Government

Alderwoman Requests Legal Fee Reimbursement in Ethics Complaint

Kathleen Cummings hired an attorney to represent her after a local business owner filed an ethics complaint against her based on her dueling roles as a Waukesha alderman and a county board supervisor.

By Sarah Millard
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July 30, 2012

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Alderwoman Kathleen Cummings, sitting, listens to the Ethics Board discuss a complaint filed against her and Alderman Duane Paulson (not pictured). City Attorney Curt Meitz, right, and board chairman, Bob Kaplan, sit at the table while Shay Johnson, who filed the complaint against the two aldermen, sits near the door.

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Alderwoman Kathleen Cummings, sitting, listens to the Ethics Board discuss a complaint filed against her and Alderman Duane Paulson (not pictured). City Attorney Curt Meitz, right, and board chairman, Bob Kaplan, sit at the table while Shay Johnson, who filed the complaint against the two aldermen, sits near the door.

Credit Sarah Millard

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The city could be on the hook for the legal fees incurred by a Waukesha alderwoman after a local business owner filed an ethics complaint against two officials.

Alderwoman Kathleen Cummings is requesting reimbursement for $240 in legal feels after Leather Restorations owner Shay Johnson alleged it was unethical for her to vote on the future of the city’s dispatch center because she also serves on the Waukesha County Board of Supervisors. Also targeted in the ethics complaint was Alderman Duane Paulson, who is a county supervisor.

The city was exploring the possibility of consolidating its dispatch center with the county’s dispatch center when the ethics complaint was filed against Paulson and Cummings. The city’s Ethics Board did not take any testimony on the matter before it dismissed the complaint against Paulson and Cummings.

The Finance Committee takes up the matter at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

Related Topics: Duane Paulson, Joint Dispatch, Kathleen Cummings, and Waukesha Common Council

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Johnny Paycheck

4:15 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012

Looks pretty unethical to me serving both the City and the County and making decisions that affect whether one has to pay the other. But the real question here is where did she manage to find a lawyer who was willing to represent her for a mere 240 bucks?

Chris B

4:58 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012

@Johnny Paycheck
Unethical to serve on the city Common Council and Waukesha County Board?
I guess the city attorney, city Ethics Committee and state statutes say otherwise.
P.S. why the anonymous screen name?

Johnny Paycheck

10:22 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2012

That seems like a pretty hypocritical thing to say when you're here displaying your own last name as "B". In any regard I would ask why having my my full legal name would be of particular interest to you? Perhaps you have some criminal instincts that you need to overcome? Or you are one of many twisted up folks in our society who don't recognize the legitimacy of opinions that differ from their own and think you have the right to seek some sort of payback for it.

Johnny Paycheck

6:05 pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I am guessing that you work in government then since you (like the government attorney) don't seem to see any issue with the same official being in the role of both the buyer and the seller of those services. In any private company that would get you fired in an instant for conflict of interest.