La Crosse custodian's political emails broke state elections law

A La Crosse public school worker broke state election laws by sending an email to 70 of his fellow custodians in the district asking them to support the campaign of a Democratic contender for state office, according to a recent ruling by a state elections board.

Jeffrey Greene sent the email from his office on an April 2011 workday, according to the report. Even though Greene was told to recall the email later the same day, 45 people had already opened his message.

Greene's email asked the other public school workers to help with the election campaign of Rep. Steve Doyle.

Doyle later won the 94th Assembly District seat vacated by Republican Mike Huebsch, who had been appointed secretary of the Department of Administration.

David Drewes, the leader of a local conservative group, filed the original complaint last year with the Government Accountability Board.

"He broke the law," Drewes said. "Good gosh, how many others contributed to that?"

Wisconsin law restricts public employees from campaigning for a political candidate during work hours. Greene admitted to the wrongdoing, signed the July 17 settlement, and agreed to a pay a $100 fine. He could not be reached for comment.

The district issued Greene a letter of reprimand for sending the email, District Superintendent Randy Nelson said.

"We use those policies to ensure that we have a workplace that holds individuals accountable to doing the right thing," Nelson said. "We have expectations of all of our employees."

Drewes, president of the local chapter of Citizens for Responsible Government, ran an unsuccessful campaign last year as the Republican candidate for the 95th Assembly District seat.

(c)2012 the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.)

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