Blowing the Whistle on Police Chief Affair with Reporter

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Former Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Reporter Jessica McBride admits that she had an affair with Police Chief Edward A. Flynn, about whom she wrote a glowing profile in Milwaukee Magazine, but insists their liaison didn't begin until four months after she submitted the magazine article.

McBride, 39, broke her silence regarding her romance with the 61-year-old Flynn. Both parties are married. McBride presently is a lecturer in journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, teaching, among other topics, ethics. Flynn, who has been Milwaukee's top cop since January 2008, where he oversees a department of 2,000 sworn officers and 700 civilians, released a statement last week acknowledging the affair, but not naming McBride. Seeking forgiveness, Flynn stated, in part: "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. I accept the personal and public consequences of my private behavior. I have damaged my public reputation and violated the love and trust of my family." Flynn is the former police chief of Springfield, Mass., and was former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney's
Secretary of Public Safety.

McBride's claim that her extramarital relationship began after she wrote the positive profile of Flynn for Milwaukee Magazine doesn't jibe with a letter she allegedly wrote to Flynn purportedly professing love at first sight and conceding that her feelings for him made it difficult for her in the article to give space to Flynn's "vitriolic baseless critics." Among the precepts of the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists is to "avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived," and to "remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility."

While covering the courts for the Journal-Sentinel, McBride began dating Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, whom she subsequently married. Hmm..she covers the courts and dates the DA, then profiles the police chief and becomes involved with him. It boggles the mind to wonder what might happen if she ever did a feature on the Milwaukee Zoo.