GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Brown County District Attorney David Lasee says he wants a special prosecutor to look into two separate complaints involving Green Bay elected officials.
A group of five aldermen first filed a complaint against Mayor Jim Schmitt regarding his handling of money in the Hotel Northland project.
Alderperson Barbara Dorff then filed a complaint against those aldermen for violating state open meeting laws.
“I believe our office has a conflict of interest, which is the same reason we requested a special prosecutor for the mayor’s previous referral,” wrote Lasee in an email to FOX 11 about why he is referring the complaints to a special prosecutor.
Lasee also asked a special prosecutor to look into Schmitt’s campaign finances in 2015, which resulted in three misdemeanor convictions in December 2016.
Alderman Andy Nicholson, Chris Wery, and Guy Zima initially requested an investigation in that case.
Tom De Wane, Mark Steuer, Nicholson, Wery, and Zima are the council members who filed the latest complaint against Schmitt.
They asked Lasee to launch an investigation into Schmitt’s actions during a press conference at the Brown County Courthouse on October 30th.
The group of aldermen accused Schmitt of committing perjury, intent to deceive, fraud, and violation of public trust.
Talking to FOX 11, Schmitt has denied doing anything inappropriate and believes the aldermen’s actions are politically motivated.
“This is so made up, it’s ridiculous,” said Schmitt. “This is an evil group of people that very much want to hurt me and city projects.”
“There is nothing personal here,” said Steuer. “Some people can paint it any way they want, but we’ve been all fully vested in this for a long, long period of time. I think it’s important that the truth be known.”
Three days after the aldermen held their news conference, Dorff filed her complaint with Lasee.
Dorff’s complaint alleges the aldermen held a walking quorum in coming up with the decision to ask Lasee to launch an investigation into Schmitt’s actions.
“I hope that me just filing the complaint is a message that says hey it’s not acceptable to act this way.”
The aldermen disagree with Dorff’s claims.
