Assembly members take campaign money at budget time, violating fundraising ban

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A watchdog group said at least seven State Assembly members accepted campaign money while the state budget was being considered.

And that violated a ban on fund-raising imposed by Assembly Democratic leaders.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign uncovered the violations after the lawmakers submitted their latest campaign finance reports.

The group said it reviewed half the reports by Monday afternoon and director Mike McCabe said the members generally did a good job with complying with the budget-time fund-raising ban.

But Sandy Pasch, D-Whitefish Bay, said she took $125 from a pair of donors the day after Gov. Jim Doyle introduced the budget.

She said it was a typo and she actually took the money before Doyle unveiled his budget plan.

Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon City, was told he could take the $125 he got because it was not solicited.

Port Wing Democrat Gary Sherman said his campaign treasurer took $100 before the ban started, but did not deposit it until later. He called it a simple mistake, but was returning the gift anyway.

The others flagged were Republicans Rich Zipperer of Pewaukee, Keith Ripp of Lodi, and Fred Clark of Baraboo, and Democrat Ted Zigmunt of Francis Creek.

Speaker Mike Sheridan’s office said it would review the lawmakers’ reports before deciding whether to sanction any of the members.

Sanctions could include letters of reprimand up to censures or removals from leadership posts.

Tags: campaign money, budget time, fundraising ban, wisconsin