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A dispatch from the new censorship-defying social network in the wake of "the purge" of alt-right users on Facebook and Twitter this week. The purge is happening. At least according to the universe of alt-right users on social media: Many of them claim that in recent days their Twitter accounts have been suspended and that their posts on Facebook are not being promoted or shared like they used to. It’s all part of a crackdown on "fake news" in the wake of reports that misleading reports shared on Facebook and Twitter helped influence the election. To many, these efforts are...

A dispatch from the new censorship-defying social network in the wake of "the purge" of alt-right users on Facebook and Twitter this week. The purge is happening. At least according to the universe of alt-right users on social media: Many of them claim that in recent days their Twitter accounts have been suspended and that their posts on Facebook are not being promoted or shared like they used to. It’s all part of a crackdown on "fake news" in the wake of reports that misleading reports shared on Facebook and Twitter helped influence the election. To many, these efforts are...

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 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...

Part 305 of 305 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wis. - Ding dong, the witch-hunter is dead. More than a month after the Republican-led Legislature passed a bill dismantling the state Government Accountability Board, Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday finally signed the bill into law - with a partial veto. The bill's supporters, including conservatives targeted by the GAB and Milwaukee County prosecutors in the unconstitutional and politically driven John Doe probe, rejoiced while the left prophesied biblical-proportion campaign finance and election law disasters. "Reform to this broken agency was long overdue and I'm proud of today's accomplishment,"...

MADISON, Wis. - Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, the Democrat who launched Wisconsin’s politically driven John Doe investigation into conservatives, appears to have broken state campaign finance law, according to state Attorney General Brad Schimel. "...(I)t does appear on its face that two maximum contributions were received (by Chisholm's campaign) from the same individual in the same election cycle," Schimel told Wisconsin Watchdog Thursday. Chisholm did not return a call seeking comment. He has not returned any calls from Watchdog. As Wisconsin Watchdog exclusively reported this week, Chisholm's campaign accepted donations in excess of single-contributor limits during the same...

Part 294 of 292 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wis. — More than two weeks after the Assembly finalized passage of a bill that would dismantle the state’s rogue political speech regulator, Gov. Scott Walker has yet to sign the legislation into law. And it’s not clear when he will do so. “I don’t have an update beyond what I have previously provided, which is that he will review this legislation and supports overall reform of the Government Accountability Board to provide a replacement that is fair, transparent, and accountable to Wisconsinites,” Walker press secretary Laurel Patrick told...

Part 292 of 292 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wis. – The state’s political speech cop again is resisting a lawmaker’s request for information about the costs of a secret John Doe investigation into Wisconsin conservatives. State Government Accountability Board director and general counsel Kevin Kennedy has “partially denied and partially fulfilled” an open records request by state Rep. Dave Craig, R-Town of Vernon. At least Kennedy insists as much in a seemingly conflicted response to the lawmaker’s request for information on the costs incurred by the GAB in the political investigation dubbed “John Doe II.” Craig, in...

Part 280 of 278 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wisconsin – After lengthy delays and an extraordinary session that extended into the wee hours of Saturday morning, the Republican-controlled Senate passed a bill that overhauls the rogue state Government Accountability Board. But does the final version of the bill, with a controversial amendment, protect and defend the constitution? At the end of the day, the cold feet coalition prevailed. The amended bill goes a long way in decentralizing the GAB, the agency that oversees Wisconsin campaign finance, election, ethics and lobbying laws. But while it divides the political...

Part 279 of 277 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wisconsin — As the Senate seems to be coming to terms on a “compromise” that would retain at least a couple of retired judges on the state Government Accountability Board, one of the targets of the rogue agency’s unconstitutional investigation is asking senators to think again. On Thursday, Eric O’Keefe of the Wisconsin Club for Growth sent Wisconsin policymakers a detailed communication outlining “potential misconduct” by GAB chairman Gerald Nichol.” O’Keefe cites several “troubling statements” Nichol has made in recent weeks that have exposed the judge’s partisanship serving on...

MADISON, Wis. – Government Accountability Board Judge Gerald Nichol has said he has no regrets about the early-morning raids and other constitutionally challenged tactics used to go after conservatives. “I don’t have a problem with the way we played that role,” he said last month when asked about the GAB’s integral involvement in an unconstitutional John Doe investigation that upended the lives of dozens of citizens who were never charged with any wrongdoing – all in the name of political speech. “It obviously angered one specific party,” he added. Nichol and his fellow retired judges who preside over the state’s...

MADISON, Wisconsin — This week the Wall Street Journal revealed just how expansive Wisconsin’s political John Doe investigation was, targeting not only Badger State conservatives but national political figures such as Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich. Now Wisconsin Watchdog has learned the unconstitutional probe also went after state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and other Wisconsin conservative leaders who may not be aware that they, too, were targets of a widespread spying operation. The information comes from the same sealed court documents referenced in the Wall Street Journal editorial board piece published Tuesday. Sources have shared with Wisconsin Watchdog the...

Part 274 of 272 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Watchdog MADISON, Wis. – As Kevin Kennedy goes about trying to save his job and his rogue state agency, the director of the state Government Accountability Board is twisting, if not torturing, some facts. In his supplemental testimony on the agency released this week, Kennedy takes issue with state Sen. Leah Vukmir’s question on the GAB’s early involvement in a political John Doe probe into 29 conservative organizations and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker. The Supreme Court in July ruled the investigation unconstitutional and...

Part 273 of 271 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Watchdog MADISON, Wis. – While Senate Republican leadership attempts to woo a few members cool to a key provision in a Government Accountability Board overhaul bill, a vocal target of the GAB’s secret probe is using his constitutional rights to target lawmakers holding up reform. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, tells Wisconsin Watchdog that the bill will be taken up, although likely not until next week. The proposal, which passed last week in the Assembly along party lines, could be...

Part 272 of 270 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wisconsin — The four Republicans reportedly with cold feet about reforming the rogue Government Accountability Board would do well to read the latest piece from the Wall Street Journal on the expanded abuses of the political John Doe probe. Court-sealed documents, according to the publication, show the GAB, working with the Democrat-led Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office, looking into several national conservatives in their star chamber. “The John Doe team searched the digital cache for information related to their now-discredited theory of campaign-finance coordination, but they didn’t stop there....

Part 271 of 269 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wisconsin — The authors of a bill reforming Wisconsin’s controversial John Doe law want answers from state Government Accountability Board director Kevin Kennedy about his conversations with the Internal Revenue Service regarding a now-dead, political John Doe probe. State Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, and state Rep. Dave Craig, R-Town of Vernon, are particularly interested in an email from former GAB staff counsel Shane Falk to Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney David Robles. In the Feb. 28, 2013, communication, Falk tells Robles: “As you may know, things are really heating...

Part 270 of 268 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wis. – Newly unsealed documents in a lawsuit against the state Government Accountability Board further reveal a rogue agency all in from the beginning of a political John Doe investigation into dozens of conservative groups and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker – even as their hapless special prosecutor was “really questioning the validity of the case.” Thursday evening, Waukesha County Court released 182 pages of emails, transcripts of closed-door meetings and other previously sealed documents after attorneys for the GAB and the plaintiffs came to terms on precisely...

“This bill is about people being terrorized in their own home.” Those were the words of Wisconsin State Rep. state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, (R-New Berlin) last night at the state legislature debated a bill that would limit the power, scope, and length of the state’s “John Doe” procedure. I’m sure by now you’ve seen the exciting news – as our Wisconsin bureau chief, Matt Kittle,emailed me in the wee hours of this morning to let me know that the bill passed both houses and is headed to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk. I wanted to take a moment to thank you...

Part 267 of 265 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wis. — Get ready for more fireworks Wednesday as the Assembly takes up two bills aimed at reforming Wisconsin’s troubled campaign finance law and overhauling its even more troubled political speech regulator. Under a Republican proposal, the state Government Accountability Board would be split into two commissions, an elections entity and an ethics operation. The six election commission members would be partisan, evenly appointed by both parties and the governor, and the directors of the commissions would be appointed to four-year terms, subject to reappointment. Created in 2007 with...

Part 263 of 262 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wisconsin — The public will have to wait for trial to see the brunt of “hot documents” attorneys have said will be “very embarrassing” to the state Government Accountability Board. On Thursday, Waukesha County Judge Lee Dreyfus Jr. opted against lifting the protective order on 181 pages of records from a lawsuit alleging the GAB overstepped its authority at taxpayer expense in driving a politically charged John Doe investigation into dozens of conservative groups and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker. Dreyfus said the documents would probably come out...