AN OPEN LETTER TO THE VOTERS OF RACINE COUNTY
From H.O.T. Government — Honest, Open, Transparent
We are not going to tell you who to vote for.
H.O.T. Government endorses no candidate in the race for Racine County Sheriff, and we never will. What we care about is that when you vote on August 11, you vote knowing what the county’s own records show.
Over the past two months, we have obtained and published documents — court transcripts, the Sheriff’s own disciplinary file, county deeds, and the District Attorney’s own letters — that describe a pattern. Not a rumor. A pattern, in the government’s own paperwork. Here is what those records show:
The District Attorney is a witness in a matter involving the candidate she is endorsing.
On June 3, 2026, Captain Cary Madrigal sent a campaign fundraising invitation by text to 18 Sheriff’s Office personnel at 10:57 on a Wednesday morning. That afternoon, when a citizen questioned it, Madrigal’s explanation was copied to District Attorney Patricia Hanson — at a personal email address. The DA is not an outside observer of this matter. She is a witness in it.
The District Attorney co-hosted the fundraiser in question.
The June 17 campaign event those personnel were invited to was publicly listed on Facebook as an “Event by Cary Madrigal for Racine County Sheriff, Cary Madrigal and Tricia Hanson,” with campaign donations openly solicited. Whatever questions that on-duty solicitation raises — and Wisconsin law restricts soliciting campaign contributions from public employees during their work hours — the one office that could examine them locally belongs to a co-host of the event. No one can investigate a party they threw.
The Kite investigation was scoped around the question that mattered most.
When Deputy Preston Kite was exposed as a child predator, the internal investigation into his supervisor — Captain Madrigal — contained hearsay that Kite rented his home from her. The investigator never followed up. DA Hanson closed the question herself, writing to us that she knows “from County records that the hearsay is untrue.” The county’s own deeds show the Union Grove duplex where Kite lived was held by Nancy K. Mueller, who retained the legal right to occupy, control, and collect rent on it throughout Kite’s residence there. Her published obituary lists her grandchildren. Cary Madrigal is named first. A financial and family connection between the supervisor and the predator she twice declined to report went unexamined by the investigator — and was declared resolved by the DA now endorsing her.
The endorsements all point one direction.
The Sheriff who commissioned and limited the internal investigation of his own captain endorses her. The District Attorney who declined to investigate endorses her. Eight sitting County Board supervisors who received our formal demands for answers — and said nothing — are listed endorsers.
The Racine County Republican Party machinery is pushing hard behind her. We take no issue with any party endorsing any candidate. We take issue with officials who owe this community answers giving endorsements instead.
pic from Racine Democratic party facebook page
And the relationship continues in public view.
This month, DA Hanson and Captain Madrigal were photographed working the bar together at a local festival — the prosecutor and the candidate, side by side, while every question above sits uninvestigated.
Records would answer these questions are being held until after you vote. H.O.T. Government filed public records requests with Racine County beginning June 8, 2026. On July 22 — after forty days of silence and a formal notice of unreasonable delay — the Corporation Counsel’s office answered that it hopes to fulfill the requests “within three weeks.” Count the days: three weeks from July 22 is approximately August 12. The primary is August 11. No date certain has been given. No exemption has been claimed. If the county continues to withhold these records, we are prepared to seek them in court under Wisconsin’s public records law.
The endorsements all point one direction.
The Sheriff who commissioned and limited the internal investigation of his own captain endorses her. The District Attorney who declined to investigate endorses her. Eight sitting County Board supervisors who received our formal demands for answers — and said nothing — are listed endorsers. The Racine County Republican Party machinery is pushing hard behind her. We take no issue with any party endorsing any candidate. We take issue with officials who owe this community answers giving endorsements instead.
What we believe — and what you should do.
It is H.O.T. Government’s stated opinion, drawn from the documented facts above, that what is forming around this Sheriff’s race looks less like public service and more like a club — a small circle of officials positioned to control law enforcement in this county rather than answer to it. When the witness endorses the subject, the investigator reports to the endorser, and the records custodian runs out the clock past Election Day, institutional bias stops being a theory. It becomes the operating procedure.
We will say one more thing. Since we began publishing this record, long-time Racine County residents — people who have lived here, worked here, and watched this county for decades — have kept coming forward. The community knows. The paperwork is catching up.
Do not take our word for any of this. Every document referenced in this letter — the transcripts, the disciplinary file, the deeds, the DA’s letters, the county’s correspondence — is posted, unedited, at racineaccountability.com. Read it. Then vote however your conscience directs. Just vote knowing. H.O.T. Government Honest · Open · Transparent
Produced and distributed by H.O.T. Government — Honest Open Transparent · hotgovernment.com. This material is informational. H.O.T. Government endorses no candidate.
Not authorized by, or coordinated with, any candidate or candidate’s committee. All persons named are presumed innocent unless and until proven otherwise in a court of law.
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This "HOT" letter has been reformatted for this blog and material used from the web was added.
