It’s another voting miracle! Just like Kim Jung-Un of North Korea winning re-election in 2014 with 100% of the vote, in March, the Milwaukee County GOP board ‘unanimously’ voted to give its Chairman, David Karst, $1000 for his Assembly Campaign. This was based on information from his recent Campaign Finance Report that covered the timeframe of the donation.
All joking aside, this is a monumental ethical violation and mismanagement of funds from Conservatives who donated to the Milwaukee GOP. A chairman of a County GOP organization should not be allowed to use County money for their own political campaigns. All the while ignoring candidates in the Spring elections that were just a few short weeks away. More on that later.
David Karst is being challenged in a Republican Primary by fellow Republican Bob Donovan in the new 84th Assembly District. The Primary election is August 9th.
Mark Belling of Newstalk 1130 talked about this on his show, also reaffirming that this is at least problematic and likely unethical. Listen to the segment from the Mark Belling show on Newstalk 1130 from 7-18, Karst’s response is at the end…
or, you can click to listen to the whole podcast on iHeart media.
To his credit, David Karst did respond to Belling’s inquiry. And it’s Karst’s response that gives me pause, it was arrogant and almost defiant. Even Belling said he did not agree with Karst’s response.
Paraphrasing from his response, Karst said that back in March, the $1000 proposal for his 84th District Assembly Race was an agenda item. According to him, when it came to the vote, he turned over the Chair and did not participate in the vote.
Yes, I am sure he was more than ‘surprised’ and ‘overwhelmed’ with emotion that his hand-picked merry band of apologists on the board would ‘unanimously’ support giving his campaign $1000. This is almost as believable as Kim Jun Un getting 100% of the vote in North Korea.
Obviously, the deck was already stacked long before March because, much like some other campaigns, he feels ‘entitled’ to the seat. And, let’s be honest, Karst has total control of the Milwaukee County GOP and nobody would dare cross him out of fear of severe repercussions. The vote was all but GUARANTEED.
This proves yet another conflict of interest and just how unethical Karst is. Never once in his response did he say he would give the money back to the Milwaukee GOP.
This is beyond hubris, how many other new Assembly candidates are getting $1000? I’m betting he’s likely the only one in the entire county. I have discussed with a few, and at the time of writing this article, the ones I talked with have not received a dime.
But this isn’t the first time other candidates have been ignored. Just look at our Spring elections his past April.
This goes even deeper than the August Assembly Primary for the 84th District.
I’ll remind you that this money was given to Karst in March of this year. If you read my article from last April, I talk about the failure of the Milwaukee County GOP offer ANY help to Milwaukee County School Board and City Council races. Conservative candidates were IGNORED by Karst and the Milwaukee County GOP. Several of these seats were lost by less than 100 votes, that $1000 sure would have gone a long way of helping get more Conservatives elected in Milwaukee County. But I digress.
Karst basically giving himself county GOP money for his Fall campaign when there were Spring candidates who desperately needed help was a major slap in the face to Conservatives throughout the county.Plus, this shows an incredible lack of judgement, which begs the question of what other things will he lack judgement for. Clearly, Karst is just in it for himself!
Let’s just make this easy.
David Karst needs to grow some Ethics and just give the money back to the county, he is not ‘entitled’ to it, and because he is the Chair, it is simply not ethical to take the money.
Let’s leave the ‘voting miracles’ to Kim Jung-Un, ok?
