Disorderly conduct case against Wisconsin Democrat lawmaker set to begin

A Wisconsin lawmaker charged with disorderly conduct is scheduled to have her initial court appearance Friday afternoon in Milwaukee County where several judges will be recused from the case.Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, a Democrat who is not part of the caucus, was charged after a Sept. 2 phone call where she reportedly threatened another member of the Assembly that she would “tell the press negative personal information” if she was not included in writing a Joint Resolution honoring Latino veterans.
Ortiz-Velez left the caucus after the incident.
The charge is a misdemeanor that could lead up to a $1,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail.
Ortiz-Velez’s attorney, Michael Chernin, told The Center Square on Thursday that he could not comment on the case before it was completed.
The complaint states that Ortiz-Velez felt she was intentionally left out of writing the resolution despite the fact that her late husband was a Latino veteran.
The complaint was filed in Milwaukee because both representatives live in Milwaukee and both were in Milwaukee when the phone call occurred.
“These were personal attacks regarding Witness 1 that were outside the bounds of political response,” the complaint said. “The statements were indecent and tended to disrupt the good public order.”
Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk, R-Hubertus, wrote that he was denied the records when he sent a public records request to the state’s Department of Administration for Capitol Police records related to the incident because the “continued confidentiality is material to that prosecution and release would harm the prosecution.”

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