GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – An online petition effort is underway calling for Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt to resign after he agreed to plead guilty to three misdemeanors for violating state election laws.
You might be surprised to hear the creator of JimResign.com is former Schmitt supporter Shae Shortwell.
“I think overall he’s done a lot of good things for the city, but this was really something that I looked at and said you can’t do this kind of stuff”
Sortwell served on Green Bay’s city council under Schmitt.
The Facebook page Sortwell created to publicize the petition received more than 100 likes in its first 24 hours.
“You can’t be changing your campaign finance reports to try to make it more legal when it’s clearly not”
The charges filed against Schmitt on Wednesday are for false statements to an election official, accepting campaign contributions not belonging to the reported contributor, and accepting campaign contributions in excess of state limits.
In a statement response to the charges, Schmitt made no reference to stepping down.
Schmitt instead referenced the future. Schmitt wrote, “I will exercise much greater care and diligence with any campaign filings to ensure that they meet every letter, intent and requirement of Wisconsin election laws.”
There are options that could lead to Schmitt being removed from office.
An ethics complaint could be filed. If the complaint reaches the city council, three quarters of the 12-member council would need to agree on removal.
Another option is a recall election. Signatures would need to be collected and verified equal to 25 percent of the number of people who voted in Green Bay during the 2014 governor race.
At least one Alderman, Randy Scannell, doesn’t like any of the options so far.
“I think it’s a little premature, I think the mayor deserves his day in court.”
The mayor and his attorney have said they hope to have the criminal case resolved within the next month.
