The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been covering the public expenses of Wisconsin State Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass. In a story posted yesterday, entitled “Taxpayers Paid to Send Treasurer to Conferences,” the Journal Sentinel catches Sass lying about the cost of her out-of-state trips.
From the story:
Madison — Taxpayers spent nearly $5,500 to send state Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass to attend out-of-state conferences over 22 months despite her claim that the travel was privately funded.
Sass told the Journal Sentinel two weeks ago that the National Association of State Treasurers paid for the entire cost of her trips to the group’s conferences. But records released under the state open records law show the group paid just $3,898 of $9,367 in bills for Sass. Taxpayers picked up the remaining $5,469.
In a Sept. 4 interview, Sass said taxpayers sometimes paid for her staff to travel to conferences but that all of her expenses were covered by the association.
Asked if taxpayers had ever paid for her travel to the conferences, she said: “No, never. It never has. I’m one of the most fiscally responsible treasurers there are. I take the subway with my suitcase from the airports. I walk to the (U.S.) Capitol … because I didn’t want to spend money on a cab. I am very responsible.”
In response to the story, Sass told the Journal Sentinel — via email! — that “she did not recall saying she never billed taxpayers for travel and noted other state officials travel on the state dime. Her note said she was a frugal traveler.”
There will likely be more to this story. Records for a more recent out-of-state trip have not been released, her office has a huge backlog of claims for property yet uncompleted, and she’s promised to be working on that backlog herself.
The story is interesting beyond Sass’s troubles.
First, it shows how a politician in trouble — expenses controversy, poor management, backlog of work – will simply lie. Sass must have known that the Journal Sentinel could request state records of her office.
Second, it raises another question — in cities and towns, under controversy, will local officials be tempted to provide legally incomplete or inadequate responses to an Public Records request, in the hope that a matter will go away? In Sass’s case, she likely thought lying might make a public controversy go away. In public matters not yet so well-known, might a bureaucrat simply decide to provide less than our law requires? (It’s a law, Wisconsin Public Records Law, 19.31-19.39, not a courtesy.)
Third, on a visit to the Journal Sentinel website, the following description of the JS website greets visitors, at the top of visitors’ web browsers: “Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Breaking news, sports, business, watchdog journalism, multimedia.”
It’s the fourth of those five items that will help keep the Journal Sentinel relevant and valuable.