Posted on 07/22/2015 10:40:13 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
In an attempt to limit the damage to its viability, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) has issued two press releases since the state Supreme Court ruled last Thursday to terminate the agency’s secret investigation of conservatives.
The releases contain a single truthful sentence: “The Legislature expected and intended the Government Accountability Board to operate in a professional, unbiased, and nonpartisan manner.”
The rest is myth-making.
Myth 1: GAB was a bystander in the John Doe investigation and ensuing litigation, and merely filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court.
The truth is GAB Director Kevin Kennedy and the GAB began working with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm on Aug. 8, 2012. The GAB was admitted into Chisholm’s John Doe investigation in Sept. 2012, soon after it began.
The GAB helped prepare the affidavits for search warrants at issue in the Wisconsin Supreme Court case. The GAB recruited and hired Francis Schmitz, the Doe special prosecutor. The GAB gave him office space. The GAB paid for his work on briefing in the case. The GAB even wrote substantial portions of Schmitz’s briefs before presiding) Judge Gregory Peterson and the appellate courts.
Kennedy’s suggestion that the John Doe investigation and the Supreme Court loss were simply a series of “events outside of [GAB’s] control” is false.
Myth 2: The GAB only enforces laws already on the books. Any flaws in the GAB’s enforcement actions are actually flaws in the statutes and the fault of the Legislature.
The truth is the GAB’s poorly-drafted regulations, which attempted to effect issue advocacy, were a subject of the federal challenge that culminated in Wis. Right to Life, Inc. v. Barland, 751 F.3d 804 (7th Cir. 2014) (Barland II).
The U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit decision called Wisconsin’s campaign finance law “labyrinthian” and was examined in depth by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in its decision. Additionally, the Wisconsin Supreme Court noted that the GAB “conceded” in Barland II that the key definition at issue in both cases—“political purposes”—is overbroad and “holds the potential for regulatory mischief.” The GAB admitted this when federal judges were holding the agency’s feet to the fire, but then secretly and duplicitously ignored the admission to push the Doe investigation.
Myth 3: Politicians should be “bragging” about the GAB, and anyone who criticizes the GAB must have partisan motivations.
The truth is that the GAB’s conduct in a Doe investigation that punished innocent citizens represents an institutional failure of epic proportions. The GAB’s ongoing efforts to cover up its activities, misrepresent its role in the investigation, and attack its critics is disappointing. The agency’s current conduct indicates that the GAB and its staff have learned nothing from the past two years.
ERIC O’KEEFE
Eric O’Keefe, a long-time free-market activist and director of Wisconsin Club for Growth, was among several conservative targets subjected to the multi-year John Doe investigation launched by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat, and assisted by the state Government Accountability Board. Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a 4-2 ruling ordered the investigation ended and the confiscated property returned to the victims of the unlawful probe.
The truth about the GAB invollvement in the notorious John Doe tyranny from the pen of a victim.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
The members of GAB involved in these utterly unconstitutional and illegal actions should be doing time.
Indeed! Especially the hired staff — namely Mr.Kennedy
THE GAB was the single DUMBEST thing Wisconsin Republicans ever came up with. I was against it from the start.
Within minutes of its formation, the Lunatic Left has used it to beat us about the head, neck, face and shoulders.
It finally took this John Doe crapola to wake everyone up. In time? Maybe. The left NEVER surrenders. EVER.
Sure wish our side was as vicious and as vindictive! Grrrr!
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