The Dane County Sheriff's Department endorsed Kathleen Falk when she ran for Attorney General in 2006.

Now, former Dane County Sheriff's Deputy and current Dane County 911 Center Director Joe Norwick has been loudly, and justifiably criticized for the handling of Brittany Zimmermann's call for help. 

It doesn't help that Norwick had no public safety management experience on the level his current position requires. That stands in sharp contrast to this:

“We searched far and wide, and found the best candidate here at home,” Falk said of Norwick.

Is Falk's support of him payback for a past political endorsement?

Progressives are holding Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk’s feet to the fire on the Brittany Zimmerman tragedy.

If Falk decides to run for reelection as Dane County executive in the spring of 2009, she will surely face opponents in a politically charged race, and one gets the impression Falk is abundantly aware of this fact.

From the Capital Times (aggressively on the Zimmerman story now and catching up to the first-rate reporting and insights by Isthmus, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Madison blogosphere):

A former dispatcher that answered a 911 call from Brittany Zimmermann's cell phone before she was allegedly stabbed to death in her West Doty Street apartment committed two different procedural errors in handling the call, according to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.

Falk’s statement on the 911 call, "I do not believe, had the (911) errors not occurred, that her murder could've been prevented," amounts to a Bushian I-can’t-tell-you-anything-but-trust-me assurance.

It's nice that Executrix Falk is apologizing to the Zimmermann family a month after it was revealed their daughter called 911 and got no help.  

And now, Dane County Executrix Falk could restore some citizen faith in the 911 Call Center operations, you know, show some political backbone that she presumably had enough of to run for the governor's seat, and throw the State Attorney General's race to J.B. Van Hollen. But, here's what we get instead:

"Falk plans to instruct Dane County 911 director Joe Norwick on Tuesday as to what steps need to be taken to assure that a similar situation does not occur in the future, and has also told Norwick that she expects to be updated regularly on events in the 911 center ..."

They'll discipline someone when the 911 call center finishes its now month-plus long internal investigation of what they did wrong ... ah yes, a report by the same foxes guarding hen houses that never revealed Zimmermann's call for help in the first place.

Did you miss this story in Sunday's WSJ?

"County officials were warned in 2004 to increase staffing, change procedures and put in place a stronger oversight board.

"At worst Dane County faces possible liability and the potential for a catastrophic event," according to the 145-page "strategic plan" from MTG Management Consultants of Seattle."

And here's the money quote from a republican who's advocating more support for important social services!

Mark Hazelbaker, a Republican lawyer who represents the Dane County Towns Association, said solving the issues in the 911 center boils down to a matter of political will.

"I don't know if I blame Kathy Falk so much as I blame a climate in which people are afraid to spend money on vital services," Hazelbaker said.""

A Wisconsin State Journal online op-ed gets it right in noting that secrecy threatens safety.

Here's another secret that demands explanation:

The dispatcher claims she heard nothing on the line.

Madison Police Chief Noble Wray has said "there's evidence in the call that should've prompted the dispatch of a police officer ... County and city officials refuse to describe the content ..."

There's content in the call, or there's nothing. Which is it?

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk talked sense to Madison's Downtown Rotary on the subject of alcohol abuse.

Details here.