State Capitol Report: A Look At The DOJ’s Report On The John Doe II Leak

Tune in for the State Capitol Report. We look at the Department of Justice’s findings on the John Doe II leak to the Guardian and examine what comes next. We also talk with Attorney General Brad Schimel and Wisconsin Democracy Campaign executive director Matt Rothschild about the investigation.

In the 92-page document released last week, the agency recommends disciplinary action against nine individuals – four Government Accountability Board employees, three from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, special prosecutor Francis Schmitz and an attorney with the Elections Commission – in connection with a leak of materials to the Guardian newspaper. The report also revealed that a secret investigation targeting state Republicans was opened as part of the John Doe II probe that was eventually shut down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Hundreds of thousands of documents, including private emails, were found in a folder labeled “Opposition Research.”

“Democrats must now accept the fact that Republicans were right,” said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in a statement. “The GAB was not a model for the country. It was a rogue agency where partisan behavior ran rampant and went completely unchecked.”

Vos also called the GAB a “failed experiment.”

In response to Vos’ comments, Democratic State Representative Chris Taylor noted that the John Doe investigations resulted in six criminal convictions and that the leaks nearly uncovered a “corrupt scheme” by Gov. Scott Walker to circumvent campaign finance laws.

“It is no wonder Speaker Vos and the Republican majority got to quick work dismantling our campaign finance laws, allowing more corporate money into our elections in more ways, disassembling, rather than improving, a nonpartisan, independent government watchdog in favor of an ineffective partisan model that never worked and exempting legislators from secret corruption investigations,” she said in a statement.

Republican State Senator Steve Nass has called on four Elections and Ethics Commission members named in the DOJ report to quit, saying he has “absolutely no faith in the ability of these four individuals to serve in an impartial and fair manner.”

What questions do you have about the Attorney General’s report on the John Doe leaks? Is the Government Accountability Board a failed experiment or not? Should the four Ethics and Elections Commission members named in the DOJ report quit? We want to hear from you at 1-800-642-1234 or ideas@wpr.org. You can also tweet us @wprmornings or post on the Ideas Network Facebook page.