Fitchburg, Wisc Alder Caught Red-handed in Non-profit Budgeting Scheme

In early October 2017 in Fitchburg, Wisconsin
ald Julia Arata-Fratta used her position on the
Common Council to target a non-profit
in an unprecedented attack. Now,
Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits are cashing
in on the scheme she crafted, (Madison365).

Once-promising pol drinks in toxic politics of Fitchburg, Wisconsin

In October 2017 ald Julia Arata-Fratta secretly worked for a punitive IRS audit of a popular Dane County non-profit

In 2016 and 2017 Arata-Fratta worked successfully to defund the same non-profit from Fitchburg's annual budget

Now, several Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits have applied for City-allocated money under the new Arata-Fratta funding scheme run through the City authority that Arata-Fratta now chairs

Updated - Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Alder Julia Arata-Fratta has consolidated her political relationship with Republican Party interests, and the results are fetid, stinking of corruption.

Since 2016, Arata-Fratta worked to zero out City money earmarked for the non-profit Badger Prairie Needs Network and the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County.

Now as chair of the Community Economic Development Authority (CEDA), Arata-Fratta is administering non-profit monies, including an allocation to a group on which she currently serves as a member of the board of directors, (Madison 365), and two other groups linked to Arata-Fratta.

Arata-Fratta crafted an amendment supporting the 2018 mayoral budget successfully zeroing out non-profit funding from the Fitchburg budget, and transforming the funding process of the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA), under which Arata-Fratta-linked non-profits look to benefit with $10,000s in grants.

In her reelection campaign last spring, Arata-Fratta told the Fitchburg Star in March 2017 that non-profit "funding should be given through a grant process application through a merit score, not an earmark in the city’s budget," without mentioning conflict-of-interest concerns about non-profits linked to her seeking to obtain money in the new grant process she authored. One merit point is having worked with Arata-Fratta, also known as a public integrity problem.

After cultivating and consolidating political and financial relationship with insurance, real estate and municipal police interests, Arata-Fratta has recently become more aggressive working for Republican interests, reaching out to City employees last month to target a non-profit held in disfavor by Arata-Fratta.

In early October 2017, Arata-Fratta used her position as Fitchburg alder to target the non-profit Boys and Girls Club of Dane County in a secret and unprecedented attack.

As reported in (Madison365):

On October 3 2017, Arata-Fratta 'used her private Gmail account to direct City Manager Patrick Marsh to inquire with the IRS and Fitchburg City Attorney Mark Sewell and Asst City Att Valerie Zisman to work to revoke the tax exempt status of Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. Reads the email in part: "Non for profit (sic) cannot do political activities otherwise the IRS can revoke the tax exempt status,' Arata-Fratta wrote to Marsh. Check with Valerie [Zisman] or Mark [Sewell] and send an inquiry to IRS.'

No word on the status of Arata-Fratta's audacious move to this point.

Arata-Fratta's funding scheme, if successful, will direct $10,000s in public money to non-profits linked to her professionally.

Arata-Fratta described her profession on her 2017 campaign aldermanic website as composed of "17 years of experience as a consultant and educator," ... on entities including "non-profit" operations.

The conflicts of interest surrounding Arata-Fratta have not drawn any Council criticism.

Nothing to see here

Arata-Fratta denies any knowledge of, and collusion with non-profits seeking public grants from the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA), to which she was first appointed in 2014. She told Madison365, she is "appalled" by criticism she is scamming Fitchburg.

An updated Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA) grant website is dated Aug. 18, 2017, some four weeks before Mayor Jason Gonzalez posted his proposed (Sept 22) 2018 budget, (Facebook) calling for removal of City funding from the same non-profit which Aratta-Fratta sought to effectively destroy by having its tax-deductible status decertified.

Non-profits linked to Julia Arata-Fratta seeking money from the Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA) include:

Madison Region Economic Partnership - Arata-Fratta presently serves as a member of the board of directors.

Latino Chamber of Commerce - Arata-Fratta served as treasurer, president, resigning her position months before she first introduced an amendment to defund non-profits in 2016

Latino Academy of Workforce Development - Arata-Fratta hyped her partnership with the Latino Academy in a 2011 profile in the Wisconsin State Journal, saying "We are partnering with other organizations. For example, the new Latino Academy of Workforce Development tries to train Latino people in a skill."

After two years of pushing for a new grant application process for non-profits, Julia Arata-Fratta has found out new applicants for her crafted money-delivery scheme are the same groups for whom she has worked and with whom she has partnered.

This discovery may have pleased Julia Arata-Fratta.