The Fond du Lac city council president says she is disappointed that confidential information regarding an investigation involving a city councilmember was leaked to the public. West Bend police are conducting an independent investigation into whether councilmember Patrick Mullen violated the state Ethics Code regarding his involvement in a lawsuit filed against the city regarding the Lakeside Park Development project while he was a candidate and after he was elected to council. The question is whether Mullen benefited from political contributions through a political action committee to pay for the legal fees of the participants of the lawsuit. Mullen has said previously the city attorney assured him there was no conflict of interest. City council president Kay Miller says the lawsuit was an effort to force the council to put the question to a public referendum. “It (lawsuit) was more or less trying to get the city council to listen to the citizens and to put forth a referendum which did not happen,” Miller told WFDL news. Mullen was one of three people named on the lawsuit petition signed by over 3,000 citizens. Miller says perhaps the bigger concern is that an Ethics investigation is supposed to be confidential unless and until probable cause is found. “I don’t feel comfortable commenting on something that is ultimately from the beginning from a complaint coming forward is to remain confidential,” Miller told WFDL news. “The whole thing is preposterous on what has happened with the complaint and that all this information is out there. It shouldn’t be out there. This is confidential.” The city of Fond du Lac Ethics Board dismissed the same complaint against Mullen earlier this year.
