Posted on 08/24/2015 7:22:51 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON, Wis. – So how much has it cost Wisconsin taxpayers to defend the rogue prosecutors of a political investigation that has been ordered shut down by the state Supreme Court?
More than $1.1 million and counting – $1,189,199.70 to be precise, according to information obtained by Wisconsin Watchdog through a records request. The records were provided by the state Department of Administration.
And the bill continues to grow.
Taxpayers spent $407,558.25 to defend special prosecutor Francis Schmitz in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by targets of the lengthy John Doe investigation into 29 conservative organizations and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker.
The check went to von Briesen, Roper, a law firm based in Madison and Milwaukee.
Taxpayers have paid $442,903.01 to Wilson, Elser PC, a national law firm that represented Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, and his assistant DAs, Bruce Landgraf and David Robles in the federal lawsuit.
The complaint was filed in February 2014 by conservative activist Eric O’Keefe and Wisconsin Club for Growth. A federal judge originally ordered the John Doe investigation shut down and said the civil rights lawsuit against the prosecutors could go on. An appeals court later dismissed the lawsuit, asserting that it belonged in state not federal court.
O’Keefe and the club alleged that Chisholm, the Democrat DA who launched the politically charged probe in August 2012, and the other prosecutors, trampled on conservatives’ constitutional rights through a partisan probe motivated by revenge.
Last month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a 4-2 ruling agreed that the secret investigation alleging illegal coordination was unconstitutional and a prosecutorial overreach, particularly by Schmitz.
“It is utterly clear that the special prosecutor has employed theories of law that do not exist in order to investigate citizens who were wholly innocent of any wrongdoing,” Justice Michael Gableman wrote in the majority opinion. “In other words, the special prosecutor was the instigator of a ‘perfect storm’ of wrongs.”
The state Government Accountability Board, the prosecutors’ partners in the probe, has racked up more than $146,000 to date in legal bills in defending itself against a state lawsuit. The complaint, which alleges the GAB overstepped its authority in pursuing an illegal and costly political investigation at taxpayer expense, has slowly worked itself through Waukesha County Circuit Court since May 2014.
O’Keefe and the Wisconsin Club for Growth also are the plaintiffs in that case.
The agency’s staff and the six former judges who preside over the board have spent a portion of the summer being deposed in the lawsuit. Discovery from the amended complaint made public in December revealed a rogue agency working through secret channels with the John Doe prosecutors, contemplating widening the investigation to target high-profile conservative commentators.
Taxpayers also have picked up the tab for the legal defense of Dean Nickel, the GAB’s shadowy special investigator who signed off on the affidavits for the subpoenas used in the investigation’s predawn, paramilitary-style raids on the homes of several conservative targets. Nickel also was a defendant in the federal civil rights case.
He was represented by Madison-based law firm Axley Brynelson, LLP, at a cost of $192,226.29, according to Department of Administration records.
Wisconsin taxpayers also had to pay the bill for apparent threats of lawsuits.
Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg and Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey, both Republicans, billed the state more than $5,000 for legal counsel to represent them from what records state was a “threatened case” by O’Keefe.
Klomberg and Kohlwey were among the five district attorneys who signed off on the multi-county John Doe probe, insisting that a special prosecutor be named to lead the political dragnet.
Klomberg was appointed to his post in 2010 by former Democrat Gov. Jim Doyle. His deputy or managing attorney Bob Barrington signed the petition to recall Walker, according to iverifytherecall.com.
Last year, Klomberg cited a conflict of interest in turning down a request for an investigation into Chisholm’s John Doe investigation by conservative activist Chris Kliesmet of Citizens for Responsible Government.
The DA then asked 49 other district attorneys around the state whether they would take the case. None would, citing lack of resources or conflicts of interest.
And Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne and Iowa County DA Larry Nelson, both Democrats, charged the state $1,802.50 for legal counsel – again on the threat of a lawsuit, according to DOA billing statements. Ozanne and Nelson also signed off on the John Doe probe in their respective counties.
RELATED: John Doe horror stories: ‘I felt completely helpless in my own home’
Deborah Jordahl, one of the targets of the John Doe probe who has had her home raided and her life turned upside down over the past two years, said the prosecutors have cost both the state and the people they tried to intimidate millions of dollars in their “political vendetta.”
“They were told by numerous judges that they had no case and instead of dropping it, they kept right on going. Not because they thought they could make charges stick, but to punish us and drain our resources,” Jordahl told Wisconsin Watchdog.
“They lost in the highest court in Wisconsin and they still won’t let go. And we are supposed to keep battling them on our dime while the taxpayers pick up the tab for them to harass us in court. And why is the state of Wisconsin paying legal fees for Milwaukee County officials who are being sued for violating people’s civil rights in a Milwaukee County investigation? Let Milwaukee County taxpayers pay to defend their corrupt public officials.”
Part 236 of 235 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War
DEFENDING THE DOE BOYS: Wisconsin taxpayers are picking up the tab to defend Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, the man who started the infamous John Doe probe into conservatives. More than $1.2 million has been spent on legal bills for the prosecutors of the unconstitutional investigation.
Related links are contained in the story at the source.
It is outrageous that these thugs can run roughshod over the citizens of Wisconsin and then we have to pay for thhheir defense after they’ve been ruled out of line by a judge — twice. The law needs changing on this point. The loser should pay the bill.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest jping list.
Why would government funds be used to pay the legal expenses of ROGUE, CRIMINAL government employees who are EXTREMELY WELL PAID and far from indigent. These well to do criminals do not need public defenders. Let them pay any expenses that stem from THEIR criminal activities.
AFAIK, any retirement, payout or other payment these people are due is forfeit to compensate the state for defending them. If I had my way, they’d do their retirement in prison.
“It is utterly clear that the special prosecutor has employed theories of law that do not exist in order to investigate citizens who were wholly innocent of any wrongdoing,” Justice Michael Gableman wrote in the majority opinion. “In other words, the special prosecutor was the instigator of a ‘perfect storm’ of wrongs.”
God Bless Justice Gableman!
I cannot WAIT for Chisholm’s Perp Walk! Hell, I’ll provide the popcorn and beer as we watch the parade! :)
If I were a Wisconsin taxpayer, I certainly wouldn't spend a cent to defend these guys. I'd tell them to go fry ice...
One should question how this “John Doe” prosecutorial procedure came into being in the first place. Apparently it was an extralegal interpretation of the state constitution, and a part of the “progressive” tradition that pervades the practice of law in high circles in Wisconsin.
“When the facts are against you, argue the law. When the law is against you, argue the facts. When the law and the facts are against you, pound on the table and yell like hell.”
Yelling like hell is apparently a very good move politically.
How much are the victims getting to cover their legal fees?
This bastard should be nifong’ed out of a job permanently
Along with Shirley Abrahamson, Lois Lerner and John Koskinen. They all should be stripped of their pensions and we could build them a special wing at a federal prison. Or send them to Gitmo.
We might be seeing the same thing in Waco, TX once the civil suits start piling up against the DA for wrongful arrest and death.
The wheels of justice turn slow but they do turn.
You know, we here in California are the butt of a lot of trash talk by virtue of our current RAT government, and deservedly so. But it’s only since Wisconsin elected Walker that the rest of us have had the opportunity to see just what a political $hit hole Wisconsin is, and has been for years as well. In our worst day, California has never had a law on the books like your John Doe. It is almost unthinkable that any state would enact such a law that tramples on the rights of its citizens so viciously. And from my vantage point, I see a state where DemoRATs have long held sway (with their union supporters) and are the genesis of these kinds of “laws” designed to ensure one party rule. You should thank Walker for what he’s been able to accomplish by way of returning some measure of freedom to your state!
Now it would seem that you have a big task ahead getting rid of the Marxist judges that have illegally supported the RAT agenda.
“We might be seeing the same thing in Waco, TX once the civil suits start piling up against the DA for wrongful arrest and death.”
I just hope in the end that the City of Waco goes home in a barrel financially. It appears to me that what happened there with the bikers was truly a police-sponsored massacre!
“...They all should be stripped of their pensions and we could build them a special wing at a federal prison....”
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They view their pensions as their sacred right and entitlement. We’d have government employees much more likely to actually do their jobs and less likely to morph from being public servants to being OVERLORDS, RULERS AND OPPRESSORS if we started taking their pensions from them. Sure, let’s be fair and return their “contributions” to them along with modest earned interest...that’s just a tiny part of their outsized pensions.
If the arrogant Lois Lerner was threatened with losing her precious pension, she’d be spilling her guts and ratting her fellow perps out in no time. And she sure as hell wouldn’t be walking around with her nose in the air as she currently literally does.
We are the ONLY state in the country with such a law with such broad jposers. The legislature is working on changing it right now.
We saw something similar in the prosecution of Tom DeLay which has since been tossed out of court.
Should say with such broad powers.
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