Friday, December 12, 2008

AFP Sues Madison Lawyers for Mail Tampering

This should be pretty easy to prove.  There are the thousands of copies of the original mailing and the one that was altered.  Proving who altered it might be more difficult. 

UPDATE: Oops… when I read it to say “tampering” I thought it meant that they altered the document.  That is not the case.  They allegedly opened someone else’s mail, which still is a felony last I checked. 

A conservative-leaning group accused two prominent Madison attorneys Thursday of tampering with an election mailing and improperly investigating whether it was legal.

Michael D. Dean, an attorney for the Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin chapter, filed complaints with the U.S. attorney in Madison, the U.S. Postal Service and the state Office of Lawyer Regulation accusing lawyer Mike Wittenwyler of tampering with the mail. The complaint accuses Wittenwyler of opening an AFPW mailing addressed to a dead man and forwarding it to state election officials for an investigation.

Dean filed another complaint with the Office of Lawyer Regulation accusing lawyer Stephen Hurley, whom state election officials appointed to look into the mailing, with trying to trick AFPW’s printer into giving him information.

Wittenwyler declined comment, saying he would respond if investigators asked. Marie Stanton, managing attorney for Hurley’s law firm, called the complaint against Hurley “untrue.”

(11) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1738 hrs
Law + Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. Ummmm.. you might want to read a little more closely.  The tampering is opening the mailing, which the attorney admitted doing, when it was mailed to his house. 

    This is a frivolous complaint by AFPW trying to punish the opposing attorneys by filing a claim against them and forcing them to respond to it.  Pretty sleazy of AFPW.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 12, 2008 at 1759 hrs


  2. Oh, I don’t know about that, John.

    Opening someone else’s mail is a Federal offense, unless you have legal authority to do so.

    And it seems to me that the (illegal) predicate was then mis-used by the eager-beaver attorney (ethics?  WHAT ethics?) to file a spurious complaint.

    A little time in hell won’t hurt these creeps.

    Posted by dad29 on December 12, 2008 at 2145 hrs


  3. No, he did more than that ... from the article:

    The complaint accuses Wittenwyler of opening an AFPW mailing addressed to a dead man and forwarding it to state election officials for an investigation.

    Instead of returning it to AFPW, the complaint said, Wittenwyler opened it, scanned it into his computer and e-mailed it to the state Government Accountability Board. He questioned whether AFPW had violated state statutes that prohibit political communications with people who aren’t members.

    There was a separate complaint filed accusing Atty. Hurley with attempting to trick AFPW’s printer into disclosing AFPW’s member list:

    According to Dean’s complaint against him, Becker had decided by the end of August to recommend the board drop the probe. But Hurley sent a one-paragraph letter to AFPW printer Bill Johnson on Sept. 12 asking if he could speak to Johnson about the investigation and that anything said would be confidential.

    Dean alleged Hurley knew Becker had decided to recommend an end to the investigation when he sent the letter. He also claimed Hurley was trying to fool Johnson into turning over confidential AFPW member information and the letter implied Johnson couldn’t tell AFPW about Hurley’s request.

    How was AFPW supposed to know someone this gentleman was deceased, and if he passed away after the time the address list got to the printer, who would have known?

    Why didn’t Wittenwyler simply throw the mailing away?  Sounds like a judge needs to decide whether this is an issue.

    Posted by hsgbdmama on December 12, 2008 at 2150 hrs


  4. John: The sleaze is on the part of the prominent attorneys that forced us to spend over $25,000 to prove that we did nothing wrong. The Government Accountablilty Board unanimously to drop the action against AFP-WI.

    When you see all the facts - and you still think this is a frivolous complaint - I welcome you to debate your ideas in a public forum.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 12, 2008 at 2152 hrs


  5. And so Tara totally denies she read the note I asked her to pass to Austin, and I’m like “no way”, and she’s like “way”, and I’m like nuh uh slut, you totally read it even though I told you not to, and she’s like no way, I’d like never do that, but I’m like, then how’d you know I like him, and she like totally still denied it…

    That pretty much summarize what we’re looking at here?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 12, 2008 at 2250 hrs


  6. As I understand it, some lawyer opened what amounts to a dead guy’s junk mail and forwarded it on to the GAB.  Then the people who sent the junk mail had to hire some lawyers to resolve that complaint.  Now the group that hired the lawyers is filing a complaint against the lawyer who opened the junk mail in the first place and the lawyer GAB appointed to investigate the case.  Those lawyers will inevitably hire other lawyers to defend themselves.

    Sounds like the unemployment rate for Dane County attorneys is zero.  And this Stephen Hurley sounds exactly like the kind of attorney I would hire if I ever needed a lawyer.  Trying to dupe a kid into turning over a laptop?  That’s brilliant.  Kids are stupid.

    Also, I tip my hat to you, ATV.  You are having quite the day today, between this post and your massive trouncing over on that thread about the stupid talking doll.  Well played, sir.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 13, 2008 at 0005 hrs


  7. Mark- and now you are forcing two attorneys who were opposing you to spend $25,000 to defend your complaints that will be dismissed.  Pot meet kettle.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 13, 2008 at 1144 hrs


  8. Pot meet kettle? Huh? The AFP is just after money it should not have had to spend in the first place. The only thing leaving this alone would accomplish is to inform AFPW opponents that filing frivolous lawsuits is a cheap way to distract them.

    Tosa Voter you missed the part about Tara then turning the note over the Principal and then you get after school detention.

    Posted by Marcus Aurelius on December 13, 2008 at 1446 hrs


  9. and now you are forcing two attorneys who were opposing you to spend $25,000 to defend your complaints that will be dismissed

    ***Cue the sound of a bleeding heart***

    So AFP spends $50K to defend themselves and these jackasses spend $25K.

    Of course, they could opt to spend zero and be disbarred.

    Posted by dad29 on December 13, 2008 at 2029 hrs


  10. Or the presiding body could just recognize how stupid the argument is to begin with and throw it out, and then nobody has to give the lawyering class any more money.  That’s my vote - less money for the lawyers.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 13, 2008 at 2314 hrs


  11. RS- Unfortunantly there is no way for that to happen with an OLR complaint.  That is what makes this situation so unfortunate, and frankly for AFPW ironic.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 14, 2008 at 1351 hrs


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