MORE HANKY-KAPANKE BEHIND SENATOR'S ECON FORUM

Kapanke First Sought Corporate Funds for Economic Forum
Senate Clerk Said "No" -- But Did Not Rule on Campaign as Conduit

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

In a Milwaukeeworld post last Friday, August 7th, 2009, on Sen. Dan Kapanke's controversial "non-partisan" June economic forum, we ran this quote from the La Crosse Tribune:

Kapanke’s staff had asked Senate chief clerk Rob Marchant if the forums could be run through the campaign account, because Senate rules prohibit charging for Senate events, and Kapanke wanted to recoup the cost of a light breakfast at the forums.

However, the article, by Richard Mial, did not include the clerk's response, so Milwaukeeworld called Marchant to find out how he ruled on the issue.

In fact, Marchant said there was "no such thing" as a ruling from him as to whether Kapanke could use his campaign account as a conduit of funds from his forum. He said he never was asked to consider the subject, and would have referred it to the Government Accountability Board if he had.

So, then, what did Marchant rule upon?
Whether Kapanke's staff could solicit corporate sponsorship of its forum.

Marchant's answer: "No," underlined with this admonition: "If you have a specific event or scenario in mind, I encourage you to speak to Jon Becker at the GAB to get his sign-off, in writing, on the process."

[Update Firday, August 14th, 2009: Becker issued this letter on August 13th, 2009, saying Kapanke's actions were appropriate "under the circumstances" and sanctioning an employee who worked the event, but did not declare it as a vacation day until after the fact -- an old Senate trick now prohibited. Here is the GAB ruling: 090813.GAB%20Kapanke.pdf]

This still leaves unexplained why Kapanke used his campaign account for his allegedly non-partisan forums, why he failed to account for the revenues and expenses in his July campaign finance report, and whether he used government-paid staff at the event.

Come to think of it, the letter from Marchant [reprinted below] raises a question of its own: Why didn't Kapanke include it in his response to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's Public Records request for documents relating to the forum?

Here is the text of the e-mail sent by Senate Clerk Marchant to Rose Smyrski of Sen. Kapanke's staff:

From: Marchant, Robert
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 11:52 AM
To: Smyrski, Rose
Subject: District meetings

Hello, Rose—

I have consulted with the GAB regarding your question about in-district listening sessions or legislative updates that are sponsored by private groups or entities that are not lobbying principals. In discussing this question, we assumed that the content of the event is legitimate legislative business and that any fee charged by the organizer is going toward offsetting the cost of the event (as opposed to raising funds for a cause). According to the GAB staff, it would not be permissible for the Senator or his staff to solicit local businesses or groups to host such events. However, if a local business or group came to the Senator and asked him to speak at such an event, that would be permissible. In addition, under such circumstances, the Senator’s office could then take steps to notify constituents about the meeting and encourage them to attend.

If you have a specific event or scenario in mind, I encourage you to speak to Jon Becker at the GAB to get his sign-off, in writing, on the process.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Rob