Wisconsin GOP hits Tammy Baldwin with ethics complaint
Wisconsin Republicans are determined to make a long-simmering local news story about Sen. Tammy Baldwin stick, filing an ethics complaint in hopes of leaving a black mark on the freshman Democratâs first term. The state GOP issued a complaint Thursday to the Senate Ethics Committee that alleges Baldwin offered a former employee a severance package not to talk about her officeâs bungled response to opioid problems at a Veterans Affairs facility in Tomah, Wisconsin, which state investigators have linked to at least one death. Story Continued Below The former Baldwin aide, Marquette Baylor, was terminated last month following allegations that Baldwinâs office knew about an inspector general report of loose prescription practices last summer and did not immediately act on them, according to a series of reports by USA Today and local media. That report, however, did not find âany conclusive evidenceâ of illegal practice, though it raised âserious concernsâ about the facility. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel also reported that Baylor was offered severance pay to keep a lid on the mishandling of the Tomah VAâs issues, but declined. The Wisconsin GOP alleged Thursday that Baldwin is involved in a âmassive cover-upâ and that offering severance money to Baylor while she was no longer employed by the Senate was improper. âTammy Baldwin wrongly appropriated taxpayer funds to compensate a Senate employee who would not have performed official government duties while also fraudulently offering a contract to silence a former employee in order to save Baldwinâs career,â Joe Fadness, the executive director of the state Republican Party, wrote in the complaint. Baldwin has retained Marc Elias, a major power player in Democratic politics, as counsel to deal with the fallout over Baylorâs termination and the Tomah VA facility. Elias said in an emailed statement that GOPâs complaint is ânothing more than a political stunt.â âThis is a frivolous allegation wholly without merit,â Elias said. âIt is unfortunate that the Republican Party has made the choice to play partisan politics with the serious and tragic issues facing the VA and our veterans.â The GOPâs request for an investigation now goes to the secretive Ethics Committee, which rarely makes a peep about ongoing probes until the matters have been fully reviewed. The committee is now chaired by a Republican for the first time in years, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). Baylor stopped working for Baldwin as deputy state director in January, according to congressional database Legistorm. Elias told Wisconsin media that Baylor was fired for âher long-term performance on a range of issuesâ and that Baylorâs âhandling of the problems at the Tomah VA was only one of those issues.â Baldwinâs office also provided POLITICO with a detailed timeline of Baldwinâs requests for investigations into the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Centerâs practice of providing drug prescriptions for veterans in active treatment for substance abuse. It says she first raised the issue with the Tomah facilityâs director on April 7, raised an anonymous constituentâs concerns with treatment practices on June 25, requested inspector general reports on Aug. 11 and last month asked for Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald to take âimmediate action to address the extremely troubling reports of improper opiate prescribing practicesâ at Tomah.