Buying elections just got easier
Eric O'Keefe, likely John Doe Probe subject and head of the dark money group, Wisconsin Club for Growth, got his undies in a bunch after RW Federal Judge Randa's shutdown of the current Wisconsin John Doe Probe was overturned by the 7th Circuit Court. Naturally, another front group, Citizens for Responsible Government, ran right back to Judge Randa with
another case because these guys don't take "no" for an answer.
Today, Randa gave his expected, extremist RW opinion. He says it's just fine and dandy for campaigns and dark money groups with anonymous donors to collaborate together as long as the resulting ads don't say "vote for" or "vote against".
The decision addresses the laws in question in an investigation of Gov. Scott Walker's campaign and conservative groups backing him.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa issued his order even though those who are being sued didn't have lawyers until recently. Because the lawyers were only recently hired, they have not submitted a brief.
(bolding is mine)
That's right, Randa issued this opinion based on legal briefs submitted by only 1 side of the argument which means he didn't consider any other legal position. Basic decency, fairness and the law has never, ever stood in the way of a RW decision.
The new lawsuit, filed late in September shortly after the 7th Circuit overturned Randa's ruling on the current John Doe, resulted in no lawyers for Wisconsin election officials because the Republican State Attorney General refused to provide representation. That meant no money for lawyers, too, so only Eric O'Keefe's "side" was "heard".
How convenient for O'Keefe and those dark money groups. It's the way they want it all the time.
With 3 weeks left to the election, this is a bad time to allow dark money groups to get further in bed with campaigns. Scott Walker is in bad trouble in his re-election and his puppetmasters will do anything to get him another 4 years to serve THEIR interests.
This story is just breaking, so there is much more to come, I'm sure.
Sorry about the double post, but this topic was different from the voter suppression one I wrote last week and posted today.
I can flesh this out a bit more now because more information is becoming available.
This week, CRG asked Randa to issue an injunction barring Chisholm and the accountability board from acting on their views on campaign finance law related to collaboration between groups and candidates.
Randa wrote Tuesday he believed CRG was likely to succeed in the case and blocked the accountability board and Chisholm from enforcing their view that such coordination can be illegal. He wrote it was important to act quickly, even though Chisholm and the accountability board have yet to file a response.
"The general election is only three weeks away," Randa wrote. "Any further delay threatens to negate the effectiveness of CRG's requested relief."
Uh huh. Let's not wait for a legal brief from "the other side" that was denied legal representation.
Until now, Chisholm and prosecutors have been hampered by not having attorneys.
Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen refused to represent Chisholm and the accountability board because he does not agree with their views of campaign finance laws. That left it to Walker's office to appoint attorneys for them.
The lawyers for Chisholm and the elections board haven't even been appointed yet! Walkers representative asked for another week to find lawyers, but Randa refused.
Yes, let's not allow fairness, due process, or lack of representation to stand in the way of the RW buying elections. These guys have absolutely no shame.
And don't expect a quick smackdown from the Appeals Court. Remember, only 1 side has lawyers. The elections board and prosecutors don't have a lawyer even to file an appeal of this outrageous decision.
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