The Wisconsin GOP certainly trolled the bottom of the swamp when looking for spoiler candidates so they could trigger Democratic primaries in the recall efforts against incumbents in Wisconsin. Protecting Robert Cowles is former Republican Representative Otto Junkermann who had previously been fined for campaign finance violations. Newcomer James Smith, protecting the most endangered incumbent Dan Kapanke, is the youngest of the bunch and nothing more than a sacrificial lamb (see this excellent profile by The Awl). And John Buckstaff, who is seeking to defend Randy Hopper, loathes his home state so much he once led an ad campaign telling businesses to stay away.
The most interesting, however, is Rollin S. Church. The battle unfolding in Wisconsin must bring back memories for the GOP's District 14 fake Democrat. According to a Chicago Tribune article, in the late-60s and early 70s, Church worked with a number of self-described "patriots" on the Northern Illinois University campus who believed it was their duty to monitor the activities of students and professors they deemed to be "leftist radicals." At the time Church was a student at nearby Kishwaukee Junior College studying political science and police administration.
Church and his campus spies worked publicly under the moniker Viet Nam Veterans Association, the VNVA, but he had associations through the organization with a number of right-wing radicals. He founded the VNVA with S. Thomas Sutton and Orville Brettman, both known for their involvement with "right-wing terrorist group" the "Legion of Justice."
The name of the organization literally sounds comical. However, instead of Captain America, USAgent and Nick Fury fronting a superhero team it would more likely be a villainous group led by the Red Skull, Baron Zemo, and Baron Strucker.
In 1976, a Senate select committee studying the "improper surveillance of private citizens by the military" investigated the Legion:
Former members of the terrorist group told the Committee that from 1968 until 1970 "military intelligence" had directed and helped finance their activities against left-wing groups in Chicago. 112 They also alleged that the Army had supplied tear gas, grenades, and bugging devices to be used against left-wing groups. 113 Finally, they suggested that Army intelligence had received a film and various documents stolen by the Legion from left-wing organizations.
In his interview with the Tribune Church took pains to distance himself from the Legion, as well as the Minutemen and the John Birch Society. Church said, "They are so far out they are out of the ballpark. You can't go around calling people Communists without proof."
Church would go on to join the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as a Deputy. During his time as a Deputy, Church faced a court battle where he was charged with violating multiple Constitutional protections of one family.
Plaintiffs allege violations of the fourth and eighth amendments, the equal protection and due process clauses of the fourteenth amendment and constitutional rights to personal security and privacy. Plaintiffs allege that on August 12, 1979, after arresting two (non-plaintiff) members of the Garcia family, defendant deputy sheriffs followed plaintiffs into the Garcia residence and there "wantonly, willfully, intentionally, maliciously and in bad faith, did severely beat plaintiffs . . . causing bodily and emotional injury."
After retiring he returned to the Midwest and settled down in Wautoma. Church has remained politically active since coming back to the state. He was a volunteer with former District 14 Senator Bob Welch's campaign and in 2004 was a regular contributor to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Church has been tapped by the GOP to run as a spoiler candidate in the District 14 race. He'll "challenge" Rep. Fred Clark in the Democratic primary. The winner of the primary will go on to face State Senator Luther Olsen.