New Holloway Prosecutor Named

The case can now proceed.

The vacant position of special prosecutor in the ethics case against Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway was filled today by Charles Blumenfield, a Mequon lawyer.

Blumenfield, who was hired on a 4-0 vote by the Ethics Board, is a private practice attorney who has worked as a special prosecutor for the state Supreme Court's Office of Lawyer Regulation.

He takes over for John Fiorenza, who resigned April 14. Fiorenza stepped aside because of implications of racial bias he said were raised against him by Holloway's lawyer.

Holloway, who is African-American, faces about 30 civil ethics charges related to his failure to list several properties on annual county ethics disclosure reports, including a commercial building at 2100 W. Atkinson Ave.

He's also accused of a conflict of interest in voting for county funding for pportunities Industrialization Center of Greater Milwaukee during several years when OIC paid Holloway some $165,000 in rent and mortgage payments.

Read the whole brief on JSOnline's Daywatch.