Shortly after the midterm elections that saw Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley win the governor's race, we learned that Crowley and his team were aware of a $4.6 million hole in the Milwaukee County budget. Evidence strongly suggests that this was criminal misconduct in public office, as it appears the budget gap was hidden from the public until after the election to help Crowley's campaign.

Here's more:

Wisconsin Governor-elect David Crowley admitted in an interview Sunday that he personally knew two weeks before the election that his Milwaukee County budget had an unexpected $4.56 million gap but did not inform the County Board until the day after.

If he did so with the intent of helping his gubernatorial bid by hiding the budget gap from voters until he was safely elected Governor, that may constitute criminal misconduct in public office under state law.

Wisconsin Statute § 946.12(3) makes it a Class I felony for “any public officer or public employee” to, “whether by act of commission or omission, use their position to “exercise a discretionary power in a manner inconsistent with the duties of [their] office or employment or the rights of others and with intent to obtain a dishonest advantage.”

In a November 6 interview on UpFront, Crowley admits he knew about the budget error before election day, too.

In fact, it's been reported that they knew about the gap on October 20.

Milwaukee County Budget Director Nick Sinram said they waited two weeks to alert the County Board because "we choose to bring solutions to the board, not just problems."

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When asked why they didn't have solutions before the election, Sinram said, "It's a complicated budget issue."

Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve Taylor said Sinram's excuse is "awful."

The Heartland Post also notes that Crowley's office didn't actually provide solutions, but gave the Board a three-page memo on "potential new revenue projections or cost savings that may offset the $4.56 million gap over the next year."

What will come of this? That remains to be seen. But what we do know is that Crowley hasn't even been sworn into office yet and the problems are already mounting for his administration.