BY DAVID STEINKRAUS
Journal Times | Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2008 12:00 am
Two issues in the County Board supervisor race between incumbent Ken Hall and challenger Brian Dey - disc golf and supervisors use of personal e-mail accounts for government business - have stimulated vigorous sparring and accusations beyond the norm.
The election is Tuesday.
Disc golf
In the first case, Hall objected after a Journal Times election profile in which challenger Dey said Hall voted to spend $250,000 for disc golf courses in county parks.
Players in disc golf throw Frisbees at goals. Hall said it is a growing sport among the young professionals the county wants to attract.
Hall said the cost is closer to $12,500, and the public record sides with Hall.
County spokesman Geoff Greiveldinger said the county's Public Works staff couldn't speak specifically to cost because there have been no bids, but said a subsequent examination of Public Works Committee minutes contain estimates of around $25,000.
Hall provided draft copies of what became resolution 2006-89-S, and the draft resolutions show costs of about $24,000. He also sent The Journal Times a letter of endorsement from the Racine County Economic Development Corp. which mentioned an approximate cost of $23,000 per course.
The final resolution passed by the County Board eliminated the cost estimate but said that there would be matching funds from private donors, although the percentage of the match is not specified.
"The idea of the matching was 50-50," Hall said.
Where did Dey's number come from?
"I'll tell you what, and I'll tell Ken this, too, it was from a source within," Dey said Wednesday. "Later found out, after doing some digging that that number probably isn't the number."
Dey quotes the $250,000 number on his Web site, but he said he wasn't prepared to correct it yet. There are neither maintenance costs nor installation costs in Hall's estimate, Dey said, and added that when he comes up with a hard number he'll publicize it.
But his point, he said, was to illustrate the difference between himself and Hall. Dey said he would object to one dime going to disc golf instead of crucial services, and then he said that Hall had voted against assisting the community health center which settled on Northwestern Avenue and serves low-income clients.
"He's misunderstanding the situation," Hall said. The first resolution to help pay for the center was brought to the board for introduction and approval on the same night and was turned down by himself and other
supervisors.
"They were trying to ramrod that through without proper review," Hall said. There was no business or marketing plan, he said, but after the issue had been studied in detail, he joined other supervisors in approving the idea.
E-mail access
For several months there have been complaints about access to e-mail traffic from County Board supervisors. It started last year with a request from Mount Pleasant resident Jayne Siler for government business e-mails sent from the private e-mail accounts of supervisors Dan Sharkozy, Gaynell Dyess, Ken Hall, Ken Lumpkin, Donnie Snow, Diane Lange and Q.A. Shakoor II.
E-mail traffic has become an issue in the Third and 15th district races involving Lou D'Abbraccio and Diane Lange, and Dey and Hall, respectively.
D'Abbraccio said he relied on what Siler has written about her request, and that for Lange to style herself a proponent of open government, then to divert e-mails into private account is poor behavior. In corporate life e-mail is an important record, and government should be held to a higher standard, he said.
Dey said he, too, relied on what Siler has written, and said that as a School Board member he has been told that official e-mails don't become private when they're transferred to a private e-mail system. On his Web site, he accuses Hall of not following the most basic of state laws.
He also said that the policy for the Racine Unified School Board, on which he serves, is to use the district e-mail system. That was contained in an opinion requested by attorney Gib Berthelsen from the state attorney
general's office.
In a phone mail message to The Journal Times, Berthelsen, who was out of town, said he did not recall requesting an attorney general's opinion on the issue of personal computer use.
Hall said Dey was not part of the records request, nor is he an expert in matters of law. "His claims in this, basically, are groundless," Hall said.
Hall said that he does receive automatically forwarded county e-mails on his private system, but that when he replies to those he typically sends a copy back to his county-maintained account so that it is archived as part of the public record.
Separately, Hall said that if Dey was raising accusations about misuse of e-mail, then he should answer for misrepresenting his educational credentials. Dey has listed himself as having attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which is not true, Hall said. Dey said he did, but for only one semester. "All I found in school was that I didn't really want to attend," Dey said.
He said that Assistant District Attorney Robert Repischak could vouch for his attendance, and in a voice mail message to The Journal Times Repischak confirmed that.
Lange said that she no longer uses her private e-mail account for county business and has every intention of complying with the law. The problem, she said, has been the instability of the county's e-mail system for supervisors working from home, and people who work during the day can have a difficult time reaching the County Board's courthouse office in order to retrieve their e-mail on a county computer.
Greiveldinger, the county spokesman, said the county's e-mail system is archived, and confirmed that automatic forwarding on Lange's account was no longer active. The county does not get involved in the private e-mail accounts of elected officials, he said, because legal opinions have found that supervisors are the custodians of their own private records and are thus independently responsible for complying with the state Open Records Law.
Lange said the county never made clear to her that she was the custodian of her records and that the county's lawyers are working on a policy covering electronic records.
An Open Records Law guideline published by the Wisconsin attorney general's office last fall notes that many issues about e-mail and electronic records have not been addressed by legislation or legal opinions.
Campaign sign complaints
District Attorney Mike Nieskes said Thursday that he has received three complaints about election law violations, which is a typical number for this point in a spring campaign season.
The complaints all involved signs which were alleged to be missing words indicating who paid for them. One complaint was filed against Brian Dey, one against Diane Lange, and one against Ken Lumpkin. Lumpkin is running for both County Board and the Racine City Council.
Dey submitted a photo of the same sign showing the necessary words are there, so there is no violation, Nieskes said. The other two signs did violate the law, he said, and the candidates have complied with requests to follow the law.