RACINE COUNTY, Wis. — Cary Madrigal, the Racine County Sheriff candidate who just won the primary and will appear on the November general-election ballot, is now facing a formal Wisconsin Ethics Commission complaint alleging numerous campaign-finance violations. The complaint marks the latest controversy surrounding Madrigal, who was previously severely disciplined over her handling of alleged sexual misconduct by a subordinate who was later convicted in a child pornography and bestiality case. Madrigal was accused of trying to cover up the misconduct, and although she was severely disciplined, many in the community argued she should have been fired.
The complaint was filed by Kelly Gallaher, chair of the Democratic Party of Racine County, who is asking the Ethics Commission to investigate two reports filed by Friends to Elect Cary Madrigal, the candidate committee supporting Madrigal’s bid for sheriff. The complaint says the filings raise questions about whether contributions, expenditures, in-kind contributions, contributor information and cash balances were fully and accurately reported.
As KCE previously reported, Madrigal fought in court to prevent the public release of disciplinary records concerning her handling of the subordinate’s misconduct. She ultimately lost that court fight, allowing the records to become public.
The new controversy is financial rather than disciplinary.
According to the Democratic Party’s Monday announcement, its review of Madrigal’s campaign reports found what it characterized as “numerous errors, inconsistencies, misclassified transactions, and apparent omissions” spanning the campaign’s July Continuing report and Fall Pre-Primary report.
“Recent events have shown that accurate, lawful campaign finance reporting isn’t a high bar—it’s the minimum standard for earning the public’s trust,” Gallaher said. She accused Madrigal of asking voters to trust her to enforce the law while her campaign reports appear to disregard basic reporting requirements.
Among the most significant allegations involves Madrigal’s campaign events.
Public campaign materials cited in the complaint show events at Route 20, The Inclusive Bean, The Runaway Micropub, TinCan Roadhouse and Bower Design & Construction. According to the complaint, Madrigal’s campaign-finance reports contain an apparent $600 “Event Charge” payment to TinCan Roadhouse but do not contain comparable identifiable expenses or in-kind contributions associated with four of the other events.
Gallaher is asking the Ethics Commission to determine who paid for or provided the venues, food, beverages or other goods and services associated with those events and whether they should have been reported as campaign expenditures or in-kind contributions.
The complaint raises similar questions about Madrigal’s highly visible Fourth of July campaign activities.
An exhibit attached to the complaint reproduces a July 4 campaign social-media post in which Madrigal said her campaign participated in four parades. The post described a campaign float, trailer, vehicles, decorations and more than 200 pounds of candy.
Yet the complaint says Madrigal’s campaign-finance reports do not identify expenditures or in-kind contributions corresponding with the float materials, decorations, trailer, candy or other property described in the post. Gallaher wants investigators to determine who supplied or paid for those items, what their fair-market value was and whether the transactions should have been reported.
Another potentially substantial reporting problem involves thousands of dollars paid to businesses.
According to the complaint, Madrigal’s July Continuing report listed approximately $3,410.32 in payments to businesses including Racine Screen and TEMU on Schedule 2-B, which is designated for contributions to political committees. Her Fall Pre-Primary report similarly listed a $1,465.40 payment to Racine Screen for shirts on that schedule.
The complaint argues that, based on the descriptions Madrigal’s campaign itself provided, those appear to have been ordinary payments to commercial vendors rather than political contributions. The Ethics Commission’s reporting instructions distinguish regular campaign expenditures from transfers to other political committees.
Shirts are at the center of several other allegations.
The July report identifies approximately $1,975 worth of transactions described as “In Kind — Shirts” under “Other Income.” Gallaher’s complaint argues that if those shirts were property donated to Madrigal’s campaign, they would appear to constitute in-kind contributions rather than other income. It further alleges that the report does not appear to include corresponding in-kind offsets, which are used so donated noncash property does not artificially increase a campaign’s reported cash balance.
The subsequent Fall Pre-Primary report lists approximately $1,220 in T-shirt sales as “Other Income.” The complaint says Wisconsin Ethics Commission guidance treats money received from campaign merchandise sold for political fundraising purposes as contributions, with the purchase price attributed to the purchaser.
Gallaher is asking the Commission to determine whether the $1,220 should instead have been reported as contributions and whether the people who bought the shirts should have been identified as contributors.
The complaint also alleges problems identifying contributors. According to Gallaher, the two campaign reports contain entries apparently combining two people into one contribution, identifying contributors with incomplete names or omitting the amount of a contribution altogether.
“As filed, some entries do not allow a reviewer to determine from the face of the report who made the contribution or what amount should be attributed to each person,” the complaint says.
There is also a basic certification issue.
The copy of Madrigal’s Fall Pre-Primary report stamped received by the Racine County Clerk on Aug. 3 appears to contain blank spaces where the candidate or treasurer’s signature, printed name and date are supposed to appear. Wisconsin law requires either the candidate or committee treasurer to certify the correctness of a campaign-finance report, according to the complaint.
Gallaher is asking the Ethics Commission to determine whether another properly signed version was actually submitted and, if not, whether Madrigal’s campaign must file a corrected report.
The complaint further questions whether the campaign’s reported cash-on-hand figure is accurate. If approximately $1,975 worth of noncash shirts were counted among campaign receipts without the required offsetting entries, the complaint says, the resulting ending balance may not represent the amount of money the committee actually had in the bank.
Even the name of one of the campaign reports is questioned.
A report Madrigal’s committee submitted July 14 identifies itself as a “Fall Pre-Primary” report, according to the complaint. The report due at that point was actually the July Continuing report, while the Fall Pre-Primary report was due later.
Gallaher wants the Commission to determine whether the July 14 filing nevertheless satisfied the campaign’s July reporting requirement and covered the correct reporting period.
In all, the complaint asks the Wisconsin Ethics Commission to examine 10 areas, including whether event and parade expenses were properly disclosed, commercial purchases were misclassified as political transfers, shirt donations and sales were properly reported, contributor information was complete, the August report was properly certified, cash balances were accurate and amended reports or other enforcement action are warranted.
Gallaher also made an unusual request concerning who should investigate the matter if it moves beyond the Ethics Commission.
She specifically asked that any referral not be sent to Racine County District Attorney Tricia Hanson, saying Hanson has publicly identified herself as a co-manager of Madrigal’s campaign.
“Referral of the matter to an office headed by an individual actively involved in the respondent campaign would raise a significant question regarding the independence and impartiality of any resulting investigation or enforcement action,” the complaint states.
Instead, Gallaher asked that any investigation, enforcement action or prosecution be referred to an independent authority.
The Democratic Party’s press release said Wisconsin law allows civil forfeitures of up to $500 per campaign-finance violation and argued that, because the complaint involves dozens of allegedly incorrectly reported transactions as well as allegedly omitted expenses, Madrigal’s potential exposure could reach tens of thousands of dollars.
“These are not minor paperwork errors,” Gallaher said. “The reports repeatedly appear to misstate or omit the basic facts voters are entitled to know: who gave the campaign money, how those contributions were classified, and where the money was spent.”
Madrigal will appear on the Nov. 4 general-election ballot against Democratic candidate Don Vandervest.
3 Responses
If you’re willing to ignore red flags when you’re supervising a child sex predator, what’s a couple hundred campaign violations. She should have been demoted back to Deputy when the Preston Kite thing blew up, but instead she’s going to be another DEI Sheriff. Yea.
Best case scenario she’s incompetent. When the Preston Kite fiasco went down, she should have been demoted back to deputy, but instead she’s going to be the new DEI Sheriff. Good job Racine County voters.
Kelly Gallaher is a woman who doesn’t sh@@t from the hip. She does her research and makes sure she’s fully informed on issues before she jumps in. She was one of the first people screaming “foul” over Foxconn, and all of her predictions were accurate.
She’s probably the one lefty for whom I have a great deal of respect.