State Sen. Frank Lasee (R-De Pere) lists a condo he owns in a building in De Pere as his voting address. But until recently, Lasee’s condo was available for anyone to rent at anytime through the popular online lodging website Airbnb.com. Credit: Mark Hoffman 
 
 Daniel Bice No Quarter SHARE State Sen. Frank Lasee’s name is listed on an apartment building in De Pere. The unit has been available for rent on Airbnb. Mark Hoffman Frank Lasee 
 
 We know where state Sen. Frank Lasee wants to go. 
 
 The veteran Republican legislator wants to go to Congress. 
 
 But this is what we don't know: Where he actually calls home. 
 
 He says he lives in De Pere, which is located in his Senate district and the congressional one he soon hopes to represent. But the facts raise serious questions about that. 
 
 Consider this: 
 
 Lasee does rent an apartment in a small complex on Swan Road in De Pere. He is one of two GOP candidates vying for U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble's soon-to-be vacant seat. 
 
 But until just the other day, Lasee's "luxury apartment" was available for anyone to rent at any time through the popular online lodging website Airbnb.comfor $210 a night. 
 
 Here is the online description of Lasee's place: "2 bdrm 2 bath apartment is located just 7 miles from Lambeau Field. It is beautifully decorated with all of the comforts of home. Overlooking pond, gas fireplace, close to shops and restaurants. 8 Miles to the Radisson Conference Hotel and Casino." 
 
 This was so well known that three of Lasee's constituents and a GOP aide pointed this out. Lasee's questionable residency has become a running joke among Republicans in Madison. 
 
 So we thought we'd take a firsthand look at his so-called residence. 
 
 A colleague of mine here at the Journal Sentinel tried to book Lasee's De Pere place last month, putting in a request for the night of April 21. The colleague had no problem selecting the date, which was listed as being available. 
 
 But the request apparently set off a bunch of alarms. Amy Joy Lasee, the senator's wife and the host for the De Pere apartment, began asking scads of questions, including the purpose for my co-worker's trip and personal details beyond what is requested by Airbnb. 
 
 After all that, Amy Joy Lasee — who owns a house in Racine, incidentally — denied the request. She didn't say the date was unavailable; she simply turned down my colleague after a lengthy back and forth. 
 
 Then, on April 25, conservative talk show host Jerry Baderwent on air to call attention to the same problem. Bader noted that Lasee had recently limited the available dates for his apartment to weekends in which the Green Bay Packers had home games. 
 
 Before long, the Lasees pulled their listing from Airbnb entirely, though a cached version of the apartment can still be found. 
 
 Reached the other day, Lasee was reluctant to explain why he took down the listing: "Because we wanted to." 
 
 A few minutes later, Lasee — who was first elected to the Legislature in 1995 — elaborated. "We didn't want everyone in the world looking at it," he said. 
 
 Lasee said Democrats made an issue of his residence in a 2014 complaint, which the Government Accountability Board dismissed. He speculated that Republicans are now the ones calling attention to it because he will have a GOP primary in his congressional race. 
 
 "It's a campaign issue," said Lasee, who is running against businessman and former Marine Mike Gallagher, a former aide to Gov. Scott Walker's presidential campaign who has a big lead in fundraising so far. 
 
 Records provided by Lasee to GAB two years ago included a copy of his 2011 lease for his place. That lease barred the renters from subleasing the property without the owner's consent and restricted the occupants to the two individuals listed on the application. 
 
 That would be Lasee and his wife. 
 
 Lasee acknowledged that he has a "crazy" living arrangement, saying he lives most of the time in De Pere while his wife owns a Racine house, which is assessed at $262,000. He said he does occasionally stay at his wife's house. 
 
 "Yes, it's difficult," Lasee said. "It is what it is." 
 
 If he were to declare Racine as his residence, Lasee would have to take on House Speaker Paul Ryan to make it to Washington, D.C. That, of course, would be political suicide. 
 
 Senate records show that Lasee lists the De Pere address as his home and has collected $9,139 since January 2015 in mileage reimbursement for travel between his Brown County apartment and the Capitol. A round-trip to the statehouse from Racine would have trimmed about 60 miles from his commute — or about $30 less per trip for Lasee. 
 
 Lasee said he and his wife, who is a full-time real estate agent, decided to put his apartment on Airbnb with the hopes of renting it out during Packers weekends. The website, however, did not restrict the dates when my colleague tried to rent it, and Lasee's wife never brought that up as an issue. 
 
 Lasee didn't say how often he let others book his place, except to say it happened "very rarely." 
 
 But that's as far as the veteran lawmaker would go. 
 
 Asked about his Wednesday fundraiser at the home of big-time GOP donor Michael Eisenga, Lasee shut down the conversation. 
 
 "I've got to go," Lasee said. "Have a great day." 
 
 He refused to answer any text or voice messages with follow-up questions. Eisenga also could not be reached. 
 
 Eisenga is the wealthy Columbus businessman who tried in 2014 to persuade state Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc) to push through a bill aimed at capping how much high earners pay in child support. Eisenga had recently lost a court fight to trim his child support because of a drop in income. 
 
 For his part, Lasee waged a decadelong paternity and child-support battle in the courts with an ex-girlfriend. 
 
 "It seems having failed in what looked like pay-to-play effort for a state law change, Mr. Eisenga now has his sights set on federal law," said Scot Ross, head of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. "Based on his long history of self-dealing as a member of the Legislature, who better to target than Frank Lasee?" 
 
 More interesting, Lasee listed his wife's Racine home as his residence in that child custody case in 2010 before switching it to De Pere. 
 
 He also used his current wife's address again from 2009 to 2011 in his divorce case. He and his wife are listed as borrowers on two mortgages tied to the Racine home, according to online records. The residence is listed as "noncommercial real estate" on his latest state ethics statements. 
 
 What to make of all that? 
 
 Bader, the conservative talk show host, made it clear that he was not buying Lasee's explanation of his "crazy" living arrangement. 
 
 "Your story," Bader said on air, "is hard to swallow." 
 
 Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice. ||||| Republican candidate Frank Lasee faces questions about whether he lives in the district of Rep. Reid Ribble, left, who is retiring, or Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who isn't. (Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call) 
 
 Note to congressional hopefuls: If you are trying to prove residency in a district, it might not be a good idea to advertise that residence on Airbnb. 
 
 Especially if you also own a much nicer house in a district that would force you to run against a crazy popular incumbent like House Speaker Paul D. Ryan . 
 
 Case in point: Wisconsin Republican Frank Lasee is facing questions in his home state about whether he actually lives in the two-bedroom, "luxury apartment," he was advertising for rent until recently for $210 a night on Airbnb.com, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Saturday. 
 
 Lasee, a state senator, is one of two candidates vying for Republican Rep. Reid Ribble's soon-to-be vacant 8th District seat in an election expected to favor the GOP nominee . His wife own a home in Racine — in Ryan's home district — assessed at $262,000, the paper reported. 
 
 [Related: Ribble Retirment Creates Vulnerable GOP Open Seat] Reporters at the Journal Sentinel thought the arrangement was curious enough that they tried to book Lasee's apartment for one day last month, prompting a reply from Lasee's wife, Amy Joy Lasee, who wanted to know who they were and why they wanted the apartment, the paper reported. She then denied the request. 
 
 Not long after that, local conservative talk radio host Jerry Bader brought up the listing , noting that the available dates had recently been limited to weekends of Green Bay Packers home games. 
 
 "Your story is hard to swallow," Bader said, addressing the senator. 
 
 Then the listing disappeared. 
 
 Lasee at first declined to explain to Journal Sentinel reporters why the couple removed the listing. "Because we wanted to," he told the paper. He then said they didn't want "everyone in the world looking at it." 
 
 He went on to say he had a "crazy living arrangement," in which he lived most of the time at the apartment but occasionally stayed at the Racine house. 
 
 Lasee said Democrats had filed a complaint about his residence with the state Government Accountability Board during a previous election, and the board had dismissed the complaint after he produced a 2011 lease — which, the paper pointed out, said that Lasee and his wife were occupants of the apartment and they were not allowed to sublease without the owners' consent. 
 
 [Related: State Senator Likely to Run for Wisconsin Senate] Lasee also speculated in the interview that backers of his primary opponent were the ones bringing up the issue this time. 
 
 "It's a campaign issue," he told the paper. 
 
 Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android. ||||| (Clockwise from top left) Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, Ron Johnson and Scott Walker (Photo: Wire services) 
 
 Madison — Wisconsin’s top three Republicans are skipping Donald Trump’s visit to Green Bay. 
 
 The billionaire GOP presidential nominee's trip to the Badger State is coming just days after he declined to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan and praised Ryan's primary opponent, Paul Nehlen. 
 
 On Wednesday, Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, told Fox News he was backing Ryan in next week's Republican primary. He said he was doing so in part at the behest of Trump. 
 
 Also Wednesday, Gov. Scott Walker made clear where he stood in the feud between Trump and Ryan. 
 
 "I'm 100% with Paul Ryan," Walker said in a brief interview in a state Capitol hallway. 
 
 Walker, Ryan and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson are all taking a pass on appearing with Trump on Friday. 
 
 Walker will be viewing flood damage in northern Wisconsin. Ryan plans to be in the southern part of the state, where his district is. And Johnson has "prior commitments," according to his spokesman. 
 
 All three have backed Trump but distanced themselves from many of his controversial comments. 
 
 Walker campaign spokesman Joe Fadness left open the possibility the governor would attend future Trump events. Walker spoke at a Waukesha rally last week with Pence. 
 
 "As always, Governor Walker will participate in future political events for Mr. Trump provided they don't interfere with his work for the citizens of Wisconsin, as he did when Governor Pence visited Waukesha a week ago,” Fadness said in a statement. 
 
 Johnson, who faces a challenge from former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, hasn't announced where he will be on Friday. 
 
 Johnson's spokesman, Brian Reisinger, said Johnson will be working to help Republicans "up and down the ballot." 
 
 While other Republicans were dodging the Trump event, state Sen. Frank Lasee of De Pere said he was going. 
 
 Lasee is running to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble, who has been critical of Trump for months. Lasee faces former Walker adviser Mike Gallagher in the Republican primary on Tuesday. 
 
 Gallagher won't be at the Trump rally and will instead attend a previously scheduled event in Shawano County, according to a spokeswoman for Gallagher. 
 
 Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield), a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves and Iraq War veteran, said Wednesday that he couldn’t endorse Trump. 
 
 Kooyenga said he was disturbed by Trump’s aggressive response to the Khan family, saying that the sacrifices of soldiers and their families should be treated with "reverence and respect and humility." Trump has criticized Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of fallen Gold Star Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who appeared at the Democratic National Convention last week. Trump implied that Ghazala Kahn may not have been allowed to speak because of her religion. 
 
 “We’re looking for statesmen, not politicians,” Kooyenga said. 
 
 Christian Schneider: A vote against Trump is a vote for sanity 
 
 A bone-deep understanding of the losses that come with war is one component to being an effective commander in chief, he said, citing past presidents who wrestled with the toll on their troops. 
 
 “Look at history. Look at Abraham Lincoln,” Kooyenga said, pointing to the author of the Gettysburg Address. 
 
 Philip Shulman, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said voters should get used to Republicans claiming they have scheduling conflicts when Trump comes around. 
 
 "It's no surprise Wisconsin Republicans are running as fast as they can from Donald Trump's horrendous economic agenda and deeply concerning history of fraudulent and exploitive business dealings," he said in a statement. 
 
 Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://on.jsonl.in/2aCbDHO
– If Frank Lasee ran for office using his wife's house as his primary residence, he'd have to run against incumbent Paul Ryan—which the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says would be "political suicide." Instead, the GOP state senator looking to fill a soon-to-be-vacant congressional seat says he mainly lives in a De Pere apartment in a different district. Only problem: He's listed out the place on Airbnb, Roll Call notes. The listing has since been taken down, but a cached version shows a $210-a-month offering for the "luxury apartment," which Journal Sentinel reporters actually tried booking in April. They dealt with Amy Joy Lasee, Frank's wife, who asked why they wanted to stay there and ultimately denied their request. Why did they pull the listing? "Because we wanted to," says Lasee, who adds that they didn't want "everyone in the world looking at it." He then described a "crazy living arrangement" involving him mostly shacking up at the apartment and sometimes in Racine. This isn't new for Lasee, who had to produce a lease in 2014 when pressed by Democrats wanting evidence that he wasn't subletting the apartment. In a response to the state's Government Accountability Board, he said custody arrangements and the challenges of a "blended family" forced him to retain both residences. Yet he has switched his official residence a few times between Racine and De Pere during various divorce and child custody proceedings. Lasee chalks the whole hubbub up this time around to "a campaign issue."