Two lieutenant governor candidates from Milwaukee were pressured to drop out of their races by city Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett.
Milwaukee Ald. Tony Zielinski, District 14, said he left the race Tuesday after several people, including Barrett's chief of staff Pat Curly, told him that a ticket with two Milwaukee residents could not win a state election, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
During a campaign stop Wednesday, Barrett said anyone who would have made such statements to drop out of the race were not from the campaign or mayor's office and ""must have been informal people.""
Curly denied speaking to Zielinski about a possible all-Milwaukee ticket, said the Wisconsin State Journal.
Zielinski identified the others who pressured him as Emmanuel Mamalakis, a Milwaukee computer software company executive who donated $10,000 to Barrett's campaign, and Evan Zeppos, a Milwaukee public relations executive and Democratic strategist, neither of whom is employed by the mayor.
After news initially broke of Zielinski's accusations against the Barrett campaign, State Senator Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, claimed to have also received pressure to drop his bid.
Self-identified Barrett representatives conveyed the same message to him one month ago, the general consultant for Cogg's campaign, said Coggs' spokesperson Zak Williams.
Barrett's campaign communications director, Phil Walzak, said no city official or campaign representative spoke to any lieutenant governor candidates about the race.
Although Williams would not identify exactly who approached Coggs, he said they were not paid by Barrett's campaign or the city. When the senator reported the ""inappropriate"" conversations, Barrett told him he did not authorize anyone to speak on his behalf.
Walzak said Barrett is completely willing to run with someone from the same city because he is confident the public will vote based on the quality of the candidates themselves.
""At the end of the day, Tony's choice was his own,"" Walzak said referring to Zielinski's decision not to run.
Four democratic lieutenant governor candidates remain in the race: Coggs, Assembly Majority Leader Tom Nelson of Kaukauna, Madison businessman Henry Sanders and Gotham businessman James Schneider.
""I certainly can run with any of the candidates who are currently in the field for lieutenant governor,"" Barrett said in a statement. ""I know them all, I've met them all, I respect them all.""
Williams said Coggs is ""the ideal candidate"" to run with Barrett and that his strong support in Milwaukee will only help elect the pair.
The Democratic primary is September 14.
