State Sen. Dan Kapanke's office will pay $38,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin over records relating to two economic forums he hosted earlier this year.

Terms of the settlement released Friday indicate Kapanke's office agreed to pay $100 in statutory damages and $38,000 in legal fees to the party's attorneys.

In an interview, Kapanke said he would pay the $100 and was considering paying for the legal fees himself instead of having the state foot the bill. He said he was working with the attorney general's office on the logistics.

"I'm prepared to handle it," the La Crosse Republican said.

The state Democratic Party filed the open

records suit in Dane County in August after Kapanke's office said it had no records relating to forums he sponsored in April and June at the Days Hotel on French Island.

Democrats had sought copies of e-mails and documents relating to the forums in an effort to discover if Kapanke had used state resources to support the forums, which were classified as campaign events.

But a later search by the office and state information technology specialists turned up records from Kapanke chief of staff Rose Smyrski's personal e-mail account that Kapanke's aides had overlooked and failed to release.

Smyrski later testified she did not know records from that account were considered public and subject to the open records law.

There is no policy that prohibits Senate employees from using personal accounts for office business, but under the law those records are public.

In a statement attachment to the court settlement, Kapanke said, "I take responsibility for any failures by my office in responding to the public records request, and intend to take steps to prevent any similar occurrences in the future."

He said he would seek to have both Senate and Assembly leadership establish record-keeping rules and provide open records training for all legislative staff "to ensure that this incident is not repeated."

The case comes at a bad time for Kapanke, who is running for the 3rd District congressional seat now held by U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, a La Crosse Democrat who is considering a run for governor.

Democratic state chairman Mike Tate issued a statement Friday that, "Today's admission proves, without a doubt, that Dan Kapanke broke the law, and the public's trust. Kapanke concealed and destroyed public records to hide his illegal activities."

The party also contended state taxpayers should not have to pay the $38,000 in legal fees.

The Democratic Party earlier had sought to have the Government Accountability Board take action against Kapanke for using state resources for the forums, which Democrats contended were campaign events.

But the board told Kapanke in an Aug. 13 letter that "under the circumstances, you handled arrangements for the economic forum in an appropriate manner" and it would not further pursue the issue.