The Wausau Mayor's ethics investigation gets stickier

The city's Ethics Board will hold a hearing later this month - but there are hints that it won't be over with the board's decision

Calvin Dexter (from left) Doug Diny and Andrew Erlandson

Last week’s meeting of the city’s ethics board wasn’t necessarily meant to be a contentious one.

But a quick ask of Mayor Doug Diny’s attorney over scheduling a hearing on the matter led to an intense exchange between Ethics Board Chair Calvin Dexter and Diny’s attorney in the ethics matter, Andrew Erlandson.

The exchange started when Dexter asked Erlandson about whether his client wanted more than the 30 days allocated for the hearing. The city’s Ethics Board had already decided that the board had enough information from its investigation to conclude that investigation based on the responses from Mayor Diny as well as City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde and Anne Jacobson. And to find that there was probable cause that an ethics violation occurred, which prompted the hearing as the next step.

But one problem, which Erlandson objected to - Bernarde and Jacobson didn’t offer complete responses to the board. They cited attorney-client privilege as part of the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into Diny’s removal of the ballot box from the steps of city hall in September.

The board at its last meeting discussed if and how the state investigation into the incident, which is still ongoing, would or should impact the board’s investigation into the allegation of violating the city’s ethics code. The board under the direction of Dexter determined it should not impact the investigation as they are separate matters - and as Dexter explained Thursday, whether Diny broke any state or federal laws in removing the ballot box has no bearing on whether or not he violated the city’s ethics code.

There is a plausible scenario in which Diny is found not to have violated state or federal law but is found to have violated the city’s ethical code of conduct.

But Erlandson’s reaction suggests that the matters aren’t as unrelated as previously discussed. The state investigation has affected the ethics investigation since they were unable to get complete responses from the clerk and city attorney.

Erlandson used that to petition that the hearing ought to be held off until the DOJ investigation is concluded so that the clerk and city attorney can provide the full responses that Diny was expected to provide.

That led to a somewhat heated exchange between Dexter and Erlandson.