Former Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan became the first Democratic candidate to publicly challenge Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez on Monday after she fired her campaign manager for “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in campaign finance filings.
Rodriguez, considered the establishment favorite in the Democratic primary for governor, announced late Sunday that she had terminated campaign manager Kara Spencer. According to the campaign, an initial review found that Spencer filed inaccurate and incomplete reports. The January finance report was submitted hours after the deadline, amended twice overnight, and contains several apparent duplicate contributions ranging from $5 to $1,000.
On Monday, Brennan released a series of pointed questions seeking clarification on when Rodriguez first became aware of the issues, what oversight was in place, the status of the announced $1 million media buy, and how donors would be addressed. He concluded by asking, “How is this not disqualifying?”
“In the wake of significant campaign mismanagement and inaccurate financial reports, Sara Rodriguez must answer the following questions and be transparent with Wisconsinites,” Brennan said. He pointed out that duplicate donor listings appeared in the January report six months earlier and questioned the delay in addressing the issue.
The campaign intends to contact the Wisconsin Ethics Commission on Monday to correct the filings. Campaign finance reports are due Wednesday. Her team has not disclosed the full extent of the inaccuracies or how long they have persisted.
