Free Republic

We have followed recent events in Wisconsin’s scandalous John Doe investigation of Governor Walker’s allies and supporters here (also citing background on the scandal) and here. State senator Tom Tiffany then updated us on the scandal’s aftermath. Now Senator Tiffany has directed our attention to Matt Kittle’s current MacIver Institute report “In John Doe’s shadow: Showdown looms in bitter battle over bureaucrats’ jobs.” Senator Tiffany has also forwarded Deborah Hawley Jordahl’s column commenting on current developments. Ms. Jordahl was herself a victim of the secret John Doe investigation. Her home was searched and turned upside down in a pre-dawn raid...

Part 315 of 314 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wis. - He walked into work Tuesday morning to find he had received an "unbelievable" notice. Opening the manila envelope, the Wisconsin conservative learned that government agents had secretly seized his emails - professional and personal - sent and received over a two-year period beginning Jan. 1, 2009. He found out he had, without his knowledge, been dragged into Wisconsin's notorious John Doe investigation, one of perhaps dozens of individuals who in recent days have received similar notices from former John Doe special prosecutor Francis D. Schmitz. Some, like...

Part 297 of 295 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wis. - The special prosecutor of the politically driven probe the state Supreme Court has twice declared dead laments the conservatives he intimidated for more than two years are legally tougher than the "violent criminals and terrorists" he investigated as a federal prosecutor. "The miscalculation I made in this investigation was underestimating the power and influence special interest groups have in Wisconsin politics," Francis Schmitz, point man for the unconstitutional "John Doe II" probe said Wednesday in a press release. "My career in the military and as a federal...

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...

MADISON, Wis. – A newly released audio recording of the 2011 raid on the home of a former aide to Gov. Scott Walker confirms that the political John Doe investigation into dozens of conservative groups was a “fishing expedition aimed at ensnaring” the Republican governor and his associates, says the attorney representing Cindy Archer in her civil rights lawsuit. And according to a statement released Tuesday by Archer’s legal counsel David B. Rivkin, Jr., the recording adds important details “regarding the true purpose of the raid and tactics” used by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm. Rivkin was responding to...

MADISON, Wisconsin — This is what an abusive, politically motivated investigation looks like: The sun had yet to rise when deputies pounded on the door of Deborah Jordahl’s home in a quiet suburb of Madison. They had a warrant, and they were coming in. Armed law enforcement officers, led by Milwaukee County District Attorney investigator Anna Linden, proceeded to root through the home. They hauled out computers, smartphones, paper records and an array of “evidence” that had nothing to do with the investigation, private possessions that weren’t listed on the sweeping warrants. Through it all, Jordahl, her husband, and her...