Rep. Ortiz-Velez Pleads to Disorderly Conduct Charges
Sylvia Ortiz-Velez was charged after allegedly threatening to leak damaging information about colleague.
Supervisor Sylvia Ortiz-Velez announces resolution asking for civil rights review of state funding. Photo by Graham Kilmer.
State Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D-Milwaukee) pled guilty Friday to one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, according to Milwaukee County Circuit Court records.
Ortiz-Velez was charged on Feb. 25 for comments she allegedly made, threatening to tell the press “negative things” about State Rep. Priscilla Prado, “engaging in inappropriate personal actions” if Prado did not rescind resolutions drafted for Hispanic Heritage Month and Hispanic Veterans.
The state representative released a statement Friday stating she pled “no contest” to the charge, which means she will not fight the charge and will accept the court’s sentence without formally admitting guilt. Circuit court records show the court ordered her to pay a $300 fine. Ortiz-Velez said her plea was made in exchange for the fine, in her statement. Ortiz-Velez did not respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy between her stated ‘no contest’ plea and court records showing a guilty plea.
“The entire thing started because I spoke with passion in defense of my late husband’s memory and the legacy of all Latino Veterans,” Ortiz-Velez said. “While my emotions were high and my words were blunt, my heart was and always will be with the families who have sacrificed for our country.”
In her statement, Ortiz-Velez suggested the conflict is related to her increasing alienation from her Democratic colleagues in the Assembly over votes she has cast that broke with the party.
“My voting choices caused a rift that has turned bitter and ugly,” she said. “My constituents did not send me to Madison to litigate internal caucus disputes or to be distracted by personal feuds — they sent me there to deliver results.”
Notably, Ortiz-Velez broke from her fellow Assembly Democrats and voted to pass a bill redrawing the state’s heavily gerrymandered legislative districts. The previous maps had been heavily gerrymandered to favor Republicans and the state Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional. The maps passed, and signed by Gov. Tony Evers, were a compromise between Republicans who control the legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who vetoed the first set of maps Republicans submitted.
“I cast my vote for principle over party,” Ortiz-Velez said.
Months before Ortiz-Velez was charged, the fallout from the Hispanic Heritage Month dispute came into public view when Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer alleged Ortiz-Velez made a violent threat against other Democrats. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos later said Capitol Police determined the threat was not credible.
Ortiz-Velez is running for reelection this year and faces a primary challenge from first-time candidate Ismael Luna.
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