How much did the Diny Ethics Board case cost?

A look into the attorney costs of the ethics complaint adjudication

In January, several Wausau citizens signed a letter accusing the mayor of violating the city’s ethics code.

Nine months later and more than a year after the actual incident, the city’s Ethics Board concluded that he did, in fact, violate the ethics code. And suggested to Diny that he not do it again.

That came after more than a dozen meetings, city council battles over attempts at mayoral appointments mid-process and more city council battles over legal funding.

And the complaint comes as another process — an investigation into whether Diny broke the law when he removed a ballot box from the steps of city hall and put it in his office — has been ongoing for well more than a year.

Other than the recent appointment of a special prosecutor, the state’s investigation into the matter remains a black hole. No charges have been filed, and a case in which Diny and his wife are seeking to have their seized belongings returned remains open. (The proceedings included a judge accusing state prosecutors of not being prepared for hearings and questioning why the original search warrant was requested in Eau Claire County, which isn’t even in the same district as where the search warrant was executed.)

Much was made over how much was being spent by attorneys in the ethics case, but how much?

The Wausonian requested those records.

The result? City taxpayers ultimately paid $10,625 to CVMIC, according to records obtained by The Wausonian, specifically for the Diny case. That money went to attorneys for any city employees caught up in the case so they could be represented.

Another $49,652.20 went to Attorney Eric Larson to advise the Ethics Board itself, according to a records response from the city.

That brings the city’s spend to a total of $60,500. In the scheme of a city budget, that might not sound like much, but the city this year considered closing a pool one day a week in order to save about half of that in order to meet budget goals.

Meanwhile Diny in June told The Wausonian that he’d spent more than $100,000 on legal fees related to the ballot box incident - and a large component of that is the ethics case.

The Wausonian reached out to Diny to ask for a new total now that the ethics case has concluded. Diny said he now believes he’s now paid closer to $140,000 in legal fees related to the ballot box incident.

Diny questioned the CVMIC figure, saying it seemed low based on council decisions around authorized spending on CVMIC related to the ethics board hearing. But that situation is complicated, as a story in June from the Wausau Pilot and Review demonstrates.

The Wausonian reached out early Friday afternoon to the city clerk to clarify the number that came back from the records request was the full amount, or if there were further bills to be paid. This story will be updated if further information from the city clerk is provided.

---

Thanks for reading The Wausonian! If you haven’t subscribed yet, check out the free and paid options below to help support local journalism: