Quashing Conservative Political Speech In Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a politically schizophrenic state.  It is equal parts liberal and conservative, with a tiny moderate segment that can move election outcomes in either direction.  Sometimes it has Democrat leadership; sometimes Republican.  The carving to take the statehouse is like fruit on a tree for the hungry party that is out of power.

As you witnessed during the unsuccessful campaign to recall Governor Scott Walker, the progressive left is unhinged by Walker.  They have stopped at nothing in their attempts to thwart laws Walker has signed, and to defeat him in regular elections and a recall election.  Their behavior has been contemptible.

And it's starting again. 

In October Mary Burke, a Trek Bicycle heiress with no political experience and plenty of money, announced that she is running for Governor against Scott Walker in the 2014 election.  Two days later, as if on cue a secret John Doe investigation into Walker's 2012 campaign was started by Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf. 

ADA Landgraf proudly displayed a "Recall Walker" sign at his residence during the 2012 recall campaign, and signed a petition urging Walker's recall.  He also headed a "secret John Doe" investigation intended to find crimes Walker committed.  There were none.

Landgraf is a political hack.  His new inquiry is nothing more than an attempt to suppress free speech on the part of conservative political groups through intimidation, harassment and seizure of those groups' computers and emails.

This is nothing short of opposition research being done by the government to benefit the candidate of the Democrat party in her bid to unseat the governor.  It is one-party fascism.

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article about it here.

Copies of two subpoenas we've seen demand "all memoranda, email . . . correspondence, and communications" both internally and between the subpoena target and some 29 conservative groups, including Wisconsin and national nonprofits, political vendors and party committees. The groups include the League of American Voters, Wisconsin Family Action, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Americans for Prosperity—Wisconsin, American Crossroads, the Republican Governors Association, Friends of Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

One subpoena also demands "all records of income received, including fundraising information and the identity of persons contributing to the corporation." In other words, tell us who your donors are.

The investigation and the subpoenas do not name a specific crime that is being investigated.  They are a fishing expedition.  Give us everything we want so we can investigate every bit of it and look for anything even remotely criminal to charge you with.  And you may not talk about this.

The subpoenas don't spell out a specific allegation, but the demands suggest the government may be pursuing a theory of illegal campaign coordination by independent groups during the recall elections. If prosecutors are pursuing a theory that independent conservative groups coordinated with candidate campaigns during the recall, their goal may be to transform the independent expenditures into candidate committees after the fact, requiring revision of campaign-finance disclosures and possible criminal charges.

Remember the Cincinnati IRS?  There has been no punishment for the government employees who used IRS authority to harass and intimidate conservative political groups in an attempt to suppress conservative voter turnout.  The same thing is happening in Wisconsin.

The left cannot win public office without using corruption.