Brett Hulsey (D-Madison)
When Isthmus first reported that state Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct, we decided not to publish two pieces of information.
First, we withheld the name of the grandmother -- identified in police reports only by her first name and as a city of Madison employee -- to protect the identity of the 9-year-old involved in the incident with Hulsey. Hulsey was accused of pushing the boy off a flotation device at Spring Harbor Beach, but he says he just startled the boy without touching him.
We also did not publish statements in the police reports attributed to Parks Superintendent Kevin Briski because, upon investigation, they turned out not to be true. But other media outlets, subsequent to our report, published both items.
Missing from these media reports, however, is the detailed explanation Briski provided Isthmus when asked about his comments in the police report.
Briski was quoted as saying that park staff is familiar with Hulsey and that he has "made many of their staff members at different beaches uncomfortable with this behavior."
But when pressed, Briski told me the report "frames it a little out of context."
Briski says when Sally Miley, the grandmother of the 9-year-old boy and an aide to Mayor Paul Soglin, called him about the incident she observed at Spring Harbor Beach involving Hulsey, she used the words "creepy" and "uncomfortable."
Briski says that reminded him of a conversation he had with a lifeguard in 2008.
Briski was new to the job at the time and making site visits. He says he talked to a lifeguard at Spring Harbor Beach who used the same words as Miley in regards to Hulsey. But when Briski asked for specifics, there were none.
"It was just a general feeling," Briski says.
Briski is not aware of any incidents then or since involving Hulsey, and police officers turned up nothing either.
Miley declined comment through mayoral spokeswoman Katie Crawley.
