Posted on 12/17/2015 10:53:25 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Part 308 of 308 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War
MADISON, Wis. - In the wake of Wisconsin's notorious John Doe investigation, lawmakers unveiled a bill Thursday that would create a legislative committee armed with subpoena power to investigate closed John Doe proceedings.
The legislation, authored by state Rep. Dave Craig, R-Town of Vernon, and Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, delves into the broader, scarier reaches of secret investigative technologies and techniques, creating a committee that would have oversight of law enforcement and investigations at large.
"One of the constitutional duties and powers of the Legislature is to make sure that if there is bad action occurring at a state agency, that those civil officers could be removed from office if they are committing egregious acts while in office," Craig told Wisconsin Watchdog Thursday on the Vicki McKenna Show, on Newstalk 1310 WIBA.
"How is the Legislature supposed to have authority to do that but not have the information on whether or not the conduct occurred?" he added. "The only way to do that is with our subpoena power, particularly when it comes to John Doe investigations."
The committee would have the authority to "investigate all facets of a John Doe investigation," once it is officially closed.
In the case of the politically driven John Doe probe into conservatives, the committee could turn the tables on the state Government Accountability Board and the John Doe prosecutors, compelling them to testify about their activities and conduct.
The secret investigation, launched in August 2012 by the Democrat-led Milwaukee County District Attorney's office and driven by the GAB and its hand-picked prosecutor, was declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. The court ordered the probe should down.
District attorneys who signed off on the five-county dragnet have until Friday to decide whether they will intervene. Their last recourse is to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the state court decision, something that is highly unlikely to happen, according to legal experts.
The two Republican district attorneys involved in the probe have said they will not intervene. The three Democrats had not publicly stated their intentions as of Thursday, but the Milwaukee County Board voted Thursday not to provide taxpayer funding should their district attorney challenge the state Supreme Court's ruling.
"While this decision does not preclude District Attorney (John) Chisholm from appealing, it does send a clear message that there is no prevailing desire to spend County taxpayer dollars to fund such an ill-advised endeavor," said Milwaukee County Supervisor Deanna Alexander in a statement.
Craig and Wanggaard unveiled their legislation the same day of an announced settlement in a lawsuit against the GAB. Under the agreement, the regulator agrees to refrain from funding and assisting future criminal prosecutions in violation of its statutory authority.
While the regulator doesn't admit any wrongdoing, it acknowledges "it had contact with prosecutors about the subject of John Doe II and later made expenditures in conducting GAB Investigation ... in cooperation with prosecutors conducting the John Doe II investigation," according to a press release issue by Kansas City, Mo.-based Graves Garrett LLC, the law firm that represented the conservative plaintiffs, some of the targets of the probe.
More important, the settlement releases some 40,000 pages of investigation-related documents the GAB desperately fought to keep in the dark.
"Today's settlement news confirms what we long suspected, that the GAB was intimately involved with prosecutors and actively assisted in the conduct of the 'John Doe II' investigation despite GAB leadership's continued insistence to legislators and to the public that it had not."
Court documents released Thursday confirm the GAB committed substantial agency resources to the illegal investigation and failed to disclose the information under Craig's public records request. An investigative email obtained through disclosure shows that "the GAB has been actively involved in the John Doe proceedings, long before the (investigation's) special prosecutor was appointed."
"Therefore, because of the continued obfuscation of this information from the public and the legislature we call on GAB Chair, Judge Gerald Nichol, and Director and General Counsel, Kevin J. Kennedy, to immediately resign," Craig and Wanggaard said in a statement.
Kennedy doesn't appear to be long for his post. On Wednesday, Gov. Scott Walker, himself a target of the illegal probe, signed into law a bill that abolishes the Government Accountability Board and replaces it with two separate ethics and elections commissions. Kennedy's position will be eliminated under the restructured agency.
The John Doe records that the GAB and the prosecutors have furiously fought to keep sealed could be opened to public scrutiny under the bill creating the legislative oversight committee.
INVESTIGATING THE INVESTIGATORS: Two Republican lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a bill that would create a legislative oversight committee to investigate John Doe probes like the unconstitutional one that targeted conservatives. The committee would have subpoena power.
The chickens are roosting at the GAB.
“Therefore, because of the continued obfuscation of this information from the public and the legislature we call on GAB Chair, Judge Gerald Nichol, and Director and General Counsel, Kevin J. Kennedy, to immediately resign,” Craig and Wanggaard said in a statement.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Great. Now, raid their homes in the middle of the night, make them stand in their lawns in their pajamas while their neighbors gawk.
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