When the Brawler read Jessica McBride's profile of Ed Flynn, it reminded him of something.
Then he remembered what it was: A 14-year-old profile of Paul Bucher. By one Jessica McBride. Headline: "Oswald prosecutor has reputation of being aggressive, hardworking." (Headline for the Milwaukee Magazine piece: The Cop Who Can't Stop.)
From the 5/29/95 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Waukesha Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher does not want his career defined by the James and Theodore Oswald case. For the time being, he has no choice. 'Bucher's face has been on the nightly news, day in and day out since James Oswald's trial on murder and bank robbery charges began April 24. More often than not, the sound bites show the defendant calling Bucher names pencil-necked geek, "Adolf" Bucher, clown.
Sometimes Bucher responds with a sharp retort or writes a message in large letters on his personal computer screen outside the jury's view. "I am not a pencil neck," he'll write, showing a sly humor under his serious demeanor.
Sometimes, he says nothing or simply smiles, because this is something he's been living with for more than a year.
It is 'Bucher's aggressive, take-no-hostages (huh? I always thought it was take-no-prisoners--BCB)prosecutorial style that has raisedOswald'ss ire. In that way, this case is no different from Bucher's others.
Intense, intelligent, tenacious, aggressive those are the words that pop up again and again when you ask people about him.
Bucher is 39; a small man with glasses, a young face, neatly trimmed hair. He is always busy, brimming with energy, driven, on the move. (From the Milwaukee Magazine piece: "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.” " I guess they both have the energy thing.)
Some say he is the highest- profile district attorney the county has ever had, a position he has held since 1988 (Wow! The highest-profile district attorney evah in Waukesha County!).
Then, some ruminating about his destiny:
Just how highly Bucher is regarded in many circles is clear from predictions about his future.
"I would see Paul Bucher running for the position of attorney general in the state of Wisconsin after his family gets a little older," said Don Taylor, longtime chairman of the county's Republican Party. Bucher is first vice chairman of the party.
After that, Taylor says, a governorship.
"I think he's got that kind of ambition and that capability," he said.
...
He loves his job and said that he does not anticipate leaving it anytime soon, although he admits higher ambitions. He said he knew he could not continue to do this forever, because he had watched the prosecutorial field change, become "more taxing" with more violent crime, higher costs.
He said that he can't remember the last time he worked less than a 10-hour day.
Then there's stuff about what a great guy he is, how he has a heart of gold, how he has the courtroom demeanor of "a sledgehammer." In short, the content of the story may be different but the form and trajectory are similar. I suppose you could call this a "media template."
Great find. Don't you love the family values of bubbleheaded Fox News wanna-be chicks who beenfit from GOP affirmative action?
The story to me isn't that it's Flynn having an affair, but that it's with McBride, and the fact that Paul (I Couldn't Convict Mark Chmura) Bucher is cuckolded. It's strong on so many levels.
Posted by: Eddie Leavie | June 19, 2009 at 08:35 PM
Flynn must be fired immediately.....anyone with such poor taste in women can't be trusted with the public safety of a city of a half million people!
Posted by: The Doctor | June 19, 2009 at 10:14 PM
The Bucher-McBride affair that resulted not only ended his marriage, but ended his plans to run for attorney general in 1998. He did eventually run, with a new wife and new family, but that didn't work out so well. So much for the gubernatorial possibility McBride wrote about,and for her own plans to be first lady.
Maybe there is some justice after all.
Posted by: Law&Order Guy | June 20, 2009 at 06:31 AM
That is a pretty interesting pattern there.
Posted by: Dave Reid | June 20, 2009 at 06:55 AM
can we get her to write about scott walker?
Posted by: twitch | June 20, 2009 at 09:59 AM