Ethics commissioner won’t recuse himself

Site staff by Site Contributor

--

Wisconsin Ethics Commission Chairman David Halbrooks says he won’t recuse himself from issues that involve the now-closed secret investigation into Gov. Scott Walker.

Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel on Tuesday said Halbrooks should recuse himself because he was granted immunity in the first John Doe investigation that involved aides to Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive. The investigation into Walker’s recall campaign grew out of that initial probe.

Halbrooks says Schimel’s call for him to recuse himself doesn’t make sense. He says the Ethics Commission wants to work with Schimel to determine who leaked documents collected during that investigation in 2016.

Halbrooks says, “We did not intend any adversarial response to the attorney general in any way, shape or form.”

Halbrooks is a Democrat and an attorney in Milwaukee.

Elections Commission stands by its leader

The Wisconsin Elections Commission is standing behind its leader, even as one Republican state senator is calling for his resignation.

The commission on Tuesday approved a resolution of support for administrator Michael Haas. He’s led the commission since it was created after the now-defunct Government Accountability Board was disbanded in 2015. Haas also worked for the GAB.

State Sen. Steve Naas has called for Haas and chief elections attorney Nate Judnic to resign. He’s also called for resignations of the top two officials at the Ethics Commission.

Naas says all four are tainted by their handling of issues related to a now-closed investigation into Gov. Scott Walker.

Haas says he stands by Judnic, even though Attorney General Brad Schimel called for contempt proceedings against Judnic and eight others who worked on the Walker investigation.

Schimel raises concerns about Halbrooks

Attorney General Brad Schimel says Ethics Commission Chairman David Halbrooks should recuse himself from any involvement in issues related to the now-closed investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign.

Schimel raised concerns with Halbrooks Tuesday, in a letter he sent to the commission. That was in response to criticisms Halbrooks and the commission’s vice chair raised with Schimel about his own investigation into leaks related to the probe.

Schimel says there could be a conflict having Halbrooks involved, given that he was granted immunity in the first John Doe probe that focused on aides of Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive. The investigation into Walker’s recall campaign grew out of that initial probe.

Halbrooks is a Democrat and a Milwaukee attorney. He did not immediately return messages.

Elections Commission seeks attorney

The Wisconsin Elections Commission is seeking an attorney to assist with issues presented by a report from Attorney General Brad Schimel that raised concerns with how a secret investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign was handled.

The commission voted Tuesday to ask Gov. Scott Walker to appoint an attorney. Elections Commission Chairman Mark Thomsen says the attorney will help gather more information, including access to a sealed letter Schimel submitted with the report last week.

Schimel is seeking contempt of court proceedings against six former Government Accountability Board employees, one of whom currently works for the Elections Commission as an attorney. Thomsen says “I haven’t read anything in the report that gets close to contempt.”

The commission also voted to support its administrator, Michael Haas.

Republican state Sen. Steve Nass has called for Haas and Elections Commission attorney Nate Judnic to resign. Haas says he supports Judnic.

Nass says Ethics letter doesn’t change his mind

Republican state Sen. Steve Nass says he stands by his call that the administrator and chief attorney of the Wisconsin Ethics Commission should resign.

Nass said Tuesday he had seen nothing to change his mind in a letter sent by the chair and vice-chair of the commission rebutting a report from Attorney General Brad Schimel. That report cited failures in security as leading to the leaking of 1,300-pages of documents collected during a secret John Doe probe into Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign.

Nass says he does want to hear Schimel’s response to the commission’s charge that his report contained “omissions and inaccuracies.” But Nass says, “I just don’t trust the Ethics Commission right now.”

Nass has also called for the administrator and attorney for the Elections Commission to resign.

Ethics says GAB didn’t label ‘opposition’ folder

The Wisconsin Ethics Commission says folders containing emails seized from Republicans labeled “Opposition Research” were not prepared by staff of the former Government Accountability Board.

Instead, the commission’s chair and vice chair tell Attorney General Brad Schimel in a letter Tuesday that the file was “one of the pieces of illegally seized data” during the now-closed investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign.

Schimel highlighted the folder in his report issued last week looking into the leaking of thousands of pages of secret documents collected during the probe. Schimel accused partisans of “weaponizing” the GAB to further political goals.

Schimel said in the report that DOJ was unable to determine who labeled the emails as “Opposition Research, what the purpose of the label was or how the emails were to be used in the future.

Schimel stands by report amid criticism

Attorney General Brad Schimel is standing by his report into the leaking of secret information gathered during an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign.

Schimel on Tuesday stood firm after the leaders of the Wisconsin Ethics Commission sent him a letter saying his report had “omissions and inaccuracies.”

Schimel says in letter back that six claims made by the commission “could be charitably called errors.” He says the commission “simply disagrees with DOJ’s characterization of certain events and criticizes the tone of certain portions of the report.”

He says the criticisms are not serious.

The Ethics Commission had wanted Schimel to make a statement saying the commission had cooperated with the investigation. The commission also said Schimel failed to recognize security enhancements that had been made.

COPYRIGHT 2020 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.