Attorney: Government Accountability Board’s John Doe Justifications Don’t Hold Up to Law
M.D. Kittle /
MADISON, Wis. – We told somebody something, and that’s good enough.
That’s effectively the line of defense from the state Government Accountability Board in the wake of stunning documents released Friday that allege the GAB was an out-of-control agency hell-bent on pursuing a partisan John Doe investigation into dozens of conservative groups and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker.
The documents show the GAB not only failed to notify its board – six retired judges who collectively oversee the agency – but continued its probe after the board voted 3-2 on July 21 to end the investigation.
In a carefully crafted statement, Paul Schwarzenbart, defense attorney for the campaign finance, ethics, and election law regulator, asserts that it is “absolutely clear the Board through its Chair was apprised of District Attorney contacts with Government Accountability Board staff concerning the developing John Doe from the beginning.”
But Schwarzenbart’s central justification now appears to be that the GAB investigators notified one of the six retired judges who collectively oversee the agency’s operations.
State law governing the GAB’s involvement in investigations requires that the agency must have the approval of the full board before entering a John Doe probe. The law requires that the investigation be reauthorized every 90 days thereafter.
Based on the discovery of documents outlined in the updated complaint filed by conservative plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the GAB, Kevin Kennedy, the agency’s director and general counsel, and Jonathan Becker, head of the GAB’s ethics division, involved the GAB in the secret probe at least two months before the full board knew about it.
Those documents show Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm launched the probe into conservative groups on Sept. 5, 2012, but the full board was not informed of the GAB’s role in the investigation until a Dec. 18, 2012, closed session, the complaint alleges.
The board did not vote to authorize the GAB’s involvement in the probe until June 20, 2013, according to the amended complaint.
The same documents suggest that Kennedy and Becker may have misled the board about when they learned of the John Doe investigation.
Read more at Watchdog.org