Holloway Prosecution Needs Cash

I'll be on NewsTalk 1130 WISN's Early Spin program tomorrow morning at the ungodly time of 6:05am to discuss the latest on the Holloway ethics case.

What's the latest?

Ethics officials today voted to ask Milwaukee supervisors for another $150,000 to continue the prosecution against County Board Chairman Lee Holloway.

If approved by the County Board, the appropriation would push the budget for the contentious case to $225,000, and that figure easily could grow if the ultimate decision is appealed.

The most likely source of the newly requested money is the already thin county contingency fund, which requires a two-thirds majority of the County Board vote to tap. The funding pays for ethics prosecutor John Fiorenza and county-appointed hearing examiner Michael Hogan.

"We're out of money," Ethics Board Chairman John Carter said.

Noting the need for a two-thirds vote, Carter said: "Well, it could be interesting."

Ethics Board members offered no hint of a possible settlement of the case during today's board's meeting, which included a long closed-session update from Fiorenza and lawyers defending the board against Holloway's various legal challenges. A final hearing before Hogan on the civil ethics charges had been set for April but has been indefinitely postponed.

So, now it will take a two thirds vote to continue the ethics prosecution?

Of course Holloway and his supporters will vote for the appropriation.

After all, all along they've been saying he should be afforded due process...

Tune in tomorrow.