A Roman Hastati might cheerfully wave to you as you walk by the Equites stables, too.
Posted on 07/06/2015 2:09:10 AM PDT by markomalley
It was still dark outside when “Jonah” (not his real name) heard the pounding on his front door. As luck would have it, he was awake — or mostly awake. He’d gotten up at 4:00 a.m. on October 3, 2013, to see his parents off to the airport. They were leaving on a quick trip to raise money for the children’s charity his father runs. Jonah was 16 at the time, old enough to stay home alone for a short time, but not old enough to deal with what awaited him on the other side of the door.
The pounding continued, and Jonah peered out the window to discover its source. To his horror, he saw uniformed officers, their guns drawn. “Police,” they yelled. “We have a warrant.” An officer shined a flashlight on a document Jonah couldn’t read. Unsure what to do, but unwilling to defy the authorities, he let them in.
The officers sat him down, read him the entire search warrant, and ordered him not to tell anyone about the raid — not even school officials. He asked if he could call his parents. They said no. He asked if he could call a lawyer. They said no.
Then, they proceeded to turn his house “upside down.”
This story should sound familiar. In April, National Review shared the accounts of three women — Cindy Archer and two others, “Anne” and “Rachel” — who related their own terrifying experiences with dawn or pre-dawn police raids. The police brought a battering ram to Archer’s house, literally watched her dress, and then ran into the bathroom as her partner showered. “Anne” thought for a moment she was facing a home invasion as investigators poured through her front door and screamed taunts in her face. Police followed “Rachel” into the bedrooms where her children slept, where they woke to the sight of armed officers looming over them.
The pretense for the October raids was suspected “coordination” between various conservative organizations and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s campaign — activity that a trial court has held constituted nothing more than entirely legal “issue advocacy,” if it even occurred. Because they’d had the temerity to engage in this issue advocacy — constitutionally protected free speech — multiple conservative citizens were subjected to so-called John Doe proceedings by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat.
A quirky and dangerous Wisconsin legal mechanism, the John Doe proceeding allows, among other things, for expansive and completely secret criminal investigations, supervised not by the citizens of a grand jury but by judges who all too often simply rubber-stamp prosecutors’ demands. As a prominent Wisconsin conservative and political consultant, Jonah’s father was one of Chisholm’s targets.
The origins of the affair are complex. It began almost four years before the October raids, with a request from Governor Walker’s own staff to investigate the loss of $11,242.24 from a local veteran’s fund. Chisholm waited almost a full year to investigate and then launched his first John Doe investigation, now known as John Doe I. He subsequently expanded that initial investigation no fewer than 18 times, raiding Walker’s office and campaign headquarters, his county-executive offices, and the homes of his advisers and supporters in an attempt to make any possible criminal charge — the initial embezzlement complaint, sexual misconduct, campaign-finance violations, the alleged misuse of county time and property — stick to the governor.
All of this occurred against the backdrop of one of the most dramatic political fights in the country, as Walker and Wisconsin’s Republican legislature enacted conservative public-employee-union reforms over the objections of tens of thousands of chanting protestors and virtually the entire American Left. Chisholm’s wife was a teachers’ union shop steward, and a whistleblower has said that Chisholm “felt it was his personal duty” to stop Walker’s reforms.
He failed. The reforms passed, and Walker won a closely contested recall election. John Doe I claimed a few scalps — the initial embezzler, an employee guilty of sexual misconduct, and some convictions for minor campaign violations — but the governor himself was unscathed. So Chisholm tried again, launching John Doe II, the comprehensive investigation of conservative “issue advocacy” that led police to Jonah’s door.
Jonah’s father may have been the target of the raid on his home, but according to the family, investigators went well beyond the scope of the warrant to seize business records in his mother’s possession, including confidential donor and financial information for two conservative Wisconsin nonprofits, which were paralyzed for weeks as a result. Yet despite the overly expansive search, to this day, no one in Jonah’s family has been charged with a crime.
The damage to the family’s reputation was immense. Soon after the raid, and despite court orders mandating confidentiality (orders that prevented the family from publicly defending themselves), their names leaked to the press. Jonah’s father — working to help the most disadvantaged kids — found himself struggling to defend a professional reputation under siege. In both his day job as a political consultant and his nonprofit work, even the slightest rumor of illegality can cause clients and donors to shy away. As he puts it, when you’re hired as a consultant, “No matter how good you are, you can’t become the issue.” A consultant whose home was just raided by law enforcement is, most definitely, an “issue” for any politician or political movement.
At present, John Doe II is halted. In response to a challenge from Wisconsin conservative activist Eric O’Keefe and the Wisconsin Club for Growth, a trial judge blocked multiple prosecution subpoenas, holding that they “do not show probable cause that the moving parties committed any violations of the campaign-finance laws.” This ruling has been appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and a decision that could potentially end Chisholm’s witch hunts once and for all is expected any day. At least one victim isn’t waiting for such a decision before she takes action. Cindy Archer has filed a civil-rights lawsuit against Chisholm, and more suits may be coming.
Still, no lawsuit or court ruling will undo the harm the investigations have already inflicted on their victims. Even reliving the experience of the raid in an interview was difficult for Jonah. He has a “deep sense” that his home is no longer safe. His family lives in a rural part of their county, and cars — especially dark SUVs — approaching their driveway now cause him deep, immediate anxiety. His family used to be more politically active; now, they watch what they say. They used to be more trusting, especially of police; now, they assume the worst.
And his mother continues to be terrified by the thought of what could have happened in the raid.
“We’re so fortunate that he’s okay,” she says. “He could have been in the shower. They could have broken the door down. He could have been shot. Over politics.”
Walker has certainly done some good things- but I think his desire for higher office is clouding his judgment. You're absolutely right- he should be SCREAMING about this and show it as how democrats work, and what people can expect from democrats in control.
If you arrest someone they have a right to Miranda. If you drive them to a border crossing it’s detaining not arrest.
Does it work? Yeah, now that you mention it, it does.
It's the eyes.
Be not deceived though, the dude has his light-hearted moments... see him at the gas pump he might even say hi.
A Roman Hastati might cheerfully wave to you as you walk by the Equites stables, too.
Excuse me, that was actually a Triari.
No problem, I wouldn’t know the difference my own self. Your point stands though.
OK, we might be making progress here. WHO is THEY? The prosecutors. Under their orders.
It is so indicative that when ever an article about the police on this board, that the cop-hating Libertarians come crawling from under their rocks to post drivel about how oppressed they are in a police state.
None of this BS is worth trying to convince this group that they need to look at the Nifong-esque prosecutors that are driving these situations.
Just not worth my time. So I am done with it. For those of you who want to flame me, go play in traffic. When you get hit, don't call the cops.
The Triarii have the Sculum (the Rectangular curved shield, and the spear). That’s the difference.
And don’t even GET me started about the Velites! OMG!
——the fact that Scott Walker said nothing about this....gag order or no gag order...
Headline: Prosecutor announces indictment of Governor for violating court order.
Sadly you are joining the ranks of Orwell, Huxley and Rand who started out writing fiction but it all is quickly turning into prophesy...
-—He is the top cop. He could issue a pardon and end this.
You don’t realize, he was under a gag order too. Do you realize Walker was forced to turn over several years of emails? No one is above the law. Walker played this correctly. What we need to prayfor is that the Wisconsin Supreme Court makes such an example of John Chisolm that McDonalds won’t hire him.
And if he issued a pardon for the rest of our lives we would be hearing about dirty Walker pardoning some cronies to cover his guilt. Right now Walker can say he’s been investigated for FIVE YEARS and handed over all his emails from two offices and never been charged with bupkis.
A governor Trump wouldn’t have backed down from an unconstitutional gag order.
-—A governor Trump wouldn’t have backed down from an unconstitutional gag order.
Headline: Governor Trump spends first night in minimum security prison for gag-order violation in contempt of court.
Hoped for headline: Wisconsin Supreme Court vindicates Walker: John Chisolm can be civilly sued for abuse
I did not know the governor had a gag order on him. This is scary. Thanks for the info.
The whole thing has been frightening. Who knew that good-government Wisconsin had deep-state tyrants? Hopefully we are near the end with the good guys vindicated.
http://www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/State-Supreme-Court-Takes-John-Doe-Cases-286076571.html
nice economy of expression.
So why isn’t the writer of the article in jail?
There are ways to address this issue without violating a gag order.
You’re being ridiculous.
Walker is completely ignoring the issue. He’s not being law-abiding.... he’s being chicken. Balk, balk, balk balk balk.
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