After reading stcroixcheesehead's diary last night about the highly questionable process regarding Wisconsin redistricting, I did a little digging. What was the exact wording of these "vows of silence" that sleazebag attorneys at Milwaukee's Michael Best and Friedrich law-firm submitted to Republican Legislators for them to sign with the understanding that they would then be protected from public scrutiny under "attorney-client privilege." Seventy-five Republican legislators, from both houses, signed this potentially illegal document thinking that it would give them the protection of a magic spell. We taxpayers spent $400,000 for Walker's crew to draw their secretive maps and seal them with cult complicity.
Here is that contract of secrecy:
PRIVILEGED ATTORNEY-CLIENT COMMUNICATION
Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Related to Reapportionment
Michael Best & Friedrich LLP ("MB&F") is currently engaged to represent the Wisconsin State Assembly, by its Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald ("Assembly") in connection with matters relating to the reapportionment of the Wisconsin Senate, Assembly and Congressional Districts arising out of the 2010 census (the "Representation"). In connection with the Representation we have instructed certain individuals, working at our direction, to meet with certain members of the Assembly for the purpose of discussing matters within the scope of the Representation. Such discussions shall be conducted for the sole purpose of assisting MB&F in rendering legal advice to the Assembly and, therefore, are subject to the attorney-client and attorney work product privileges. Consistent with those privileges, such discussions are and shall remain confidential.
This letter will confirm our understanding that such discussions are and shall remain confidential and that you agree not to disclose the fact and/or contents of such discussions or any draft documents within your possession related to the subject of the Representation with persons outside of the privilege. If you have any questions regarding the foregoing, please feel free to raise those questions with me. Otherwise, in order to confirm the foregoing understanding, please sign on the line indicated below.
Sincerely,
MICHAEL BEST & FRIEDRICH LLP
Eric M. McLeod
APPROVED AND AGREED UPON
______________ Date: _______
Representative
Each of 75 legislators signed the dotted line, like this:
State Senator Mike Ellis complained that he had "never before been asked to sign a confidentiality agreement in his four decades of office." You would think that such a realization might have caused a quiver in the needle of his moral compass.
Guess not.
Each altered district came with tabulation regarding votes for Walker '10, JB (Van Hollen) '10. McCain '08, JB '06 and Bush '04… so don't tell us that gerrymandering to favor a political party had nothing to do with the new maps!
Today, State Senator Jon Erpenbach (D) sent the following letter to the law firm of Michael, Best and Friedrich:
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Eric McLeod
Michael, Best and Friedrich
One South Pinckney St.
Suite 700
Madison, WI 53707
Dear Mr. McLeod,
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) has insisted from the start of the redistricting process that the process has not been political in nature. He even went so far as to deny Senate Democrats legal representation in this process, saying that the Senate already had a law firm: yours. That fact was restated by his staff, when ask by myself, as a member of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Utilities and Government Operations during a recent hearing. During that hearing, I asked Sen. Fitzgerald’s staff on more than one occasion, and more than one way, if politics were involved with redistricting. His answer was always the same, “no.”
Therefore, it is my understanding, as the elected State Senator of the 27th Senate District, I am your client. As your client I would like to review the file regarding your firm’s work on redistricting.
Attorney client privilege should not be an issue here because I am one of the 33 clients you represent.
If it’s not your understanding that your firm represents all 33 Wisconsin State Senators, then perhaps we need further clarification from Sen. Fitzgerald. Otherwise, please provide me with a copy of the entire redistricting file.
To be very clear, I really have a disdain for reading about a case that involves me and the entire Wisconsin State Senate in the newspaper.
Sincerely,
Jon Erpenbach
State Senator
27th Senate District
The evidence of chronic corruption continues to mount. There is a climate that goes beyond the hubris of duly elected officials who feel disdain for their constituents and only rule for their own personal gain. We daily witness the surreal specter of moral corrosion that hovers over the state like a cloud of noxious toxic gas.
A while back, in a recorded candid conversation over drinks at a Madison bar, Republican State Senator Mike Ellis, in conversation with Republican Representative Robin Vos, stated that the top ranking Republicans known as the Fitzgerald Brothers were "a couple of grifters."
So true. But in this case, the grifters are under a scrutiny that might just make their grift a gift, making obvious the political calculation behind their ridiculous redistricting plans, and outing their sleazy assumptions of secrecy.
As Peter Earle, lead lawyer for Voces de la Frontera said yesterday, “The only appropriate response to these serious breaches of the public trust is to throw the maps out and begin the process again in a legal and open manner."
Amen to that: legal and open. Sounds absolutely refreshing.