'A new low': Crowley dismisses concerns after Tiffany raised questions over non-profit funding

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Election day is now less than three weeks away, and things are heating up on the campaign trail.

On Tuesday, October 13, David Crowley hit back at Tom Tiffany, accusing Tiffany of going low.

Tiffany has seized on a report that claimed Crowley steered money to the nonprofit organization that employs his wife.

But the Crowley team dismissed the claims, saying they’re intentionally misleading.

Milwaukee County first funded the organization Community Advocates decades ago, before Crowley was elected and before his wife was hired. That funding continued under county executives from both parties.

At a campaign event Tuesday, Crowley used some of his strongest language yet to hit back at Tiffany, saying, "For Tom Tiffany to be going after my family, is just a new low."

In his latest campaign mailing, Tiffany cited a report, claiming David Crowley "steered over $65 million in federal taxpayer dollars to a nonprofit that employs his wife."

Crowley's team says that's disingenuous.

Crowley's wife, Ericka, was hired by Community Advocates in June 2020.

Federal COVID relief money helped fund an emergency rental assistance program that prevented 12,000 evictions.

At his own campaign event Tuesday night, Tiffany told us, "I think people should be looking at it to make sure that this was done legitimately. And hopefully there were no improprieties."

We asked Tiffany if he is alleging anything improper or illegal. He said, "Well, I’m not alleging anything, I just think you have to answer the question. Where there’s smoke is there fire?"

Crowley was adamant at his own campaign event, saying nothing improper happened and his wife is extremely qualified for her position.

Then-county executive Scott Walker entered into a contract with Community Advocates back in 2007.

Other contracts were signed in 2013, 2015, and 2017—before Crowley was elected and before his wife was hired.

Tiffany's email asked, "Did Crowley disclose this as a conflict of interest?"

Crowley said there's an easy answer: yes. "Before we even signed a contract," he said. "we let our ethics board and our county board know that my wife was actually working for Community Advocates."

In May 2021, he sent a letter to the ethics board, notifying them of his wife's position.

The letter said, "Before this contract is signed, I wanted to disclose that my wife, Ericka Crowley, is an employee at Community Advocates."

On Tuesday, Crowley said, “They came back and said there was nothing wrong with signing this contract. Because they already had these contracts in place.”

And Crowley said every year from 2021 to 2025, he listed several positions his wife held with community advocates.

"This campaign is going to a new low when he’s attacking my wife. I just want to be very clear about that."

Community Advocates told us in a statement:

"For 50 years, Community Advocates has helped Milwaukee individuals and families live with dignity through essential services, advocacy, and support, addressing critical challenges including housing instability, homelessness, domestic violence, behavioral health, and poverty.

Community Advocates has received Milwaukee County funding since the 1980s, with nearly four decades of contracts supporting a broad range of essential community services and collaborative initiatives.

Our work is supported through a diverse mix of funding sources, including private philanthropy, foundations, corporations, individual donors, and government funding at the federal, state, county, and city levels.

The Milwaukee Rental Housing Resource Center (MKE RHRC) was established as a centralized “front door” connecting tenants and landlords to eviction prevention, mediation, and housing stability resources. This coordinated approach was informed by research conducted by the Wisconsin Public Policy Forum in 2018.

As a practice, we do not publicly discuss specific personnel. Our entire team, including Ericka Crowley, is talented, dedicated, and works to the best of their ability each and every day."