Daniel Bice
The candidate for Milwaukee’s top finance post says he is on a “comeback” from bankruptcy and OWI.
The job of city comptroller — essentially, Milwaukee’s chief financial officer — calls for someone who is both sober and financially astute.
State Rep. Jason Fields is trying to convince voters he is that guy, even with his 2016 bankruptcy and two drunken driving convictions.
What’s his pitch?
“I think the people of Milwaukee have forgiven me,” Fields said last week. He added, “All of these things are under control.”
Fields is one of three candidates vying in Tuesday’s primary for the job of overseeing Milwaukee’s $1.6 billion budget. The city comptroller makes $125,607 a year.
It would be a big promotion for Fields. The 46-year-old lawmaker found it hard to oversee his own budget not so long ago.
Fields filed for bankruptcy in 2016, saying he had a mere $6,000 in assets and more than $271,000 in liabilities. The case closed — and most of his debts eliminated — a year later.
In 2015, Fields was convicted of his second drunken driving offense after crashing his van into a median and ending up in a snowbank in Brown Deer.
His blood-alcohol level was 0.305, nearly four times the legal limit. He was sentenced to 45 days at the House of Correction and ordered to pay a fee and fines of more than $1,100 and to give up his license for a year.
Fields said in an interview that he has turned his life around.
“Most of the people will identify with me and like the comeback story,” he said.
Specifically, he said his financial troubles are in his past and he considers himself a recovering alcoholic. He described himself as “healthy.”
Now married, the former stockbroker is employed as a legislator with the state Assembly, a job that pays $50,950 a year — less than half what he would make as comptroller. He was first elected to the Legislature in 2004 but lost eight years later. He was elected again in 2016 and has served ever since.
He also runs a nonprofit called The Financial Promise, which teaches financial literacy to businesses and people.
“Through all the ups and downs, I’ve been successful,” Fields said.
Probably the best known of the three candidates running for comptroller, Fields still trails both his opponents in fundraising. He has taken in nearly $26,000, including a personal loan for $6,000.
Deputy Comptroller Aycha Sawa has raised nearly $62,000, including $27,000 in personal and family loans. Alex Brower, a substitute school teacher, has brought in more than $44,000, a quarter of which are loans. They are all vying to replace Comptroller Martin Matson, who is not running for re-election.
Fields does have the support of such establishment figures as Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who donated the maximum $6,000 to Fields late last year.
Not long ago, Fields would have been in no position to donate to his own political campaign. The Badger Project, a Wisconsin news website, first reported on Fields’ bankruptcy and drunken driving offenses in 2018.
In his bankruptcy filing, he listed himself as a financial consultant with the firm Global Ex, which he owned. He reported a total income of $8,500 in 2015 and $18,000 the previous year. Through the first nine months of 2016, he had made just under $18,000.
Among his larger liabilities were about $37,000 in hospital bills, $81,000 in college loans and a $99,000 obligation to Seaway Bank and Trust. That bank had earlier foreclosed on Fields’ house and awarded a money judgment for that amount.
On his personal financial statements, he still lists more than $50,000 in education loans, which cannot be wiped clean in bankruptcy.
His financial troubles spilled over into his drunken driving case.
In January 2014, Fields injured himself when he ran into the median on the 9300 block of North Green Bay Road. When police arrived, Fields told them that he had “(expletive) up” and report
ed that he had had “a lot” of alcohol, the criminal complaint says.
Officers with the Brown Deer Police Department found an open bottle of vodka in Fields’ van. He said he also had been to a number of bars, the complaint says.
His first drunken driving offense was in 2008.
In court, a judge issued a bench warrant for Fields because he didn’t show up for one hearing. Later, he was given another warrant for not paying his fines on time. Both warrants were later withdrawn.
In his interview, Fields didn’t shy away from talking about these problems.
“It’s part of the comeback story,” he said.
Besides, he said, the comptroller’s job is much more than serving as the city’s book-keeper. He said, if elected, he will try to bring people together on a number of issues.
For example, he said he can’t see the Republican-controlled Legislature allowing Milwaukee County municipalities to put a binding referendum on their ballots to increase the county sales tax by 1%. He said members of the House and Senate need to be told how exactly the money would be spent.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is a big proponentof the proposal. Fields said he is supporting challenger Lena Taylor, a Democratic state senator, because she would “bring energy” to the job.
Those are the things that are important for this job, Fields said, not his recent personal troubles.
“For me and my wife, it’s in the past,” he said. “As the saying goes, there is no testimony without the test.”