The Democratic Party of Wisconsin today filed with the Government Accountability Board a complaint against state Rep. Michael Schraa following social media posts from Schraa selling exclusive access to the Capitol for the benefit of Winnebago County Republicans.
In a post on Facebook, Schraa promoted the Winnebago County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner, and that noted he was donating to the event, “a VIP Capitol Tour package that will include a limo ride to Madison, a VIP tour of the Governor’s Office and several other ‘off limits’ areas of the Capitol.” By Schraa’s own acknowledgement, he is using his position as an elected official to offer for sale resources belonging to the state of Wisconsin that are not available to the general public and that would benefit him personally and politically.
Wis. Stat. Section 19.45(2) states that “No state public official may use his or her public position or office to obtain financial gain or anything of substantial value for the private benefit of himself or herself or his or her immediate family, or for an organization with which he or she is associated.”
The Winnebago County Republican Party, a co-respondent in the WisDems complaint, has donated hundreds of dollars to Schraa’s campaign and stands to receive or has received an illegal political contribution of services belonging to the State of Wisconsin in violation of Section 11.24(1), Wis. Stats.
“Scott Walker and his Republican Party are trying everything in their power to shut down independent investigations into campaign finance and ethics violations, but there are still rules in Wisconsin and it seems pretty obvious that Rep. Michael Schraa is breaking them,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Thursday. “Elected officials hold their positions as a public trust and Schraa should know better than to sell off exclusive access to the Capitol for partisan political gain — especially when the legislature just last week shut off access to the Capitol for thousands of Wisconsinites who sought to make their voices heard on contentious right to work legislation.”
