While Madison attempts to respond to the police killing of Corey Ruiz on July 22, a dispute has emerged within city government over the authority of the city’s independent police monitor to subpoena materials related to the incident from the police department and the Wisconsin Department of Justice. 

In the weeks since Ruiz was killed, the city has seen the occupation of a major intersection, standoffs with police as the city moved to reclaim the occupied area, a marathon common council meeting and continued tensions between elected officials and the people they’ve empowered to oversee the city’s cops. 

Aeiramique Glass, the city’s independent police monitor, has drawn criticism for getting into an altercation with police officers while they worked to clear the intersection of Williamson and South Baldwin Streets early Tuesday morning and later saying in a now-deleted video posted to social media that she would “burn this city down.” 

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said “it’s disturbing anytime a city employee is calling for violence,” while reiterating the independence of Glass’ office. William Sulton, a Milwaukee-based civil rights attorney hired by Glass to represent the office, said she was making a “figurative, idiomatic expression.”

Glass’ position was established by the common council in 2020 as part of the city’s response to the widespread police reform protests that summer. The Office of the Independent Monitor and the Police Civilian Oversight Board were established and given independence from the mayor’s office and council. 

Madison is the only city in the state with such a civilian oversight system, and this is the first time the system has had to respond to a police killing, meaning that as the board and office work to investigate Ruiz’s death, they’re testing the limits of the ordinance granting them those powers for the first time. 

Within the ordinance establishing the OIM, the city gave the office complete access to MPD documents and the authority to issue subpoenas — so long as those provisions don’t conflict with other laws. 

“The OIM shall, to the extent permitted by law, have unfettered access to all MPD records, policies, Standard Operating Procedures, data, computer databases, and other information necessary to fulfill the duties of the OIM,” the ordinance states. “The Monitor may, to the extent permitted by law, issue subpoenas for the purpose of compelling testimony or receiving documents necessary to fulfill the duties of the OIM.”

Soon after Ruiz was killed, Glass opened her own investigation and issued a subpoena to the police department demanding all records related to the shooting be handed over to her office by July 31. 

However, under state law, when a police officer kills someone, the investigation must be conducted by an outside agency. In this case, the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is handling the review. DCI’s investigative report will be turned over to Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who will determine if the officer who killed Ruiz should be charged with a crime. 

Glass, members of the oversight board and activists in the community have argued that the ordinance establishing OIM granting “unfettered access” to police department materials and subpoena authority means that the department should hand over its materials related to the shooting — including dash cam videos, 911 call recordings, a list of officers on duty and communications with the chief of police. 

“We have a mandate and an ordinance that says we are to have unfettered access to all of MPD’s records, databases, video footage, everything,” Glass told the Examiner. “There’s no limit to what we are able to and should have access to.”

But the city attorney’s office, MPD and city officials say that limits on the office’s subpoena authority are set under state law. Once the independent investigation started, all of those materials, initially under the purview of the department, are now controlled by DOJ and state law prevents the release of evidence and materials pertaining to an open criminal investigation. 

Because DOJ is investigating a government employee, state law also prevents the release of “information relating to the current investigation of a possible criminal offense or possible misconduct connected with employment by an employee prior to disposition of the investigation.”

“I think the case is clearly made [that] we can’t interfere with a criminal investigation,” Madison Alder Tag Evers told the Examiner. “The concern is the release of that information could compromise the ongoing investigation and if it’s determined prosecution is warranted, complicate or interfere with the prosecution of a crime.”

DOJ’s work in these cases can often be slow and clash with the public’s demands for answers. The Examiner has previously reported on the flaws of the independent investigation system. 

 A spokesperson for DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.

The argument over the limits of the Madison independent monitor’s subpoena power have resulted in dueling FAQ pages on the city’s website in which the mayor’s office says it is limited in what can be released and Glass accuses the city attorney and mayor of helping the police department obstruct her investigation. 

This dispute was explicitly predicted when the common council drafted the ordinance in 2020. In a pair of memos to the council, City Attorney Michael Haas wrote that giving the independent monitor  subpoena power without explicitly outlining its limits could lead to legal challenges.

“It is the opinion of our Office that the Council may enact an ordinance providing subpoena authority to the Independent Monitor,” the memo states. “Where there is no contrary statutory provision or contractual right, we would expect such subpoenas to be enforceable.  It is less clear that a subpoena issued in the course of an investigation, or in a case which could lead to a disciplinary decision by the Police Chief or PFC, would be held to be enforceable if challenged.” 

Haas’ memo also directly addresses the question of officer-involved shooting investigations. 

“It may also be useful to note that, under [the statute], all officer-involved shooting deaths are investigated in the first instance by an outside law enforcement agency rather than by MPD, and that the Monitor would not be entitled to participate in such investigations,” the memo states. 

At a meeting of the Police Civilian Oversight Board Executive Subcommittee on Wednesday, Haas and board members continued to debate the issue.

“People cannot deny that the words ‘to the extent permitted by law,’ are in the ordinances, and I think that has been consistently overlooked when people simply talk about unfettered access and subpoena authority,” said Haas, whose office is working to release an official opinion on the issue. “Those words were intentionally put in the ordinances, and that means we have to look to existing Wisconsin law.”

But members of the board and independent monitor staff suggested that Haas’ office should seek outside legal opinions on the matter and charged that the city attorney’s office has a conflict of interest in the matter. Glass has asserted several times that the ordinance’s grant of independence to her office means that the city attorney doesn’t represent the office — a claim that city officials also dispute. 

“There’s an inherent structural conflict of interest between city attorney offices and police oversight agencies,” the independent monitor’s data analyst Greg Gelembiuk said at the Wednesday meeting. “You can see this play out again and again and again across cities in the U.S. City attorney’s offices are very enmeshed with police departments, and of course, the mayor’s office. They have a primary role of risk management. Police oversight agencies have a primary role of investigating police, exposing the truth. Those roles are in conflict, and because of that, you have a universal pattern where you cannot rely on the opinions of the city attorney’s office to be accurate and valid.” 

Glass has hired an outside attorney, Milwaukee-based William Sulton, to represent the office, telling the Examiner that she has “the ability to take full legal action that is available to us.” Sulton did not respond to a request for comment. 

Glass has previously threatened to sue the city over the limits of her authority, a legal action that itself is in dispute because even though the ordinance grants the office independence, it is still a city department and a city can’t sue itself. 

“The basic law in Wisconsin is that one city agency cannot sue another city agency. City agencies are all part of the same organization and one arm cannot sue another arm,” Haas told the Madison alternative newspaper Isthmus during the previous episode. “City agencies have the authority delegated to them in the ordinances and cannot file lawsuits independent of the city.”

Madison city workers, police and state patrol officers cleared protesters from the intersection of Williamson and South Baldwin Streets early Tuesday morning, putting an end to the encampment that had blocked off the major east side intersection since a Madison police officer shot and killed Corey Ruiz there July 22. 

Starting around 5 a.m., officials announced through loudspeakers that the barricades blocking the streets would be removed and the gathering dispersed. Videos posted to social media show a chaotic scene at which police grappled with protesters and deployed pepper spray. City officials also towed away the replica George Floyd fist statue that was brought to the intersection last week. 

Dylan Brogan, a spokesperson for the city, said the city planned to let non-police city staff lead the effort. 

“The plan was for this to be led by non-law enforcement city agencies,” he said, adding that the unhoused people staying at the site would be given the opportunity to stay in a hotel and that people’s belongings would be available for pickup at Demetral Field, located about 2 miles northeast of the protest encampment site. “The message was delivered loudly that people had to get their things together.” 

The city announced that the intersection was open to traffic at 9 a.m.

In a statement released Monday evening, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway warned that the encampment would be shut down on Tuesday — stating that Ruiz was “no longer at the center of the current crisis our city faces.”

“For almost two weeks now, City of Madison staff and elected leaders have been on the ground and communicating to and through community leaders to peacefully resolve extremely complex, emotionally fraught circumstances that started with the police taking the life of Corey Ruiz,” Rhodes-Conway stated. “Countless efforts have been made to convince people that the occupation of Williamson Street and Baldwin Street is counterproductive. A huge amount of patience has been given because the last thing Madison needs is a large-scale police operation. That’s why those occupying the area need to leave immediately.” 

She added that the protesters at the site were making demands that city officials have no authority to meet, only extending the closure of the intersection which had begun to take a toll on the businesses in the culturally important Willy Street corridor. 

“There are too many residents and local businesses suffering because of the occupation, and it’s become increasingly clear that unsheltered people are being used as leverage for demands that, frankly, the City of Madison cannot deliver because we do not have the power to deliver them,” Rhodes-Conway said. “As we and others have repeatedly explained, the City cannot make an arrest or bring criminal charges — that authority rests with the Dane County District Attorney following an independent investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The City does not control this timeline.”

“I’m increasingly alarmed that those supporting the occupation at the intersection of Williamson Street and Baldwin Street are either purposefully ignoring the harm being done, or deliberately hoping that the situation spirals further out of control,” she continued. 

After the raid at the encampment, protesters marched outside Rhodes-Conway’s home, video posted to Facebook by local activist organization Freedom Inc. shows.

“If we don’t get no sleep, you don’t get no sleep,” the organization said in its post. “How dare Mayor Satya send her goons to raid the Corey Ruiz Memorial Encampment full of women, children and pregnant people.”

For the second time in three years, noxious clouds of wildfire smoke are smothering Wisconsin, dangerously degrading air quality and restricting people’s ability to go outside. In Madison, smoke began drifting in during the early morning hours on Thursday. By sunrise, the stench of burning forests had settled in and coated the Badger State’s capitol city in a gray smog, compounding a multi-day heatwave bringing temperatures to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The smoke originated from 17 wildfires in the Superior National Forest caused by lightning strikes in far northeastern Minnesota. Severe drought and heat fueled the fires, threatening a 1.1 million acre forest that is the most visited wilderness area in the U.S. Rangers are searching for 6,000 to 10,000 people who might be in an area that has been evacuated because of the fires, PBS reported. Officials have cancelled all Boundary Water canoe permits, and closed public access to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness as part of a 3.9 million acre closure covering the entire Superior National Forest.

In Wisconsin, the fallout has been far-reaching. A statewide air quality advisory has been issued by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), with the air expected to remain unhealthy until at least Friday. 

Local health departments from Milwaukee to Kenosha are warning residents to avoid the outdoors as much as possible, especially children, older people, pregnant women and those with respiratory ailments like asthma and heart disease. Even healthy people may experience eye irritation, coughing, sore throats or shortness of breath due to exposure to the smoke. 

“While breathing problems and respiratory health dangers are often considered the biggest health impact from wildfire smoke, it’s important to recognize the impact on cardiovascular health as well,” said Dr. Art Coffey, a board member of the Milwaukee American Heart Association and a ProHealth Care cardiologist. “Wildfire smoke contains a lot of pollutants including fine, microscopic particles linked to cardiovascular risk. As these fires continue to burn, that contaminated smoke is traveling many miles beyond the immediately affected area.” 

A press release from the American Heart Association warns that smoke exposure can increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest and increase burdens on local emergency services. One study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that heavy wildfire smoke exposure increased the risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests by 70%, with that risk elevated among both men and women, particularly in adults from 35-64 years of age and those in high-poverty communities.

In a new analysis, the environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin estimated that 250 premature deaths occur each year in Wisconsin due to wildfire smoke exposure. The environmental group warns that these trends are likely to worsen. From 2010 to 2020, Clean Wisconsin stated, wildfire smoke caused unhealthy air quality conditions in the state for less than one day per year. Since 2020, however, wildfire smoke has caused unhealthy air in Wisconsin for an average of nine days per year. The smoke also carries particulate matter which is so small that it can penetrate the lungs deeply and cross into the blood stream, potentially leading to heart disease, cancer, dementia, blood clots, stroke and early death.

Milwaukee’s health and public works departments have suspended or modified some services. Garbage and recycling collection is suspended until further notice, and the city’s drop-off centers are also closed. The city tow lot closed Thursday afternoon. Air quality in the Milwaukee area is considered dangerous, and people are advised to stay inside, run air conditioning, use portable air cleaners or air filters, wear N95 masks or similar protection if they have to go outside, and to check on their neighbors and loved ones. 

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley  said in a statement that this has become “the worst air quality on record for our community,” adding, “I encourage everyone to take this situation seriously, limit time outdoors when possible, and follow guidance from public health officials.”

All beer gardens, splash pads, outdoor and indoor pools and wading pools have closed in Milwaukee County parks. Residents rely on some of these services to cope with the high temperatures, but the smoke makes their continued operation unsafe. The Milwaukee County Zoo has also had to move some animals inside and cancel attractions and programming.

The Irwin A. and Robert D. Goodman Pool in Madison in Madison is also closed. In Kenosha, two park pools have closed as well as a municipal golf course, bulk and recycling and compost drop-off sites. A local “Peanut Butter & Jam concert” has also been canceled until further notice.

Climate change, the elephant trumpeting in the room

Experts and advocates stress the connection between repeated wildfire smoke emergencies and climate change, which creates the heatwaves and extreme drought conditions which set the stage for massive blazes.

“Increasingly smoky skies underscore the importance of a rapid transition to clean energy rather than building more polluting fossil fuel infrastructure that further contributes to climate change,” Dr. Paul Matthewson, science program director for Clean Wisconsin, said in a statement. “The faster we can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change, the more summer days we will be able to enjoy outside without worrying about whether the air is safe to breathe.” 

“The wildfire smoke blanketing Wisconsin is a reminder that climate change is not a distant threat,” said Peg Shaeffer, spokesperson for Midwest Environmental Advocates. “It is already harming public health and disrupting our daily lives. While no single fire can be attributed solely to climate change, we know that a warming climate is making large wildfires more frequent and more severe.”

Chelsea Chandler, Clean Wisconsin’s climate, energy and air program director, said, “This is hurting everybody — our kids on the playground, farmers, construction workers.” Chandler added, “The public health threat we are all enduring must be a wakeup call…Wisconsin is moving in the wrong direction. Our energy companies are doubling down on burning dangerous fossil fuels to meet soaring AI data center demand, adding to the hazardous air pollution we breathe and damaging our climate. Wisconsinites are paying the price.”

Chandler said that Wisconsin needs to rapidly employ several policies including:

• Rapidly shutting down Wisconsin’s remaining coal power plants
• Ending investments in fossil fuel-burning infrastructure, such as new methane gas plants and oil pipelines
• Dramatically increasing funding for programs to help Wisconsinites save energy and money
• Investing in public transit and electric vehicle charging infrastructure
• Supporting large-scale wind and solar development
• Removing barriers to rooftop and community solar
• Cultivating  farming practices that truly store carbon in the soil and restore soil health

“These ideas are not new; in fact, many other states are already taking action,” said Chandler. “For example, Wisconsin is last in the Midwest when it comes to wind energy production, far behind our neighbors…We’ve got to realize that Wisconsin is not an island. No community is safe from the impacts of climate change. The question is, what are we — and our state leaders — doing to help?”

It’s a question young people, especially those who have grown up in an era of climate emergency, ask their elders with increasing audacity. Last year, a group of young Wisconsinites attempted to take the government to court, asking the state to eliminate laws that worsen the climate crisis and accusing those in power of robbing them of their right to a safe and stable future due to policies which contribute to climate change. In April, a Dane County judge dismissed the case, saying that although she was sympathetic to the children, that what they demanded was a political question beyond judicial review. 

“Needless to say, we strongly disagree,” said Shaeffer. Midwest Environmental Advocates, which represented the children in the court action. “These kids deserve more than sympathy. They deserve to have their day in court.” 

The children involved in the case had suffered the effects of wildfire smoke exposure in recent years, Shaeffer said in an emailed statement to the Wisconsin Examiner. One 18-year-old girl named Madeline has asthma, and must stay indoors and avoid  the smoke to avoid flare-ups,  preventing her from biking, hiking or running outdoors. Another 16-year-old named Indy must stay indoors for weeks on end due to his asthma. Caroline, a 9-year-old girl, said she feels “trapped” when heat and smoke prevent her from playing outside. Those kinds of experiences were also shared by 18-year-old Lucy, who quit the cross-country ski team because practices were cancelled due to a lack of snow in the winter and smoke in the summer. 16-year-old Ted must do farm chores when smoke is heavy in the air. And 12-year-old Elia suffers migraines which are worsened by the heat and smoke. 

President Donald Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax and a scam. Under both his administrations, climate policies ground to a halt as fossil fuel companies were given carte blanche to “drill baby drill,” as Trump is fond of saying.

“These are the real, lived experiences of Wisconsin young people whose health and wellbeing are being harmed by state laws that exacerbate climate change,” said Shaeffer. “We believe the court has both the authority and the obligation to address that harm.”