Boots & Sabers

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0713, 28 Aug 15

Rampant Partisanship in GAB

Despite what the GAB’s defenders try to spin, it is a highly-partisan organization with a penchant for abusing its authority. These are some jaw-dropping revelations from the Wall Street Journal.

In an email to Mr. Schmitz on Nov. 27, 2013, GAB staff counsel Shane Falk encouraged the special prosecutor to keep up the good work and “stay strong” in his pursuit of conservative nonprofit groups and allies of Mr. Walker. “Remember, in brief, this was a bastardization of politics and our state is being run by corporations and billionaires,” Mr. Falk wrote. “That isn’t democracy to say the least, but due to how they do this dark money, the populace never gets to know.”

“The cynic in me says the sheeple would still follow the propaganda even if they knew,” Mr. Falk continued, “but at least it would all be out there so that the influences on our politicians is clearly known.” By “the sheeple” Mr. Falk means Wisconsin voters.

In June 2014, Mr. Schmitz’s attorney, Randall Crocker, issued a statement saying that Governor Walker was not a target of the investigation into campaign finance coordination. “You just lied to the press,” Mr. Falk wrote in an email to Mr. Schmitz, copying Mr. Kennedy, others at the GAB and Milwaukee DA John Chisholm. “See the attached ‘target’ sheets from our search warrant and subpoena meeting. I see ‘SW’ right up there near the top on Page 1. Is there someone else that has those initials?”

The Doe team was also apparently concerned that exonerating Mr. Walker as a target might have an effect on the election or damage the chances of 2014 Democratic nominee for Governor Mary Burke. “If you didn’t want this to have an effect on the election, better check Burke’s new ad,” Mr. Falk continued, “Now you will be calling her a liar. This is a no win.”

Notice how the GAB attorney is actually trying to coordinate the media positioning of the John Doe investigators with the campaign position of the Democratic candidate, Mary Burke. There isn’t a hint of objectivity in these correspondence.

The GAB is rotten from the head down. Scrap it and start over. We need an oversight body for elections and ethics, but the GAB has failed to be the objective and unbiased organization it was intended to be.

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0713, 28 August 2015

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