Wausau City Hall. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — It remains unclear just how much cooperation some witnesses will provide, but the Wausau Ethics Board is moving ahead with plans for a September 5th hearing regarding the complaint against Mayor Doug Diny.
Attorney Andrew Erlandson, who is representing Diny in the matter, told the Board he’s been running into dead ends with both. “The Council for [Kaitlyn] Bernarde and [Attorney Anne] Jacobson has advised me that ‘everybody is out of the office, everybody is out of town, nobody is available,'” Earlandson told the Board on Monday. “Nobody is showing up for depositions. That is where your order compelling their testemony got us.”
Should the stonewalling continue, he says he will file to have the case adjourned. “If I get a communication from Attorney [Sam] Hall confirming that they are not appearing, there will be a request to adjourn the hearing. There is no way to sequester witnesses in a way that would guarantee Mayor Diny a right to due process [through] pre-hearing discovery. It just seems impractical.”
Attorney Hall is representing City employees in the matter. Earlandson added that he is also requesting a response by Thursday, so he does not make an “empty trip” to Wausau on Friday. “I’ve done that once [already.]”
The Board had previously called both to testify in the matter, though both have been reluctant to do so, citing the ongoing Wisconsin Department of Justice investigation into the matter.
Earlandson and Attorney Eric Larson, who is assisting the Board, also said they are finalizing an agreed Statement of Facts for the case. “The last exchange Mr. Larson and I had, it seemed we had agreed. His last email indicated he had made a couple of [fixes] for grammatical purposes, but he had accepted my proposed additions. There wasn’t a red line, so I presumed the edits he made were just taking out a comma or removing or inserting a space.
“I think that Mr. Larson and I have reached an agreement on what facts we can agree to as uncontested,” added Erlandson.
Board members will meet again on September 3rd to deal with “anything else that comes up prior to the hearing,” and finalize procedures.
RELATED: Wausau Dropbox Returns, Secured Outside City Hall
The complaint centers on Diny’s handling of a locked, unsecured municipal dropbox placed outside City Hall over a weekend last September. Clerk Bernarde had intended to have the box installed and opened to receive completed absentee ballots ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election. Diny brought the box into his office on a Sunday, saying he did so for safekeeping. That led to a nearly week-long back-and-forth between the two, during which Bernarde turned the matter over to the Marathon County District Attorney as an election irregularity. Diny ultimately returned the box later in the week, and it was secured and opened.
The complaint was filed in early 2025, accusing the Mayor of using his position to violate election law by preventing citizens from voting.
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