Both Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's and challenger Ray Allen's campaigns have been publicly scrutinized for alleged wrongdoing and unethical practices days before the April 3 mayoral election.
Former Madison alder and Allen supporter Dorothy Borchardt filed a complaint this week on a flier put out by Cieslewicz. The flier has a picture of the mayor dressed in a firefighter's uniform surrounded by several Madison firefighters in front a fire truck.
Borchardt said it violated rules set up by the Madison Ethics Ordinance and was created at the expense of the taxpayers.
""I think it's wrongdoing, he's the mayor and he used city resources,"" she said.
City Attorney Michael May said he agreed with Borchardt's complaint toward the mayor's campaign flier. ""It was a violation of city ordinances.""
Megan McGrorty, Mayor Cieslewicz's campaign manager, said if wrongdoing was done, it was accidental.
She said the firefighters were off duty at the time of the photo and no Madison logo is visible. She said she contacted the state Elections Board and got verification that the ad broke no rules.
However, she said it turns out it may have violated a city ordinance. ""If we did make an error, it was an honest mistake,"" McGrorty said. ""We did check with state Elections Board.""
According to the Board spokesperson Kyle Richmond, local election issues like these are not handled at the state level. He said the Madison Ethics Board would be in charge of the case.
May, who works with the MEB, said it is unclear whether action will be taken. He said anyone can file a potential violation of the law and is eventually sent as a referral to members of the board who would decide on the matter.
McGrorty said lost in all the talk of the mayor's controversial flier is the infraction made by the Allen campaign.
She said a solicitation was sent to Joel Plant, a city official, at City Hall with a non-profit stamp. McGrorty said this is a violation of city, state and federal law because it is illegal to solicit a city official.
However, Semmi Pasha, Ray Allen's treasurer, said the letter was accidentally sent to City Hall. Pasha focused on the mayor's campaigning, which he called a ""unlawful"" and ""laughable"" ""dirty campaign tactic.""
McGrorty said, ""Everyone makes mistakes and we're willing to accept that we may have made a mistake, but Ray [Allen] has definitely made mistakes as well.""
Allen's campaign mishap is not something to be prosecuted at the local level, according to May. He said he believed it would be looked at by the state.
