Wisconsin governor says office working on numerous complaints seeking removal of ’sexting’ DA

Wis. gov. working on complaints about ’sexting’ DA

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s governor said Wednesday he has received numerous requests to remove a prosecutor after several women accused of him of misconduct, including sending racy text messages to a domestic abuse victim and a woman seeking a pardon.

Gov. Jim Doyle said his office has “an outpouring” of complaints seeking Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz’s removal. He said aides were working with complainants to get the requests in proper legal form to initiate removal proceedings, and hoped to have a decision within a month.

“I want to get this done,” Doyle said. “We can’t have this hanging over Calumet County, we can’t have this hanging over the state, for a long period of time.”

Oklahoma City University law student Maria Ruskiewicz became the third woman in the past week to accuse Kratz of abusing his position as district attorney on Tuesday. She said Kratz sent her text messages implying he wanted to have a sexual relationship in 2008 when she sought his help getting a pardon for a decade-old marijuana charge.

Kratz had prosecuted Ruskiewicz and his support was critical in asking the governor for a pardon as she pursued a law career. Records released by the governor’s office Wednesday show Kratz officially recorded his support in August 2008, around the time Ruskiewicz said she received the messages. Doyle pardoned her last month.

Doyle said Wednesday he was outraged by the allegation, which he said “attacks right to the heart of the power of the governor.”

“What we’ve seen with this allegation … is there was an attempt (by Kratz) to use my power as governor, my pardon power as governor, to somehow have a relationship with a woman,” Doyle told reporters in Madison. “I take that allegation very seriously.”

Kratz’s attorney, Bob Craanen, questioned Wednesday why Ruskiewicz did not report Kratz’s behavior to Wisconsin’s Office of Lawyer Regulation earlier and dismissed the idea she feared he would withdraw support for the pardon.

Craanen suggested she and other women had financial motivations for coming forward now. He noted a civil rights attorney was investigating their claims and has pledged to file at least one lawsuit.

“Would they really be going up on national TV and doing all of this if there was no payday at the end?” he said. “I just don’t think so.”

Craanen said he had no idea whether Ruskiewicz’s claims are true and could not reach Kratz, who is at an in-patient treatment center.

Ruskiewicz said Tuesday she spoke out because she wanted the public to know about his behavior and to back up claims by other women.

“The reason why I’m coming forward is he abuses his power, not only with women, but with women in certain situations who are extremely vulnerable to his authority,” Ruskiewicz, 31, told The Associated Press.

Kratz has acknowledged sending 30 text messages in three days last year to a domestic abuse victim while he was prosecuting her ex-boyfriend. Kratz asked whether the woman was “the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA,” and called her a “tall, young, hot nymph.”

A second woman complained to Doyle’s office last week that Kratz invited her to an autopsy after they went to dinner in January, “provided I act as his girlfriend and would wear high heels and a skirt.” Kratz has called that charge false.

Kratz announced Monday he was going on medical leave indefinitely. He has rejected calls to resign from lawmakers, his peers and victims’ advocates.

Ruskiewicz went to Kratz in 2008 asking for support for her pardon application. He gave her his cell phone number, and she texted him later to thank him for the help — a move she now calls a mistake.

She said his messages soon turned suggestive. She recalled him texting while he was on vacation in Michigan with his family asking her to impress him “in between naps.” She said he later pestered her when she didn’t answer.

She eventually told him she was not interested and he said he would stop. She said she didn’t hear from him for months but then got a message in which he asked to meet in person to discuss “a personal matter.” At the time, she was just starting law school.

Deborah Felice, the associate dean for students at the law school, said she met with Ruskiewicz at her request on Sept. 25, 2008, to discuss the messages.

“She said she was very upset because she was pursuing a pardon and the DA she was working with was sending her these text messages that were basically stalking her,” Felice said, adding that she was shown some of the messages.

Felice said she and Ruskiewicz met with a university lawyer five days later. They decided the best course of action was to ignore Kratz and hope he would go away.

Richard Ginkowski, assistant district attorney in Kenosha County, said Ruskiewicz told her about Kratz’s behavior when they met in his office in June 2009 to discuss a possible internship. Ginkowski said he suggested the first thing to do was make sure Kratz still supported her pardon, which would be critical for a legal career. He said he then explained her options, including reporting Kratz to the Office of Lawyer Regulation.

Ginkowski produced an e-mail message showing Ruskiewicz asked him to keep the matter confidential. He said he e-mailed her a recent news story about Kratz and credited her “for having the guts to come forward.”

Associated Press Writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report.