A former Green Bay school board member is facing felony election fraud charges for allegedly using a false home address in campaign filings ahead of the April 2024 election.
Kou Lee resigned from the school board in May, the same day the Green Bay Press Gazette reported that Lee campaigned for a board seat while appearing to live in another school district. At the time, he told the newspaper that he moved into the district but declined to say when he moved.
On Friday, Lee was charged with felony election fraud and felony false swearing. According to the criminal complaint, he “misrepresented his residency in violation of Wisconsin Election law on campaign paperwork he submitted declaring his campaign and run for Green Bay School Board.”
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The Green Bay Area Public School District declined to comment. And Lee couldn’t be reached for comment.
According to the complaint, police gathered campaign documents Lee filed with the city, including his nomination papers and declaration of candidacy. They listed an address on Enderby Lane in Green Bay as his primary residence.
In mid-July, an investigator went to the Enderby Lane address and spoke with the owner of the duplex, court documents said. The owner also told investigators that Lee “never resided” at the Enderby Lane address, the complaint states.
Police also spoke to the person who lived at the address Lee used in his campaign paperwork. The person living at the Enderby Lane address told police they moved there in 2022 and have lived there ever since, according to court documents.
In late July, according to the complaint, police also met with a man who lives in the town of Hobart next door to the house where Lee and his family lived.
From December 2023 through the April 2024 election, the neighbor told law enforcement that he would “routinely see” Lee come and go from the home and that his children were “getting picked up and dropped off by the Pulaski School District bus,” the complaint states.
Law enforcement also reviewed the 2024 property tax bill for the Hobart home, addressed to Lee and his wife. The bill also allegedly showed that a lottery tax credit had been applied to the property.
“In order to qualify for this Wisconsin Lottery tax credit, property owners need to be the recorded owner of said property and the property must also be the owner’s primary residence,” the criminal complaint states.
Before running for school board, Lee ran for one of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seats in 2022, but failed to advance past a Democratic primary.
After his resignation from the board in May, community members speaking at a board meeting that month shared concerns and called for more transparency.
“I do think it’s in the public’s best interest to make an effort to show retroactive transparency — to put out everything you knew, when you knew it, what you did,” Eric Drzewiecki of Green Bay told the school board.
Lee’s initial court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 19.
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