Community Conundrum

A rumor begins to spread: A local elected official holding public office might be ineligible to serve due to residency requirements! Maybe it’s an alder who doesn’t live in her district or a school board member who doesn’t live within the boundaries of the school district. How should citizens proceed?  

Green Bay has recently faced this sticky situation, and citizens did not know how to respond. Here’s the story: Mr. Lee was elected to our Board of Education, possibly having filed his papers before living at the stated address for 28 days. (I still don’t know whether that is true or false.) I welcomed him onto the board, accepting his explanation about renting within the district while seeking a home where his wife and kids would join him.  

Almost a year later a rumor began spreading: “Mr. Lee never even lived in our district.” A parent picked up on the rumor (apparently without verification) and alerted all School Board members, calling on us to investigate our colleague and take punitive action. Of course it is not within the purview of elected officials to question each other’s eligibility for office. Imagine how well a school board or a city council or a county board would function under such circumstances! 

Truthfully, I still don’t know where Mr. Lee lives. Actually, I don’t know where half my school board colleagues live. Why would I ask? That said, it is absolutely NOT okay to run for an office for which one is not eligible by residence. Mr. Lee has resigned, and we’ll appoint his replacement. In the meantime, numerous citizens have asserted publicly that the entire School Board should resign because we didn’t take the appropriate action. Well, such an assertion always drives me to research: I wanted to find the correct response to such a conundrum.

 Like my fellow citizens, I didn’t know the proper procedure. Is it true that such suspicions should go to the state ethics commission? Or should they be brought to the state elections commission? It took me less than an hour of online research and phone calls to find the answer – which no one else, locally, seemed to know. So here it is:

It's very simple, as stated in Wisconsin Statutes:

Chapter 8: Nominations, Primaries, Elections

                  8.28: Challenge to residency qualifications

(1) Any individual who believes that an individual holding or elected to state or local office is not a resident or inhabitant of this state or of the jurisdiction or district in which he or she serves, whenever such qualification is required by the constitution of this state or by any applicable law, may file a verified complaint with the attorneygeneral alleging such facts as may cause him or her to believe that the individual is not qualified to hold office because of failure to meet a residency requirement.

(2) The attorney general may thereupon investigate whether such allegations are true. If the attorney general finds that the allegations of the complaint are true or for any other reason finds that the subject person who is holding or elected to office is not qualified because of failure to meet a residency requirement, the attorney general may commence an action under ch. 784 for a writ of quo warranto to have the subject person’s office declared vacant or to restrain any person not entitled to take office from assuming it. In the case of a person who is elected to office in the legislature, the clerk of court shall transmit a copy of the judgment to the presiding officer of the appropriate house, and the house shall determine whether the person is qualified to be seated or whether a vacancy exists.

And that’s it. Accusing others of complicity doesn’t solve the problem. If suspicious, you simply contact the Wisconsin Attorney General, Josh Kaul, and report what you know:

800-422-7128

608-224-4953

608-266-1221

Email him here, on his website.

Send him a letter here:        Wisconsin Department of Justice

                                                State Capitol, Room 114 East

                                                PO Box 7857

                                                Madison, WI 53707-7857

Let’s hope this never happens in our community again. But, if it does, now we all know how to proceed without pointing fingers or spreading rumors. We can solve the problem!