Althouse: "Gov. Scott Walker on Friday signed legislation that prohibits prosecutors from using secret John Doe investigations to review allegations of political corruption and misconduct of public officials."

October 24, 2015

"Gov. Scott Walker on Friday signed legislation that prohibits prosecutors from using secret John Doe investigations to review allegations of political corruption and misconduct of public officials."

"The bill, which passed the Senate and the Assembly along party lines this week, comes after two John Doe probes of Walker, his campaign and his aides. Walker was never charged."

ALSO: "The lead prosecutor in the halted John Doe probe into Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign had doubts about his legal theory in November 2013, a month after issuing nearly three dozen subpoenas and search warrants, according to documents filed Thursday in a related lawsuit...."

23 comments:

Michael K said...: Democrats are very good at secret illegal activities. They even vote for the miscreants.; 10/24/15, 1:34 PM
Hagar said...: Garage bait.; 10/24/15, 1:46 PM
Carnifex said...: Doesn't mean jack shit unless someone goes to jail. Just ask Lois Lerner.; 10/24/15, 1:49 PM
Sam L. said...: Seems like a Recall would be appropriate, if that be possible.; 10/24/15, 1:56 PM
T J Sawyer said...: I already received a link to the NYT article from a California liberal with this heading:

Liking Walker??? Then read this

All any blue-state liberal knows about "John Doe" is what they read in the New York Times.; 10/24/15, 2:07 PM
Sebastian said...: Yeah, but was it well defended?; 10/24/15, 2:38 PM
David Begley said...: There are no John Doe investigations in Nebraska.

Glad the Badger state has wised up.; 10/24/15, 2:41 PM
Achilles said...: Secret investigations where the accuses cannot speak. Sounds legit if you are progressive I guess.; 10/24/15, 4:34 PM
Fritz said...: Walker should have used it a few times before signing the legislation, just to make the point.; 10/24/15, 4:46 PM
chickelit said...: This is the kind of living hell which will compel garage to move to Minnesota!; 10/24/15, 5:10 PM
richard mcenroe said...: On the upside, he legalized wiretapping of Garage Mahal til the cows come home.; 10/24/15, 5:33 PM
James Pawlak said...: The new LAW is intended to stop political prosecution.; 10/24/15, 6:05 PM
Douglas B. Levene said...: It's funny, even from the John Doe law's defenders, I have yet to read any explanation for why ordinary grand juries (which are quite powerful) aren't adequate for investigating political corruption and why the cops need midnight SWAT raids and gag orders.; 10/24/15, 7:54 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: It's good that the law was changed. It's shameful that it was used in the way it was, and it's downright depressing that no one will face any real consequences for abusing the power fo the State for political, partisan ends.; 10/24/15, 11:22 PM
chickelit said...: HoodlumDoodlum said...
It's good that the law was changed. It's shameful that it was used in the way it was, and it's downright depressing that no one will face any real consequences for abusing the power fo the State for political, partisan ends.

Who in "public service" these days ever faces "real consequences"? They are all either cynical non-partisan lifers with sinecure or if they're partisans they just "lose a turn" periodically.; 10/25/15, 12:08 AM
Unknown said...: HOT AIR
Ed Morrissey

Wisconsin Democrats not particularly interested in protecting citizens’ rights
POSTED AT 10:41 AM ON OCTOBER 23, 2015 BY JENNIFER JACQUES

If you haven’t heard of the screamingly unconstitutional John Doe raids here in Wisconsin, let me walk you through it: prosecutors sent teams of police to raid conservative’s homes in the early morning hours. The families were not allowed to call a lawyer or family, they were bound by gag orders, unable to defend themselves against the ludicrous political assault because they weren’t even told what the ‘investigation’ was about. Home and personal computers were seized, files and untold items taken but even at the end of the raid, the nightmare wasn’t over. You weren’t allowed to speak of it: at all. Not even to tell your inquiring neighbors, family, friends, or employer that you’re innocent.

In their attempt to bring down Governor Scott Walker, Democrats not only trampled conservatives’ constitutional rights, they strangled them to death.

Even after audiotapes were released containing a portion of the over three hour raid of Cindy Archer were released, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal’s Daniel Bice, toeing the progressive line, seized the tape and claimed Archer contradicted herself in her interview with the National Review. Bice, who’s blatant progressive slant can be seen in his work in the MJS as well as his Tweets, fails to acknowledge that the tape did not contain the most crucial moments of the raid.

Screen Shot 2015-10-23 at 8.19.49 AM

This type of ‘journalism’ is expected here in Wisconsin and would be laughable if it weren’t so disturbing and part of a national trend to shoot down our constitutional rights and send people off the track of what Democrats’ true intentions are.

Thankfully, upon learning of these heinous crimes, our Legislators sprang to action. Representative Jim Steineke, (R-Kaukauna) writes, “now that we fully understand the abhorrent ways that Wisconsin’s John Doe statues have been blatantly abused by a few politically motivated prosecutors, there’s no time to waste in doing our job to correct this wrong. Unlike some might lead you to believe, our job as legislators isn’t to make it easier for prosecutors to investigate people in secret, it’s to protect the rights of its citizens against these few abusive prosecutors.”

Assembly Bill 68, drafted by Representative Dave Craig, serves to correct the ability for blood thirsty prosecutors to wield the John Doe law as a sword to cut down their enemies and strengthens citizens’ constitutional protections while increasing transparency. This should be encouraged by every politician, regardless of party affiliation, if it were a non-partisian issue, that is.

Even Steineke was left stunned after the votes were tallied: “As much as I hate to admit it, every member of the Democrat party in the WI Assembly voted against these reforms that would protect their constituencies from unwarranted searches and abuse from their government.”

The vote to reform the John Doe laws, to protect our citizens and ensure people are safe in their own homes is not part of the Democrats agenda here in Wisconsin. Their agenda is partisan politics at their worst.

Every citizen in Wisconsin, and even across the United States, needs to know that Assembly Bill 68 was crafted to ensure that no one, regardless of color, creed, or political party, would be awoken to early morning raids by paramilitary teams, held at gunpoint while their homes are ransacked and property seized, simply for engaging in a constitutional right of free speech. And every single citizen needs to be acutely aware that every Representative from the Democrat party refused to vote in favor of protecting the constitutional rights of Wisconsinites.

The agenda of the new Democratic party is not to protect citizens’ rights, but instead to preserve and push their own progressive wishes. And may God have mercy on anyone who gets in their way.; 10/25/15, 12:18 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: The Government Accountability Board. Where citizens are held accountable to the government. Never the reverse.

For leftists, this is the most wonderful arrangement imaginable.

Submit. Conform. Obey.; 10/25/15, 8:18 AM
Matt Sablan said...: The John Doe investigations are one of those things where, on an intellectual level I think, "It makes sense to want to have secure, non-public investigations of corruption -- both to help the police effective prosecute it when it is time to go public and to protect individuals' reputations."

Unfortunately, the plan was never to go public, and it was solely used to destroy people's reputations.

The two main goods I could think of for it were subverted. The government just, again, showed why it can't have nice things.; 10/25/15, 9:45 AM
mikee said...: I can't recall which blogger used to link such stories with the tagline, "Rope. Lamp post. Some assembly required."

But it is an interesting suggestion.; 10/25/15, 12:04 PM
Skipper said...: Why the heck not repeal "John Doe" altogether?; 10/25/15, 3:06 PM
bbkingfish said...: It lives!; 10/25/15, 3:19 PM
gk1 said...: Maybe this needs to wind up like the Office of the Independent Counsel where once the republicans ranksack a few lefties using the same tactics, the democrats may decide maybe this isn't such a great idea and help reform or replace it all together. Sunshine makes the best disinfectant in this case.; 10/25/15, 5:00 PM
Anonymous said...: If John Doe investigations are such a bad thing, then why did the Republicans make them illegal only for political crimes instead of getting rid of it completely?; 10/26/15, 5:35 AM