Posted on 05/10/2015 8:02:29 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON, Wis. — The state Supreme Court is weighing several key questions related to Wisconsin’s political John Doe investigation, including whether the stalled probe will be allowed to resume.
But testimony is now being taken in another John Doe-related lawsuit that could further shine light on the abuses perpetrated by the prosecutors and their partners at the state Government Accountability Board.
In December, following the release of bombshell documents that exposed the GAB as a rogue agency fixated on its “parallel” probe into Wisconsin conservatives and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker, the attorney for plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the agency said he was very much looking forward to the oath-bound testimony of the board’s presiding judges and staff.
That time has arrived.
“Discovery is proceeding,” Eddie Greim, attorney with Graves Garrett LLC, the Kansas City, Mo.-based law firm representing conservative activist Eric O’Keefe and his Wisconsin Club for Growth. The limited-government advocate was among at least 29 conservative groups caught up in the John Doe probe, launched by Milwaukee County Democrat District Attorney John Chisholm, assisted by the GAB and led by GAB-contracted investigator-turned John Doe special prosecutor Francis Schmitz.
“The parties are exchanging large volumes of documents and testimony is being taken,” Greim said, adding that discovery should be complete in the next couple of months.
Greim declined to discuss what information has been brought out through depositions, but said he and his clients are encouraged by the process.
That legal process already has led to some bombshell revelations about GAB’s involvement in an investigation that critics describe as nothing more than a partisan witch hunt, left-wing retaliation for sweeping conservative victories in recent years.
The documents released in December, from an updated complaint filed by the conservatives suing GAB, appear to support claims the campaign finance, ethics and election law regulator continued its zealous campaign finance investigation even after the board’s judges voted to shut it down.
They also show that GAB considered using the state’s John Doe law to investigate key state conservatives and even national figures, including Fox News’ Sean Hannity and WTMJ Milwaukee host Charlie Sykes.
“What we have uncovered so far shows the Government Accountability Board, or at least its staff, being anything but ‘accountable,’” Greim said following the release of the previously sealed documents. “For example, the public has learned for the first time, over GAB’s objections, that GAB set up a secret system of Gmail accounts for its staffers and the prosecutors who ran the John Doe.”
Wisconsin’s unique John Doe procedure is much like a grand jury investigation, without the benefit of a jury of peers. A judge vested with extraordinary powers to compel witnesses to testify presides over the probes.
GAB staff members engaged in the probe seem to have defied their own board. Documents show the board on July 21, 2014, refused to reauthorize the investigation, on a 3-2 vote.
That didn’t necessarily mean GAB’s secret work was over.
“GAB staff continued and continues to spend substantial time reviewing seized materials, conducting legal research, and writing and reviewing briefs on behalf of (John Doe special prosecutor Francis) Schmitz in ongoing state and federal challenges to the Doe,” court documents state
O’Keefe filed his lawsuit against GAB nearly one year ago in Waukesha County Court Circuit Court alleging the agency has “exceeded its statutory authority and evaded its statutory obligations by pursuing and funding a far-reaching criminal investigation into virtually every conservative-leaning group in Wisconsin.”
Documents show GAB staffers were preoccupied with their own legal exposure rather than whether those staffers were engaged in a lawful investigation. As late as May 2014, they urged the board to continue to fund the agency’s probe because “terminating the investigation could undermine the position of the Board’s investigators in the civil case, exposing them, and potentially Board members to civil liability with no legal support.”
GAB appears to have been intricately involved in the prep work for the investigation’s coordinated predawn raids on the homes and offices of several John Doe targets on Oct. 3, 2013.
GAB “staff has spent considerable time reviewing and revising the supporting documentation for the search warrants and subpoenas to ensure consistency along with correct references to parties and documents,” states the minutes from a closed session during the board’s October 2013 meeting. That information, too, was obtained under discovery.
In a carefully crafted statement, GAB defense attorney Paul Schwarzenbart in December insisted it is “absolutely clear the Board through its Chair was apprised of District Attorney contacts with Government Accountability Board staff concerning the developing John Doe from the beginning.”
Schwarzenbart dismissed evidence turned up in pre-trial discovery as exaggerations.
“We will have an opportunity to file our response and present evidence which we believe will refute and disprove specific allegations as well as the general hyperbole of the plaintiff’s complaint,” the GAB’s defense attorney said.
If GAB has provided such information, it has yet to be made public.
At the time, Greim countered that the “documents speak for themselves” and that his clients “are eager to hear the testimony of the board members and staff when they are under oath.”
Some libtards in Wisc. need to be in gaol.
The only GAB a state or nation needs is the voters. ( the living ones and legal ones and registered ones and those that vote only once.)
When I lived in WI there was so much voter fraud it was sickening. The rats ran the outfits that investigated fraud and were unable to find any.
I voted for Walker the first time. It was the first election in a long,long time that I was able to vote for someone I wanted rather than against a known crook.
The next day I went to the University where I had worked for thirty years, and watched heads exploding all over campus. I put in my retirement papers and am now in TN. Love it!
Time to introduce these unaccountable thugs to: 1) a rope, 2) a tree, 3) some assembly required, 4) a short drop, and 5) repeat until the problem is solved.
At least 20years in a federal penitentiary.
Well, in a SANE world.
Question: The Wis Supreme Court just elected a new, and conservative Chief Justice. The CJ, as I understand it, and correct me if I’m mistaken, determines the role of the court in judicial proceedings. So, how will that affect this investigation, and where it goes?
bump
“Under oath” doesn’t mean what it once did.
fascism, lurks just below the thin veneer of society....
Why hasn’t the GAB staff been fired, including the executive director, Kennedy?
Looks like some High School Cliques run this State. Just like Baltimore, everybody knows everybody. Nobody knows nothing.
Ah, but for that to happen, the issue of the previous, still serving (liberal) Chief Justice who does not think that she can be removed from the CJ position under prior law, has to be resolved. This is what creates entrenchment and liberal government, they make it so very difficult to change directions!
FWIW, the GAB was a REPUBLICAN idea that was formed after a scandal with CongresswCritters on BOTH sides of the aisle, some of whom were jailed. We were TRYING to prevent this stuff from happening again; leave it to the LefTards in this state to club us with our own stick!!
*ROLLEYES*
You cannot make this stuff up! WHEN is our side going to learn?
Caucus Scandal of 2001-2002:
http://www.gmtoday.com/news/politics/stories/topstory089.asp
Many thanks...I learned something new..
That's why, when proposing a law, always ask how can this be used against me?
— that, and realizing that there are a lot that can be covered with the nine common law felonies.
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