Milwaukee city attorney's apparent intervention in code dispute where his cars are stored raises concerns
When Milwaukee city inspectors recently raised concerns about apparent unauthorized car repair work and other code violations at a poorly maintained north side building, they were given a letter on City Attorney's Office letterhead that the owner contended exempts him from obtaining a required permit.
The inspectors were also told that City Attorney Tearman Spencer was keeping old cars at the property, and Spencer was part of a company that sold the building to the current owner in 2019. The owner told inspectors and the Journal Sentinel that Spencer does not pay rent to store as many as a dozen cars at the property.
The owner offered to call Spencer for further clarification while the inspectors were on site on Oct. 25 and Nov. 3, documents and emails obtained by the Journal Sentinel through an open records request show.
The letter prompted Erica Roberts, then commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services, to email Spencer along with a deputy and assistant city attorney whose names were on the document to ask why the memo was drafted.
"What initiated the research into the findings in this memo?" she wrote. "As the agency responsible for enforcement of the chapters of (the Milwaukee code of ordinances) cited, was this shared with anyone on my team? I do not recall making the request as Commissioner of the department. Please advise."
The letter wasn't the first time Spencer had been involved with this property and city inspectors, records indicate.
In 2021, he personally called a city inspector about code violations and an annual fire inspection at the property and came to the inspection, prompting the inspector to say she would not conduct the inspection unless it was solely with the owner, according to an email from a top DNS official. She ultimately conducted only a partial inspection.
These events took place after Spencer was elected in 2020 to head the office that is responsible for the legal representation of city departments and providing them legal guidance. On the office's website, under Spencer's photo, is a notice that explicitly prohibits City Attorney's Office lawyers from providing legal advice to anyone other than the city.
The situation raises a series of questions in addition to ethical concerns and legal concerns about misuse of public office, said John P. Gross, a clinical associate professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
The City Attorney's Office represents the city, he said. That means if a private citizen is asking for guidance on a city code or permit, the proper process would be for that person to interact with the regulatory agency that could then seek guidance from the city attorney.
"It's particularly suspect when it sounds like this particular private citizen may have engaged in prior business transactions with the city attorney and has ongoing business transactions, essentially, with the city attorney, because they're storing their cars for them and they're not paying rent," he said.
The letter emailed by the owner's son to the inspector on Oct. 25 was titled "vacant building car storage memo" and was written on City Attorney's Office letterhead. The memo was sent by a recently hired assistant city attorney to Deputy City Attorney Odalo Ohiku and dated July 8, 2022 — well before the issue surrounding the vehicles arose with city inspectors.
The owner's son "said he was sent a document from the city attorney which stated he was not required to get an occupancy permit," the records state.
Gross questioned why the memo was created and how the property owner, who is the subject of enforcement, came to be in possession of it instead of the agency that Spencer and his office represent.
The City Attorney's Office website also contains a notice that the city is the office's legal client.
"The City Attorney’s client is the legal entity of the City of Milwaukee," the notice states. "Lawyers are prohibited from providing legal advice to the public or to parties other than the municipal corporation of the City of Milwaukee. The City Attorney’s Office cannot represent or advise private individuals in legal matters."
City attorney doesn't explain his role in inspection dispute
Soon after Journal Sentinel reporters visited the property but before reaching out to Spencer on Tuesday, Spencer left a voicemail on a reporter's phone saying he was proud of his car collection.
"I hear you're interested in my hobby in cars," he said. "I hope you get a story that way but you're more than welcome to ask me about it. It's been a hobby of mine since 16."
On Wednesday, he did not immediately respond to a text message. Voice mailboxes on his cellphones were full Tuesday and Wednesday. When the Journal Sentinel called his office Wednesday, a representative said he was unavailable and asked that questions be submitted in writing. He responded but did not answer any of the questions.
Spencer, whose term ends in April, has not announced whether he will run for a second, four-year term. Democratic state Rep. Evan Goyke announced late last year that he would run for the seat.
Goyke did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Building owner says Spencer is putting him in 'difficult situation,' records say
On Tuesday, the property on North King Drive was full of vehicles. Those pointed out to reporters as belonging to Spencer, both outside and inside the south end of the building, appeared dusty and unused.
The property owner, Mohammed Ghaffar, in the past became irritated with inspectors, saying Nov. 3 that he felt the city was targeting him, according to the city records.
On Wednesday, he echoed that assessment in an interview, saying a new inspector is harassing him and issuing orders on the building, including to fix exit signs, even though he said he is in the middle of selling it to a Denver nonprofit, which he wouldn't name. He said the property would then be demolished and turned into affordable housing.
As the inspectors were leaving Nov. 3, the man who said he maintains the vehicles told inspectors Ghaffar "is concerned that Attorney Spencer is placing him in a difficult situation," the records state.
Asked about that Wednesday, Ghaffar said he just wants to sell the building and stop doing business in the city. Milwaukee inspectors were harder to work with than those in nearby communities, he said.
"We just want to sell it and get the hell out of here," Ghaffar said. "We don't want to do anything in Milwaukee, period."
The records say Ghaffar told inspectors that Spencer had sold him the building and had asked to keep his things there. On Wednesday, he clarified that Spencer was a business partner of another person involved the sale.
Spencer is listed as an organizer in articles of organization and dissolution for now-defunct business, Allmake Enterprises LLC, the company that sold the building in March 2019 for $205,000, according to city and state Department of Financial Institutions records.
Ghaffar told inspectors he does not charge Spencer rent and therefore Spencer is not a tenant, the records state. He confirmed to the Journal Sentinel that Spencer does not pay rent, saying that he told Spencer he did not need to.
Spencer's apparent involvement prompts concern at the Department of Neighborhood Services
A Department of Neighborhood Services spokesman said the department as of Wednesday had not received any response to Roberts' Oct. 31 email asking Spencer, Ohiku and the assistant city attorney why the memo was created.
Roberts on Nov. 7 forwarded the letter and other documentation to city Inspector General Ronda Kohlheim and Mayor Cavalier Johnson's Chief of Staff Nick DeSiato, records show.
"The summary below and attached supporting documents related to enforcement action DNS is employing ... where City Attorney Tearman Spencer appears to be involved," she wrote to DeSiato.
Kohlheim in a recent report on a separate issue recommended the Milwaukee County district attorney bring criminal charges against Spencer and Ohiku and that they be removed from office after she concluded that Ohiku was allowed to do work for his private law firm while on the city clock.
Roberts, who left her position Monday for a different city job, declined to comment last week.
Spencer's involvement with DNS dates to 2021
Spencer's interaction with inspectors at the property dates back at least as far as 2021, according to the records.
A Nov. 7 email from DNS Operations Director Kristen Reed to Roberts states that Spencer was present with the owner at the property for an inspection on Sept. 17, 2021 — a year and a half after he had been elected city attorney.
The inspector "did not feel comfortable with her treatment at that inspection and had to advise all parties if she wasn't conducting the inspection with solely the owner, she would terminate the inspection," the email states. "Ultimately she was only able to complete a partial inspection and referred the order to monthly reinspections for further enforcement."
Reed also wrote that the inspector had received a call from "Spencer" requesting that she call back regarding the code violations and a right of entry for the 2021 inspection. The phone number, which was listed in Reed's email, is one Spencer uses.
The inspector returned the call but wasn't able to leave a voicemail, the email states.
Gross said Spencer should have recognized he had a conflict of interest and should not have shown up to the property.
"What is his function there at that point except to potentially influence the assessment being made by the other city employee, whom he outranks in a big way?" Gross said. "I don't know what justification he would have for being there, and then the fact that the employee actually complains. ... He's a public official. You don't get to do that."
Contact Alison Dirr at adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tearman Spencer's apparent intervention in code dispute questioned
