Dan Knodl’s sweetheart deal

Do you remember Dan Knodl, an aspiring Republican State Assembly candidate who back in 2008 was charged with with one count of making false statements in a campaign flier that listed as supporters people who had not endorsed him? Knodl, who was elected to the State Assembly in November 2008, just had that case resolved, and thanks to a sweetheart deal, his election law violation was knocked down from a criminal offense to a $250 municipal ticket for disorderly conduct. The sweetheart deal came courtesy of the Ozaukee County District Attorney Sandy Williams, herself a member of the Republican Party.

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5 thoughts on “Dan Knodl’s sweetheart deal

  1. Earth to Zach! Earth to Zach!

    Do you think that Knodl printed the names intentionally? That on purpose he used names of people that hadn’t endorsed him? Do you really believe that this is what went through his mind — “Here’s a list of my known supporters, now let’s add some more who haven’t endorsed me just to make the list look better!”

    Use your brain — it was an error! The lawsuit was filed and Knodl took the PR hit prior to the election. Unless you can prove actual intent to use false names, this is how these things get settled!

  2. RO, I know what the statute says about the candidate knowingly making false statements, and while I don’t know if Knodl knowingly made false statements, it seems more than a little odd to me that he didn’t proofread his own campaign flier before it was finalized. After all, shouldn’t he as the candidate have had the final say over what was printed and utilized? As Harry Truman was fond of saying, “The buck stops here,” and in Knodl’s case the buck should stop with him.

  3. But the buck HSS stopped with him! He got the bad newspaper headlines plus the criminal charge filed before the election!

    Unless you can prove mens rea — a difficult standard in a case like this — what he settled for is a pretty fair resolution. Don’t you think that he will be hyper-careful in the future?

  4. RS, I’d like to think he’d be hyper-vigilant in the future, so you might be right that the DC ticket served the purpose, but I still think it’s a pretty sweet deal. 😛

  5. Do I think Dan Knodl purposely used names of people that hadn’t endorsed him? Assuming that wasn’t meant as a rhetorical question, yes, that’s exactly what I believe!

    Knodl was looking for a way to give himself an edge over other assembly hopefuls tried to create the impression he had broad-based support.

    Don’t get me wrong; I actually think Dan Knodl is a fairly effective representative, but one would have to be naive in the extreme to think his falsified list of supporters was the result of a clerical error.

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