DOA RECORDS SHOW (WI) AG HAD TWO HIT-AND-RUNS WITH STATE CAR

WISPOLITICS ^ | 04/21/2004 | MELANIE FONDER

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

WisPolitics: DOA Records Show AG Had Two Hit-and-Runs with State Car

4/21/2004

April 21, 2004

By Melanie Fonder

WisPolitics.com Associate Editor

Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager's state car was twice damaged last year before her February drunken driving accident -- incidents described as being hit and runs, records from the state Department of Administration released today.

Repairs to the 1999 Buick Park Avenue as a result of those accidents were nearly $2,000 and were charged to the state. The manner in which they were reported may be a violation of state procedure regarding the use of fleet vehicles, DOA memos suggest. In addition, Lautenschlager's husband, Bill Rippl, signed receipts for car washes and some detail work for Lautenschlager's vehicle, but was not registered as a driver of the vehicle.

Documents detailing the accidents, gas receipts and other related items were released by the DOA today in response to media open records requests. DOA expanded its search of records related to Lautenschlager's use of her state car after additional receipts were uncovered by the Wisconsin State Journal last week.

One incident occurred on April 14, 2003 at 80 University Ave. in Madison. That location is in the University Square area on campus, site of movie theaters and restaurants. The accident description says it occurred at "question mark PM." There was a dent in the driver's side door. The claim for damages to the vehicle totaling $746.99 was submitted June 4, 2003. A vehicle accident/incident report does not contain many details.

"In that document the driver description of the incident says that it was a hit and run in a parking lot, vehicle was unattended and there were no witnesses to vehicle causing damage," a DOA memo says. "There was no police report attached to the document and the dates are inconsistent with the accord provided by Automotive Resources International ..."

The second incident was on Oct. 27 or 28, 2003 between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. In this case, the front right-hand side of the vehicle was damaged and "headlights cracked," with the damages claim totaling $1,231.91. The accident/incident report in this case says the location of the accident was "likely in Fond du Lac, WI at home" with details unknown.

According to the state fleet policy and procedures manual: "You must report immediately by telephone if: you are involved in an accident with ... any damage greater than $500." State vehicles "have an Auto Accident Kit in the glove compartment which contains forms and instructions for reporting any accident."

Lautenschlager explained the incidents to reporters in the Capitol press room earlier in the day. Lautenschlager told reporters she came to work this morning and was greeted with this comment from her aide: "They want to know how you can be a victim of a hit-and-run in your own driveway."

The comment prompted her to walk up a floor toward the Capitol's Press room. "So I'm drawing you all a picture," she said as she held a short drawing lesson in the hallway for five Capitol press corps reporters.

"My driveway comes here, and the neighbor's driveway here," she said as she sketched upon the pad of The Capital Times reporter as reporters from the Associated Press, WisPolitics.com and Appleton Post Crescent looked on. "The driveways connect down here... this is the street. These are the garages... and my car was parked here... my neighbor's driveway is right next to it," she said as she drew. "It sounds ludicrous when you say she was a victim of hit and run in her own driveway, I guess."

Lautenschlager said her home street is narrow, and a hospital is nearby. But what adds to the confusion is her neighbor's also were having a roof project completed at the time and a dumpster was parked in the immediate vicinity. "There were construction vehicles going in and out," she said, adding the placement of the dumpster required some of those construction vehicles to use the Lautenschlager driveway.

She said there were two hit and runs, but referred reporters seeking specifics to view the actual documents. Her recollection was the one incident in her driveway was reported to Fond du Lac police and the other was reported through the state government. "The Fond du Lac police were called, and the other one we did through work," she said.

Regarding receipts signed by her husband, she said it was not a case of him using the state car but more a case of her possibly being in a gas station bathroom and he taking it upon himself to take care of the bill.

DOA Chief Legal Counsel John Rothschild said in a memo accompanying the documents that they were discovered in the last week and a half following the Wisconsin State Journal article. "The search turned up additional records contained both at Fleet and State Risk Management indicating that the vehicle used by Attorney General Lautenschlager had been repaired on several occasions. Further searching found records that there had been two accidents reported by Attorney General Lautenschlager...," Rothschild wrote.

Jeff Knight, director of the Bureau of General Services, wrote in another memo released by DOA that Rippl had signed for several car washes and some detailing work. On one occasion, the cost was $65.95 and was signed by Rippl.

"After following up we determined that four times the vehicle was assigned to the Attorney General was washed at a vendor (Jet Stream Car Wash) in Fond du Lac. As that vendor wasn't on the Wright Express account, they billed DOA direct. Upon further review of invoices submitted, it does appear that Attorney General Lautenschlager's husband signed receipts for work performed on the vehicle," Knight wrote.

When DOA staff tried to find out why cost was so high, they discovered there was "no record of the driver." After talking to the attorney general's staff about Rippl, "We then OK'd the charge but informed them that her husband could not drive or charge for repairs and that charges of this type needed advance approval."

-- Joanne M. Haas contributed to this report.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Our Attorney General here in Wisconsin is corrupt as hell and has got to go!!

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

BUMP

[Bob Eimiller]

Hmmm seems they forgot to mention the party she belongs to.... just an oversight I'm sure....lol

[T'wit]

>> "They want to know how you can be a victim of a hit-and-run in your own driveway."

Ooh, I can't wait to hear THIS story :-) :-)

[Waco]

But but but but,, it's only a DEMOCRAT,,,move on!!!!!

[greatvikingone]

She should have resigned with the DUI. And when she didn't resign, she should have been fired. Unbelievable!

I have never lived in a state with so many blatantly corrupt politicians before!

[T'wit]

>> "It sounds ludicrous when you say she was a victim of hit and run in her own driveway, I guess."

Why, yes, it does. We're waiting for the story :-)

[T'wit]

I think I know how she had an accident in her own driveway. I think she skidded on a patch of vodka.

[spunkets]

"Our Attorney General here in Wisconsin is corrupt as hell and has got to go!!"

She's a ditz too. The damage to the driver's door might be due to someone else, or she forgot to close the door before driving away. I can't see how the damage to the right front occured, because of someone else. If she parked in front, they'd have to drive on the grass. If it occured in the driveway, either she backed in and they drove at an angle into the driveway, or she went straight in and they did the same from the garage side. More likely she clipped something while blitzed.

[flashbunny]

It sounds like peg lautensaucer (glug glug glug) has a hard time keeping control of her car. Maybe she needs her own state provided driver as well.

[July 4th]

Peg Goldschlager has got to go. The DUI wasn't enough, the use of the state car for personal purposes wasn't enough. Let's call this strike three.

[arichtaxpayer]

[blackdog]

I had a drunk as a roommate once. He drove a new car that looked like someone took a hammer to it on just about every impactable surface in two years. No major stuff, just scrapes, small dents, busted headlights, snapped off radio antennae and the like. He never knew how any of it occured and he always said that it could be buffed out! That must explain Peg's detailing expenses.............

[blackdog]

If every time you saw a state vehicle with state tags, you called it in to the Wisconsin #911 system and indicated the driver seems intoxicated, Peg would be fired in a week.

There are thousands of state cars in Wisconsin. They have become a bureaucratic entitlement. The shopping malls, eateries, mini-marts, after school pickups, Packers games, and country roads on any given sunny saturday are full of those red tagged sets of wheels. The University system is so full of state tagged Cadillac and upscale full size SUV's as faculty perks it blows you away.

[jocon307]

"I have never lived in a state with so many blatantly corrupt politicians before!"

Hey, I live in New Jersey, I'm sure it's worse here.

Why aren't you Wisconsins all goo-goos like they are in Minnesotta? What explains the difference?

[T'wit]

>> Maybe she needs her own state provided driver as well.

If she were in jail, where she belongs, she wouldn't have any more accidents and wouldn't have to tell so many lies.

[FreedomPoster]

She's a Dem - of course.

[T'wit]

>> Why aren't you Wisconsins all goo-goos like they are in Minnesotta? What explains the difference?

Here's how it happened. Ole and Lena got married. On their honeymoon trip they were coming into Green Bay when Ole put his hand on Lena's knee. Giggling, Lena Said, "Ole, you can go farther if ya vant to"... so Ole drove to Minneapolis.

After that, Wisconsin had a much higher IQ than Minnesota.

[blackdog]

Wisconsin is strange. It's not corrupt in the Ed Rendell, Lynn Abraham, Abscam, Wilson Goode, John Street, Robert Torricelli kind of corrupt. It's more like a bunch of cheap, unmotivated, lazy, feed at the trough for life postal workers at all levels of government. They don't aspire to steal for anything big, they just nickel and dime the taxpayer by the tens of thousands.

Peg's whole reason for being in trouble is that she's uncreative and cheap while living on Michelobe and paying for Budweiser. These politicians and workers in Wisconsin can't even steal well. They get caught on car washes and milegae on a vehicle. White trash stuff.

Now if she was living by east coast standards, you'd think she was a newly elected dog catcher.

[T'wit]

Sven was born in Wisconsin but he moved to Duluth. Ole and Sven went fishing one day in a rented boat and were catching fish like crazy. Ole said, "We better mark this spot so we can come back and catch more fish." Sven then proceeded to mark the bottom of the boat with a large 'X'. Ole asked him what he was doing, and Sven told him he was marking the spot so they could come back tomorrow to catch more fish. Ole said, " Ya big dummy, how do ya know ve are going to get da same boat tomorrow?"