A staff member working on Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany’s campaign has been cited for a first-offense operating while intoxicated violation in western Wisconsin. Court records reviewed by local reporting indicate that Eric Brooks, who additionally maintains an elected position on the Waukesha School Board, was arrested on October 16 and received formal citations on October 19.
Along with the first-offense OWI citation, records from Eau Claire County show that Brooks was ticketed for operating a vehicle without required lamps lighted. Under Wisconsin law, a first-offense OWI is normally handled as a civil infraction rather than a criminal charge, carrying penalties that typically include fines, a driver's license revocation, and a mandatory alcohol assessment, provided no aggravating factors like injuries or minor passengers are present.
Neither Brooks nor representatives for Tom Tiffany's campaign immediately provided public comments regarding the citations. Tiffany, a U.S. congressman who represents Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, formally entered the gubernatorial race earlier this year with a campaign platform centered on public safety, education, border security, and taxation.
Brooks recently attracted media attention during the campaign when he barred journalists from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from entering a September 24 event in Milwaukee. Video footage shared by the newspaper showed Brooks blocking reporters at the door and asserting that the publication had failed to cover the political race fairly.
Beyond his involvement in the campaign, Brooks serves on the school board for the Waukesha School District, one of the largest in the state, and has long been involved in regional Republican political organizing. Following news of the traffic citation, a Waukesha parent organization publicly called for Brooks to resign from his school board seat immediately.