La Crosse ethics board to meet for 1st time in nearly a decade, again over O’Malley actions

A La Crosse County committee is going to meet for the first time in almost a decade, to look into a complaint about the county administrator. 

The county ethics board has a meeting at 11 a.m. Thursday, to consider possible action against administrator Steve O’Malley for posting negative remarks online about Rush Limbaugh, after the talk radio host’s recent death. 

According to county records, the last time the ethics board met was in 2012, and again, O’Malley was the subject of the investigation. 

At that time, a group of citizens accused O’Malley of violating ethics rules for supporting a referendum on whether to hire a La Crosse city administrator.  O’Malley was cleared of wrongdoing in that probe.  

On Facebook, O’Malley accused Limbaugh of hatred and racism after the radio host died of cancer last month.  O’Malley told WIZM he was on vacation at the time, and should have the right to post on social media as a private citizen. 

O’Malley’s Facebook page appears to have been deleted or deactivated.