GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Amid protests and pressure from the Assembly over the handling of the November General Election in Green Bay, the city has released a series of documents related to the election on their website.
The documents were released as part of an open records request.
At issue is a third party group, the Center for Tech and Civic Life, and how much influence the group and its staff had over the election. Allegations published this week in the conservative publication Wisconsin Spotlight said that group, financed in large part by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, held undue influence over the operation of the election in Wisconsin.
A former Democratic operative, Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein, who worked with that group, allegedly keys to the KI Center ballroom where ballots were stored and counted, a claim Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich denies. Spitzer-Rubenstein had asked to help “cure” absentee votes that came in to central count, meaning “correct” ballots that were missing signatures and witness addresses.
The city had accepted a $1.6 million grant from the group.
Former Green Bay City Clerk Kris Teske resigned shortly after the election. The emails show she was frustrated by the staff from the group.
“I am very frustrated, along with the Clerk’s Office. I don’t know what to do anymore. I am trying to explain the process but it isn’t heard. I don’t feel I can talk to the Mayor after the last meeting you, me, Celestine, and the Mayor had even though the door is supposedly open,” the city clerk wrote in late August to Green Bay Finance Director Diana Ellenbecker. “I don’t understand how people who don’t have knowledge of the process can tell us how to manage the election.
In an interview Thursday, Mayor Genrich denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
The State Assembly held a hearing on Thursday over the allegations as well. Several speakers at that hearing disputed Genrich’s denial.
Several dozen protesters gathered Friday outside of City Hall for a demonstration, calling for an investigation into the city’s handling of the election and the resignation of Mayor Genrich.
Republican lawmakers, like State Rep. Shae Sortwell (R-Two Rivers), brought up concerns about whether a fair election was held in Green Bay.
“I’m starting to see a trend from this Mayor. It certainly seems to me he wants to run this election,” said Rep. Sortwell during the demonstration.
You can read the emails in question for yourself here, courtesy of Wisconsin Spotlight.
