Prairie du Chien Leaders To Make Call On Mayor Reprimand

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. (WTAQ) - Prairie du Chien’s Common Council is scheduled to decide next Tuesday whether to reprimand Mayor Karl Steiner. Police officer Max Erickson filed an ethics complaint last month, saying Steiner refused to sign his paycheck because he supports the mayor’s election opponent this spring. Erickson said Steiner left him a voice mail saying that if he wanted Dave Hemmer to be mayor, then he should have Hemmer sign his check. Hemmer is the council’s president.

This week, the Prairie du Chien Ethics Board voted 2 to 1 to reprimand Steiner, saying he appeared to break a law against making election threats. Steiner called the ethics complaint ridiculous. And he responded by filing a half-dozen ethics complaints against Erickson and 5 others whom he accused of spreading rumors about him. The mayor later dropped 4 of the complaints, and the board agreed to a hold a hearing on the other 2. Steiner took Fire Chief Harry Remz and Alderman Jaaren Riebe to task for saying the mayor was hospitalized because he fell in a snowbank while drunk. Steiner replied he was already in the hospital at the time, and he did not have a drink in 3 weeks.