SHARE Scott Suder

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Madison — After announcing he was leaving the Legislature last fall, then Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder splurged and spent the remaining $5,700 in his campaign account on items like a new Apple computer, $2,000 in mileage money to himself and a steakhouse dinner, a review of candidate filings shows.

By law, spending from a state campaign account must be for a political purpose and not for a candidate's personal benefit, though the lines between those ends can be blurry. Hardware such as the computer — Suder bought it a month and a half after leaving the Legislature — must be used primarily for political purposes. The computer was the second that Suder bought last year with his campaign funds, according to his filings with state elections officials.

Suder, now employed as a lobbyist for the state's paper industry, abruptly turned down an appointment in Gov. Scott Walker's administration in October amid questions about his ties to a controversial sportsman's group and a canceled state grant.

Part of the questionable spending in the final two months of Suder's campaign account included a trip with others involved in that group, the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin.

Suder's spending turned up in a review of what has happened to the accounts of candidates who are leaving the Legislature and not running for another office. In some other cases, these candidates are donating their excess money to charity or other political candidates or using it to throw a party for their supporters.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said he would appreciate getting financial help for his party's cause from lawmakers who had raised their campaign money with help from their party and no longer need that money to get re-elected.

"I would hope all of them would continue to help our team," he said.

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, a group that advocates for campaign finance reform, said Wisconsin's "vague and broad" rules give candidates leeway to spend their campaign money on questionable purchases. But even if they're legal, he said, Suder's purchases still "don't pass the smell test."

"It stretches credulity to believe that these are legitimate political purposes," Heck said.

Suder and his campaign treasurer didn't respond to repeated requests for comment by phone and email. A spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board, which enforces campaign rules, also declined to comment.

Other lawmakers' tactics

Other lawmakers did use some of their leftover campaign money to help their party and community.

For instance, outgoing state Sen. Tim Cullen (D-Janesville) gave $2,500 to Democratic candidate for governor Mary Burke — along with $10,000 of his own money — and $250 to the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. Just before Christmas, Cullen gave the bulk of the money left in his campaign account, $40,000, to the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin to help charities such as a health clinic and food pantry.

Cullen said other former candidates can use their excess funds as they see fit, but he wanted the money to go mostly to charity where it would do the most good. He said he tried to be mindful that his campaign donors wouldn't necessarily endorse every one of his own political causes.

"It's not my money," Cullen said.

Under Wisconsin law, retiring candidates have several choices with their remaining campaign cash: return it to their donors; give it to charity; or make a contribution to another political candidate. They can also spend the money themselves on a political purpose, but for some candidates that can be difficult once they decide they're leaving office.

One former lawmaker found a lighthearted way to spend his leftover funds. Former state Rep. Mark Honadel, a Republican from South Milwaukee, left the Legislature last fall to become a business development manager for Goodwill TalentBridge, a nonprofit group working to match employers with jobless workers.

Honadel used $1,400 of his campaign money to throw a thank-you event at a Madison pub for his campaign volunteers and supporters to thank them.

"It was a going-away party," he said.

After Suder's departure from the Legislature was announced Aug. 21, Suder didn't give any of his $5,721 in leftover funds to charity or other candidates.

Among his payments, Suder spent:

■ $1,837 on Oct. 15 on a campaign computer from the Apple Store in Madison. Suder spent $2,806 on two purchases from the Apple Store in January 2013, or less than a year earlier.

As lawmakers, members of the Assembly are given a state laptop that they have to return when they leave office.

Suder told the website WisPolitics last year that he had bought the computer in October to store materials from past Assembly campaigns in case he decided to run for office again or needed it to help a former colleague seeking campaign help.

Suder also used the campaign account to pay cellphone charges through late October, including a $580 charge from Verizon on Sept. 23 that didn't match other regular bills from that carrier.

■ An even $2,000 to reimburse himself for mileage as a candidate and legislative leader charged with helping with other campaigns. Suder has taken large mileage reimbursements in even amounts at least one other time, when he received $5,500 a few days after the November 2012 election.

Suder cleaned out his campaign account on Oct. 29 by reimbursing himself for a final $21.46 in gas.

■ $106 on Sept. 25 at Fleming's, a high-end steakhouse in Madison.

■ $291 at Sam's Club for office supplies on Sept. 13.

■ $194 to the Kewaunee Inn for a hotel stay on Aug. 23.

That last stay was part of a Lake Michigan fishing trip taken by Suder and officials from United Sportsmen of Wisconsin.

Last year, Suder helped United Sportsmen get a $500,000 state grant for teaching hunting and fishing. The grant was later canceled after questions were raised about whether United Sportsmen had the experience to do that training.

When news of the fishing trip broke, Suder defended it by saying that he paid for his share of the trip with his own money and didn't receive any of it as a gift from United Sportsmen's lobbyist.

"I paid for everything," he said. "I'm very well aware of the ethics rules."