O’KEEFE SPEAKS: Conservative activist Eric O’Keefe is talking in detail about life under the John Doe investigation.
Posted on 10/02/2014 8:50:58 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON, Wis. — On the eve of the one-year anniversary of sweeping raids in Wisconsin’s politically charged John Doe investigation into conservative activists, Eric O’Keefe, one of the targets of that probe, is going public in a big way.
Speaking at length for the first time O’Keefe, a director of the conservative Wisconsin Club for Growth, tells Wisconsin Reporter he was shocked by the prosecutors’ tactics: predawn, paramilitary-style raids on the homes of conservatives, and the confiscation of their papers and electronic equipment.
“We ran a meticulous political operation; not only did we comply with Wisconsin’s laws — we were over-compliant, as we knew that Kevin Kennedy (director of the state Government Accountability Board) was hostile to WCFG as well as independent political speech in general. So we ran only issue ads — and none pertained to the elections for governor.”
O’Keefe said he was even more surprised to learn that he was not alone among the targets – that the investigation launched by Democrat Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm included not just Wisconsin Club for Growth, which advocates for free markets and limited government, but also at least 28 other conservative and free-market organizations.
“So I was stunned in two respects: One, that they would suggest we had violated the law; and secondly, because the subpoena was so sweeping and extensive that it showed the prosecution had already conducted a sweeping domestic spying operation on my activities,” O’Keefe said.
“I recognized that this created both a crisis among friends and allies, and a challenge to illuminate the risks to our freedom of powerful prosecutors and obtuse campaign laws,” he said of his legal battles to push back against the prosecutors on what has become a nationally defining political speech issue.
The prosecution has operated under a “legal theory” that the groups may have illegally coordinated with Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign during the state’s partisan recall season of 2011 and 2012, a theory debunked by two judges so far, including the presiding John Doe judge.
Issue ads are generally protected forms of political speech, and not subject to the kind of constraints that express ads, those that directly support or oppose a candidate. The prosecutors, assisted, and some say directed, by the accountability board, the agency that oversees campaign finance and election laws, insists that issue ads are effectively transformed into express ads if there is coordination between the campaign and the advocacy groups — an in-kind contribution as it were.
Presiding John Doe Judge Gregory Peterson earlier this year quashed several subpoenas in the investigation, ruling that the prosecutors did not have probable cause to show that a crime had been committed. In May, a federal judge wrote that the prosecutors’ theory was “simply wrong.”
Read more coming up Friday in Wisconsin Reporter’s special report detailing the impacts of the John Doe investigation.
Part of 129 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War
1.Sources: Secret probe targeting conservatives is abuse of prosecutorial powers
2.Scary! Phantom prosecutor in Dems’ war on conservatives disappears inside courthouse
3.EXCLUSIVE: Judge in Democrat-led John Doe probe recuses herself
4.Democrats’ ‘intelligence-gathering’ spreads in Wisconsin
5.Democrats tap anti-terror expert to head secret probe of Wisconsin conservatives
6.Sheriff Clarke: John Doe case shows Milwaukee DA is ‘weaponized for political purposes’
7.Clarke: John Doe into conservatives ‘unbridled,’ ‘dangerous’ and ‘tainted’
8.Sources: New judge named in Democrat-led secret probe
9.Vendetta justice? Criticism growing about John Doe prosecutor Bruce Landgraf
10.Will Wisconsin’s own ‘Miserable’ inspector jail conservative activist for speaking out about Dem probe?
11.Conservative targets bring in big guns to Democrat-led John Doe fight
12.‘Dangerous’ game: Former FEC official blasts Democrats’ secret investigation of conservative groups
13.Center for Media and Democracy: Liberals are morally superior
14.Wisconsin Dems suddenly support political investigations
15.WI Republican attorney general to represent judges in Democrat-led John Doe probe
16.Republicans speak out about silent John Doe targeting conservatives
17.Biggest secret in John Doe may be just how judges and special prosecutors are selected
18.WSJ: John Doe judge deals body blow to secret probe targeting conservatives
19.Vos: Wait until John Doe in ‘rearview mirror’ before revisiting law
20.Lawsuits looming in Wisconsin’s crumbling John Doe probe?
21.Conservative to Democrat prosecutors: Shut down secret political probe or face civil rights lawsuit
22.John Doe target O’Keefe taking on IRS, too
23.Lawmaker: Wisconsin’s John Doe like Christie’s ‘Bridgegate’
24.Target files civil rights lawsuit against Wisconsin’s John Doe prosecutors
25.Disparate treatment: Civil rights lawsuit claims conservative speech trampled
26.Liberal group looking to take Wisconsin’s John Doe national
27.John Doe judge: ‘Results of the John Doe speak for themselves’
28.John Doe special prosecutor appeals judge’s ruling quashing subpoenas
29.John Doe prosecutor pushed for brain-damaged man’s conviction in ATF debacle
30.Conservatives counterpunch John Doe prosecutors’ move to stall injunction
31.Shadowy John Doe investigator invokes federalism in civil rights lawsuit
32.John Doe prosecutors wanted higher-priced lawyers, source says
33.Secret agent Dean Nickel’s defense: ‘Dean Nickel is not responsible’
34.D’oh! John Doe prosecutors claim secrecy protection – after filing secret documents
35.Recusal in John Doe case raises questions of fairness, purpose
36.Absolute immunity makes it tough to prosecute the prosecutors of John Doe
37.Poll suggests Dems’ big ‘secret’ weapon against Walker is backfiring
38.‘Easy target’: Kelly Rindfleisch breaks silence about John Doe probe
39.SCOTUS ruling on campaign finance shows abuse of John Doe, targets say
40.Nobody will say what John Doe’s shadow man did, but taxpayers are paying his legal bill
41.Judge denies John Doe prosecutors’ move to dismiss civil rights suit
42.Civil rights expert: John Doe law is ‘un-American,’ like something from ‘Nazi Germany’
43.Target: John Doe prosecutors making up campaign law as they go along
44.John Doe, as it is being used, must go, WI senator says
45.John Doe target says prosecutors latest move another delay tactic
46.John Doe prosecutors sound defensive in latest court filings
47.Federal judge denies John Doe prosecutors’ motion to stall civil rights case
48.Media coalition asks judge to open sealed John Doe documents
49.Are John Doe prosecutors sweating out federal judge’s decision?
50.John Doe is dead: Judge stops WI prosecutors’ probe into conservatives
51.This is what the Fourth Amendment looks like?
52.What’s next for now-defunct John Doe probe?
53.Appeals court stalls judge’s order halting John Doe probe
54.Federal judge’s ruling could open up sealed John Doe records
55.Federal judge orders John Doe probe shut down again
56.Lawmakers call for review of GAB’s secret John Doe activities, funds
57.Lawyers, lawyers everywhere and other dispatches from John Doe Land
58.Secret’s out: The world is beginning to learn more about WI’s John Doe
59.Still their little secret? Questions remain on John Doe gag order
60.Appeals Court declares portions of Wisconsin campaign finance law unconstitutional
61.John Doe prosecutors suddenly support opening sealed court records
62.Expert: It’s as if GAB decided ‘Citizens United didn’t exist’
63.John Doe prosecutors voice phony outrage, legal source says
64.GAB still reviewing court ruling declaring WI campaign finance law unconstitutional
65.State Farm still doesn’t want to cover John Doe prosecutor’s legal bills
66.For the Walker-hating left, John Doe is ‘Mission Accomplished’
67.Sources: No urgency in WI Supreme Court on John Doe
68.Would Walker settlement with John Doe prosecutors be a deal with the devil?
69.Contempt questions surround reported John Doe deal talks
70.Walker’s John Doe response raises more questions than answers
71.Sources: Attorney General passes on defending GAB in John Doe cases
72.Attorney to judge: Don’t let John Doe prosecutor ‘moot’ injunction
73.John Doe targets sue Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board
74.Federal judge says his order halting John Doe probe should be clear to prosecutor
75.John Doe special prosecutor’s bill still shrouded in secrecy
76.‘Are these kind of armed pre-dawn raids standard operating procedure?’
77.John Doe special prosecutor obeys judge’s order
78.‘Never-ending’ John Doe never ended, WSJ reports
79.Appeals court upholds judge’s order shutting down John Doe probe
80.O’Keefe keeps collecting big wins in John Doe lawsuit
81.John Doe I judge says he’s not responsible for John Doe II
82.Will taxpayers have to pay for frivolity of John Doe prosecutors?
83.John Doe prosecutors jump back into the dark?
84.What about those prosecutors? Questions surround other John Doe DAs
85.Humiliated in court, WI Dems take their anti-conservative John Doe probe to the media
86.Federal judge blasts John Doe prosecutors – again – as he denies records release
87.Right on cue: Document dump fuels anti-Walker donation drive
88.Wall Street Journal points out ‘disgrace’ of mainstream John Doe reporting
89.Expert: John Doe raids raise ‘troubling’ Fourth Amendment questions
90.Kelly Rindfleisch tells conservatives, ‘Don’t back down’
91.Mainstream media forced to walk back Walker ‘criminal scheme’ narrative
92.John Doe prosecutors engaged in premature justification, conservatives say
93.Is John Doe probe a case of a mini NSA in Wisconsin?
94.AG opinion means accountability board’s John Doe secrets are safe — for now
95.Senator asks attorney general to compel GAB to open up its books
96.GAB now playing secrets in state John Doe lawsuit
97.Will John Doe prosecutors launch lengthy probe against Trek Bicycle?
98.John Doe prosecutors engaged in war of words — lots and lots of words
99.Judge denies conservatives’ request to add GAB to civil rights lawsuit
100.Oral arguments set in John Doe prosecutors’ appeal
101.In John Doe Land, the left doesn’t illegally coordinate
102.John Doe document blitz must have broken mainstream media’s heart
103.Senator: Looks like accountability board is hiding something
104.Kelly Rindfleisch appeal to test validity of John Doe digital searches
105.Conservatives in John Doe battle know disclosure comes with a heavy price
106.Appeals court orders release of some John Doe documents
107.Taxpayers on the hook up to $25,000 for GAB’s legal maneuvers
108.Overheated media erroneously bring back Walker ‘criminal scheme’ theme
109.‘Retaliation’: Docs show state prosecutors launched mini-NSA probe of WI conservatives
110.John Doe prosecutors take desperate, unethical slap
111.Walker ‘smoking gun’ story has tiny glaring flaw
112.Wisconsin prosecutors aim to shut down conservatives
113.Conservatives appeal to common sense in John Doe appeals case
114.Conservatives say ‘incorrect disclosure’ of John Doe docs no ‘tiny error’
115.First Amendment big guns back targets of John Doe probe
116.Was John Doe judge a rubber stamp?
117.$25,000 and counting: WI taxpayers’ bill so far to defend GAB and its ‘monster’
118.Another blow for Wisconsin’s restrictive campaign finance law
119.Wisconsin prosecutors appeal for protection from blowback in partisan probe
120.Is John Doe story colored with a bit of ‘Macbeth?’
121.GAB director says agency just following the law in John Doe probe
122.Kelly Rindfleisch: Where are the tears for the kids the Milwaukee school system failed?
123.Rindfleisch attorney: Appeals court can protect the Fourth Amendment in Digital Age
124.Source: Wisconsin Supreme Court doesn’t want political heat of John Doe case
125.Appeals court reverses John Doe injunction, but Wisconsin’s secret war far from over
126.A whistleblower’s story: Taking on a ‘hyper-partisan’ district attorney
127.Conservative O’Keefe seeks investigation into John Chisholm and his John Doe
128.Who’s paying the bill? Report casts questions on GAB and John Doe payments
129.Target of secret John Doe probe is fighting back and speaking out
O’KEEFE SPEAKS: Conservative activist Eric O’Keefe is talking in detail about life under the John Doe investigation.
John Doe target speaks out.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Fire Kevin Kennedy and the GAB.
We no longer have a government. We have a group of thugs who take our money and then try to ruin our lives.
And to think that some here actually want to completely unleash that democrat power.
In the end this whole criminal conspiracy masquerading as an investigation is going blow sky high and the parties involved should all be going to jail, be barred from holding office or be bankrupted...ideally all three.
Those who use the organs of government to target their political enemies are the lowest form of traitor to American liberty.
The DA isn’t fighting criminals. He is the criminal.
‘The Wisconsin Reporter’ - BUMP! They are the ONLY news entity going this much in-depth on this horrible, horrible story.
It’s going to be tough to find anyone in Dane County that will prosecute, though.
And...only one year? It feels as if this c@p has been going on, forever!
Democrat Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm — prosecutors’ tactics: predawn, paramilitary-style raids on the homes of conservatives, and the confiscation of their papers and electronic equipment.
Added to “The List”.
It’s a hard story to tell. I can’t believe the number of stories the Wisconsin Reporter has done on this tipic to try to explain it.
They are truly the ONLY beacon of sanity in the entire state! I read them daily.
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