Wausau Mayor Doug Diny moving an absentee ballot dropbox. Image courtesy: Doug Diny
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Later today the Wausau Ethics Committee will meet for the first time in months. Their discussion will be this: “Review and discussion of… the status of proceedings and related developments regarding the pending complaint against Mayor Doug Diny.”
The case has been stalled for the last few months because Wausau’s city clerk and city attorney have refused to be deposed. They note that the state Attorney General has his own investigation pending in the matter, and they will remain silent until it is concluded.
To review, the ethics complaint claims that the mayor made it more difficult to cast ballots last fall when he removed the city’s absentee ballot dropbox from outside City Hall plaza.
It should be clear to everyone by now that the drop box, placed outside by city clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde, did not comply with a state Supreme Court order. The court, when it overstepped its authority and created new election law out of thin air, ruled that drop boxes shall be secure, monitored, and used only for the purpose of collecting ballots. The dropbox that Mayor Diny removed was none of those things. It was not bolted down, it did not have lights or a security camera trained on it, And the dropbox said it could also be used for city payments. The mayor, as chief executive of the city, had every right to remove it.
And for those who scream that the mayor made it more difficult to vote – that’s simply not true. The dropbox that Mayor Diny wheeled back inside of city hall had a lock on it. No one could have placed a ballot in it. And this happened before the early voting period began.
The person to watch in this debacle is Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, who wants to run for governor. He might file criminal charges against the mayor… but that’s risky. He would still have to convince a jury of the mayor’s guilt of… something. Finding 12 Wausonians who agree may not be so easy. A trial that ends in an acquittal is an embarrassment for Kaul, and exposes him for what he is, a partisan hack.
What tonight’s Ethics meeting represents is an off ramp. It’s unlikely that Mayor Diny will be removed from office. He did nothing wrong. The complaint has stalled. Now is the time to end it.
Chris Conley
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