*** SEE UPDATES BELOW THESE DETAILS ***

I just re-submitted a formal complaint to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission after research revealed potentially thousands of violations of ethics laws by state Representative Steve Doyle tied to his work as a private attorney providing legal services directly to state lobbying organizations, something that state ethics law prohibits.

Commission staff notified me that the original complaint exceeded their 10-page limit and we were asked to re-submit it after condensing it down. The evidence is so overwhelming and extensive that Representative Steve Doyle violated state ethics laws that we exceeded the page limitations in order to document them all.

In every year of his legislative tenure, Doyle has served as attorney of record in numerous court cases representing clients who employ lobbyists. Every legislator receives training, so they understand the laws that prohibit them from taking so much as a cup of coffee from a lobby group, much less a paycheck, but case after case after case found that Doyle went to court serving as lawyer for the same folks who want to influence his vote in Madison.

Employment arrangements with a lobbying group would seem to violate Wisconsin’s ethics and lobby laws meant to prevent corruption among elected officials. These laws clearly state that ‘no state public official may solicit or accept from any person, directly or indirectly, anything of value if it could reasonably be expected to influence the state public official’s vote, official actions or judgment, or could reasonably be considered as a reward for any official action or inaction on the part of the state public official.’ These statutes are backed by decades of opinions from enforcement agencies which have advised legislators that the law does not allow employment arrangements where a legislator receives payment, directly or indirectly, for work they do specifically for lobby groups.

Public records provide ample evidence that Doyle has been doing work for multiple lobbying principals. I am filing this formal complaint so the Ethics Commission launches an investigation into what appears to be Doyle’s repeated violations of these laws. Our research showed thousands of cases across multiple counties where Doyle served as attorney for lobby groups

***** 12/13/2024 UPDATE *****
According to the WEC web site, the commission is meeting on 12/17 and one of the items is a closed session when complaints like the one I filed against Representative Steve Doyle may be addressed.

***** 11/18/2024 UPDATE FROM WEC *****
Mr. Muller:

This complaint is awaiting review by the Commission. At this time, I do not know when this matter will be reviewed. The Commission typically reviews complaints in the order they are received. While I cannot provide any information as to any other complaints the Commission may have received, as you know, this complaint was filed in October. As such, the Commission will likely not consider it until any complaints filed before that have been considered.

***** 10/29/2024 UPDATE *****
There are finally some media groups helping to get this story out to the public.

Click HERE.

***** 10/24/2024 WEC CONFIRMS THEY ARE PROCEEDING WITH COMPLAINT *****

This email is to acknowledge that the Wisconsin Ethics Commission has received your revised complaint against Steve Doyle. Commission staff has conducted a preliminary review of your revised complaint as required by Wis. Admin. Code ETH § 21.03(2) and determined that your complaint is sufficient to proceed to consideration by the Commission.

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The next step is to notify the Respondent and provide them a copy of the complaint. They will have 15 calendar days from receipt of that notice to respond to the allegations. Once the Commission has received a response (or the 15 days have elapsed) the matter may be considered by the Commission at its next meeting. The next scheduled meeting of the Commission is December 17th. However, complaints are generally considered in the order they are filed. As such, I do not expect your complaint will be considered at the December meeting. You can find the dates of future scheduled meetings at: https://ethics.wi.gov/Pages/AboutUs/Meetings.aspx

Once your complaint is considered by the Commission, it will make a determination as to whether it believes there is at least reasonable suspicion of a violation by the Respondent. If it does not find at least reasonable suspicion of a violation, the complaint will be dismissed. You would be notified of any such dismissal. If the Commission finds at least reasonable suspicion of a violation, the matter could proceed along a variety of different paths. Once the matter reaches a final disposition, the record of that final disposition would be publicly available upon request.

********** ANOTHER REVISED COMPLAINT TRANSMITTED WITH THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE **********
Date: Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 3:10 PM
Subject: Re: 20241015 Ethics Complaint - Steve Doyle
To: ETH Complaints

Here is the amended complaint and the original is on the way via overnight mail.

I appreciate your guidance through this process but I must admit how frustrating it is for an average citizen like me to be forced to jump through so many hoops in order to hold my elected officials accountable. There must be a better way for average voters to redress grievances when serious violations of ethics law are identified as I have done here.

Let me know if you have any additional feedback,
Chris Muller

***** 10/21/2024 WEC RESPONSE *****
On Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 11:34 AM ETH Complaints wrote:

Mr. Muller:

Commission staff has conducted a preliminary review of your revised complaint as required by Wis. Admin. Code ETH § 21.03(2). Upon review, your complaint is not sufficient to proceed to consideration by the Commission because it is not properly sworn. See Wis. Admin. Code ETH § 21.03(1)(g). I apologize for not expressly stating this in my earlier email on October 15th, but the notarial certificate is a required element for a sworn complaint with the Commission. See the below sample certificate language from our complaint form:
-screenshot-
As your complaint is not properly sworn, it must be dismissed pursuant to Wis. Admin. Code ETH § 21.03(2).

If you wish, you may re-file your complaint once it has been revised to include a proper notarial certificate.

***** 10/18/2024 WEC RESPONSE *****
Mr. Muller:

This email confirms receipt of the mailed copy of your complaint.

********** REVISED COMPLAINT MAILED ON 10/15/2024 **********

***** 10/11/2024 WEC RESPONSE *****
Commission staff has conducted a preliminary review of your complaint as required by Wis. Admin. Code ETH § 21.03(2). Upon review, your complaint exceeds the 10-page limit imposed by Wis. Admin. Code ETH § 21.03(1) and upon consulting with our Administrator, he indicated that no pre-approval to exceed this limit was granted. As such, your complaint is being dismissed pursuant to Wis. Admin. Code ETH § 21.03(2). If you wish, you may re-file your complaint after reducing it down to 10 pages or less.

I would also note that upon review, it appeared that Exhibits A-K and Exhibit O document activity from more than three years ago. Pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.49(2)(f)1., the Commission cannot act upon any complaint made more than three years after the violation is alleged to have occurred. Additionally, I noted that Exhibits M and N appear to document Rep. Doyle representing clients other than Gundersen and who do not appear to be lobbying principals themselves, so those exhibits would not support your allegations without further factual representations as to their association with a registered lobbying principal.

***** 10/09/2024 BREAKING NEWS PODCAST *****