GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt is apparently not cooperating with an investigation of his campaign finance reports.
That’s according to Alderman Chris Wery, who spoke to the city’s Personnel Committee Wednesday.
“The district attorney actually did ask our mayor for copies of his checks and he declined,” Wery said during the public hearing. “He declined to divulge any of his past receipts.”
Back in January, Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf was tabbed to head up the independent audit involving alleged campaign improprieties.
WTAQ asked Landgraf this week about the status of that investigation, to which he replied, “no comment.”
Reached by phone Wednesday night, Schmitt responded by saying, “This is just a bold-faced lie by Chris Wery again, I mean, everything has been turned over. That was months and months ago so he doesn’t know what he’s talking about which is usual for a guy like Chris Wery.”
It was Wery, along with fellow city council members Guy Zima and Andy Nicholson who requested an audit of the “Friends of Jim Schmitt” campaign.
Wery said Wednesday that there could be some movement around what appears to be a snag.
“It’s my understanding that there’s a citizen or two in Green Bay who’ll be filing an affidavit so that it can go to court and those records can be subpoenaed,” says Wery.
Wery says this could all be over quickly.
“If there’s nothing there why not just turn everything over and stop wasting a lot of people’s time,” Wery said, adding that he believes Schmitt hopes by stonewalling that this will all just go away.
Schmitt stands by his full cooperation with the probe.
“Everything was turned over, they had asked to have my home phone, cell phone, work phone and I mean I’m willing to do whatever I can to get this behind me. This is just Chris Wery lying again,” says Schmitt.
