Milwaukee’s first Black city attorney TEARMAN SPENCER has his office moving in the right direction, winning cases and staffing that reflects the diversity of the city!
By Thomas Mitchell, Jr.
Despite a well publicized tumultuous start to his tenure as Milwaukee’s first Black city attorney, Tearman Spencer says he has the office moving in the right direction, winning cases that have not only brought in—but saved—millions of dollars.
“We’ve turned things around, Spencer said in a recent interview. “now I deserve another four years to really clean it up.”
Arguably the biggest win in the ‘win column’ for Spencer and his office was the JUUL Labs settlement, in which the city and Milwaukee Public Schools received millions of dollars that were part of a multi-billion dollar settlement with the electronic cigarette maker.
JUUL was alleged to have been targeting youth for its e-cigarette products.
Milwaukee was part of a multi-district lawsuit against the company.
Then there’s the settlement of a 2020 lawsuit with the family of Seville Smith who, in 2016, was fatally shot by a former Milwaukee Police officer.
The incident sparked several days of civil unrest in the Sherman Park neighborhood.
According to Spencer (who the Milwaukee Community Journal endorses for reelection), the city was able to work out a settlement with the family for less than they had originally asked.
In a federal class action lawsuit settlement with automakers Kia and Hyundai that was filed by the city attorney’s office in March of 2023, Milwaukee was awarded a reported $200 million in May of last year, covering eight million vehicles.
The suit claimed Hyundai and Kia failed to equip certain 2011 to 2022 models with adequate anti-theft technology.
But these accomplishments by the city attorney’s office take a back seat to what Spencer points to as the biggest accomplishment since he assumed the office after beating long-time City Attorney Grant Langley: staffing his office in a way that reflects the city’s diversity.
“Winning cases is part of who we are (as an office). But looking like the city is the biggest accomplishment.”
Spencer noted the office has also closed a large number of back-logged cases, noting that “everyone deserves a speedy trial.”
Spencer revealed (not too surprisingly) he inherited a “racist office” from his predecessor who, he said, “hired White folks to hate Black folks.
“When I took office, I had a mass exodus of lawyers to make me look bad,” Spencer said, adding there are a few ‘anti-Spencer’ straglers who are still with the office, individuals—he said—who have a difficult time working for a Black man.
Saying the office is no longer understaffed, Spencer pointed to several staff improvements, one of which was—believe it or not—giving the offices a fresh coat of paint. “It hadn’t been done so in years,” Spencer said.
Staff birthdays and work anniversaries are being recognized every month. Attorneys in the office were also encouraged to share ideas and concerns.
“We have CLE (Continuing Legal Education) presentations or speakers once a month for our attorneys and administrative staff. Little things mean a lot,” said Spencer.
Spencer was also able to get his staff salary increases after years of stagnant wages.
“This was done before the city did its current wage increases,” Spencer noted, adding he will continue to seek pay increase for his staff.
“We have great people and we hired good,” Spencer said. “We have a diverse staff, which is something the city encourages. We’ve changed the culture of the office. We’ve made it reflect where the community and the city is as it relates to diversity. But we’re just getting started.
“However, we realize some people come to our office to gain experience to move to private practice or other city departments that require a legal background.
“Our department, like other city departments, is subject to staff turnover.”
A recent article in the city’s daily reported Spencer was using only the first letter of his first name on the April 2 election ballot (T. Spencer).
The article even suggested Spencer was doing so to confuse voters and make them think the ‘Spencer’ on his lawn signs strewn across the Black community was referring to Spencer Coggs, who is the city’s treasurer and also running for reelection.
“Milwaukee voters are smart and can see my name is under the ‘city attorney’ section. (There’s) nothing misleading going on,” Spencer said.
Source used for this article: Fox6now.com
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