Ethics watchdog urges investigation of Petri

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Appleton
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Fox Cities, Wisconsin
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
HOUSE CLEARS WAY FOR HIGHER DEBT CEILING
PAGE B1
Defendant
in hit-run
death will
stand trial
Officer testifies on
investigation after
bicyclist died Nov. 9
By Ariel Cheung
Post-Crescent Media
APPLETON — Police have yet
to identify multiple vehicles
that were near the intersection
of Wisconsin Avenue and Ballard Road when 61-year-old bicyclist Robert Joosten was
struck and killed last Nov. 9, a
police investigator testified
Tuesday.
Sgt. Neal Rabas of the Appleton Police Department was the
only person to testify during the
preliminary hearing for James
R. Erdmann Jr., 20, of Poy Sippi,
who is charged with hit-and-run
involving a death.
Erdmann was arrested in December, a month after police released video surveillance footage of Erdmann
and the red pickup
truck he admitted
to driving through
the intersection
around the time of
the crash.
On Monday, defense
attorney
Erdmann
Ken Kratz asked
Rabas whether police saw any
other vehicles in the surveillance footage of Wisconsin Avenue at the time Joosten was seen
riding into the intersection. Rabas said there were four or five
vehicles, including the red pickup truck.
Kratz asked if police identified the other vehicles and drivers, and Rabas said at least
some of them were not identified.
Rabas also gave details about
the scene of the crash and the
extent of the video the police department reviewed for the investigation. He testified that
footage was obtained from city
traffic cameras on Wisconsin
Avenue at Richmond, Meade
and Oneida streets, in addition
to surveillance footage from
several businesses.
Kratz asked if there was any
evidence that paint from the bicycle or truck transferred to
the other, but Rabas said both
were still being tested for evidence.
Rabas testified that Erdmann’s girlfriend told police
By Jen Zettel | Post-Crescent Media
A
ppleton East High School’s
rules on cellphone use surprised
Hannah Crum when she
enrolled as a freshman there in 2012.
The Appleton public school district
allows students to use their phones
anytime, as long as it’s for educational
purposes and doesn’t violate
codes of conduct.
Students regularly bend the rules,
said Crum, now a sophomore.
“A lot of kids have their phones
out (and are using them) the entire
class even though they’re not
supposed to. They’re pretty
much connected to their
phones,” she said.
SCHOOL
CELLPHONE
POLICIES
» Kaukauna and
Neenah districts allow
students to use their
cellphones before school,
between classes, during
lunch period or after
school — unless
otherwise directed
by a teacher.
» Appleton,
Hortonville, Kimberly,
Little Chute, Menasha
and New London
allow students to
use their phones
anytime, as long
as it’s for educational
purposes and doesn’t
violate codes of
conduct.
Source: Fox Cities
public school districts
See STUDENTS, Page A7
See BICYCLIST, Page A8
MORE FOX CITIES
❯❯ LOCAL AND STATE NEWS
SIDELINES | Timber Rattlers
want to hear fans’ stories
/ FOX CITIES FYI, A3
PUBLIC BUSES | Regional transit
authority bill likely to die / A5
COMMENTARY | If you can’t sleep,
you’re not alone / VOICES, A10
Ethics watchdog urges investigation of Petri
Conflict seen over
congressman’s
stock holdings
By Donovan Slack
Post-Crescent Media Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — A nonpartisan watchdog group is crying
foul over the “obvious conflict
of interest” between Rep. Tom
Petri’s official actions and his
personal finances.
Craig
Holman, senior legislative director
for Washingtonbased nonprofit
Public Citizen,
said the Office of
Petri
Congressional
Ethics should investigate the Wisconsin Republican’s advocacy on behalf
of a defense contractor in
which he owns a considerable
amount of stock.
“This is not just benefiting a
major campaign contributor,
this is going into his own pocket,” Holman said in an interview.
The Gannett Washington
Bureau reported last weekend
that Petri bought hundreds of
thousands of dollars worth of
stock in Oshkosh Corp., a military truck manufacturer
based in his district. He then
pressed colleagues on the Hill
and officials at the Pentagon to
help the company retain a $3
billion military contract and
escape Pentagon cuts. At the
same time, the value of his in-
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vestment in Oshkosh has
grown 30 percent.
House Ethics rules prohibit
members from using their official position for personal
gain, but they are murky and
are interpreted on a case-bycase basis by the House Ethics
Committee, which is responsible for enforcing them.
The independent Office of
Congressional Ethics typically
conducts preliminary reviews
and if warranted, refers cases
See PETRI, Page A8
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POSTCRESCENT.COM ■ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
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Continued from Page A1
to the committee for further action.
“This particular situation certainly merits an investigation, and it would be
something that would be
appropriate for the Office
of Congressional Ethics to
take a closer look at,” Holman said. “The connection
between official favors
and personal benefits is so
close here that it is worthy
of an investigation.”
A spokesman for Petri,
who declined to be interviewed, said the congressman’s personal stock ownership did not influence his
official actions on behalf of
Oshkosh Corp., which employs thousands in his Wisconsin district.
“Working with the Wisconsin delegation to support fair treatment for a local employer led to the creation of thousands of middle-class jobs in his district
— and any constituent
company receives the
same treatment,” spokesman Lee Brooks said. “This
is part of his job as an elected representative and
what his constituents expect him to do.”
In addition, Brooks
maintained that he followed Ethics committee
guidance whenever there
was a potential conflict of
interest.
“Because he owns stock
in Oshkosh Corporation, he
takes extra steps to check
with the Ethics Committee
before acting,” he said.
“He has always strictly adhered to Ethics Committee
advice and will continue to
do so.”
A spokeswoman for the
Office of Congressional
Ethics declined to comment, citing the office’s
policy not to confirm or deny any plans to investigate.
As a matter of process,
the office launches investigations after two of its
eight board members conclude there is “reasonable
cause” to believe a violation of House Ethics rules
may have occurred. They
may take up a case after receiving a complaint or independently. Members are
appointed by House Democratic and Republican
leaders.
The office notifies targets in Congress if it has
launched a probe but not
the public. The results of
an investigation only become public if they are referred to the House Ethics
Committee.
The House Ethics Committee has sole jurisdiction
over enforcing the rules
and can recommend that
the full House take further
action, up to and including
censure or expulsion. Both
are extremely rare.
Ethics watchdogs say
Petri’s situation deserves
scrutiny because he contacted executive branch
agencies — in this case the
defense secretary and secretary of the Army — in
2009 in an attempt to preserve and expedite the
awarding of the $3 billion
truck-manufacturing contract to Oshkosh.
In addition, he asked
colleagues in Congress to
reject $101million worth of
cuts the Pentagon wanted
to make to its budget for
the trucks in 2013. His
House colleagues blocked
$80 million worth of cuts.
At the same time, Petri’s
investments of between
$265,000 and $650,000 in
Oshkosh stock grew in value to between $340,000 and
$863,000, a gain of between
28 percent and 33 percent,
a Post-Crescent Media
Washington Bureau analysis found.
“Petri’s really just
placed himself into a hornets’ nest,” Holman said.
“Even if he isn’t providing
any particular favors to
benefit his own investments, it has every appearance of that.”
The Democratic Party
of Wisconsin lashed out at
Petri after the Gannett report on his intersecting
personal finances and political actions.
“Tom Petri can’t be
bothered to support an increase in the minimum
wage or an extension of
needed unemployment insurance, but he has all the
time in the world to take
care of special interests —
especially his own interests,” spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said. “Like the
rest of the Republicans in
Congress, Tom Petri is unbelievably out of touch
with the needs of middleclass families.”
— Donovan Slack can be reached
at [email protected];
on Twitter @donovanslack
Bicyclist
Continued from Page A1
that Erdmann was on
the phone with her
while driving to her
residence to pick her
up.
“He made a comment that he had just
hit someone, and he
stated that he had not
stopped,” Rabas said.
“He said he could see
someone in the roadway, and they seemed
to still be moving. He
also indicated he saw a
bicycle in the roadway
... but he said he did not
want police involved
and told her to hurry up
so they could leave.”
Kratz asked Judge Michael Gage to dismiss the
case, arguing there was
insufficient evidence to
establish probable cause.
“Without physical evidence or an admission
from the defendant except for secondary hearsay (from Erdmann’s girlfriend), I don’t believe
there’s any evidence tying
the defendant to this
crime,” Kratz said.
Gage replied that hearsay evidence is admissible in a preliminary hear-
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ing and ordered Erdmann
to stand trial. He will be
arraigned March 10.
“There certainly is information that associates
Mr. Erdmann’s presence
with the scene of the accident,” Gage said. “There is
evidence in the testimony
from the girlfriend that he
was involved in an accident right about that time.”
Hours:
Mon – Sat 8 am - 9 pm;
Sun. 9 am - 7 pm
Angus
Europe
WI-5001760628
Petri
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