Treasurer: I quit under protest

STEVENS POINT - Portage County Treasurer Stephanie Stokes announced Tuesday she will resign from her post, days after the county executive filed civil charges requesting she be removed from office.

Stokes called charges against her "trumped up" in a letter released publicly Tuesday, arguing that she has been the subject of a "personal hunch and vendetta" by county leaders.

"An honest person deserves to be assumed innocent, as I am, until proven guilty," Stokes wrote. She wrote she will leave her job effective Thursday.

Stokes has been the county's treasurer since 2003. Her office for the past year has been at the center of multiple investigations, one of which drove Portage County Executive Patty Dreier on Friday to file charges against Stokes. Dreier requested the County Board consider charges against Stokes accusing her of "inefficiency, neglect of duty (and) official misconduct or malfeasance in office."

Stokes' future as the county treasurer rested in the hands of the County Board, whose job was to consider the charges and determine if there was legal cause to remove an elected official from her position.

Stokes initially planned to run for re-election this year but announced after ballots were printed she no longer wanted the seat. County Board member Tom Mallison beat her in the primary to face Jeff Presley in November's general election.

Dreier's charges against Stokes centered on two matters:

• According to a report by an attorney the county hired to investigate the treasurer's office, Stokes gave some property owners breaks on interest they owed the county for paying taxes late. She then falsified the records to hide those breaks, the report states. One person who allegedly got a break was her former deputy treasurer, Amy Townsend. 
• Neglecting her duties as treasurer by failing to settle taxes with multiple municipalities and local schools in August. The missed settlement cost the county more than $20,000 in interest, according to county records

"(Dreier) has made it impossible for me to do my job," Stokes wrote. "I have no choice but to resign, but do so under protest. I have so informed the Attorney General, and plan to follow up.

Sari Lesk: 715-345-2257 or sari.lesk@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @Sari_Lesk.