or a friend.

Then, a young man was exposing himself in the girls’ locker room of Central High School. I was tipped off by an employee of the Sheriff’s Department who thought it was wrong that it wasn’t being investigated criminally. The Deputy there, School Resource Officer (SRO) Alex Hyatt, isn’t a good deputy. He didn’t conduct a criminal investigation. He didn’t write a report. And none of his bosses, including the Sheriff, told him to. To this day, according to police records, they never have.

Then, Sheriff Zoerner hired a multiple felon and ex-gang member to be a sworn deputy. This irked a lot of deputies. One told me about it and I contacted the Sheriff to see if it was true. I ended up giving him the benefit of the doubt and wrote a positive story about the new deputy.

The Sheriff was furious that this information was leaked to me. He wanted to quietly hire the multiple felon. He then took action that was more like the Gestapo. He started having deputies called into a supervisor’s office and questioned like criminals. An email from a captain went out to all deputies warning them not to talk to me. Zoerner threatened to fire deputies that did. KCE spoke with a County insider who said that one policy violation could almost never be grounds for termination and the County would likely get sued. But to threaten to take someone’s job away from them for criticizing the Sheriff? That’s something Hitler would do—not something a sheriff should.

Then I was tipped off about another terrible hire by Zoerner—Deputy Brantner. Zoerner tried to pawn it off on his predecessor, but Zoerner hired the criminal who pulled a gun on a woman in a road rage incident. Should the Sheriff be surprised that while a deputy he broke the law again and lied to cops?

Both of these cops have been called “DEI hires” as they are both African American and were not fit for the job, criminally speaking.

Now, the story that broke the camel’s back. I was tipped off about a counselor at Central High School. He was seemingly grooming a female student. He told her he loved her, she was beautiful and gave her gifts. Again, Deputy Alexander Hyatt didn’t investigate. I called and spoke to the Sheriff’s Department administration. There was no criminal investigation. Wisconsin’s new Act 200, signed into law in 2024, created new criminal penalties to prevent sexual misconduct by school staff. It wasn’t until after I wrote the story that an investigation was launched by KCSO. Why should a journalist have to embarrass a sheriff to get him to do the right thing?

I potentially wouldn’t have known about any of these things—and neither would my readers—if whistleblowers from KCSO hadn’t tipped me off. But the Sheriff has made it clear—if you don’t like what he’s doing and you tell the only media around about it, expect to be fired. However, you’ll have lawyers begging to take the case. You can’t be retaliated against for being a whistleblower. In fact, the County has an ordinance protecting them.

I gave the Sheriff a chance to tell his side of this story, but he sidestepped all my questions and spoke about “open investigations.” None of these were open investigations.

To boot, Zoerner is allowing the IT department that handles his jail roster block access to KCE. Our automated system that takes data from the Sheriff’s website and posts in on our site, might be at the end. This is nothing short of a vindictive and spiteful act from the Sheriff. He is taking his ball and going home. Since I didn’t act as his personal PR firm, he cuts KCE’s access to his website. That’s truly shameful.

It’s important to note that in stark contrast, I’ve had many whistleblowers from Kenosha Police, the largest law enforcement agency in Kenosha County. I’ve broken many stories about bad actors over there. Here is the big difference: Chief Patton didn’t ask me who my sources were. He didn’t send department-wide emails banning whistleblowing. He didn’t threaten to fire anyone.

The Sheriff can learn from Chief Patrick Patton.

Sheriff Zoerner has done some good things for the county. He still has the chance to restore the public’s trust and redeem his tenure. But silencing critics, sweeping misconduct under the rug, and fearmongering hard-working deputies won’t help him do that. Transparency, accountability, and humility will.