FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Fond du Lac city council member will not be criminally charged, or face ethics violations, following an investigation into whether or not there was a conflict of interest revolving around him and the Friends of Lakeside Park Group. Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney says that although Patrick Mullen and his wife were directors of that group, which was against renovations to Lakeside Park, it didn’t rise to the level of an ethics violation.
Toney received a verified ethics complaint against council vice-president Patrick Mullen on June 1. That complaint alleged that Mullen violated several ethical laws, including using his position as a city councilmember for financial gain and “directly, or by means of an agent, giving, offering or promising to give, or withholding, or offering to promise to withhold his vote or influence, or promising to take or refrain from taking official action with respect to any proposed or pending matter.”
“There was nothing that this investigation found that any of those things occurred,” Toney said. “It does give an appearance of impropriety for somebody that was considered an elected official, per city of Fond du Lac’s ethics code, but there was nothing that led us to not believe we could prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The complaining party hasn’t been identified, and Toney declined to do so.
Mullen was considered an elected official, by city standards, once he filed his nomination papers with the city clerk, but not by the state of Wisconsin, until he was sworn into office. In that respect, there was no state law Mullen violated.
Fond du Lac city attorney Deborah Hoffman had conducted an ethics investigation to see if there was a conflict of interest for Mullen, related to Lakeside Park development issues before city council and his role with the Friends of Lakeside Park – the group against the project.
“It was clear from our investigation that the information city attorney Hoffman was provided was incorrect,” said Toney.
The ethics opinion stated that Mullen and his wife Mary Hayes, who he had told Hoffman was a life partner, were not involved in the leadership of the Friends of Lakeside Park.
“The lawsuit that was filed clearly listed Mr. Mullen and Ms. Hayes as directors of that organization,” Toney said.
Hoffman’s ethics investigation also revealed that Mullen and Hayes would not have been financially liable for any of the debts or legal fees of the Friends of Lakeside Park lawsuit, which was also found to be incorrect.
“The attorney that represented that group clearly indicated that Ms. Hayes would’ve been financially liable for attorney fees, if they had not been paid,” said Toney. “With the marriage between Mr. Mullen and Ms. Hayes, that certainly created a liability on behalf of Mr. Mullen, and there were over $36,000 in legal fees that were paid on behalf of that group.”
Toney says, that that would be a financial benefit for Mullen.
But, ultimately, the investigation would find that Mullen did not commit any ethics violations when a political action committee paid his legal fees.
“There will be no criminal charges filed, there will be no ethics violations filed by the Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s Office,” Toney said.
The city attorney can review the DA’s findings and decide whether the city’s ethics code was violated.
Mullen has not yet commented on Wednesday’s developments.
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