Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager — who many county observers had hoped would clarify her legal opinion on whether the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors can remove its chairman, Lee Holloway, with only a simple majority vote — now says she won’t offer any further opinions on the Holloway matter, Capitol sources said today.

Lautenschlager was asked by supervisors to give a definitive opinion on the process of Holloway’s removal. Last week the AG delivered a less-than-definitive opinion and came under fire from all sides for further muddying the issue. Today, Lautenschlager’s apparently decided she’s said enough, already.

“The AG simply pointed out that Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel cited the wrong statute,” said a source at the state Capitol, referring to county lawyer William Domina’s earlier opinion that two-thirds majority County Board vote was needed to remove Holloway mid-term.

“This is all that the AG is going to say about this matter,” the source added.

County Board chairman Holloway faces a string of ethics charges stemming from alleged connections between real estate properties he owns and now-defunct W-2 contractor OIC. As Holloway has fought the ethics charges, a group of ten supervisors has pressured him to step down from his leadership role; however, this group is three votes shy of the supermajority (two-thirds) coalition needed to oust him from the Chairman’s seat.

Playing to both Holloway supporters and the group looking for a new County Board leader, Lautenschlager disagreed with Domina’s ruling but didn’t give the group solid legal footing to make a move.

Lautenschlager, who faces a strong challenge from Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk in the Democratic Primary for Attorney General, campaigned heavily in Milwaukee in February, including at various Black History Month events. Her involvement in the Holloway matter has left few at Milwaukee County impressed, while outraging others.

One Holloway supporter, Elizabeth Coggs-Jones, told the Journal Sentinel that Lautenschlager lost her support for AG, and said that would “ripple through the community,” referring to Milwaukee’s North Side.

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