Fitzgerald Releases Legal Memo on Recording Consent, Calls on Evers to Answer Important Questions
[Madison, WI] — Last week, Governor Tony Evers and his administration admitted that they had secretly recorded at least one phone call between the governor and legislative leadership. The governor claims he knew nothing of the recording.
Today, Senator Fitzgerald is releasing a legal memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau outlining how a felony may have been committed by Evers’ staff secretly recording the call. Senator Fitzgerald released the following statement:
“The governor needs to immediately make clear who from his office created the recording, who authorized it, and what disciplinary actions his staff is facing. After bipartisan condemnation of these actions, he also needs to assure legislators that no more recordings exist between our members and the governor or his staff.”
Read the memo from the Legislative Reference Bureau here. The memo states:
… if another person in the governor’s office recorded the telephone call without the prior consent or authorization of the governor, Chief of Staff Gau, or Chief Legal Counsel Nilsestuen, then the person may well have violated Wis. Stat. § 968.31 (1) since the person was not a party to the communication.
A violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.31 is a Class H felony and is subject to a fine of not more than $10,000 or a term of imprisonment for not more than six years or both.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) represents the 13th Senate District, which covers portions of Dodge, Jefferson, Waukesha, Washington, Dane, and Columbia counties.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald
Dear Fitzgerald and Vos –
Wisconsinites have had enough of your gerrymandering, voter suppression, conservative judges and lies. You are now following Trump’s acts of lying, denying, deflecting and blame. You’re fired.
1. You refused to postpone the election during a pandemic, even after being urged by medical experts to stay home, keep our distance and avoid contact with more than a handful of others until this deadly virus dies down.
2. You undid the “safer at home” rule by two weeks using conservative judges against the governor. There’s no doubt there’s been an increase is cases and deaths. Back on May 13 the state had seen 10,611 cases of COVID-19 and 421 deaths. By Saturday, June 13, one month later those figures had risen to 22,344 positive cases and 691 deaths.
3. You removed power from the incoming Governor Evers, when you learned that Governor Walker lost.
4. You calculated that voter suppression would help Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly win, but he lost to Jill Karofsky.
5. You and Vos were willing to risk the lives of thousands in an effort to exploit the pandemic for a power grab.
6. The Wisconsin Examiner revealed that you and Vos are considering another power play to try to ace Gov. Tony Evers out of the redistricting process.
7. You and Vos lost $25 million for the state of Wisconsin after delaying the coronavirus relief package.
8. And now, you are racist. You blame Immigrants for COVID Outbreak in your district of Racine.
Vote for Tom Palzewicz, who is running against Fitzgerald.
Vote for Joel Jacobsen who is running against Vos.
I am an independent, and I am done with the Republican Party.