Dyango Zerpa, recently fired as a state legislative aide, resigns from Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors

Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Dyango Zerpa, who has been under scrutiny in recent months and fired as a state legislative aide, resigned Friday “to pursue other career opportunities,” according to his attorney.

Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Dyango Zerpa
Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Dyango Zerpa

Attorney Michael Maistelman, who represents the 14th District supervisor, did not specify what other opportunity had prompted Zerpa to resign less than a year after he was elected to the 18-member board.

The freshman supervisor has come under scrutiny for a series of problems since his election in April, including his firing from his job as a state legislative aide for state Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, questions about his campaign finance reports and, recently, his absence from a series of board committee meetings.

His departure leaves a vacancy at the County Board. It wasn't immediately known when an election would be called to fill the seat. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has the ability to call for a special election to fill the remainder of Zerpa's two-year term that ends in April 2024, according to Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson.

"District 14 needs strong effective leadership at the County level," Ortiz-Velez wrote in a statement upon learning of Zerpa's resignation. "I look forward to the community coming together and electing someone who will represent our community."

Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson wrote in a statement to the Journal Sentinel that she had been copied on a communication from Zerpa to Sheriff Denita Ball and Christenson on Jan. 20 stating his intent to resign his seat on Jan. 27. Nicholson then relayed information to the Office of Corporation Counsel and the Office of the County Executive on the next steps for this upcoming vacancy.

"As Chairwoman, I will work to ensure there is staff available to support constituents of the 14th District in need of essential county services during this vacancy,” she wrote.

Per state statute, a county board supervisor planning to resign must first provide a notice of resignation in writing to the sheriff. Once received, the sheriff must notify the chairperson of the County Board and then file the resignation with the county clerk.

Late campaign finance report, unusual donations returns

Despite being a self-described "campaign consultant for more than a decade on electoral and issue-based campaigns," Zerpa as of late 2022 had not filed his July campaign finance by the deadline.

It wasn't until Nov. 18, 2022, that he filed the paperwork.

Reviewing his campaign finance reports, the Journal Sentinel found that donations were returned between January and March 2022 to contributors confirmed as his mother, step-father and friends. Other discrepancies appeared in the reports, including one donee receiving a refund of more than what was donated. His 2022 pre-election paperwork was also incomplete without a signature.

According to the reports:

  • A Phil Schmidt who donated $100 received a refund of $150. A donee named William Schmidt had previously donated $150 but was not noted as receiving a donation return.

  • His mother, Virginia Zerpa, received her full $1,000 donation back.

  • His step-father, Carlos Uriona, received his full $500 donation back.

"It's really the candidate's choice as to what he wants to do with those residuary funds, if he chooses to close that account," Milwaukee County Elections Director Michelle Hawley said.

She said, however, that it is not often that individuals decide to resign without going into another office.

"In that sense, it's a little bit out of the ordinary, because we don't see it very often, but I don't think that it's out of the ordinary that he has chosen — if that's his choice, he has that choice to give that (the donations) back," she told the Journal Sentinel.

Hawley would not comment on the donation that was returned to Phil Schmidt.

Fired as a county and state legislative assistant

In July, Ortiz-Velez fired Zerpa after he failed to show up for work at the Capitol while she was occupied spending time with her dying sister.

He started working for Ortiz-Velez in the Assembly on Jan. 4, 2021, at an annual salary of $48,372, according to the Assembly Chief Clerk's Office.

County Board supervisors are part-time, a position in which Zerpa made $27,482 annually.

Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman fired Zerpa as a legislative aide in February 2019. Zerpa later went on to serve as a legislative aide for then-supervisor Ortiz-Velez, ex-Supervisor John Weishan Jr. and Supervisor Sequanna Taylor.

Wasserman was not available for comment.

During that same time, Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson admonished him for using her signature on documentation without her authorization, according to emails released to the Journal Sentinel in response to an open records request.

"The Chairwoman already approved the citations with Supervisor Taylor. Because I had less than 24 hours to do them, they were rushed," he wrote in an email on Aug. 18, 2020. "As for the Chairwoman's signature, I simply used it from past citation in the hopes of saving you time."

At the County Board's marathon, 11-hour budget adoption hearing in November, Zerpa was not present for a majority of the in-person meeting. He later sought to be included virtually in the final hour of voting for the adoption of the budget.

Nicholson had asked all supervisors to be present. She recommended that Zerpa's request not be fulfilled.

Calling on the board to vote on whether to allow him to be admitted resulted in a 15-2 vote to permit him to attend virtually. Nicholson and Sup. Steve Taylor voted no.

Since January, Zerpa has also been absent from the last three committee meetings he is a member of — the Audit, Personnel, and Transportation and Transit committees — and during the Milwaukee County Youth Commission, where supervisors are assigned as mentors to the youth members.

The last time a County Board supervisor resigned was in December 2020, when Supervisor Supreme Moore Omokunde resigned his seat after being elected to the state Assembly.

Prior to that, Supervisor Toni Clark resigned in 2010 after she was sentenced to a jail term on a felony election law violation, and had been the subject of a criminal investigation in 2009. Former Supervisor Johnny L. Thomas Jr. resigned in 2012. He was later cleared of bribery charges in a high-profile trial that same year.

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Vanessa_Swales.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Dyango Zerpa resigns