A former legislative aide to a Milwaukee senator has claimed his staff engaged in illegal activities, including working on campaign websites, while being paid by the state.
Jana Williams, a former legislative aide to Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, has filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Board against the senator’s staff, said Zak Williams, who is currently running Coggs’ campaign for Milwaukee treasurer and bears no relation to Jana Williams.
The complaint alleges one of Coggs’ aides, Enis Ragland, worked on Coggs’ lieutenant governor campaign website while on the state’s dollar, Zak Williams said. The other complaint alleges staffers delivered documents for Coggs’ wife’s business to the Secretary of State.
“These allegations are utterly false and easily disprovable,” Zak Williams said.
Zak Williams said the claim staffers delivered documents on Coggs’ wife’s business to the Secretary of State’s office makes no sense because that office does not process these types of papers.
Zak Williams, who also ran Coggs’ campaign for lieutenant governor, called the allegations filed against Ragland factitious. He said the website was built by an independent firm the campaign paid and that all the information about who paid for and built the website is contained in campaign finance reports.
Zak Williams said Jana Williams made her accusations about the website a year ago to the GAB.
“The only reason this investigation is still going on is because the GAB needs to dot their i’s and cross their t’s,” Williams said. “There’s absolutely nothing here and the allegations will be dropped.”
GAB spokesperson Reid Magney confirmed that the board had received a complaint but said there would be no further comment because of confidentiality rules.
Executive Director of Common Cause in Wisconsin Jay Heck said Jana Williams made the complaint shortly after she lost her job. He said she was part of Coggs’ legislative staff, but when the Democrats lost their majority in the Senate she was laid off. While she said she would have made the complaints before, she was afraid she might lose her job.
“The allegations made by this employee are serious and criminal, and the GAB must take them seriously,” Heck said.
