Since I'm Down

Have no idea what happened to my mother blog, but I'll post the last thing I had (which Owen linked to) here.

Basically, the gist is that Dr. Steven Kagen's Campaign Manager, Eric Hogensen, has been accused of conducting his own campaign -- Kagen's -- while on state time as an Employee of State Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee).

Here's from the WisPolitics PM Update.

-- The State Ethics Board received an anonymous complaint this morning alleging that Eric Hogensen, campaign manager for 8th CD Dem hopeful Steve Kagen, did campaign work for Kagen while working in Sen. Jeff Plale’s state office.

The e-mail complaint accuses Hogensen of working for Kagen without taking advance vacation time from Plale’s office on September 22 and 23, 2005.

“At best, his actions show callous disregard for important rules put into place in the wake of the caucus scandal,” according to the complaint. “At worst, this violation suggests that his conduct could be the tip of the iceberg.”

State Ethics Board Director Roth Judd has begun investigating the complaint, and said he spoke to Hogensen, who told him the accusations were “absolutely false.” He told Judd that he was on vacation during the times in question in September 2005, and on one occasion the event the complainant cited was for an after-hours function."(Hogensen) said he was keenly aware of the rules and extremely sensitive about them," Judd said.

Hogensen did not return a call for comment.

The complaint argues that Hogensen received an inappropriate amount of $18,000 from Kagen during a five-month time period when the 8th CD race was Hogensen’s second job. The e-mail also takes shots at both Plale and Kagen.

The complaint can be accessed here. It is extremely thorough in its detail.

[ I've been informed by WisPolitics.com that I can not post the above information since it is deemed 'subscriber only content.' (The information was sent to me from a subscriber.)

An aside: WisPolitics can get bent. They stole the story from me that the Gards sold their Sun Prairie house that I broke earlier this May and never once gave me credit for it. Xoff posted the exact thing about the Gard's house sale from a WisPolitics PM Update informing Wisconsin politicos that I'm now getting emailed about.

Hense the need to only strike-through the information. I'm sensing a double standard here.]

The Journal Sentinel has something on this as well at its "Politics Watch" blog.

The director of the state Ethics Board today said he'd review an anonymous complaint accusing a congressional candidate's aide of campaigning while on the state payroll.

But Ethics Board Executive Director R. Roth Judd noted that the campaign event Eric Hogenson was accused of attending occurred after normal work hours last Sept. 22. That wouldn't violate ethics rules, Judd said.

Hogenson was on the staff of state Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) at the time and working part time for Democrat Steve Kagen, an Appleton doctor who is running for the 8th Congressional District seat. He did attend a Sept. 22 evening fundraiser for Kagen in Howard, Wis., Hogenson said in an interview. That was after work hours and on a vacation day, he said.

Hogenson called the accusations politically motivated, "completely false" and timed to hurt Kagen, one of three Democrats on the ballot in Tuesday's 8th District primary.

Hogenson acknowledged he didn't ask to have Sept. 22 and Sept. 23 tallied as vacation days until two months later. Rules adopted in 2002 say state workers wishing to use vacation time to campaign must make the request in advance.

If this is true, it just made things very interesting up in Green Bay.

Addendum: RPW has filed a Federal Elections Complaint against Kagen for using the website of his Allergy Clinics to promote his Congressional Campaign.

Followed the instructions to a "T" that RPW list in this Press Release and they work right on.