Former Councilman Asks Current Council To Elect New Vice President

A former Fond du Lac City councilman is asking current council members to elect a new Vice President of the City Council.

Dan Degner had been a City of Fond du Lac Councilman until the most recent election, when he failed to garner enough votes to retain his seat. Now Degner has sent a letter to current council members, citing numerous reasons on why current council member Patrick Mullen needs to resign his position as Vice President, and calls into question a number of issues involving false information provided by Mullen. That information came to light in a recent Fond du Lac County District Attorney investigation.

KFIZ News was sent a copy of the letter, and it reads as follows:

Dear City Council,

Following the ethics board’s decision that found Councilmember Giles guilty for seeking legal advice from a private attorney, on February 11th, (a citizen messaged me) saying, “don’t vote for Ben (Giles) to be president.  I’m extremely fearful that if he is president everything the council does will be seen negatively by the public. He’s cost the public to lose a lot of faith in local government and no matter who is involved we need to work to restore that faith.”

I’m requesting that the City Council follow through with this sentiment and heart to have a vote at the upcoming meeting to elect a new Vice-President in light of the District Attorney’s findings regarding Vice-President Mullen’s ethics issues.  The District Attorney’s report showed that Vice-President Mullen provided false information about his marriage, being a director of the Friends of Lakeside Park, and receiving a financial benefit from his lawsuit against the city while being an elected official per city ethics code.

On March 18th, at the 14:07 mark of the City Council Candidate forum Vice-President Mullen referred to Mary Hayes as his “wife,” however, when an ethics inquiry was brought up he had falsely denied that Mary Hayes was his wife. 

According to one person who spoke, ethics issues “cost the public to lose a lot of faith in local government and no matter who is involved we need to work to restore that faith.”  I agree with (that person).  Mr. Mullen providing false information about who he is married to has cost the public to lose a lot of faith in the City Council and local government.  

As a result, I am demanding that VIce-President Patrick Mullen immediately resign from his role as Vice-President of the City Council and if not, that the City Council at the upcoming meeting vote on removing Mr. Mullen from leadership and appointing a new Vice-President in order to restore public trust in the City Council.

It’s time to restore accountability and public faith in the City Council.

Daniel Degner