Candidate may have misused resources, school board says

Five days before the election of a new Wisconsin state schools superintendent, the Whitnall School Board has told parents that Lowell Holtz, a candidate in the race, possibly misused district resources for political purposes while he was Whitnall’s superintendent.

The letter to parents Wednesday says that another organization requested that the Milwaukee County district attorney investigate Holtz’s use of his school email for political activities during the work day and that the district will cooperate if one is launched.

Board members will not spend district money trying to recoup wages for the time that Holtz may have spent on political activities while he was on the clock at Whitnall, the letter says.

Holtz is seeking to unseat incumbent State Superintendent Tony Evers to head the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The election is Tuesday.

The letter from the school board is in response to Holtz using his taxpayer-funded email account in May 2016 to draft a note that sought political support and also name dropped a host of top Republicans, including Gov. Scott Walker and Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos (R-Rochester). The email was released last month by One Wisconsin Now, a liberal interest group that obtained the communication in an open records request.

The email was dated May 25, 2016, and time stamped at 1:43 p.m., in the middle of the school day. It was sent by Holtz to his wife, Susan, and was a draft of a note he wanted to send to a woman named Diane asking “if you would share some of your expertise and advice with our committee.”

Holtz added in the email that he wanted to discuss “some of the issues we want to emphasize that align with the Governor’s thoughts on career and technical education, business partnerships, common core, state-wide testing, and the expansion of vouchers.”

One Wisconsin Now requested in February that the district attorneys in Milwaukee County and Rock County investigate whether Holtz broke the law by misusing public resources to boost his campaign. The organization contacted both district attorneys because, it said, Holtz was a Beloit resident and because some of the potential violations occurred in Milwaukee County and one in Rock County, when Holtz was superintendent in Beloit.

Chuck Sanger, spokesman for the Holtz campaign, had no comment Thursday on Holtz’s use of email and political activities. But he said that the Whitnall School Board’s letter was essentially using district resources for a political end — the same accusation lobbed at Holtz.

“The school board could have drafted this letter at any time,” Sanger said. “Sending it now calls into question the credibility of their motives.”

Previously, Holtz has also pointed out that Evers was fined $250 during his 2009 campaign for sending an email to a state employee on the recipient’s work account.